Role of an Education Assistant

It wasn’t until my own children were enrolled in school that an interest and fascination began to take form in my head that helping children learn is what I actually wanted to do with my life. In particular, I was interested in helping young children with learning disorders that use different ways of learning. I wanted support the teacher and provide the one-on-one time that so many children need.

According to Howard Gardner , teachers and educational assistants should capitalize on the strongest intelligences of individual children, and help them draw on their strengths to help them in areas where they are weaker. Gardener believes that “a cognitively engaged student tends to be more enthusiastic about learning and will be able to learn more than one who is disengaged”. (1) I would like to work with primary children and show them that there are different ways for individuals to learn and that everyone has different strengths and different abilities. I believe that by using differentiated instruction in the classroom, that primary students will know and understand the methods of how they learn and will then be more prepared for the higher grades.

For children entering school for the first time, it is an overwhelming experience. There are new routines, new adults, and many new friends. Add to this the fact that they are not only learning about letters, numbers and colours, but also how to act socially, and how to control impulses that they previously had no need to control. This age is the perfect time to watch and study how they learn, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are and what is going to be the most effective way to teach them. As an Educational Assistant, this would be my job, to work one-on-one with each student but especially those that are going to need the extra help.
As an Education Assistant, I am responsible for the students’ learning and believe that students will learn when taught