Portfolio Assignment – 50%

Assignment Criteria & Grading Breakdown

Assignment Criteria:

The Portfolio assignment is a written summary of the educational assistant’s duties, expertise and growth within the

school setting. The portfolio can be constructed to include yoru personal experience (if you are currently an EA) or

based on what you have learnt in the course (* your discussion responses and the student specific competencies

document will also be useful for this assignment).

Purpose of Assignment: The purpose is to bring together your understanding of the roles and responsibilities of an

educational assistant through personal reflection and thought. Anotherwords, you are to demonstrate that you know

what about educational assitants by providing a written commentary on the outlined topic areas below.

Structure: You may use an essay style format (as outlined in the Portfolio example on D2L) or through a PowerPoint

presentation. Please ensure you present the information in the order outlined below. You MUST use either Microsoft

Word or Microsoft PowerPoint for this assignment (unless an alternative style has been approved by your instructor).

Assignments completed in any other programs will not be accessible to your instructor and therefore will not be graded.

Format- Organize your work using bold headings for each of the following sections:

I. Brief statement of the roles and responsibilities of the EA

II. Outline of the Instructional duties and clertical duties seperately

III. Outline the ethical guidelines

i. Confidentiality

ii. Relationshiops with teachers

iii. Acceptance of duties

IV. Personal Philosophy for the roles and responsibilities of the EA

V. Assisting with Curriculum Requirements

VI. Dealing with Behaviorally Challenge children

VII. Working with medically and physically challenged children

VIII. Facilitating Speech and language development

IX. Establishing effective communication

X. Concluding statement

Grading Breakdown & Information to Guide your writing and self-evaluation:

A. Overview – 10 %

1. Brief statement of the Roles and Responsibilities of the EA (1-2 sentences) – 2%

2. Outline of the Instructional duties and clerical duties seperately (this may be listed using bullets, as in

the example) – 2%

3. Outline of the Ethical guidelines: - 6%

Confidentiality – how will you respect confidentiality?

Relationships with teacher- what type of relationship do you need to have with a

classroom teacher? How will you work through problems with the teacher?

Acceptance of duties – will you accept your assigned duties? How will you deal with

duties you feel fall outside of your role as an EA?

B. Personal Philosophy of the roles and responsibilities of an Educational Assistant – 10%

(Here are some questions I pose to you in thinking about what your philosophy is; you do NOT need to write out

these questions in your summary- I have just included them, as they will help you write a philosophy)

A philosophy is what YOU believe- after taking this course, what guiding beliefs will you

use in your work as an Educational assistant?

What do you believe to be important about your role and responsibilities?

What do you feel makes up the good qualities of an Educational Assistant and why are

these qualities important to a students success?

What values do you want to pass on to the students you work with?

What values are going to guide you in your work?

C. Specific role expectations of the Educational Assistant- 10%

Assisting with Curriculum requirements- 2%- refer to example. What challenges do

you/or might you face as an EA in assisting with curriculum requirements? If you have to

work with students in different grades, how are you going to help them learn the

material? What types of challenges might you face?

Dealing with Behaviorally challenged children-2% - How will you work with behaviorally

challenged children? What challenges will this present for you and how will you work

through these challenges? What skills do you need as an EA to work with behaviorlaly

challenged children? What do you need to know about these children in order to be

effective?

Working with medically and physically challenged children -2%-- how will you work

with children who have medical or physical challenges? What considerations must be

made as a team to accommodate these children? What accommodations must a school

make? (see example)

Facilitating speech and language development-2% - As an EA, what things might you do

to assist children with speech or language problems? ( if you are currently an EA, or work

with children in a daycare setting, you may include what you do for these children; if you

are NOT currently working in these settings, simply discuss what you COULD do and who

may also help in the schools with speech and language development; generally a Speech

Language Pathologist is available to schools to assist children)

Establishing effective communication-2% - why is communication important as an EA?

Who do you communicate with as an EA? Why is written, oral and interpersonal

communication important? Discuss communication among team members. What

considerations must you make when working with students of different levels- how will

your communication change? Why is this important?

D. Concluding Statement – 10%

If you are an EA- how will your understanding of the roles and responsibilities of an EA

shape your future work- what will change? What have you gained? Has your perception

changed, if so how?

If you are not an EA- how will your understanding of the roles and responsibilities help

you in your future role as an EA? Why is understaning the roles and responsibilities

important? What insights have you gained? How will you benefit?

E. Mechanics – 10%

Grammar and spelling- 2% -

a. ensure no grammatical or spelling errors

Clarity and use of language- 2%-

a. summary is well-written, clear and thoughtful

Structure of summary conforms to expectations- 2% -

a. Followed format carefully

b. Professional appearance

c. Good overview of the roles and responsibilities of the EA

Personal interpretation and implications for practice -2%-

a. Summary is thoughtful and demonstrated how this information currently

reflects or will reflect your practice as an Educational Assistant.

Craftsmanship- 2%

a. Work is of a high-quality, is well organized and flows well; High degree of effort

put in.

Assignment Total: 50% of final grade

Due: Wednesday June 15, 2011 by 11:59 p.m. in the D2L Dropbox!