Teacher’s Assistant Career Guide

[Monirul Islam]

A teacher's assistant provides support to the lead classroom teacher, allowing the teacher to spend more time focusing on classroom instruction. The duties of the teaching assistant are both clerical and instructional. This guide provides further information on what teacher's assistants do, how to become a teacher's assistant, and teacher's assistant salary and outlook.

Teacher's Assistant Job Description
A teacher's assistant reports to a lead teacher and is responsible for helping the lead teacher run classes smoothly by taking on common classroom tasks at the lead teacher's direction. The everyday duties of an assistant teacher include performing clerical duties like taking attendance, grading tests and homework, and other record-keeping and instruction tasks. An assistant helps monitor students' behavior in the classroom, hallways, cafeteria, playground, and on school trips. Assistants commonly provide additional instructional assistance to students with special needs and students who need extra help in completing class work.

Teacher's Assistant Requirements and Common Tasks
A teacher's assistant provides instructional support to students by reinforcing the teacher's lesson plans. If requested, the assistant teacher helps students learn through group sessions or on an individual basis in supplemental lessons, such as assisting with math problems. The setup of equipment and preparation of materials needed for the day's lesson are also commonly done by the assistant teacher.

Assistant teachers work with children from diverse backgrounds, and thus being comfortable and understanding in a blended classroom is important. Patience, a joy for working with children, willingness to follow instructions, and excellent communication skills – both oral and written – are essential to the effective performance of this job. Being bilingual, although not required, is beneficial. Assistant teachers must have the physical ability to assist with small children and classroom equipment, which may require bending and lifting. Many schools require that teacher's assistants be certified in First Aid.

Source: https://www.teachercertificationdegrees.com/careers/teachers-assistant/