Elementary Classroom Aide

Job Description

NATURE OF POSITION: Elementary School aides provide support for full-time teachers, helping them with clerical work, classroom activities, extra support for students. This can involve providing individual attention to students in need of extra assistance or monitoring students while the teacher is out. A teacher's aide's job is to assist a teacher and reinforce the instruction taught in the classroom to students.

REPORTS TO

Principal

Following are examples of the tasks required for a teacher assistant:

• Discuss assigned duties with classroom teachers in order to coordinate instructional efforts.
• Tutor and assist children individually or in small groups in order to help them master assignments and to reinforce learning concepts presented by teachers.
• Supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips.
• Distribute teaching materials such as textbooks, workbooks, papers, and pencils to students.
• Distribute tests and homework assignments, and collect them when they are completed.
• Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
• Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials, in order to prevent injuries and damage.
• Observe students' performance, and record relevant data to assess progress.
• Organize and label materials, and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their eye levels and perceptual skills.
• Organize and supervise games and other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, and social development.
• Provide extra assistance to students with special needs, such as non-English-speaking students or those with physical and mental disabilities.
• Assist in bus loading and unloading.
• Aid in library duties in school libraries.
• Collect money from students for school-related projects.
• Laminate teaching materials to increase their durability under repeated use.
• Provide disabled students with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities such as restrooms.
• Requisition and stock teaching materials and supplies.
• Type, file, and duplicate materials.
• Use computers, audiovisual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.

Education Requirements

• Minimum GED or a high school diploma and some on-the-job training.
• Preferred an associate's degree or bachelor's degree in education or a related field.
• Must be at least 21 years of age.
• Job training is typically done by the employer who helps a new teacher's aide understand the rules and operations of the workplace.
• Teacher's aides must know the appropriate responses when dealing with children and how to properly show educational materials to the classroom.
• Additionally, learning to follow the instructions of a teacher is extremely important.

Physical Abilities

• Ability to see at normal distance.
• Hear normal conversations and sounds.
• Physical ability to bend, squat, sit on floor, skip, run, and climb stairs, as part of daily center activities.
• Able to crouch to a child's height, maintain eye contact at the child's level, sit on the floor, and stand tall enough to reach children on the highest piece of equipment.
• Able to safely lift or assist children weighing up to 40 pounds in emergency situations only.
• Able to reach a child 30 feet away within 30 seconds without danger to the staff person's health.
• Able to effectively use hands and fingers to fill out paper work.

Environmental Conditions

• May be required to work outside.
• Potential for exposure to blood-borne pathogens and communicable diseases.