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What steps do you need to complete to become a teaching assistant?

#teaching #education #teacher

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Xavier’s Answer

This is a great question. My girlfriend was a teaching assistant in college. There are many opportunities for you to find a position as a teaching assistants. Teaching assistants are usually hired on a semester-by-semester basis a couple of months before the semester begins. For the fall semester, teaching assistants are hired before the spring semester ends. Just about every professor or teaching team with hire a teaching assistant every semester. You typically receive student employment options from your degree program through email. I would first start by checking your email for teaching assistant positions. Next, I would reach out to the student employment office or something similar in your college and ask if they are aware of any open teaching assistant positions. If you have a particular department that you want to assist in, you should contact that department directly. Typically, every department will have a front desk assistant that answers the phone and responds to emails. These people are usually very helpful in getting in contact with those that would know if there are any teaching assistant positions available. Lastly, I would ask your professors if they are in need of a teaching assistant or know of any professors that need one. I wish you the best of luck and hope this helps!
Thank you comment icon Thank you so much, I really appreciate the advice I will definitely reach out to the department Leslie
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Jason Aaron’s Answer

As a current special education paraprofessional (Teacher Assistant), there are several steps to take but it's a pretty simple streamlined process.

What I did was apply to my local Special Education district. So I would first research the schools that interests you and check to see if there are any vacancies available.

Secondly, I would sign up to become a substitute teacher. Some vacancies for teacher assistant's aren't necessarily posted but if you have already started substituting at nearby schools, and build some re pore or foundation with them, then sometimes they can create room for you to come on board.

If you do not want to substitute right away, just apply for any teacher positions that are available.

Application process for our district took almost 2 months. Once I finally got the call for the interview, there was a 60 question interview that took an hour. After I completed the test and interview they let me know right away if I was accepted or to try again. After this process, I had to wait until the board of education of the district approved my hire. This took another 2 weeks.

Whole process took 2 and half months from application process, interview and being brought in to do new-hire paperwork. Simple but definitely took some time.
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Bhumip’s Answer


Basically you need to know the subject well and must have a good rapport with the Faculty member whom you will be assisting in teaching the subject/course.

If you will be grading students' assignments and papers, PLEASE make sure that the rubric (grading standards and benchmarks) are well communicated way ahead of time by you and/or the Faculty member.

If you will holding office hours, please attend some of the Lectures by the Faculty member so that you are familiar with the teaching style.

If you will be running group tutoring sessions, please make sure to show the steps in details. Please select some really hard and difficult questions to solve and discuss during these sessions before answering students' queries.

Remember, all reasonable questions and queries from the students are thoughtful, and make a good effort to answer these.

Meet with the Faculty member once a week -- or more frequently if needed -- in order to update each other on the experience. This may turn out to be very helpful and rewarding.

Thanks, and all my Best.

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Dana’s Answer

Hello!
Becoming a teachers assistant is fairly simple! Depending on the state they may want you to have some sort of degree or previous experience working in a school setting. They will want to know that you can run a small group or help manage classroom behaviors. First will be to look for any openings in the area you would like to work! Once you find some openings see what they would like you to have in terms of experience or degrees. If you need to further your experience then a good place to start would be a preschool or a tutoring company! These both get you working with kids in an academic setting.
Hope this helps!
Dana

Dana recommends the following next steps:

Look for job openings
See if you need to further your experience or academics
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Carla’s Answer

I was a teaching assistant when I was in college. My senior year I TA'ed for an intro class generally taken by freshman. At my school it was one of the options in my degree program that counted towards graduation. I attended the lectures twice a week and then I led the discussion class on Fridays. I talked about the more difficult concepts that the professor has taught that week and answered questions from the students. I had office hours once a week, I led a session before each test after I received a copy of the test and went over those specific concepts with the students the day before and I graded the tests. I then had to write my own paper for the professor and also got a grade in the class. For degrees at schools where this kind of TA is not offered, you should talk to your faculty adviser or the school counselor assigned to your major. They will be the most knowledgeable about how you would become TA and what the requirements are. Most TA's at my university were actually PhD graduate students. It was rare for a degree program to offer a TA position to an undergrad.
Thank you comment icon Thank you so much, Carla, I’ll reach out to the faculty. Leslie
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Nina’s Answer


Hi! Becoming a teaching assistant varies greatly from state to state; some states require some type of instructional or day care experience, and many require an AA or other two year degree. As far as I know, one does not need a four-year degree to be an assistant. You would need to have a background check, attend your interview and have at least two strong employment references; references are quite important in any field that involves working with students for safety and employee ethics . I hope that helps, and if not, feel free to inquire more! Sounds like an exciting time when you are making lots of important decisions!
Thank you comment icon Thank you!!! Leslie
Thank you comment icon Sure! Good luck, Leslie M! :) Nina Bailey
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