Teaching Assistant Duties
Teaching Assistant interns play a meaningful role in the classroom while gaining hands-on experience in education, communication, and leadership. Under the guidance of a lead teacher, interns can support learning, contribute to classroom organization, and grow professionally.
These internships also offer students an excellent opportunity to preview teaching as a potential career, allowing them to explore the realities of the classroom, observe professional educators in action, and reflect on effective teaching practices, and decide whether a future in education is the right fit.
Duties may include the following:
Teaching assistants may help with a variety of pedagogical activities, including . . .
- Assisting with lesson preparation, such as making copies, organizing materials, and setting up classroom technology or equipment
- Supporting small-group instruction or supervising group activities
- Providing one-on-one support to students who benefit from additional guidance or encouragement
- Helping maintain a positive, orderly, and inclusive classroom environment
- Facilitating discussions, guiding learning activities, or supporting students as they work through tasks.
Interns may also assist with behind-the-scenes tasks that help the classroom run smoothly, such as . . .
- Taking attendance or tracking student participation
- Updating bulletin boards, learning displays, and classroom resources
- Organizing teaching materials and supplies
- Entering data related to student performance, behaviour, or class records, as appropriate.
A key component of the internship is learning through observation, reflection, and guided practice. Opportunities may include:
- Observing a range of teaching styles, instructional strategies, and classroom management approaches
- Reflecting on daily lessons and discussing observations with the teacher
- Gaining insight into lesson planning and assessment practices
- Preparing and delivering a lesson or a portion of a lesson, where appropriate and permitted
- Understanding the full scope of a teacher’s duties and responsibilities.
These responsibilities provide Arts & Humanities students with valuable experience in communication, leadership, organization, time management, creativity, and problem-solving—skills that are highly transferable to many career pathways.
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