Classroom aides help teachers by working with students to ensure that their content is understood and that students are given individual attention in class. They identify students who are struggling in class and develop teaching aids for use in the classroom, including activity sheets, drawings, and similar handouts. They also present subject matter to children or adults, under the guidance of a teacher, utilizing a variety of methods, including stories, discussions, and role-playing.
Classroom aides lead classroom activities and may confer with parents on children's progress in the absence of the teacher. They assist children or adults, individually or in groups, with lesson assignments to present or reinforce learning concepts. They also lead, guide, and train staff/student employees, interns, and volunteers performing related work. A great classroom aide needs to have excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Classroom aides typically hold a bachelor's degree in psychology, elementary education, early childhood education, or other related fields. They are expected to have some years of experience in a similar role. Some employers prefer candidates with a solid understanding of classroom activities and teaching best practices.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a classroom aide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.72 an hour? That's $26,449 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 55,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many classroom aides have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, interpersonal skills and patience.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a classroom aide, we found that a lot of resumes listed 33.6% of classroom aides included classroom management, while 6.8% of resumes included student learning, and 6.4% of resumes included cpr. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the classroom aide job title. But what industry to start with? Most classroom aides actually find jobs in the education and non profits industries.
If you're interested in becoming a classroom aide, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 46.2% of classroom aides have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.8% of classroom aides have master's degrees. Even though most classroom aides have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a classroom aide. When we researched the most common majors for a classroom aide, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on classroom aide resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a classroom aide. In fact, many classroom aide jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many classroom aides also have previous career experience in roles such as volunteer or internship.
