Teaching Assistant job description for a resume

The short answer

A teaching assistant writing a resume should describe what they actually did — work like supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips — rather than copying a generic bullet list. The U.S. Department of Labor classifies the role as Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education (SOC 25-9042.00). Its 19 published duties are the place to start, and the 14 most relevant are listed below. Active Listening is the capability O*NET rates highest for the work.

What follows is the published duty list, not a set of bullets to copy. The difference matters: a line describing work you did not do is one interview question away from falling apart.

What a teaching assistant does

Assist a preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher with instructional duties. Serve in a position for which a teacher has primary responsibility for the design and implementation of educational programs and services.

O*NET occupation: Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education (SOC 25-9042.00).

Teaching Assistant duties you can put on a resume

O*NET publishes 19 core duties for this occupation. These are the 14 its incumbents most often report performing, ranked by O*NET's published relevance rating — not a complete list of the job. Which ranking is a fact from the source; which of them you personally did is not something any dataset knows. Use the list as a memory aid, never as a list to paste.

1. Supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips.
2. Discuss assigned duties with classroom teachers to coordinate instructional efforts.
3. Tutor and assist children individually or in small groups to help them master assignments and to reinforce learning concepts presented by teachers.
4. Teach social skills to students.
5. Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
6. Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required.
7. Distribute teaching materials, such as textbooks, workbooks, papers, and pencils, to students.
8. Conduct demonstrations to teach skills, such as sports, dancing, and handicrafts.
9. Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
10. Requisition and stock teaching materials and supplies.
11. Organize and supervise games and other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, and social development.
12. Present subject matter to students under the direction and guidance of teachers, using lectures, discussions, supervised role-playing methods, or by reading aloud.
13. Prepare lesson materials, bulletin board displays, exhibits, equipment, and demonstrations.
14. Observe students' performance, and record relevant data to assess progress.

Skills a teaching assistant can list

O*NET rates these at importance 3.0 or above for this occupation.

Active Listening

importance 3.75

Social Perceptiveness

importance 3.75

Reading Comprehension

importance 3.62

Speaking

importance 3.62

Coordination

importance 3.50

Service Orientation

importance 3.50

Writing

importance 3.38

Critical Thinking

importance 3.38

What not to claim

• A duty from the list above that you did not personally perform. It describes Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education as an occupation, not your particular job — and interviewers for teaching assistant roles ask about the specifics.
• Duties from the 5 published items not shown here, unless you genuinely did them. A longer list is not a better one.
• A percentage, a headcount or a volume you did not measure. "Improved satisfaction by 35%" is the single most copied line on resume-example sites, and almost nobody who pastes it can source it.
• Active Listening at a level you have not worked at. O*NET rates it highest for this occupation, which makes it the most likely thing to be probed.
• A tool, system or certification you have not used or hold. This is the fastest claim to disprove.

Source and method

O*NET data are provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 licence.The duties and skills above are reproduced as published. The resume guidance, the prompts and any generated lines are RoleSprint's, and O*NET did not write them.

Related occupations

Same occupational family in the SOC classification, so the duties often overlap with work you have done.

• Substitute Teacher job description for a resume
• Preschool Teacher job description for a resume