Special Education Assistant

Teach academic, social, and life skills to preschool-aged students with learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Includes teachers who specialize and work with students who are blind or have visual impairments; students who are deaf or have hearing impairments; and students with intellectual disabilities.

Prepare educational content and plan activities that promote comprehension and retention of information. Typically requires assessing student performance, communicating with caregivers, creating lesson plans, preparing and issuing progress reports, presenting and demonstrating new content, and sourcing supplies. May require traveling for fieldtrips and complying with specialized educational plans.

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.

Develops, updates, and delivers lessons plans. Should be able to use preplanned lesson plans to deliver lectures. Explain the theory to students. May need to explain practice as well. Monitor student performance and provide counseling and support to help increase their performance. Update the curriculum and lesson plans when needed. Provide support to colleagues and work as part of a team to evaluate students. Use student evaluations to target underperforming students and employ strategies to support all students.

Assist faculty or other instructional staff in postsecondary institutions by performing instructional support activities, such as developing teaching materials, leading discussion groups, preparing and giving examinations, and grading examinations or papers.