Assistant Teacher

Question

I took a position at Bright Start as a preschool teacher but I saw today my title is assistant teacher. Will I like working at Bright Start and will I be in a lead position?

Answer 1

Unfortunately Crystal, you're basically a Teacher's Assistant with the title they've chosen. My guess is you will assist the lead, do very little to no lesson planning,and the Teacher will essentially be your boss.

Answer 2

Hello Crystal,

Congratulations on becoming an assistant teacher at your given preschool!

Having been in your position before of starting out as an assistant teacher and then working my way up to a lead teaching position over several years that followed, I can only hope for your sake that you do in fact enjoy working at Bright Start. However, I am not you, so you will have to determine your feelings about your current and prospective professional positions with the school in due time accordingly.

In terms of you hopefully getting a lead position: definitely give it your all your first year as an assistant teacher at Head Start. With any luck, you will have an enlightened supervisor and lead-mentor teacher (separately and together) who will realize your professional worth as a teacher early on and/or as the upcoming school year progresses little by little. Then when contracts are issued for the next school year (2023-2024), hopefully you will be offered a lead teaching position with/by the school (if there are any lead teaching positions open at your school) at that time. If that opportunity does not appear to be headed your way in the year ahead, you could also expand your professional horizons and apply for lead teaching positions at other schools as you build your resume working as an assistant teacher throughout the course of the school year ahead.

If you have any specific questions about your upcoming position as an assistant teacher at Head Start, I would advise you to check in with your supervisor via an email sent- or a phone call made to them prior to the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year to tie up any loose ends and confirm your and their complete understanding of what your professional title and position will entail in the year ahead at the school--just to be certain so that everybody can be on the same page prior to Day One of the Fall Semester.

Good luck and all the best to you in your teaching endeavors, Crystal! Cheers! :)