right|thumb|300px|a teaching assistant interacts with a reading child  a teaching assistant or teacher's aide (ta) or education assistant (ea) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities. tas include: graduate teaching assistants (gtas), who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants (utas), who are undergraduate students; secondary school tas, who are either high school students or adults; and elementary school tas, who are adults (also known as paraprofessional educators or teacher's aides). by definition, tas assist with classes, but many graduate students serve as the sole instructor for one or more classes each semester as a teaching fellow or graduate student instructor. graduate and adult tas generally have a fixed salary determined by each contract period (usually a semester or an academic year); however, undergraduates and high school students are sometimes unpaid and, in the us and other countries with the credit system, receive course credits in return for their assistance. teaching assistants often help the main teacher by managing students with learning disabilities, such as adhd, or even physical disabilities, such as blindness or deafness. ==graduate teaching assistants== graduate teaching assistants (often referred to as gtas or simply tas) are graduate students employed on a temporary contract by a department at a college or university in teaching-related responsibilities. in new zealand, australian, and some canadian universities, graduate tas are known as tutors. north american graduate ta positions provide funding for postgraduate research - although the main purpose is to provide teaching support - and it often serves as a first career step for aspiring academics.park, c. (2004). the graduate teaching assistant: lessons from a north american ex
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