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Pam Lieber once logged 13,000 steps in a single workday at Kings Park Elementary School in Springfield. After 26 years as an instructional assistant, she plans to retire at the end of 2026, concluding a career spent helping young students learn, manage difficult moments and celebrate small but meaningful breakthroughs.
Her day begins in the school’s drop-off line, where she helps children safely leave their cars and enter the building. From there, she moves among classrooms of roughly 25 younger elementary students, supporting teachers and giving individual attention to children who need it.
During a first-grade math lesson on January 8, Lieber helped one child keep his foot steady while another measured it. Moments later, she showed a different student how to record a fraction of an inch and answered another child’s repeated question about how to spell “pencil.”
First-grade teacher Keith Long said Lieber continually checks students’ understanding, encourages them and makes sure they know what they need to do. Students respond to her, he said, because they recognize how deeply she cares about them.
Instructional assistants provide support that allows lessons to continue while students, including those with disabilities, receive accommodations and focused help. Principal Dotty Lin said Lieber’s work across grades and programs has allowed her to build relationships with children from preschool through third grade.
“She is setting the stage for students to know there are adults at school who care about you, are rooting for you, and want to see you succeed,” Lin said.
Lieber’s role changes throughout the day. During language arts, children crowd close for the chance to read with her. In physical education, she may step into the hallway with students overwhelmed by the sound of 30 basketballs bouncing at once, helping them calm down while the rest of the class continues.
Physical education teacher Janae Belcher said instructional assistants are essential when one child needs a bandage or must leave the room to work through intense emotions. Their intervention allows teachers to keep the larger group learning and on task while still meeting individual needs.
In a kindergarten art class, Lieber helps children complete projects while the teacher presents a lesson on primary colors and color mixing. She might guide a student’s hand while drawing a hermit crab, position another child with a specialized lap desk or encourage someone to continue working on a “ghost house.”
Art teacher Morgan Hagan said instructional assistants can sometimes connect more effectively with students because of the time they spend together. Lieber also recommended replacing a stool with a chair that had a back for one student. The change helped the child focus and participate in making art.
Her responsibilities can include confirming that disability accommodations have been provided and recording daily information about students’ behavior and classroom engagement.
Lieber said she became an instructional assistant because she loves working with children and watching them progress. The job also requires extensive training, including applied behavior analysis to support students with autism, recognizing and responding to diabetic shock or allergy-related anaphylaxis, and crisis de-escalation.
“Other than our lunch break, we are always with the children,” she said. “Every day is different.”
Near the end of one day, Lieber supported a classroom for students with disabilities, escorted a child who might have been sick to the nurse and helped another reach the pickup line.
Walking down the hallway beside one student, she pointed out that he no longer needed to hold her hand or be redirected.
“He’s walking without needing to hold my hand — it wasn’t always like that,” Lieber said. “Those kinds of little achievements are important and what makes my day.”