Job Summary:
The Head Start Preschool Teacher is responsible for a Head Start classroom of 3- to 5-year-old children. S/he works collaboratively with an assistant teacher, family members, and other staff to achieve positive outcomes for children of all abilities.
Essential Job Duties:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to carry out each essential duty in a satisfactory manner. The job specifications listed below are representative of the education and experience as well as the knowledge, skill and/or ability (KSAs) required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
CLASS™ teacher-child interactions:
• Provide emotional support through establishing a positive climate, being aware of and responsive to children, and encouraging child expression and autonomy.
• Use strategies for behavior management, such as clear behavior expectations, being proactive and redirecting misbehavior.
• Foster classroom productivity and maximize learning time, while engaging children with a variety of modalities and materials.
• Provide instructional support through concept development, fostering children's analysis and reasoning, engaging in feedback loops, and modeling and supporting high-quality language.
• Strive to maintain high quality in interactions with children by achieving a minimum scoring level of 6-Emotional Support, 6-Classroom Observations and a 3-lnstructional Support during CLASS observations informally and formally within 1 year of employment with FDS.
Learning Environment, Curriculum & Child Assessment:
• Ensure classroom arrangement, materials and displays are organized and conducive to children's learning and consistently meet expectations in the Education Department Standard Operating Procedures.
• Maintain a clean and safe environment that is conducive to keeping children and adults healthy.
• Maintain an inclusive and welcoming environment for all children and families.
• Know and understand Family Development Services -Head Start School Readiness Goals and strive to help all children achieve them.
• Provide classroom experiences that are developmentally, linguistically, culturally and age-appropriate for the children served.
• Establish and maintain a safe, healthy learning environment, including full supervision of children at all times, in accordance with Head Start and childcare licensing requirements.
• Conduct daily health/safety monitoring of the indoor and (as requested) outdoor environment.
• Follow all health and hygiene practices, including handwashing, sanitizing, and universal precautions.
• Supervise mealtimes and meal service to children; serve children meals/ snacks at least two days weekly.
• Cultivate and maintain a positive working relationship with co-workers.
• Maintain a clean and safe environment that is conducive to keeping children and adults healthy by following all health and hygiene practices, including handwashing, sanitizing, and universal precautions.
• Implement Family Development Services -Head Start chosen curriculum with fidelity by providing developmentally appropriate activities, opportunities and experiences in the classroom which align with the age and stage of each child.
• Prepare or modify weekly lesson plans and prepare to implement small-group activities, read-aloud, circle time, and other curriculum components.
• Maintain the classroom schedule and by providing children with a consistent classroom routine and facilitate all parts of the routine to support child learning.
• Interact with children intentionally throughout the day to provide differentiated support.
• Collect documentation of children through ongoing observation, embedded and direct assessment activities.
• Complete quarterly assessment checkpoints, reliably, for each child.
• Analyze child assessment data and use it to plan and individualize.
• Support Classroom Assistant with lesson plan implementation at least 1 day weekly.
Meeting all children's needs:
• Complete developmental and social-emotional screenings on all children within prescribed time frames.
• Complete theme based Individualized Learning Plans to identify specific goals and implement developmentally appropriate strategies for each child in class.
• Integrate Individual Education Plans (IEPs) or referral action plans for children with diagnosed or suspected special needs.
• Implement positive behavior strategies and practices and Program Wide Expectations.
• Complete all reports associated with the children's health and needs in a timely manner and communicate to the supervisor.
• Maintain required documentation of activities, including child and family information, assessment data, volunteer logs, etc.
Working with families:
• Establish positive and productive relationships with families through building rapport and trust.
• Schedule and complete two home visits and two parent-teacher conferences each year (workday is 10am-7pm for these scheduled events).
• Encourage and engage family members to serve as classroom volunteers.
• Collaborate with family services staff to support families in implementing family life practices, extending learning into the home, and meeting expectations for attendance
• Follow all guidance and expectations to support the parent curriculum
• Maintain a positive rapport with families
Professional growth and collaboration:
• Participate in ongoing reflective coaching and self-assessment.
• Collaborate with the assistant teacher, substitutes and other staff in the center.