INFANT TEACHER - CHILD CARE CENTER

SUMMARY

Under the general direction of the campus supervisor the Teacher is responsible for:

• Leading and/or sharing responsibility for planning, organizing and implementing the care, development and education of typically and atypically developing infants, toddlers and pre-school children.
• Ensuring classroom activities comply with CCA policies and procedures, State Department of Education – Child Development Division regulations, Title 5 and Title 22 Community Care Licensing regulations.
• Developing and maintaining strong and caring relationships with toddlers, children and their parents.
• Maintaining a primary caregiver relationship and continuity of care with each child and his or her family to help achieve the developmental goals of the child.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

Classroom Duties & Child Development:

• Greets parents and children in a friendly, professional manner and evaluates each child upon arrival for obvious signs of illness or problems.
• Plans, and implements educational curriculum and recreational activities for Infants/Toddlers & Preschool children, which reflects developmental, cultural and linguistic appropriateness.
• Provides a balanced daily program of child-initiated and adult-directed activities including individual and small group activities.
• Supervises and models interaction with children in a warm and positive manner; interacts at child’s eye level on a one-to-one basis while playing with the children and being a resource person for their developmental activities.
• Prepares classroom for different activities and arranges all necessary education materials; ensures the classroom and all equipment is maintained in a clean and safe condition.
• Assists with and teaches children self-care skills.
• Establishes a climate of acceptance that supports and respects gender, each child’s individual personality, physical characteristics and traits, culture, language and ethnic characteristics, family structure and developmental needs and behaviors.
• Ensures children are supervised at all times to ensure their safety and prevent accidents.
• Responds to students’ diverse needs by using a variety of instructional strategies and resources.
• Works cooperatively with parents, teachers, staff and other to assist with the growth and development of children.
• Supervises, evaluates and utilizes the skills and experience of assistant teachers, parents, and volunteers to ensure smooth implementation for all classroom activities; maintains confidential and supportive supervisory relationship with staff including preparing and discussing performance evaluations.
• Completes developmental profiles including DRDP, observations and portfolios; conducts parent conferences on ongoing basis and as scheduled by CCA.
• Opens and closes center as needed, ensuring security of facilities. Family Relationships/Development
• Conducts regular parent-teacher conferences for each child; shares information resulting from conferences with campus supervisor and other staff as appropriate.
• Records observations, sharing information about the child with his/her parent(s), and/or staff, and plans with them on how to best meet his/her needs.
• Promotes parent child-bonding and the nurturing of parent-child relationships through modeling developmentally and culturally appropriate interactions and communication.
• Communicates with parents on a daily basis regarding the physical care and development of the child. Records/Documentation/Other Duties
• Documents, in a variety of ways throughout the day, children’s experiences in the program based on Desired Results Development Profile, High Scope curriculum/RIE Curriculum and Developmentally Appropriate Practices, etc.
• Completes and submits incident reports as necessary; submits and/or completes required documentation accurately, completely and on time.
• Maintains daily records of child’s attendance, health and behavior; reports suspicions of child abuse or neglect to 800 number.
• Attends and participates in all staff meetings and in-service training.
• Follows agency policies and procedures at all times including health, safety and nutrition; incorporates CCA’s philosophy and mission in all aspects of job description.
• Maintains working knowledge of current practices in the early childhood education field through reading, participation in seminars and other educational opportunities and personal contacts/memberships in the field.
• Participates with supervisor and receives feedback with commitment to on-going refinement and professional growth.
• Maintains absolute confidentiality regarding children and their families in compliance with agency policies and other regulations.
• Exercises good judgment in the performance of duties and responsibilities.
• Ensures appropriate lesson plans and curricula are documented and ready for any substitute to implement in case of a short-term absence.

SECONDARY DUTIES

Performs related duties as required and/or assigned by immediate supervisor and/or Education Coordinator.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT

The working environment for this position is in a classroom a play yard setting. Staff may be exposed to potentially volatile and emotional children who may bite, kick, or otherwise be physically rough. The noise level varies depending on the children’s activities.

See attached Working Environment form for full details on physical activities, equipment operation and similar.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

These specifications are general guidelines based on the minimum experience normally considered essential to the satisfactory performance of this job. Individual abilities may result in some deviation from these guidelines.

To perform effectively in this position, the incumbent must have:

• Must satisfy Title 22 and Title 5 requirements for a teacher position; must hold and maintain a valid/current Child Development Associate Teacher permit or higher.
• Working knowledge of early childhood programs, standards, and teaching experience in an ECE classroom.
• Must have a total of fourteen (14) ECE units: twelve (12) units of Early Childhood Education/child Development
• (ECE) and a class in child development administration.
• Complete 16 hours of Preventative Health education including CPR Certification and Pediatric CPR & First Aid.
• Working knowledge of the foundation of developmental and education standards for children (ages birth to five).
• Solid English and Spanish language skills including effective oral communication skills, ability to read and comprehend simple instructions and short correspondence and ability to write simple correspondence.
• Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
• Must have basic working knowledge of computer programs in a Windows environment, including Word, Excel, Internet and e-mail.
• Demonstrated skill in curriculum development and modification for children (ages birth to five).
• Prior experience with children and families from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds and ability to be sensitive to the different cultures represented among children, families and staff.
• A warm, friendly, positive personality who enjoys helping children to grow and helping families.
• A working knowledge of maintaining a safe or secure environment for children with the ability to constantly monitor, supervise and control children.
• Ability to work effectively as a team player.
• Basic supervisory skills for mentoring, modeling and training teacher assistants and volunteers.
• Ability to establish and maintain routine files, records and official documents.
• Reliable, punctual, responsible, dependable and fulfill obligations.
• Courteous and pleasant with other on the job and displaying good-natured, cooperative attitude; ability to be flexible and work in a changing environment
• Ability to take constructive criticism and to apply suggestions to change behavior, procedures, etc.
• Proof of recent tuberculosis test and must submit updated testing/results as per agency internal requirements.
• Proof of adult mandatory vaccinations: influenza (annual requirement) and/or waiver, Tdap (booster every 10 years) &/or proof of immunity provided by physician AND measles vaccination and/or proof of immunity provided by physician.
• Submit pre-employment health screening report upon hiring and as per agency internal requirements.
• Fingerprint clearance on DOJ, FBI and CA thru Community Care Licensing.

Preferred requirements include:

• Experience with children with a variety of disabilities.