Infant/Toddler Teacher - Early Head Start

Join our Head Start team! The Early Head Start Infant/Toddler Teacher works with children to promote their growth in the areas of social-emotional, physical, cognitive and language development. Involves families in every aspect of their child's education, including facilitating parent involvement.

Candidates must submit applications by 4/26/24 to be considered for first-round interviews.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• High School Diploma or General Education Degree (GED)
• One of the following:
  • An Infant/Toddler CDA or one-year equivalent certification
  • An Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education
  • A Bachelor's degree in a related field (Education, Human Development, Family and Consumer Studies, Child and Family Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Social Work) and one years of experience working in early childhood programs.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS

• Driver qualifications are required for this position. Valid driver license, insured vehicle available for use on the job, and a satisfactory drive record for the previous three years are required.
• Successful registration with the Central Background Registry of the Child Care Division.
• CPR/First Aid Certification or the ability to obtain within 60 days of hire.
• Food Handlers Card or the ability to obtain within 30 days of hire.
• Candidate must pass pre-employment physical examination

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Intermediate proficiencies in Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook, database software, online tools, and video conferencing platforms.
• Effective interpersonal communication skills, in both oral and written form.
• Demonstrates tact, diplomacy and empathy when communicating with parents, staff and community partners.
• Bilingual or multi-lingual skills are helpful but not required. Bilingual English-Spanish preferred.
  • To qualify as bilingual, staff must pass a bilingual exam demonstrating fluent speaking, reading, and writing in English and Spanish. Required bilingual staff will receive a pay differential based on language test results.

*ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee will also perform other reasonably related business duties as assigned by immediate supervisor and other management as required.

Classroom (50%)

• Ensures safety in the classroom at all times, with appropriate supervision of children, utilizing the transition and counting form and procedure. Ensures children are released only to parent/guardians or authorized adults.
• Records children's daily attendance, working with site team to determine the cause of absences.
• Creates lesson plans utilizing a variety of curriculum to address children's individual goals, taking into account each child's characteristics, strengths, and needs.
• Works with classroom team during pre-service, to set up classroom environment, and maintain the environment by regularly changing/rotating materials, supplies and props, utilizing the Creative Curriculum, and the Monthly Environment Checklist.
• Creates a supportive climate and positive environment with opportunities for children to make connections with other children and staff. Uses positive redirection and strategies to provide children with a safe, secure and enjoyable experience at school.
• Maintains a spontaneous and flexible attitude in meeting children's individual needs, encouraging children to verbalize their own feelings and ideas.
• Works with parents whose children require potty training support.
• Maintains a clean, sanitary, safe, and orderly classroom.

Office/Paperwork (35%)

• Effectively uses the ChildPlus and Teaching Strategies Gold databases to enter or obtain information.
• Completes Progress Checkpoints for child assessment, using information obtained from child observations. Shares information with program administration and parents.
• Uses office time efficiently to make and receive parent phone calls, order supplies, preparing children's work to go home, preparing materials for activities, and other office work as needed.
• Verifies and submits weekly Meal Counts and Attendance forms.

Staff Development/Meetings (10%)

• Attends a variety of classes, workshops, seminars, pre-service training and other Head Start Teacher trainings, and keeps current on developments in early childhood education, and developmentally appropriate practices.
• Attends a variety of meetings including individual reflection meetings, region meetings, site team meetings, debriefing after observations, and other meetings as necessary.
• Attends IFSP meetings or Triage meetings when necessary to support children with social-emotional or developmental concerns.

Parent Involvement (5%)

• Supports parents as children transition to and from the program through a variety of transition activities.
• Develops and maintains relationships with parents/guardians, to ensure consistent and frequent communication.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEMANDS Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close and distance vision and ability to adjust focus; hearing abilities required.
• Regularly lift and/or move 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Frequently reach with hands and arms; regularly required to climb or balance; occasionally required to stand; walk; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Ability to remain calm and quickly evacuate children from the classroom in an emergency.
• Manual dexterity for handling office equipment.
• Occasional driving between Agency Head Start and Early Head Start sites.
• Requires planning and problem-solving skills, including resourcefulness and creative thinking.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Mostly indoor classroom and bus riding environment.
• Frequent outdoor supervision of children and monitoring pick up/drop off.
• Occasional exposure to cleaning chemicals, creative substances such as paints.
• Occasional exposure to body fluids/biohazards (such as saliva, vomit and urine.)

*Enrollment in the Central Background Registry is beneficial if you are even considering working with children in the State of Oregon, since it will be required before you can start a position. Enrollment is free and it is recommended that you start now as the process can take time. Start enrollment online at: oregonearlylearning.com

MWVCAA is committed to promoting and achieving diversity, equity and inclusion with employees and with those we serve. The agency strives to be an employer of choice with a vision for all people to be respected for their infinite worth, and supported to envision and reach a positive future.

MWVCAA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, veterans, and people with disabilities or any other protected category. We welcome all people to join us in achieving our Mission. If you require any assistance in the application process, or reasonable accommodations to perform the essential duties of the position, please notify a member of our team at (503) 585-6232.

**This is a partial list of essential duties and responsibilities. To review the full job description, download below.

If you need ADA accommodations to apply for MWVCAA job openings, please contact Human Resources at HR@mwvcaa.org or call 503-585-6232 to ask for a HR Team Member.