Teacher Assistant

$2500 Sign-on bonus!

Position Summary:

Teacher Assistants for Early Childhood and Head Start programs assist Lead Teachers in planning and implementing learning experiences that advance the intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development of children within a safe, healthy learning environment. They encourage the involvement of the families of the children in the program and support the development of relationships between children and their families.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Interact With Children
• Utilize appropriate language, interactions, and positive discipline.
• Model positive behavior.
• Assist in instructing and supervising children in developmentally appropriate classroom activities.
• Implement age-appropriate activities that support the Head Start standards, the NAEYC standards, and the Creative Curriculum.
• Implement and model family-style eating during meal times.
• Continuously monitor children to ensure safety at all times and report child abuse and neglect when necessary.

Assess Children:

• Assess children on a regular basis using Teaching Strategies GOLD.
• Take pictures and maintain anecdotal notes, written observations, and other approved forms of documentation for each child.
• Administer ESI-R screening, Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Ages and Stages SE Questionnaire.

Curriculum Preparation:

• Utilize the research library, research, plan, and develop age-appropriate activities for weekly lesson plans in conjunction with the Lead Teacher.
• Assist the Lead Teacher in incorporating required activities into lesson plans that support children's development.
• Help the Lead Teacher prepare activities that support lesson plans.
• Incorporate IFSP/IEP goals appropriately into lesson plans and weekly individualization.

Communicate With Parents:

• Maintain open communication with parents by scheduling and conducting parent/teacher conferences and home visits.
• Help resolve issues or concerns raised by parents as a parent advocate.
• Inform parents about the daily classroom routine, expectations, policies, field trips, and volunteer opportunities.
• Communicate with parents about incidents that have been observed and/or recorded on site.
• Obtain all required classroom parental signatures, such as on all incident reports and field trip permission slips.
• Collaborate with the teaching team to develop monthly newsletters for families.
• Assist with recruiting and enrolling new parents for the program.

Documentation:

• Design and complete documentation panels for the classrooms and hallways on an ongoing basis.
• Complete all necessary paperwork for classroom activities, including meal count sheets, attendance, screenings, parent/teacher conferences, and home visits in a timely manner.
• Maintain up-to-date and accurate education folders.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date portfolios, including at least two observations per week, per child.
• Maintain classroom supply lists and inventory.
• Complete all assessment and screening paperwork, such as Creative Curriculum checklist, and ESI-R screenings, according to specified timelines.
• Document conversations with families, interns, and team meetings.

Supervision:

• Support volunteers, teacher aides, and foster grandparents with learning classroom requirements.
• Under the direction of the Lead Teacher, delegate duties as necessary and give constant feedback to facilitate professional growth.

Administration:

• Work closely with the Site Director, Head Start Manager, classroom teaching team, and other content area specialists.
• Actively participate in meetings, which may include management, teaching team, center, committee, parent, parent policy, family reviews, city/state, agency, and board meetings.
• Participate in weekly team meetings. Communicate and share ideas and concerns with the Lead Teacher, Site Director, Education Coordinator, and other management team members.
• As an advocate for children, parents, and staff, participate in agency committee meetings (e.g., health advisory committee, advocacy, etc.).
• Participate in staff In-Services.
• Engage in continuing education and professional development activities, such as trainings, workshops, and classes, to meet required qualifications and to stay current in the field.

Classroom Maintenance:

• Help maintain a clean, organized, and clutter-free learning environment.
• Follow daily classroom cleaning log, including the sanitation of all surfaces, equipment, and classroom toys.
• Maintain a quality room arrangement in compliance with curriculum standards, ERS, NAEYC, and Reggio-Emilia inspired.
• Routinely check classroom equipment and materials to ensure they are in good repair and inform the Site Director of any needed maintenance.

Other Duties as Assigned

Job Requirements:

• Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education from an accredited college with a minimum of one year of experience.
• OR 2 years of college with 6 semester hours in Child Development, working to earn 30 hours in Child Development and 2 years work-related experience.
• Incumbents must be willing to participate in the CDA program if deemed…