Head Start Teacher

General Description: To plan, coordinate, and implement a full-day preschool classroom that will provide children and families with comprehensive quality services that meet federal and state standards.

Essential Job Responsibilities and Performance Indicators:

•   Participates in all in-service training days, parent-teacher conferences, home visits, and required center-level meetings
•   Develop, coordinate, plan, prepare, and implement daily classroom group and individualized activities for children to ensure that the goals of children are met (i.e., weekly lesson plans)
•   Responsible for maintaining a clean, safe, orderly, and stimulating environment that promotes learning and meets children’s individual needs and interests, which ensures children achieve educational outcomes
•   Ensure the classroom complies with licensing standards and regulations
•   Conduct observations and make necessary referrals to the appropriate service area through the Center Manager
•   Ensure that children are involved in personal hygiene, health, and safety experiences daily (i.e., tooth brushing, toileting, hand washing)
•   Eat and converse with children during mealtime and encourage them in the development of good eating habits and social skills.
•   Be responsible for providing appropriate care for children with disabilities and attending IEP Meetings
•   Be responsible for tracking attendance, meal count, volunteer hours, in-kind contributions, child sign-in and sign-out sheets, health checks, child portfolios, assessments, and other information as necessary
•   Conduct daily observations of children to track their educational and social gains and outcomes, and record findings in the child’s portfolio 
•   Monitor and maintain records and data to comply with required state and federal licensing and performance Standards and Program standards
•   Act as a bus monitor to ensure appropriate supervision of services and safe transportation occurs for children and adults, i.e., includes boarding and exiting, emergency evacuation, securing of safety restraints, and proper child and adult behavior
•   Ensure that supervision of children is appropriate at all times and follows the agency’s Corporal Punishment Guidelines maintained at all times
•   Work with Family Service Specialists in coordinating and implementing activities and services for children and families (field trips, health, and medical visits, and others as they arise)
•   Ensure that communication with parents/guardians is positive and that it encourages parents to participate in the classroom, curriculum planning, and training
•   Other related duties as assigned

 Qualifications / Skills and Experience:

• BA Degree/Associate's in ECD or other related fields with required hours in ECD
• Minimum of three years of experience working with children, families, and the community preferred.
• Excellent reading, writing, typing/computer/data entry skills.
• Ability to pass background checks and health screening.

Professional and Ethical Standards:

• Maintain professional boundaries and confidentiality.
• Make decisions based on support principles, theories, practices, and code of ethics.
• Contributes positively and articulates the success and needs of the program.
• Be knowledgeable about and sensitive to an individual’s values, beliefs, traditions, cultural influences, make-up, and circumstances.
• Be open and honest in expressing concerns, ideas, and information with staff and families.
• Possess organizational and planning skills.
• Demonstrate familiarity with employment policies, performance standards, work plans, and agency goals and objectives.
• Demonstrate commitment to mission, values, and policies in the performance of daily duties.
• Fulfill role as mandated reporter as stated in the Child Abuse & Neglect Policy.
• Attend professional development classes and training (local, state, regional, and national conferences).

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear individuals in person and over the phone
• The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, use hands to handle or feel, and reach with hands and arms
•          Perform physical inventory of equipment and/or supplies
•       Lift and move heavy and/or bulky objects and/or children weighing up to 50 lbs
•       Maintain a clean classroom area, which may require the use of a broom, mop, and vacuum, cleaning fluids, etc 
•       Ability to physically interact with children (walk and run quickly, kneel, or sit on the floor, bend, lift, walk over rough or uneven grounds, and exposure to diverse weather conditions)
•          Ability to assist in setting up classrooms/office areas, which require, but are not limited to, moving tables, chairs, shelves, etc.)
•         Assist with the safety of children through seeing, hearing, touching, and smelling