Early Childhood Special Educator

Clarke School For The Deaf•New York, NY

12d

About The Position

This is a full day preschool classroom position, filled by a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing or Early Childhood Special Educator, supporting children who are deaf/hard of hearing who are learning to listen and use spoken language. The classroom teacher is part of a multidisciplinary team comprised of teachers, speech-language pathologists, educational audiologists, OT, PT, and families. Team collaboration, family involvement, diagnostic teaching, and professional learning are essential components of the program, leading to support for professionals and optimal outcomes for students. This is a full time, exempt position with general hours of 8:00 am- 4:00 pm, 35 hour per week, for both the academic school year and the 6-week summer program.

Requirements

NYS certification: Deaf/HH Education or Early Childhood Special Education
Bachelor’s degree (at minimum)
Commitment to Clarke’s mission and the listening and spoken language approach required
Excellent written /spoken English communication

Nice To Haves

Experience in similar roles or with the preschool age group is preferred
Interest in learning about and obtaining LSL Cert AVT or AVEd certification
Bilingual candidates encouraged to apply

Responsibilities

Develop and implement daily lesson plans that are developmentally appropriate, use a wide range of active learning approaches and activities and reflect NYS’s Early Learning Guidelines and PreK Learning Standards, Clarke’s curriculum (Highscope, Learning Without Tears, CASLLS) and each child’s IEP.
Create a classroom environment that aligns with developmentally appropriate practices, fostering independence, confidence, creativity, respect for materials and people and is conducive to experiential learning.
Identify and use authentic materials for learning and literacy reflecting culturally appropriate and diverse sources and representation.
Engage individual students, small groups, and large groups in activities that contribute to the development of listening and spoken language skills.
Assess and observe students throughout the school day during structured and informal activities, collecting language samples and observations of learning and development related to all aspects of the child’s development to be used for developing appropriate goals and tracking student progress using state standards, CASLLS, and the Work Sampling System.
Collaborate with other Clarke professionals to provide diagnostic information about auditory, speech, and language skills of students who are deaf or hard of hearing using formal testing, differentiated instruction, and observations.
Support students’ optimal auditory access and use of amplification by conducting daily listening checks, monitoring amplification use through the day, troubleshooting equipment, communicating with audiologists, SLP, and parents about amplification use and function, being knowledgeable about students’ hearing loss, aided hearing, and equipment and supporting each child’s age-appropriate independence with their own equipment.
Provide guidance, direction, support and training to the classroom Teacher Assistant to maintain the health, safety, and educational well-being of the students in the classroom.
Provide a comfortable and supportive environment that welcomes parents and caregivers into the school community and empowers them in parenting their child with hearing loss.
Perform any other tasks as assigned by the director to support the functioning of the school