Infant/Toddler Teacher - Full Year

Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties•Saint Paul, MN

13d•Onsite

About The Position

Under the supervision of the Center Education Coordinator, this position is responsible for providing comprehensive services in compliance with program guidelines, policies and procedures. The Infant/Toddler Teacher is responsible for integrating the curriculum by creating lesson plans, and developing individual learning plans to meet the needs of children, including observing, assessing, and documenting children’s progress. In addition, the Infant/Toddler teacher is responsible for maintaining active supervision of children, and providing ongoing communication with parents including home visits, parent conferences and other events.

Requirements

AA/AS/AAS Degree in Early Childhood Education or a degree in a related field with coursework equivalent to a major relating to early childhood education required.
Must meet current educational requirement as specified in the Head Start Act.
Required to provide transcripts and/or certification.
Six months experience in an early childhood setting required.
To ensure compliance with program requirements, and safety of staff and clients, the ability to communicate effectively in English, both verbally and in writing is required.
Enjoy working with young children.
Ability to effectively relate and communicate to people of varying multi-ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
Flexible and willing to work in a team teaching environment.
Capable of using good judgment in daily teaching situations, and in interactions with staff, parents and community volunteers.
Use a computer and related software applications.
Must obtain CPR/First Aid Certification within 90 days of hire; must maintain certifications.
Because of the multiple locations of centers and home visits, a valid driver’s license and reliable transportation on a daily basis is required.
Must be able to lift 50 pounds, have the stamina and ability to model best practices in the classroom and act appropriately in an emergency situation.
Physically capable of reacting to the demands of active children under 3 years old.
Must be able to successfully pass pre-placement Head Start physical exam.

Nice To Haves

BA/BS Degree in Early Childhood Education or a degree in a related field with coursework equivalent preferred.
Experience with Early Childhood Special Education preferred.
Head Start experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Provides comprehensive services for children age birth to 3 years, maintaining compliance with the program’s guidelines, policies and performance standards (including MN DHS licensing regulations, Head Start Program Performance Standards Child & Adult Care Food Program), and strictly adhere to the highest standards of confidentiality and ethics when working with children, parents and peers.
Create and implement detailed and comprehensive lesson plans appropriate for very young children using Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers and Twos (per Curricular and Intentional Planning Procedure), which include goals to achieve measurable outcomes based on observations and results of the program’s child assessment tool. Lesson plans will incorporate caregiving routines as well as learning activities.
Actively engages in age-appropriate classroom activities such as child-initiated free play, floor play, floor play, caregiving routines, limited adult-initiated activities, self-help and routine care such as diaper changing, potty training, handwashing, etc.
Uses self-talk and other language support techniques continuously throughout the day to enhance language development in children.
Create a primary care group system and assign classroom staff to match children with a suitable primary care staff for the purposes of creating strong relationships and assisting in observations, documentation, and tracking development in Teaching Strategies GOLD.
Observe each child on a regular basis in all developmental domains to establish individual child goals that are meaningful and measurable.
Responsible for recording authentic observations and accurate documentation to track and achieve measurable child outcomes and established programmatic school readiness goals.
Document, level and finalize each child’s development using the designated online assessment tool (per Assessment & Child Goals: Individualizing for Children Policy).
Partner with parents to establish child goals and present results of the child’s progress towards meeting the goals using the program’s assessment tool to parents in a manner that is easy to understand.
Communicate with parents regarding the child’s overall development including the child’s successes and areas of potential concern or needed improvement (per Family Teacher Conferences policy).
Closely partner with families to build relationships and ensure smooth transitions between home and classroom. This includes daily written communication provided to families regarding the child’s day, which must include successes, challenges, classroom routines, and self-care (e.g., diapering and potty training, napping, and what they ate at each meal) (per DHS regulations and Parent/Family Engagement policy).
Design a safe and developmentally appropriate learning environment ensuring active supervision is maintained at all times (per Teaching and Learning Environment Policy).
Ensures appropriate health and safety practices are implemented. Inspects the classroom, indoor and outdoor space daily ensuring that materials are safe. Remove or repair all unsafe equipment (per Daily Potential Hazard Checklist) and report all major issues to management.
Conduct daily informal health checks of each child.
Actively participates in emergency drills(per Emergency Safety Lockdown policy).
Continuously cleans and sanitizes classrooms and toys. Monitors for the excretion of bodily fluids (e.g., toileting accidents, mouthing of toys, etc.) using universal precautions to clean and sanitize (per Safe Facilities policy).
Responsible for ensuring that children’s classroom files and necessary program database (e.g. daily attendance and meal count, home visits, conferences, child goals, ect.) children’s tracking log, monthly reports, health and safety logs, separation log, accident reports, and any additional documentation are current and up to date.
Promotes parent engagement and participation in all areas of the Head Start Program. Communicates opportunities such as volunteer opportunities in the classroom, center meetings and events, Parent Education activities, community events and resources, Policy Council and Advisory committees.
Focus on developing trauma-informed universal classroom supports, utilizing and following a social-emotional curriculum. Teach and develop children’s social-emotional skills using evidence-based strategies to teach, model, and reinforce positive behaviors. Teachers will produce a material-rich environment to stimulate social interactions among children, including expected routines, rules and social expectations (per Promotion of Children’s Mental Health, Social and Emotional Well-Being policy).
Provides appropriate responses, using positive behavior supports, to typical infant and toddler behavior, such as biting with an understanding of the developmental nature of such actions and very young children’s attempt at communication through those behaviors.
Model appropriate and respectful behavior to the children, parents, fellow staff, and program leadership following the NAEYC Code of Ethics and signed Code of Ethical Conduct Statement of Commitment.
Guide and support Assistant Teachers and Teacher Aides regarding their training, understanding, and implementation of all aspects of programming, classroom management, and working with children and families.
Monitors Assistant Teaching staff and Teacher Aides to ensure their understanding and implementation of all aspects of the program, especially health and safety practices and active supervision procedures. Address any concerns and bring ongoing issues to supervisors’ attention.
Participate in annual classroom overall quality observations, which are completed using the CLASS Observation Tool. (per CLASS Observation Tool policy).
If federal thresholds are not met, Toddler Lead Teachers must actively participate in creating and working towards meeting established thresholds through Practice-Based Coaching.
Responsible for the overall accuracy of documentation related to programmatic paperwork (e.g. attendance, meal counts, etc.) Child Goals, and TS GOLD for all staff in the classroom.
Maintain personal training logs.
Complete required number of annual training hours necessary to remain in compliance with Minnesota Rule 3 Licensing guidelines.
In response to the staffing needs of the center, this position will be expected to support all age groups (0 to 5) at the site, if needed.
If assigned to the location of “Multi-site”, staff will be required to work at multiple locations and will be expected to support all classrooms, children ages 0-5 years.
Performs other functions as necessary or as assigned.
Undergo annual classroom observations (CLASS) that measure effective Teacher and child interactions, providing useful data to drive improvement. Observation scores must meet federal established guidelines.
Participate in classroom assessment in determining the implementation of Pyramid practices through the use of the Teaching Pyramid Infant-Toddler Observation Tool (TPITOS).
Attain and maintain program reliability certification.(e.g., TSGOLD) within established program deadlines.
Actively participates in required and optional professional training classes and workshops as available.
Actively participates in agency and community meetings, classroom team meetings, agency team meetings, family fun events, conferences and home visits.
Actively participates in Practice-Based Coaching Collaborative (per Professional Development: Coaching policy).
Responsible for area of supervision and daily enforcement of safety regulations and practices.