Toddler Lead Teacher

Child-Parent Centers, Inc.•Tucson, AZ

7d•$1,880 - $1,973•Onsite

About The Position

Child-Parent Centers (CPC) is seeking professionals who share our values and principles for building trusting relationships with children, families, and colleagues. Successful candidates welcome individual differences and perspectives, respect cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and are sensitive to current circumstances. Candidates display a commitment to teamwork, open communication, and are eager to work in a fast-paced, high quality preschool environment. This is a great opportunity for organized and dependable early childhood professionals with strong work ethic and a desire to grow. CPC provides opportunities and financial support for lead teachers to grow professionally including continuing education credits in childhood education or child development or through professional memberships in local regional or national early childhood organizations. If you have previous experience working in an early childhood center and are interested in joining our growing team, we encourage you to apply. Reporting to the site supervisor, leads the classroom team in providing comprehensive high-quality early education and child development services for eight (8) mobile ones and toddlers up to 36 months of age who are enrolled in the assigned classroom. Daily routines promote children’s cognitive, social, health, and emotional growth for later success in school. The lead teacher serves as the parent’s primary contact for all Early Head Start services. The Toddler Lead Teacher receives regular on-going support from the site supervisor and the education specialist (coach) to implement the agency’s Early Languages of Learning curriculum that includes creating a safe and enriching environment, embedding responsive and effective teacher-child interactions, and fostering partnerships with families by respecting values, strengths, and cultures and welcoming parent's contributions and participation. The Toddler Lead Teacher position is funded for eight hours per day Monday through Friday and leads the classroom team to work directly with children who may be in the classroom up to 8 - 10 hours per day, four or five days per week. When working outside the classroom, the lead teacher guides the classroom team activities such as planning lessons, documenting children's work and outcomes, entering and analyzing child and family data, setting goals, and attending professional development opportunities.

Requirements

Must be 18 years of age
Possess an associate degree from a recognized educational institution in the field of early childhood education or an associate degree in a related field (Child and Family Studies, Consumer Studies, Developmental Psychology, Elementary Education, Home Economics/Family and Consumer Sciences, Human Development, Human Ecology, Human Services, Nursing, Psychology, Public Health, Social Work, Sociology, or Special Education) and a minimum of 18 credits in early childhood education or child development coursework.
One (1) year documented center-based work experience with mobile one-year olds and two-year-olds or two (2) years documented experience working with classroom-based preschool aged children.
One (1) year documented experience as a supervisor.
Possess a valid Arizona driver's license and excellent driving record.
Demonstrated proficiency using Office 365 (Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English.
Submit a current AZ Department of Public Safety Level One Fingerprint Clearance Card prior to start date.
Able to pass a company paid physical exam prior to starting work.
Able to pass a DES Centralized Background Check prior to starting work.
Must be able to travel to and from various sites as needed.
Provide proof of immunizations: MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Tdap (adult Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis), and a clear Tuberculosis self-assessment.
Must be able to prove the right to work in the USA by providing appropriate documents to complete the Federal I-9 form.
Ability to maintain a valid level I fingerprint clearance card and a clear annual DES Centralized Background Check.
Must possess or have the ability to possess and keep current certification in First Aid Training/CPR training including Infants and Children.
Must be able to complete Food Handlers Certification within one month of employment.

Nice To Haves

Possess a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a recognized educational institution in the field of Early Childhood Education or closely related field (listed above).
Four (4) years’ experience working in an infant toddler center-based classroom.
Six (6) years’ work or volunteer experience with groups or individuals from a variety or ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds or with Head Start.

Responsibilities

Lead the classroom team in the implementation of the Early Languages of Learning curriculum up to 8-10 hours per day four to five days per week.
Ensure and support the completion of at least two parent conferences and two home visits during the program year.
Set learning goals and plan learning experiences by integrating knowledge of each child’s temperament, interests, gender, culture, language, learning approaches, understanding, misconceptions, and abilities and by working collaboratively with families and a range of specialists (e.g., medical, dental, speech, nutrition, mental health).
Demonstrate respect for families’ values, strengths, and cultures by welcoming their contributions and participation, encouraging children to talk about their families, and designing learning experiences accordingly.
Use information about children obtained through home visits, parent-teacher conferences, and other parent-staff interactions by incorporating this data into daily routines and interactions with children.
Support children’s overall development by integrating sensory learning experiences related to all domains throughout the curriculum, environment, and day.
Promote children’s security and attachment by responding promptly and consistently to their needs, providing frequent and affectionate one-on-one contact, and offering predictable daily routines and interactions.
Enable children to develop emerging skills and practice existing ones by engaging them in individual and small-group experiences designed to enhance their development and learning.
Promote children’s development of fine and gross motor skills by providing a variety of materials (e.g., puzzles, stacking toys, balls, climbing structures), equipment, and opportunities.
Foster children’s curiosity, engagement, reasoning, and problem solving by providing a balance of open-ended exploration, teacher-guided inquiry, structured activities, and sensory-based play.
Help children acquire meaningful content knowledge by ensuring that learning experiences and routines are child-centered and are based on information that is current, accurate, and focused at the children’s level of understanding.
Help children gain independence and autonomy in eating, toileting, dressing, and hygiene by encouragingly presenting age-appropriate and manageable tasks and by recognizing their abilities.
Build children’s awareness of and ability to follow basic health and safety rules by providing opportunities for health and safety learning (e.g., implementing and discussing routines—washing hands, fire drills, crossing streets) and by supervising children at all times and positively redirecting them from potentially harmful activities.
Support families in extending children’s learning at home by providing newsletters, take-home activities, home visits, and parent-teacher conferences.
Help children who are learning English by providing them with the supports (e.g., props, gestures, incorporating basic words in the child’s home language, securing volunteers who speak the child’s language) they need to fully participate in classroom experiences.
Help children expand their emergent language and literacy skills by cuing in and responding to children’s non-verbal forms of communication (e.g., gestures, sounds).
Foster teacher-child and child-child communication intentionally by facilitating mutual sharing and authentic exchange of ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Advance children’s listening, understanding, and communicating skills and supports development of content knowledge by commenting on children’s activities and experiences and describing children’s actions and events.
Build children’s vocabulary by regularly introducing new and challenging words, discussing them, and infusing them into ongoing activities.
Cultivate children’s understanding of and appreciation for books by gathering a wide range of high-quality children’s literature, including board books, for children to explore on their own or with a teacher.
Enhance children’s knowledge and language and literacy development by regularly reading books with children individually, in small groups, and in various settings (e.g., block area, housekeeping area).
Further children’s listening, vocabulary, and attention span through book reading by using prompts for discussion and follow-up activities.
Encourage children’s scribbling and other emergent writing skills, their awareness of print, and the varied purposes for writing by providing and using a range of writing materials (e.g., markers, crayons, finger paint, letter magnets) and environmental print.
Support children’s interest in and awareness of numbers, counting, and problem solving by initiating counting games and activities and by providing materials that link number concepts to numerals and mathematical understanding and vocabulary.
Promote children’s understanding of size, shape, color, and directionality by engaging them is small- and large-motor activities that require them to sort, match, identify patterns, group objects, and measure objects.
Build children’s ability to compare and talk about the similarities and differences between objects by providing experiences with sorting, matching, patterns, grouping, and measurement.
Assist children in understanding math and science concepts by embedding math and science experiences into everyday routines, music, movement, literacy, art, and play.
Help children expand their knowledge of their bodies and the world around them by planning and implementing age-appropriate activities and explorations.
Encourage children’s use of scientific inquiry by offering experiences and opportunities to explore and investigate their immediate environment.
Expand children’s knowledge of nature, living things, and materials and processes by providing objects, tools, and experiences that enable them to closely observe and explore nature and scientific concepts (e.g., cause and effect, time, temperature, buoyancy, changes in materials).
Facilitate children’s ability to listen to, interact with, and appreciate different types of music by providing individual and group experiences with singing, finger plays, creative movement, and musical instruments.
Develop children’s imagination and creativity by providing child-directed and teacher-guided opportunities for them to express their thoughts, ideas, experiences, and feelings through various media (e.g., movement, dance, drama, music, visual arts).
Help children learn about themselves and others by designing and implementing meaningful experiences to explore similarities and differences between people.
Facilitate children’s learning about their community by using play, language and literacy experiences (e.g., conversations, books, writing), and face-to-face interactions (e.g., field trips) that reflect children’s familial and cultural backgrounds and illustrate the roles and interconnectedness of community members.
Build children’s understanding of their own and other cultures by providing opportunities for them to learn about the culture and traditions, linguistic diversity, and family structures of the children and families within their classroom and the greater community.
Foster children’s social and emotional development by providing warmth, sensitivity, nurturance, acceptance, and safety and by encouraging them to express and understand their feelings and emotions.
Promote children’s development of age-appropriate, self-regulated behaviors by using routines, schedules, and classroom design.
Support children’s decision making and autonomy by encouraging them to initiate activities of their own choice and by modeling conflicts independently and by modeling ways to share, help, and cooperate with others.
Encourage children to work collaboratively by fostering group learning, joint problem solving, and reasoning opportunities through teacher-initiated activities and play.
Promote children’s active exploration, creativity, and development in all domains by designing indoor and outdoor environments based on knowledge of how children develop and learn, and their individual abilities.
Ensure that children are intellectually challenged by selecting, organizing, and using high-quality materials and equipment and by adapting the environment to support each child’s skill acquisition and success.
Maintain a healthy physical environment by following health and safety procedures (e.g., following universal precautions, regularly sanitizing equipment, child-proofing environments).
Support the goals of the curriculum by planning and establishing distinct and child-accessible learning centers and changing materials intentionally.
Extend the learning environment beyond the classroom by accessing the community (e.g., fire station, library, construction site).
Build children’s pride in their cultures, families, and communities by ensuring that classroom learning centers and materials reflect children’s cultures and communities (e.g., books and print in families’ languages, family photographs, items from their culture).
Supervise assigned staff by providing direction, input, and feedback using tools and resources provided in the agency’s performance planning, supervision, and evaluation system.
Provide a minimum of one supported supervision meeting per month to assigned staff.
Use reflective practice supervision and coaching strategies with consistency and equity to create a learning environment that supports development while maintaining accountability for performance.
Support and monitor assigned staff in professional achievement or personal growth through the professional development system, including attainment of required certifications or education.
Identify self-growth, development goals, and strategies for achievement with support and input from supervisor.
Commit and participate in consistent and planned meetings with supervisor to further professional growth by seeking feedback, reflecting on and assessing own practice, and taking advantage of opportunities to improve skills and knowledge.
Monitor child observation, screening, and assessment data to plan individualized experiences and small and large group activities.
Meet federal, state, and program documentation requirements by maintaining accurate, objective, complete, timely, and well-organized child and family records. through entry into child information systems (SmartTeach and/or ChildPlus).
Monitor children’s progress per the goals developed by self and other staff and specialists, including those in IFSPs, by observing and documenting children’s play, conversations, routines/schedules, and work samples and through conversations with families.
Meet federal, state, and program documentation requirements by maintaining accurate, objective, complete, timely, and well-organized child and family records.
Responsible for reporting (including self-reporting) any unsupervised child incidents to the supervisor and to those with a need to know.
Participate in center staff meetings and the planning of center activities.
Identify emerging needs, initiate requests for additional assistance, and participate in on-going improvements to program policies and procedures.
Participate in a transdisciplinary team within the agency to meet family needs and to build the parent/child/teaching staff relationship.
Facilitate transitions to or from Early Head Start, Head Start, home, and/or other early education and care settings by engaging families, others in the program, and members of the community in planning.
Maintains professional boundaries in relationships with staff and families by distinguishing between others’ needs and own, guarding against abuse of power and sexual misconduct, and using appropriate language.
Ensures family confidentiality by limiting conversations about families and access to their records to those directly involved in providing services.
Stay abreast in early childhood education through professional development including participation in Tucson Children's Project forums, SAzEYC events, Office of Head Start webinars, North American Reggio Alliance events, CPC professional development, or other conferences and events.
Establish and maintain external professional relationships by participating as a member of community, state, and/or national professional organizations.
Link current research on and best practice in education, family, health and/or disabilities services to own work by keeping abreast of new information and reflecting on its relevance.
Participate in securing, training, and supervising classroom volunteers.
Participate in recruitment and enrollment of eligible Early Head Start families.
Understand and model the agency's vision, mission, and philosophy within the agency and the community.
Demonstrate approachability, ownership, accountability, and life-long learning.
Use the agency's communication and problem-solving approach.
Seek perspective of others.
Identify emerging issues and contribute new knowledge.
Work to de-escalate when emotions and stakes are high.
Maintain professional behavior and relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Use agency systems and technologies to accomplish work.
Maintain a high level of attendance to support ongoing service delivery.
Recognizes children's safety as the first responsibility of all staff and acts swiftly to ensure no child is unsupervised or released to an unauthorized person.
Implement agency policies and procedures for safeguarding confidential or sensitive information about employees and/or program participants.
Restrict access to paper or electronic documents to those with a need to know.
Performs other duties as assigned.

Benefits

26 paid holidays
5 days paid vacation after one year, 13 days each year thereafter
8 days paid Personal leave first year, 9 days each year thereafter
up to 5 days paid Sick leave each year
dental
Flexible Spending Accounts
Health Reimbursement Arrangements
Health Savings Accounts
PPO medical (3 plans)
Vision
Supplemental Life coverage for self, spouse, and child ($25,000 basic life and Accidental death and disability provided by employer)
supplemental policies (Accident Insurance, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity)
Pet Insurance
Retirement Plan - Agency contribution after years of services and hours eligibility criteria are met.
Employee 401k deferral after eligibility is met.