The Early Head Start Teacher utilizes responsive caregiving and continuity of care strategies to build relationships with children and promote their growth in the areas of social-emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development. Involves families in every aspect of their child's education, including facilitating parent involvement.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
Level I: CDA or one-year equivalent certification
Level II: An Associate's degree in Early Childhood Education or a related degree with a minimum of 18 credit hours of Early Learning coursework.
Level III: A Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education or a related degree with a minimum of 18 credit hours of Early Learning coursework.
One year of experience working in early childhood programs
CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS
Driver qualifications are required for this position. Valid driver license, insured vehicle available for use on the job, and a satisfactory drive record for the previous three years are required.
Successful registration with the Central Background Registry of the Child Care Division.
CPR/First Aid Certification or the ability to obtain within 60 days of hire.
Food Handlers Card or the ability to obtain within 30 days of hire.
Candidate must pass pre-employment physical examination, renewable every two years.
Candidate must pass pre-employment and random drug/alcohol screenings.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
Demonstrated proficiencies in Microsoft Office (including Outlook), videoconferencing platforms, and web tools.
Demonstrate tact, diplomacy, and empathy when communicating with clients, staff and community partners.
Effective interpersonal communication skills, in both oral and written form.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee will also perform other reasonably related business duties as assigned by immediate supervisor and other management as required.
Classroom
Utilizes infant and toddler curriculum and lesson planning procedures to create and implement flexible learning opportunities based on children's needs, strengths, and interests.
Develops close relationships with children through nurturing and responsive interactions, along with consistent routines to maintain a continuity of care.
Supports the social-emotional growth of infants and toddlers by using individualized responses and approaches based on their temperaments and needs.
Utilizes consistent responses to infants' and toddlers' actions and behaviors to support learning and provide positive redirection.
Builds social-emotional growth and language development through engaging and connecting with children during large- and small-group time, meal times, diaper changing, and bottle-feeding.
Integrates developmentally appropriate movement and physical activities and routines that support health and learning.
Assesses and modifies the learning environment to support the changing ages, interests, and characteristics of infants and toddlers.
Ensures safety in the classroom at all times, with appropriate supervision of children, utilizing the transition and counting form and procedure. Ensures children are released only to parent/guardians or authorized adults.
Office/Paperwork
Effectively uses the ChildPlus and Teaching Strategies Gold databases to enter or obtain information.
Completes Progress Checkpoints for child assessment, using information obtained from child observations. Shares information with program administration and parents.
Writes an article for parent newsletter each month.
Staff Development/Meetings
Attends a variety of classes, workshops, seminars, pre-service training and other Head Start Teacher trainings, and keeps current on developments in early childhood education, and developmentally appropriate practices.
Attends a variety of meetings including individual reflection meetings, region meetings, site team meetings, debriefing after observations, and other meetings as necessary.
Attends IFSP meetings or Triage meetings when necessary to support children with social-emotional or developmental concerns.
Keeps current on and complies with program and agency policies and procedures, Head Start Performance Standards, and other applicable regulations.
Parent Involvement
Maintains daily communication with parents by providing information about their child's day, including information about diapering, toileting, meal times, rest times, and activities.
Conducts home visits twice per month per family, presenting child development materials and providing resources to Early Head Start families.
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEMANDS Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close and distance vision and ability to adjust focus; hearing abilities required.
Regularly lift and/or move 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Frequently reach with hands and arms; regularly required to climb or balance; occasionally required to stand; walk; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
Ability to remain calm and quickly evacuate children from the classroom in an emergency.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
Mostly indoor classroom and bus riding environment.
Frequent outdoor supervision of children and monitoring pick up/drop off.
Occasional exposure to cleaning chemicals, creative substances such as paints.
Occasional exposure to body fluids/biohazards (such as saliva, vomit and urine.)
Enrollment in the Central Background Registry is beneficial if you are even considering working with children in the State of Oregon, since it will be required before you can start a position. Enrollment is free and it is recommended that you start now as the process can take time. Start enrollment online at: oregonearlylearning.com
MWVCAA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, veterans, and people with disabilities or any other protected category. We welcome all people to join us in achieving our Mission. If you require any assistance in the application process, or reasonable accommodations to perform the essential duties of the position, please notify a member of our team at (503) 585-6232.
**This is a partial list of essential duties and responsibilities. To review the full job description, download below.
If you need ADA accommodations to apply for MWVCAA job openings, please contact Human Resources at HR@mwvcaa.org or call 503-585-6232 to ask for a HR Team Member
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