| Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Inc. JOB DESCRIPTION JOB TITLE: Head Teacher - Type 04 Reports to: Site Director, Baby Toddler Nursery or Teen Baby Nursery Category: Exempt, Salaried AGENCY MISSION The Infant Welfare Society of Evanston is committed to the care and early education of infants and toddlers and to supporting their families' efforts to be self-sufficient providers and effective parents. SUMMARY - The Head Teacher is responsible for the overall daily care, protection, nurturance and supervision of a group of children, with the support of co-workers and the administrative and auxiliary staff. The Head Teacher is responsible for primary care giving of four full-time children (more if children are in preschool or part-time).
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Classroom and Children
- Commit to the mission of the agency and ensure implementation of the program philosophy, with respect to the curriculum, care of children and relationships with families.
- Provide daily care for children in an environment that is safe, clean, nurturing, stimulating, relaxed and fun, with ongoing input from the teaching team, and from the children’s families.
- Maintain the physical environment, both indoor and outdoors, ensuring it includes constant supervision of children, toys, and equipment.
- Follow established health and safety requirements and practices for child care centers and established best practices for quality infant, toddler (or preschool) care and education. These include DCFS Licensing Standards, Early Head Start (EHS) (or ISBE Preschool for All) guidelines, and NAEYC Accreditation standards.
- Ensure that all children in the group are supervised by sight and sound at all times, including nap time.
- Assure the classroom is properly staffed, with a ratio of no more than 4 children per qualified staff and no more than 8 in a classroom (7 to 1 in a group size of 14 in preschool).
- Adhere to the “on-call” schedule by making oneself available to come in early or stay late on designated days to assure appropriate staffing.
- Plan and implement the primary care giving approach with guidance from the curriculum.
- Individualize the curriculum to foster each child’s individual growth and development.
- Plan and carry out the weekly lesson plan and daily schedule to include a variety of developmentally appropriate activities and experiences that foster optimal social, emotional, physical and cognitive development for each child, including children with special needs. Submit the proposed lesson plan to the supervisor for pre-approval.
- Change the learning environment as needed to reflect the lesson plan.
- On a daily basis, engage children in creative, stimulating and appropriately challenging experiences (based on the lesson plan) and actively participate with children in those activities.
- Observe each child on a continual basis and record each child’s individual growth and development in accordance with the curriculum and assessment system.
- Cooperate in the development of and implementation of IFSPs (Individualized Family Service Plans) for children with special needs (or an IEP for a preschool child).
- Meet the daily care needs of children including feeding, napping, hand washing, and toileting/diapering.
- Serve breakfast, lunch and a snack according to the Child and Adult Care Food Program policies and procedures.
- Ensure adherence to all DCFS, NAEYC, EHS and ISBE standards.
- Ensure all team members equally participate in daily classroom housekeeping responsibilities.
- Provide classroom coverage as needed.
- Establish and maintain clear communication and professional relationships with all IWSE employees and families.
- Strictly follow agency guidelines for confidentiality of information.
- Foster awareness, understanding and appreciation of diversity through the environment, activities and appropriate role modeling.
- Train Teachers and Aides in daily classroom operations and procedures.
- Assign, direct and/or delegate work.
- Provide general support to Teachers and Aides by addressing concerns, helping to resolve conflicts, and assisting with other issues.
- Coordinate team schedules and breaks in accordance with scheduled meetings and classroom needs.
- Assist in planning family events.
Reporting and Documentation - Prepare, collect, review and submit all classroom documentation in accordance with IWSE documentation policy.
- Maintain and submit program records, including, but not limited to, classroom attendance, meal counts, daily care sheets, observations, child assessments, accident reports, family contact logs and anecdotal notes.
- Work with other staff to document services provided to children and families. This includes, but is not limited to the Family Partnership Agreement.
Parent Relations - Foster positive relations with parents by communicating daily about children’s activities, by offering support and information and by addressing questions and concerns as appropriate.
- Maintain professional boundaries with parents that include, but are not limited to, refraining from discussing agency business outside of work and/or discussing personal business during work hours.
- Ensure all formal parent teacher conferences are conducted each year for each family, or as needed, drawing on information gathered through the developmental assessment system as well as classroom observations, etc.
- Conduct home visits twice a year for each primary child and ensure all classroom home visits are completed and records are created and submitted within the specified time period.
- Work with other staff to integrate parent involvement in all aspects of the program. Welcome parents and family members as volunteers or observers and encourage participation in program activities such as EHS Policy Council, parent workshops or family fun events.
Meetings - Participate in child staffings, staff, team and all other meetings as assigned by the Baby Toddler or Teen Baby Site Directors.
Professional Development - Depending on current qualifications, enroll in a college degree program in ECE or a related field in order to complete a baccalaureate degree.
- Attend conferences, workshops and seminars as necessary or required.
- Create and carryout an annual professional development plan with guidance from the immediate supervisor.
Other - Perform and fulfill other responsibilities as assigned by IWSE management.
- Maintain regular and predictable attendance and timeliness.
- Act as a team member in group efforts and on general projects and organizational needs.
- Promote positive, congenial and professional relationships with staff.
EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE Bachelor's degree from four-year college or university in Early Childhood Education or closely related field; Type 04 0-Grade 3 teaching certificate; or an Associate's degree or equivalent from a two-year college in Early Childh3ood Education and active enrollment in a baccalaureate degree program culminating in a degree with at least 36 total semester credit hours in ECE, or Child Development; plus at least, two –years of experience working with young children and their families. QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each of the above listed essential duties satisfactorily. The qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. - Experience working with infants, toddlers and/or three to five year olds (if in the preschool classroom) and their families.
- Knowledge of current theories and practices in the field of infant/toddler care and education.
- Ability to work in a multi-cultural, interdisciplinary environment.
- Ability to work cooperatively with others in teams.
- Ability to develop warm, supportive relationships with children and families and at the same time to maintain professional boundaries.
- Good written and verbal communication skills in English.
- Good organizational skills.
- Patience, maturity and love of very young children.
LANGUAGE SKILLS Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals in English. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence in English. Ability to speak effectively in English about the organization with clients and colleagues. MATHEMATICAL SKILLS Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divides in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals in order to complete common tasks like measuring formula. CERTIFICATES AND LICENSES - Certification in Infant and Child Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Pediatric First Aid (within six months of employment).
- A physical exam by a licensed health provider, certifying good health and freedom from communicable diseases, along with a negative result for a tuberculosis test, within six months prior to the date of hire.
- Freedom from conviction or pending charges of criminal activities as described in State of Illinois Licensing Standards for Day Care Centers.
REASONING ABILITY Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions. 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. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to handle, touch, carry and otherwise perform the duties described herein. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; carry; sit; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and taste or smell. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. The employees must be able to communicate verbally as well as hear children and adults communicating even when not directly speaking to the employee. WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, blood and other bodily fluids, household cleaning supplies, and outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. |
