Floater Assistant Teacher (AS Canavan)

Description

Job Summary:

The Floater Assistant Teacher will work collaboratively with the Teacher to ensure the successful operation of a classroom of children. The Floater Assistant Teacher also works with a team of other classroom Assistant Teachers and family members to implement the curriculum to achieve outcomes for children of all abilities. The Floater Assistant Teacher will ultimately be evaluated on a combination of skills, dispositions, and behaviors, some of which are related to the specific service area of this position and others that represent general expectations of all AVANCE employees.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

The Floater Assistant Teachers responsibilities chiefly fall within the following core functions, although s/he may perform other tasks as needed:

• Child Growth & Development: Uses knowledge of the principles of child growth and development to work with children and communicate with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Maintains a child-centered curriculum and learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation to promote development in all domains for children of all abilities.
  • Addresses challenging behaviors by observing to determine possible causes of the behavior, implementing preventive measures, teaching the child new social and communication skills and partnering with families to support the child at home.
  • Uses observations of children and anecdotal notes to document childrens progress and individualize curriculum.

• Communication and Service Coordination
  • Share pertinent information with Family Advocate ensuring coordinated services to meet the needs of individual children and families. Participate in case conferences as appropriate.
  • Maintain regular contact with parents and complete appropriate documentation (e.g. daily reporting on infant sleep, eating and elimination).
• Record Keeping and Reporting
  • Share records and notes on children and families with the Early Learning Lead/Assistant Education Lead.
• On-going Monitoring/Self-assessment
  • Work with the teaching team to analyze child outcomes on a classroom basis twice yearly, consult with education leadership and make adjustments to curriculum planning and implementation as needed.
• Planning and Implementation
  • Support learning experiences that advance the intellectual and physical development of children, including improving the readiness of children for school by developing their literacy and phonemic, print, and numeracy awareness, their understanding and use of language, their understanding and use of increasingly complex and varied vocabulary, their appreciation of books, and their problem solving abilities.
• Establish and maintain a safe, healthy, and positive learning environment.
  • Model appropriate classroom practices.
  • Work with the Early Learning Lead/Assistant Education Lead and partner Teacher to develop and support the individual development plan for assigned volunteers.
• Support the social and emotional development of children.
• Encourage the involvement of the families of the children in an Early/Head Start program and supporting the development of relationships between children and their families.
• Participates in assigned meetings, events and training as required.

Non-Essential Duties:

• Performs any and all other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Job Specifications:

Requirements:

1. CDA or enrolled to complete within 2 years; or have a degree in any field or be enrolled in a program leading to such degree.
2. Prior experience with children ages 0-5 years.
3. Physical exam and background checks are required for this position.
4. Travel required locally or long-distance up to 10% of the time for work-related meetings and functions.
5. Must have a valid drivers license and reliable transportation.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

• Ability to interact effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing.
• Demonstrated computer literacy skills, using MS Office applications and other basic data systems including internet navigation.
• Must be honest, dependable and able to meet deadlines.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently.

• Ability to engage in repetitive movement of wrists, hands, and fingers typing and/or writing.

• Able to lift a child weighing 40 pounds, 20 times a day if needed.