Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Inc.
JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB TITLE: Teacher
Reports to: Site Director (Baby Toddler Nursery or Teen Baby Nursery),
Category: Exempt, Salaried
AGENCY MISSION
To deliver exceptional care and education for infants and young children and support families’ efforts to be effective parents and advocates in their child’s learning and development.
SUMMARY
The Teacher is responsible for assisting the Head Teacher with 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 Teacher is responsible for primary caregiving of up to four full-time children (possibly more if the children are part-time).
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
· 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.
· Assist in providing 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.
· Help 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, ExceleRate and NAEYC Accreditation standards.
· In the absence of the Head Teacher, 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.
· Ensure that all children in the group are supervised by sight and sound at all times
· Assist in planning and implementing the primary caregiving approach with guidance from the curriculum.
· Under the direction of the Head Teacher, assist in individualizing the curriculum to foster each child’s individual growth and development.
· Assist in planning and carrying 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.
· Help 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.
· Support the teaching team and family 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.
- Assist in ensuring adherence to all DCFS, NAEYC, EHS, ExceleRate and ISBE standards.
- Follow all IWSE protocols for COVID-19
- Participate equally in daily classroom housekeeping responsibilities
- Provide classroom coverage as needed.
- Establish and maintain clear communication and professional relationships with all IWSE employees.
- Strictly follow agency guidelines for confidentiality of information.
- Assist in fostering awareness, understanding and appreciation of diversity through the environment, activities and appropriate role modeling.
- Assisting in training Teacher Assistant in daily classroom operations and procedures.
- Assist in planning family events.
Reporting and Documentation
- Assist in completing all classroom documentation in accordance with IWSE documentation policy.
· Assist in maintaining 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.
- Keep teaching team informed of any and all parent concerns or questions
- 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.
- Provide formal parent teacher conferences as assigned by Head Teacher or supervisor. Base the conferences on information gathered through the developmental assessment system as well as classroom observations, etc.
- Conduct home visits twice a year for each primary child.
Meetings
- Participate in case staffing, and all other meetings as assigned by the Site Manager.
Professional Development
- Promote positive, congenial and professional relationships with staff.
- Depending on current qualifications, enroll in a college degree program in ECE or a related field in order to complete first an Associates degree and then a baccalaureate degree.
- If without the required degree, within 1 year attain a Level 2 or higher ECE and a Level 2 or higher IT Credential from Gateways to Opportunity or an Infant Toddler CDA.
- Attend conferences, workshops and seminars as necessary or required.
- Create and carry out an annual professional development plan with guidance from 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.
QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty 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.
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
Associate's degree or equivalent from two-year college in Early Childhood Education; or the equivalent from a two-year college or university in Early Childhood Education, Child Development or closely related field, including a minimum of 30 semester credit hours in ECE or Child Development; and a minimum of 2 years of experience working with young children and their families.
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 families and colleagues.
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS
Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide 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.
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, toxic or caustic chemicals, and outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $40,000.00 - $43,500.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Employee discount
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Retirement plan
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
- 8 hour shift
- Monday to Friday
Education:
- High school or equivalent (Preferred)
License/Certification:
- CPR Certification (Preferred)
- Child Development Associate Certification (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
