Teacher Assistant

POSITION TITLE: Teacher Assistant - Head Start LOCATION/DEPT: North & Central Illinois Division / Child Care

REPORTS TO: Teacher/Site Director PAY GRADE: 202 PAY RANGE: $17.05-$20.40 ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Safety Demonstrates safety practices. Minimizes potential hazards. Provides adequate supervision. Provides safety instruction. Health Maintains a healthy classroom environment. Assists the teacher in planning and implementing activities that promote personal health and sound nutrition. Learning Environment Maintains learning environment. Assists the teacher in planning and implementing activities that promote an interest in the learning environment offering a choice of learning center activities for at least sixty minutes each day. Physical Assists the teacher in planning and implementing activities that promote the physical development of each child. Maintains an environment conducive to development of physical skills. Cognitive Assists the teacher in planning and implementing activities that promote questioning, probing exploration and problem solving. Helps children develop conceptual framework for interpreting experiences, including: Classification Seriation Number Spatial relations Representation Time Communication Promotes children's listening skills. Promotes clear articulation and language production. Promotes adult-child communication. Promotes child-child communication. Creative Supplies equipment and materials that encourage creativity. Encourages innovative uses of materials and divergent thinking. Self Assists the teacher in assessing each child's current skill level. Writes observation notes weekly on C.A.R Summarizes child's skills two times per year on C.O.R Plans and implements activities which maximize opportunities for success. Provides positive feedback to children when appropriate. Social Assists the teacher in planning and implementing activities that develop awareness of feelings and emotions. Capitalizes on spontaneous occurrences of empathy, display of feelings and emotions throughout the day. Serves as role model. Guidance Maintains an environment conducive to preventive discipline. Maintains consistent discipline in the classroom. Sets and enforces appropriate limits. Maintains a positive approach to classroom control and recognizes self-control as a learning process. Organizes smooth and appropriate transitions. Focuses on activity at hand rather than children's behavior. Ignores inappropriate behavior when possible. "lets go" of negative instances: does not harbor grudges. Encourages children to make appropriate choices in controlling their own behavior. Avoids excessive lining up. Families Involves parents in the classroom program. Involves parents in extending the classroom program into the home. Assists the teacher in sharing information on child's progress with parents. Helps parents plan in-home activities to supplement the classroom program. Makes home visits in September/October and April/May. Serves as liaison between other components and parents. Program Management Employs a wide variety of resources in implementing curriculum. Assists the teacher in planning classroom programs in an organized timely fashion. Completes weekly/daily lesson plans on time. Submits records, requisitions, reports and plans when due. Maintains accurate daily attendance and food count. Makes use of program resource personnel in planning for children and their families. Ensures team cooperation. Supervises classroom aides. Professionalism Maintains a professional attitude. Keeps abreast of early childhood education practices. Other Duties All other duties as assigned. EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE Associate of Arts degree in early childhood education. Two years of experience in a pre-school setting. Some experience with young children. COMPETENCIES Some knowledge of social service programs helpful. Good communication and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated ability to use initiative and be a self starter. A positive attitude and the ability to be flexible in light of changing job situations/priorities. An attention to detail. A commitment to support and uphold the mission of The Salvation Army.