EMPLOYER INFORMATION:

Clifford Beers is a mental health clinic serving children and families. Our mission is to provide integrated services addressing mental, physical, and social determinants in order to improve health, resiliency and quality of life for children, families and communities.

PURPOSE:

The Assistant Teacher is responsible for preparing and facilitating curriculum goals and standards in the classroom. The Assistant Teacher is in charge of ensuring the safety of children entrusted to her/him and of ensuring the development and school readiness of each individual child and of the group. The Assistant Teacher is supervised by the School Readiness Program Director.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Pre-School Assistant Teacher is responsible for the care, supervision and management of a class of pre-school (ages 3 to 5) in compliance with the goals and curriculum plan of the Farnam Community.

• Assist the safety and health of children under his/her supervision.
• Provides a comprehensive child development program.
• Works together with families to develop the skills necessary for school readiness of the children.
• Conduct focused observations of children.
• Carry out activities on a daily basis and evaluate the effectiveness of prosocial child development activities.
• Contribute to the effective operation of the overall early care and education center.
• Complies and follows state licensing regulations.
• Assists in planning and implementing appropriate classroom activities based on individual needs of the children and group.
• Carries out goals, policies, and activities outlined in the Performance Standards as well as in local and federal regulations.
• Maintains individual files on required information for each child.
• Maintains regular communication with parents, including classroom committee, written documentation and personal contact.
• Assists in appropriate referrals for children and families.
• Assists in completion of developmental screening, lesson plans, home visits, documentation, and anecdotal observations within required time frame.
• Assist in developing, and implementing individual education plan if needed.
• Maintains proper classroom coverage, 1 staff:10 children.
• Maintains small group interactions to no more than 5 pre-school students.
• Responds quickly to children’s different needs
• Assists with transition into the program.
• Ensures that childcare routines are carried out in a manner that is prompt, hygienic, and consistent with good child development principles (e.g. diapering, hand washing, eating, napping, and transitioning between activities, and others).
• Ensures the safety of children through constant supervision
• Participates and follows program policy regarding regular practice of fire drills and other emergency procedures such as code red.
• Participates in regularly schedule conferencing sessions, staff meetings, parent meetings, home visits, in-service training, and other meetings as directed.
• Greets children’s and their parents warmly and with enthusiasm every day.
• Provide daily care individually to each child, including but not limited to diapering and feeding when necessary.
• Observes children to detect signs of illness, injury, abuse, neglect, or other special need, and report these signs immediately to supervisor.
• Maintains confidentiality of child and family information at all times.
• Eat with and assist children in development of social and self-help skills, and sound nutritional practices during all meals.
• Maintains a safe and healthy classroom environment. Assure that classroom equipment, furniture, materials, and supplies are properly maintained and stored.
• Participates in program annual self-assessment.
• Prioritize tasks and be flexible to changes deemed necessary by Management
• Utilize program data-gathering instruments
• Set up and maintain appropriate records and files
• Ability to have continual professional interaction with co-workers and provide information
• Complete tasks in a timely manner
• Considerable amount of variable levels of concentration with frequent or constant interruptions
• Must be able to handle multi-faceted tasks on a frequent basis.Ability to define problems collects data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Dedication to working closely and cooperatively in a community-based organization with diverse staff, clients, families and/or partnerships.
• Sense of humor, high ethical professional standards, and multi-cultural perspective.
• Flexible and adaptable to change and/or able to acquire the necessary skills to work in a creative and demanding environment including the ability to problem-solve and manage ambiguity and adversity.
• Ability to work in an open, fast-paced, nontraditional agency under high pressure and sometimes competing deadlines.
• Ability to demonstrate cooperative behavior at all times and communicate well with all levels of staff, supervisors, children and families.
• Computer literate and comfortable with acquiring new technology skills.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• CDA, Associate’s degree preferred
•  At least three hundred sixty (500) hours of documented supervised experience working with unrelated pre-school aged children and at least one semester of student teaching with pre-school aged children.

COMPETENCIES:

Must demonstrate the following competencies:

• Diversity and Inclusion:
  Foster an environment in which all members of the Clifford Beers community, from staff to partners and clients, are treated equitably and are able to contribute fully and meaningfully to the mission of Clifford Beers.  Employees must make every effort to:

• Treat others with respect
• Practice cultural humility
• Elicit and welcome different points of view

• Integrity:
  Act ethically with honesty and consistency regardless of the situation.  Employees must make every effort to:

• Be accountable for his or her own actions
• Make decisions based on what is better for the families and employees
• Build and maintain trust among co-workers and our families
• Uphold honesty in all actions

• Excellence:
  Commitment to deliver outstanding practices in both managing the organization, service delivery, and collaborating with partners.  Employees must make every effort to:

• Utilize data and research to provide the highest quality of care
• Regularly participate in professional development to stay abreast of most recent and progressive practices
• Promote continuous quality assessment and improvement

• Communication:
  The ability to express oneself clearly and professionally both in writing, conversations, and in nonverbal communication with others.  Employees must make every effort to:
   

• Oral Communication

• Speak clearly and in an organized manner that can be easily understood
• Express ideas concisely and respectfully
• Summarize or paraphrase his/her understanding of what others have said to verify understanding and prevent miscommunication
• Hold herself or himself accountable for pitch, speed, tone and volume of voice while speaking
• Show understanding of professional and cultural implications of body posture, stance, gestures, proximity to listener, facial expressions and appearance

• Written Communication

• Write clear and concise sentences devoid of grammatical and spelling errors
• Tailor writing style to the audience of the message
• Write in a respectful and tactful manner

SKILLS:

• Proficiency of oral and written communication skills
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and meets timelines
• Ability to work well with individuals at all levels, both internally or externally and works to create a team environment
• Must have strong team building skills
• Child CPR/First Aid certification

REQUIREMENTS:

• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation

PHYSICAL ABILITIES:

• 20% repetitive motions
• 10% sitting 
• 60% walking, bending, standing, stooping, crouching or kneeling
• 10% using hands to type, write, or use controls.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

• Indoors, Environmentally controlled
• Close Physical Proximity to coworkers