Assistant Teacher - Hopeful Beginnings : Job Details

Our mission is to provide a developmentally appropriate Christian environment where children are encouraged to let God love them, love Him and return, and love others in Jesus' name.Position Title: Assistant TeacherPurpose of the Position:The Assistant Teacher position's main duty is to aid lead teacher however needed and enforcing licensing regulations such as but not limited to: cleanliness, staff-to-child ratio, and supervision.Supervision of:NAQualifications:Required Education, Certifications, Experience and continual Professional Development:

• High School Diploma
• CPR Certification for Adult, Child, and Infant with AED certification
• First Aid Certification
• Getting Started
• SIDS

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Complete 2-day onsite orientation
• Keep children within sight (easily glance), hearing, and easy reach of staff with no more than a few (no more than 5) momentary lapses (less than 1 minute).
  • Quickly get materials from closet room.
  • Call into building from door while supervising children on playground.
  • No momentary lapse of supervision can occur when the risk of danger is too high (water play/climbing)
• Attention is on caregiving responsibilities, not on other tasks or interests.
• Show awareness of the whole group even while working with 1 child or small group
• React quickly (reasonable amount of time) to solve problems in a comforting and supporting way.
• Play with children and show interest in or appreciation of what they do.
  • It must be evident throughout the observation a significant amount of time is spent playing and showing interest in what the children are doing does not include time in routines.
• Give children help and encouragement when needed.
  • Help children who are wandering to get involved in play.
  • Assist children in doing something they haven't been able to do before (monkey bars on the playground, cutting with scissors).
• Foster problem solving skills by watching carefully and only getting involved if needed before issues occur.
• Provide individualized supervision.
  • Provide closer supervision of child with greater needs or behavioral problems
• Vary supervision to meet differing requirements of activities.
• Art activities with sharp scissors etc.
• During free play rotate between all the centers and engage with the students in play
  • Get on their level (PLEASE DO NOT SIT ON CHILDREN FURNITURE)
  • Ask questions about what they are doing
  • Help foster creativity while allowing the students to stay in control of the play
  • Help remind students to follow the expectations of the classroom and centers
  • Help enforce the classroom discipline
• During circle time/Bible time/instruction time help students to be respectful and follow the expectations
  • Quietly remind individual students of expectations
  • Sit by students who have a harder time paying attention
  • Set a good example of listening and paying attention
    • It is important for the students to see that you are engaged in learning what they are learning. If you are paying attention to what is being said they will be more likely to pay attention as well. It is ok to quietly remind a student of what they should be doing but try to ignore little behaviors to not cause a bigger distraction than needed. If a child is acting out it is usually done for attention. Try not to feed into this behavior by constantly giving your attention to that child rather than the lead teacher
• Outside/Children's Center
  • Help keep constant supervision of students.
  • Be engaged with students.
  • Gross motor time is often a time where students need less help engaging in play, but accidents and injuries happen more frequently. Because students need less help engaging in play this does not mean teachers need to be less attentive and engaged. It is ok to have conversations with other teachers at this time but a majority of your attention should be given to the students still. This means that while having a conversation with another teacher your eyes should still be scanning the area looking for situations that may need intervention.
  • THIS IS NOT A TIME TO BE ON THE PHONE.
  • THIS IS NOT A BREAK OR TIME TO RELAX.
• Bathroom
  • Help students to follow expectations in bathroom
  • To prevent bathroom problems, if fully staffed, teachers are expected to go to the bathroom if they send more than one child at a time
• Cleaning
  • Tables are washed and sanitized before and after usage according to ND licensing regulations.
  • Floors are swept after meals/projects.
  • Floors are mopped once a day.
  • Garbage is taken out at the end of the day.
  • Toys and classroom supplies are put back in their proper place after use/by the end of the day.
  • Chore chart is completed and initialed by the end of each time frame (Morning/openers, quiet time/naptime, closing duties)

Lead teachers may have different rules or expectations for assistant teachers and students

• Try to know the teacher whose class you will be working in and how they do things. We want to keep expectations and discipline as standard and consistent as we can.
• Please reach out to your lead teachers if you have questions about something
• Your lead teacher may also ask you to do things that are not listed (such as help prep for upcoming activities, etc.) or they may prefer to do some of the things listed themselves. Please keep open communication about what the lead teacher expects of you when you are in the classroom.
• If a lead teacher is dealing with a situation, do not try to take it over. If you saw what was happening, quietly let the teacher know if she is not already aware.