Overview: An Assistant Teacher (AT) in a LE3 Academy room supports the Teachers and the Director by helping to create a caring and safe environment for the children and assisting in activities to improve the overall care and quality of education. The AT must be able to communicate, listen and work well with others in a team environment. Assisting the staff in implementing a quality educational program and in developing positive relationships with the children and their parents, the AT observes and documents children's interests and progress, and relays that information back to parents and staff. AT's are responsible for implementing developmentally appropriate activities based on children's interests and needs under the direction of the Teacher and the Director.Qualifications: the lead teacher must have the following education, experience, and certification requirements:
- High School Diploma or GED, and significant college credit in early childhood education or related field of study. CDA or 6 hours of ECE credit is preferred.
- Minimum of 1-2 years of professional childcare experience.
- Ability to work well with others.
- Strong oral and written communication skills and basic computer skills.
- An understanding of child development.
- Must clear a full background check and must pass a health screening.
Job Responsibilities: In addition to the following duties and responsibilities, all lead teachers are expected to perform other reasonable duties or tasks as assigned by the director.
- Assist in the implementation of curricula activities and encourage participation by children.
- Actively engage in activities; manage cleanliness, maintenance, and availability of classroom materials.
- Maintain frequent communications with parents through informal discussions and progress reports.
- Encourage self-help and good hygiene through behavior modeling.
- Help ensure a smooth, daily transition from home to the Academy.
- Follow all center policies and state regulations.
- Maintain personal professional development plan to ensure continuous quality improvement.
- Interpersonal Expectations:
- Actively and clearly communicate with team members
- Avoid gossiping and oversharing with team members
- Conduct appropriate conversations in front of/ with children
- Communicate professionally and constructively with leaders and administration
- Have accountability for your own actions
- Demonstrate a high level of dependability in all aspects of the job
- Core Competency:
- Demonstrates and maintains job-related knowledge
- Continues to grow and seek out new skills to perform the job effectively
- Can stay on task and efficiently manage time while directing a group of children
- Shows kindness and professionalism to all guardians, coworkers, and adult personnel in the building
- Shows willingness to float between all different age groups and learn about all children in the program
- Responds to change positively and direction
- Consistently provide direct, competent supervision of the children
- LE3 Core Values: above all else, AT's are expected to uphold all LE3 core Values while working on site
- Learn & Play: actively engages in play-based learning with children and encourages positive attitudes such as imagination & curiosity
- Empower & Celebrate: empowers students to be independent and confident while celebrating individuality, encourages authenticity, and promotes personal well-being
- Engage & Model: creates an engaging and safe environment for students to learn & play while modeling positive behaviors and interactions for staff and students alike
- Excellence & Quality: ensures high levels of communication with staff, administration, families & children while maintaining professional & positive behaviors at work
Training Expectations: There is mandatory training that must be completed at hiring and on an annual basis in order to maintain a position with LE3. All training completed outside of working hours will be paid for by LE3 (time and cost of course). Create and maintain an accurate and up-to-date profile in The Aspire Registry. Connect your ECEPT training account to your Aspire profile. The Aspire Registry is an online platform that serves as a comprehensive database of early childhood professionals. It documents your education, training, and experience.Hours: Assistant Teachers can fluctuate between part and full-time based on their work availability and LE3's needs during the academic year and/or summer program.
- Shift: Monday-Friday, flexible hours between 7:00 am-6:00 pm
- A minimum of two days per week required
Working Conditions: Most buildings cover the following working conditions:
- Exposures encountered: many LE3 programs have varying noise levels depending on the day, time of year, and activity. Outside of noise level, most sense exposures are common. There are times in which lessons/crafts require extra hands and supervision due to being messy
- Essential physical requirements are not limited to but include walking, running, climbing stairs and playground structures, squatting/sitting on the floor, and standing for a minimum of five hours.
- Regularly uses fingers to feel, type, and assist using fine motor skills to tie shoes, zip coats, etc.
- Regularly required to communicate verbally and in writing, required to switch communication styles based on audience.
- Physical effort/lifting/carrying: up to 20 pounds