Early Childhood Lead Teacher

Scope of Responsibilities:

• Promote and model high quality teaching and learning in the classroom that fosters kindergarten readiness.
• Demonstrate culturally and linguistically appropriate practices that values all children and families and makes them feel welcomed and an essential part of the program
• Maintain awareness and supervision of children's needs and ensure their physical health and safety, at all times.
• Communicate and develop effective partnerships with parents and families, encouraging parent involvement.
• Abide by DCFS and all quality standards for maintaining safe, high-quality programming
• Collaborate regularly with classroom team including families, volunteers and all staff.
• Collect and use multiple data sources, both formative and summative, to inform instruction and child centered learning and development.
• Complete routine professional development annually; utilize continuous quality improvement (CQI); and identify different instructional resources and methods to meet children's varying needs and improve the classroom experience for children and families.
• Participate and support association/center efforts towards recruitment, enrollment, attendance and retention of families while supporting the YMCA's mission and center operations as needed.
• Assists in the development of plans for ongoing growth and improved quality of services to children and families.
• Monitors and makes staffing adjustments, as necessary, to ensure that ratios are in compliance for the age groups served.
• Will respect the confidentiality of each child participating in the program.
• Monitors safety and cleanliness of program facility/areas and outdoor play areas.
• Displays the highest ethical and professional behavior and standards (including the NAEYC Code of Ethics) when working with students, parents, personnel, and other agencies associated with the program.
• Assists in recruitment recommend for hire supervises, and coaches staff of varied levels of education and experience to ensure program quality and positive outcomes for children and families.
• Ability to organize and prioritize multiple, competing for priorities to maximize personal and team effectiveness.

Lesson Planning and Classroom Management:

• Develop lesson plans with goals, objectives, activities and outcomes for children that represent the Illinois Early Learning Standards.
• Implement high quality, developmentally appropriate instructional activities and curriculum approaches (like Creative Curriculum) that facilitate active learning experiences and promote the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of each child; while ensuring the program follows DCFS, YMCA, ExceleRate Illinois, and NAEYC accreditation standards, if applicable.
• Research, plan, and implement appropriate studies/projects for an in-depth investigation of a topic over time.
• Establish and maintain an attractive, clean, safe and engaging classroom environment which includes positive guidance techniques and that encourages children's independence and self-selection of activities.
• Leverage the physical environment and pedagogical documentation to support teaching and learning practices.
• Use observational and child data to plan developmentally appropriate and engaging early learning experiences based upon the emergent needs of the child.
• Documents observations and maintains child portfolios to aid in assessments.

Requirements:

• Must meet DCFS licensing, and program related accreditation/credentialing requirements; ECE Credential Level 1 or higher preferred.
  
  
  
  
  • OR
  
  
  
  
• 64 semester hours in any discipline with a minimum of 21 hours of college credit in child development, early childhood education or early childhood special education AND ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
  
  
  
  • Gateways to Opportunity Level I Illinois Director Credential
  • OR 3 semester hours of college credit in administration, leadership or management
  • OR 3 points of credential-approved training in administration, leadership or management.
  
  
  
  
• Three years' experience teaching or equivalent in a preschool classroom strongly preferred.
• Must provide documentation of Gateways credentialing or apply within 90 days of employment.
• Knowledge of how to design and implement the Creative Curriculum and other high quality curriculum approaches preferred.
• Pre-Employment medical screening and TB test per program requirements.
• Required to be achieved or maintained once in role: Food Handlers Training

Child Abuse Prevention - Supports the YMCA's commitment to child abuse prevention by:

• Reporting any items that may provide a health or safety hazard to staff, members or guests to your supervisor
• Following all policies and procedures related to keeping children safe in our facilities and programs, including those related to the monitoring and supervision of children
• Reporting any suspicious behavior and violation of policy and procedures to your supervisor
• Completing all child abuse prevention training as required