Teacher Assistant

The Salvation Army North & Central Illinois Division; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 23,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

The Salvation Army North & Central Illinois Division is seeking a Teacher Assistant – Head Start to support a classroom environment focused on safety, health, and comprehensive early childhood development.

You will assist the teacher with planning and implementing activities, promote learning through hands-on experiences, and engage with families to support children's growth and well-being in a Head Start program.

Qualifications

• Requires Associate of Arts degree in early childhood education.
• Two years of experience in a pre-school setting.
• Some experience with young children.

Responsibilities

• Ensure safety and adequate supervision in the classroom.
• Assist the teacher in planning and implementing learning activities.
• Maintain a healthy classroom environment and support nutrition education.
• Plan and implement activities to promote developmental domains (cognitive, social, physical).
• Involve families and communicate child progress to parents.

Skills

Communication

Interpersonal skills

Initiative

Detail-oriented

Flexible

Mission alignment

Education

AA degree in early childhood education

Job description

Job Description

THE SALVATION ARMY

NORTH AND CENTRAL ILLINOIS DIVISION

CHILCARE

Job Description

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.