Lead Teacher - Early Childhood Educator

Overview

Lead Teacher - Early Childhood Educator role at Vanderbilt University.

About the Work Unit:
Child & Family Center offers quality early childhood education and care for the children of Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students. The program serves children from infants (6 weeks) to five years old. The Centers are licensed by the Tennessee Department of Education. For more information about Vanderbilt University’s Child & Family Centers, visit the program page: http://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)./

• Child Development: Curriculum for young children includes personal-care routines, schedules, environments, and interactions that meet children’s individual needs and reflect diverse perspectives and interests.
• Developmentally appropriate environments promote exploration, discovery, learning, health, and safety for all children in all domains.
• Supportive of children’s feelings, perceptions, behaviors, and interactions, and seeks to understand them.
• Values play as essential to a young child’s development and learning.
• Values the cultivation of self-care and personal safety skills and judgment in children, and the inclusion of children and families as active participants in learning about, health, safety, and nutrition.
• Child Care Operations: Attentive supervision of children, knows classroom enrollment, scanning for safety, and monitoring attendance; models and implements hygiene practices and nutrition routines; mentors and supports Associate Teachers, Assistants, Floating Teachers, and Interns.
• Customer Service: Creates an atmosphere of a joyful learning community; friendly greeting to each and every parent/visitor.
• Plan and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum and activities aligned with VCFC pedagogy and policy, and applicable licensing standards.
• Ensure curriculum reflects planning and preparation with co-teachers; ensure activities are well resourced and reflect the five domains:
  Approaches to Learning;
  Social-Emotional Development;
  Physical Development and Health;
  Language, Literacy, and Communication; and Mathematics and Science.
• Comply with licensing standards, submit needed reports, maintain attendance records, and write a monthly newsletter informing parents of classroom activities.
• Maintain a clean, safe, orderly classroom environment contributing to growth across physical, emotional, social, and cognitive domains.
• Focus on direct engagement with children, prioritizing adult:child conversations, leading activities, and minimizing distractions and clutter; ensure appropriate adult-child ratios; monitor tone and voice for positive interactions.
• Talk, sing, read, and facilitate discussions with children to support language development and early literacy (multiple languages encouraged).
• Supervise children at all times, implement center strategies for head counts and attendance, monitor clean-up and transitions, and ensure safety on classroom and playground.
• Facilitate orientation and supervision of practicum students and volunteers; communicate schedules and activities; develop and discuss plans with coworkers; model best practices and provide clear directions.
• Maintain children’s records (daily reports, developmental profiles); document and report concerns or unusual behaviors to supervisor; monitor behavior and development and maintain portfolios.
• Maintain a clean and safe learning environment; comply with cleaning and sanitizing procedures and inventory management; place orders for supplies; report needed repairs.
• Participate in staff meetings, parent meetings/conferences, and opportunities for professional development; share issues or topics for discussion; attend workshops as directed by supervisor; demonstrate knowledge of licensing standards and handbooks.

• Ability to pass a Child Care Background Investigation (per DOE licensing).
• Ability to lift and carry 40 pounds; ability to reach, run, sit, squat, stoop, and walk.
• Knowledge of blood-borne pathogens and ability to implement safety procedures (including diapering, nutrition, First Aid).
• Possession of or ability to become Infant-Child First Aid/CPR certified.
• Preferred:…