Early Childhood Teacher at Upbring in Austin, Texas

Job Description:

The Early Childhood Teacher is responsible for developing a positive, age-appropriate, structured learning environment promoting social, physical, and intellectual growth, well-being, and development of the children. The Early Childhood Teacher will help ensure developmentally-appropriate achievement for all children within a safe, joyful, and nurturing learning environment with emphasis on loving words and loving actions.

• Develop and maintain rapport with students, parents, and staff by treating others with friendliness, dignity, and consideration
• Set professional ethics at all times and demonstrate a loving, Christ-like character to ensure students exhibit the same values
• Maintain a clean and attractive classroom environment
• Ensure that child care routines are carried out in a manner that is prompt, hygienic, and consistent with child development principle, including diapering, hand washing, eating, napping, and transitioning between activities.
• Develop schedules and routines to ensure children have enough physical activity, rest, and playtime
• Ensure the safety of children through constant supervision, effective arrangement of space, proper maintenance of equipment, and regular practice of emergency procedures
• Observe children to detect signs of illness, injury, abuse, neglect, emotional disturbance, or other special needs, and report these signs immediately to school administration
• Follow and comply with Agency and child care licensing standards and safety regulations
• Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining a nurturing, cooperative, and sharing learning environment among students
• Provide experiences that promote individual expression through conversation, play and creativity
• Plan and conduct an effective child development program as part of a long-term scope and sequence aligned to the curricular goals of Upbring Schools that meet the physical, social, emotional and intellectual needs of each child respecting cultural and socioeconomic differences among students
• Employ a variety of creative, differentiated, research-based instructional strategies that ensure students are actively engaged in meaningful and rigorous learning experiences that target different areas of child development, such as language, motor, and social skills
• Structure all learning experiences that teach/lead students into a growing relationship with Christ and assist students in achieving their potential
• Set measurable, ambitious, and attainable developmental goals for the year and each interim assessment cycle
• Use a variety of rigorous formative and summative assessments to evaluate individual developmental progress and adjust instructional plans to meet the needs of students
• Maintain accurate and complete records, including but not limited to attendance, behavior, student achievement, data, progress reports, parent communication, etc.
• Keep students, parents and the administration adequately informed of progress or deficiencies in a timely manner
• Maintain a high level of confidentiality on private and personal matters
• Plan through approved channels the balanced classroom uses of field trips, guest speakers and other media
• Attend and actively participate in scheduled devotionals, in-service meetings, retreats, open houses, parent conferences, and committee and faculty meetings
• Supervise extra-curricular activities, organizations and outings as assigned
• Cooperate and support the administration in implementing all policies, procedures and directives governing the operation of the school
• Provide input and constructive recommendations for administrative and managerial functions in the school
• Recognize the need for good public relations and represent the school in a favorable and professional manner to the school's constituency and the general public
• Utilize educational opportunities and evaluation processes for professional growth
• Other duties and special projects as assigned

Working Relationships

• Collaborate with team members to ensure a loving, rigorous, and safe environment across the entire school.
• Establish and maintain open lines of communication, providing accessibility to students and families beyond the course of the typical school day.
• Work as team player and exhibit professional behavior and a positive attitude with both internal and external school families that reflect positively on the school and is consistent with school policies and practices and code of ethics.

Minimum Qualifications

• Associate’s degree in in education, family services, psychology, or related field – OR – Current CDA Certification
• 2 years of experience in early childhood education or with infants and toddlers in an educational setting (OR 1 year experience if currently an Upbring employee)
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement early childhood curriculum with emphasis on hands-on learning
• Demonstrated ability to manage the classroom and work well under pressure
• Strong interpersonal skills; ability to build a positive rapport with children, parents/guardians, and team members and ability to interact and communicate professionally with all levels of management in a clear and concise manner
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, and Outlook)
• Strong time management and organizational skills with the demonstrated ability to prioritize competing tasks, requests, and projects and meeting deadlines
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to produce quality well-written documents, reports, and correspondence
• Ability to work independently and within a team; ability to take initiative with limited supervision

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Early Childhood Education
• Current Teacher Certification (Grades EC- 6)
• 3 years of experience in early childhood education or with infants and toddlers in an educational setting
• Experience with RenWeb or other school administration platforms
• Bilingual in English and Spanish (written and conversational, based on service area and service population)
• Spiritually mature Christian active in the worship life of his/her church
• LCMS qualification by Lutheran Teacher Diploma or Colloquy
• CPR/First Aid Certification

Physical Demands & Work Conditions

• This position requires frequent standing, walking, and speaking for long periods of time
• Position works in a facility with and around children on a regular basis
• Lift, push, pull, move up to 50 lbs.

The physical requirements for this position with or without reasonable accommodation are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. While performing this position the employee with or without reasonable accommodation should have the ability to walk, stand, sit, kneel, speak, and hear with aid, see, read, reach with arms and hands, lift and/or move up to specified weight, and use equipment that is essential to performing the job, such as a computer, copier, fax machine, telephone, and automobile, if applicable. Specific vision requirements of this position may include color vision, seeing things close up, and the ability to adjust focus.

Agreement

The statements herein indicate the general nature and essential duties and responsibilities of work performed by an employee in this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the job. Management may assign or reassign duties and responsibilities of the job and may request the employee to perform other duties and responsibilities not listed at his/her discretion. This job description is not a contract between the employee occupying the position and the employer. Upbring is an at-will employer. Equal Employment Opportunity/M/F/disability/protected veteran status