Lead Teacher - Early Childhood Educator

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 age infants (6 weeks) to five years old. The Centers are licensed by the Tennessee Department of Education. For more information about VU's Child & Family Centers, click here: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/child-family-center/child-care-center/ 

Duties and Responsibilities

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, constantly scans classroom/playground to ensure safety, and closely monitors children by constantly taking attendance.

• Models and implements hygiene practices and nutrition routines.

• Mentor and support Associate Teachers, Assistants, Floating Teachers, and Interns.

Customer Service:

• Creates an atmosphere of 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 DOE licensing standards:

• Ensure curriculum reflects planning and preparation, and with co-teachers.

• Ensure curriculum activities are well resourced (collects needed materials and supplies in advance.)

• Ensure curriculum activities and the design of the classroom reflect the five domains: Approaches to Learning; Social-Emotional Development; Physical Development and Health; Language, Literacy, and Communication; and Mathematics and Science. Plans, implements, and evaluates activities based on the developmental needs of the children.

• Compliance with DOE licensing standards, including submit needed reports.

• Maintain attendance records and submit reports (as required by VCFC and DOE).

• Write and release a monthly newsletter informing parents of classroom activities.

Maintains a clean, safe, orderly classroom environment which contributes to the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive growth of children.

• Clean and organize a joyful learning environment, and according to VCFC policies and procedures for a safe and healthy classroom and playground.

• Ensure children’s five senses are well met by the design of the classroom: How does it look, sound, smell, feel (and taste)? 

• Focus on direct engagement with children: Prioritizing adult: child conversations, playing with children, and leading activities.

• Limit distractions and remove visual and physical clutter in the classroom.

• Punctuality:  arrives on time, always maintains appropriate adult-child ratios.

• Self-awareness for respectful, responsive communication: monitors tone and volume of own voice to ensure positive interactions with children, parents, and coworkers.

• Talks, sings, reads, and facilitates discussions with children throughout the day in order to enhance their language development and early literacy. (Multiple languages encouraged.)

• Supervision of children at all times: implements VCFC strategies