The Assistant Teacher plays an important role in the classroom and in the school community, working under the direction of the classroom teacher to provide a language rich, nurturing, safe and challenging therapeutic environment for 3 and 4 year old preschoolers who are deaf or hard of hearing. The assistant teacher ensures the learning environment and activities are ready for student engagement by preparing materials, maintaining classroom organization and cleanliness, utilizing appropriate strategies for classroom management, communicating and interacting with children in developmentally appropriate ways and implementing lesson plans. This is a non-exempt position that follows the school year and 6-week summer school calendar, with general hours of 8:00 am-4:00 pm.
Qualifications include:
Essential Duties/Responsibilities:
- Work collaboratively with the classroom teacher
- Follow the classroom teacher’s plans for daily activities, lessons, and goals and prepare materials for lessons and activities related to classroom plans
- Implement strategies for working with students consistent with teacher’s approach and strategies, using developmentally appropriate language, tone and practices, to provide behavioral supports and the development of social/emotional skills
- Follow school procedures and classroom practices to supervise children throughout the day to insure each child is safe
- Assist in recording, transcribing and analyzing language samples
- Maximize opportunities for auditory and language learning in the classroom and ensure carryover of goals and strategies throughout the day and across settings and activities
- Engage individual and small groups of children, daily, in activities which contribute to the development of auditory and spoken language skills
- Organize, sanitize/clean and help maintain the classroom environment daily (i.e. cleaning cots, preparing bleach and other cleaning materials daily, wiping down furniture, cleaning up after lessons, etc.)
- Interact in positive and meaningful ways with families consistent with guidance from the teacher and of Clarke.
- Set up/clean up the classroom each morning and organize the classroom throughout and at the end of the day
- Assist with toileting and feeding tasks appropriate to each child’s needs
- Adhere to all policies and procedures for health, safety and development related to Clarke, NYS/NYC Education Department and the Department of Daycare
Other Duties:
- In the teacher’s absence, assume role of leading the class consistent with the teacher and Clarke’s approach.
- Perform any other tasks as assigned by the director to support the function of the school
- Participate in both self-identified and program directed professional learning activities to improve or acquire skills and knowledge related to: child development, developmentally appropriate practices, curriculum, social/emotional learning, behavior management, language intervention, amplification and technology, and other topics.
- Participate in team, staff, and parent meetings
- Assist with written documentation such as daily attendance and daily health monitoring, transferring of IEP information to progress report format, and other tasks as needed.
- Collaborate and communicate with classroom teacher and with other colleagues professionally and proactively
