Teacher

About the position

Easterseals Blake Foundation started as the Cerebral Palsy Foundation of Southern Arizona. Since then, we have expanded our services to better serve our community members. We are now one of Arizona's top providers of comprehensive behavioral health services, child welfare, and services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We serve more than 40,000 individuals and families across 10 counties and support more than 3,700 children in Foster Care throughout Southern Arizona. Are you ready to make profound, positive differences in people's lives every day? General Position Description: Implements age-appropriate curriculum and activities while creating a nurturing and stimulating environment that promotes the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children in the classroom.

Responsibilities

• Designs and maintains a home-like classroom environment to enhance culturally sensitive learning based on the developmental needs of the children.
• Develops curriculum considering the age and experience of the children, reflecting all areas of development including physical, emotional, social, language, and cognitive skills.
• Adapts the curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of the individual child’s strengths, needs, and interests.
• Tracks developmental milestones and shares observations of progress and concerns.
• Uses a variety of teaching strategies to encourage learning, following the individual child’s lead and preferred modality for learning.
• Facilitates interaction and cooperation among the children. Encourages children to lead their own small group activities.
• Facilitates a sense of responsibility and self-regulation in children, intervening only when necessary in settling disputes or differences.
• Establishes partnerships with parents and families in order to achieve shared goals for children.
• Works collaboratively with the Director, colleagues and community organizations in best serving the child’s needs.
• Provides instruction and leadership for teaching assistants.
• Participates in the process of ongoing professional development and meetings.
• Maintains comprehensive communication among all contacts within the agency, members, and external agencies.
• Models professional standards and ethics in accordance with EBF Code of Conduct, Strategic Plan, Mission, and Vision.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Associate’s degree or higher in Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Special Education, Elementary Education, or Child Development; or unrelated Associate’s degree or higher with 36 units of higher education credits in Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Special Education, Elementary Education, or Child Development; or a state certification to practice as a teacher in a public school, and the certification is reflective of the age of the children served required.
• Bilingual (Spanish) preferred.
• Must be at least 18 years of age.
• Current, unrestricted AZ driver’s license with no more than two (2) minor moving violations or one (1) accident within the past three (3 years).
• Three (3) years of driving experience required.
• Must be able to pass a criminal background check.
• Ability to obtain and maintain an AZ DPS Level 1 fingerprint clearance card (employer provides).
• CPR and First Aid certification (Employer provides).
• Initial and current negative TB test result (employer provides).
• Physical exam may be required depending on location or licensing requirements (employer provides).

Nice-to-haves

• Knowledge of typical and atypical child development.
• Knowledge of developmentally appropriate and best educational practices supported by research and evaluation.
• Knowledge of and sensitivity to cultural and linguistic diversity.
• Knowledge of methods to include children with developmental challenges.
• Ability to be self-directed when necessary, yet flexible when the needs of the children change.
• Ability to use principles of reflective practice with children, families, and colleagues.
• Ability to use technology as a tool for record-keeping, documentation, and investigation.
• Able to establish and maintain a team atmosphere of communication and collaboration for all that reach out to the Department.
• Must be sensitive to cultural and linguistic diversity.
• Excellent customer service in stressful situations.
• Maintains a professional appearance, communications, and actions.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Possesses basic computer knowledge.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental and Vision
• Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Flexible Spending Account
• Health Savings Account
• Voluntary Life insurance
• Voluntary Short-term Disability insurance
• Critical Illness insurance
• Accident insurance
• Employer paid life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and Employee Assistance Program