Teacher

Job Title: Teacher (formerly Lead Teacher)

Organization: Kai Ming, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides free full-day full-year; full-day part-year; or part-day part-year Head Start preschool services to eligible children ages 3-5 years old in San Francisco, CA with funding from Head Start, the California Department of Education, and the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood.

Job: The Teacher must be an appropriate role model for staff, parents and children. S/he is responsible for exhibiting good and respectful communication, problem solving and priority setting skills as well as maintaining an overall positive attitude. The Teacher will provide supervision, guidance and trainings to Assistant Teachers, Teacher Aides, Center Aides and Parent Volunteers on a daily basis and/or as needed. S/he must be capable of writing clearly and maintaining current documentation for each child.  The Teacher is responsible for the care and the development of children, supervising, teaching, implementing culturally relevant curriculum, and creating a developmentally appropriate classroom for children with active participation of parents and other staff to meet the Head Start Performance Standards.

Essential Duties:

Curriculum

• Create and implement a quality curriculum that meets the physical, social, emotional, intellectual, health, and nutritional needs of each child. This shall be done in accordance to the National Head Start Performance Standards.
• Conduct developmental screenings, child assessments, and prepare and submit paperwork/reports within the deadline (e.g. 45 and 90 days, etc.).
• Prepare individualized education plans specifying developmental goal and activities make appropriate adaptations as needed in the environment and curriculum for each child, including children with disabilities.
• Work with the Assistant Teacher to ensure balanced child-directed and adult-directed activities are implemented daily, including individual and small group experiences for children to support skill development in literacy, language and numeracy, to encourage critical thinking, problem solving skills, creativity and concept forming according to the developmental level of each child.
• Ensure that ALL education aspects of the health, nutrition, mental health, safety, diversity and cultural awareness are integrated into the class activities.
• Ensure a variety of strategies to promote and support childrens learning and development using informal and formal observations, on-going assessments, documentation of progress, which are maintained in portfolios for each child.

Environment

• Provide materials and equipment that offer varied and interesting choices, developmentally and age-appropriate to encourage learning.
• Ensure that the environment meets safety standards established by the program and is in compliance with state and federal regulations.
• Create a well organized (e.g. children toys and staff materials are properly labeled, etc.), clean pleasant classroom, meets Head Start Performance Standards where children feel comfortable and secure.
• Conduct transition in a consistent, timely, predictable and unrushed manner according to each childs needs.
• Provide an environment and curriculum that supports, and encourages acceptance and respect of gender, culture, language, ethnicity and family composition.

Outdoor Activities

• Provide outdoor curriculum that enhances childrens physical and social development
• Interact with and closely supervise children outdoors.
• Able to bend and lift a child (up to 50 lbs.) when needed, as well as manage children in outdoors activities.

Promote Social and Emotional Growth

• Provide activities and guidance to help each child learn to accept, understand and appreciate him/herself as an individual.
• Provide experiences that encourage independence, trust as well as opportunities for success to help develop feelings of competence, self-esteem, and positive attitude towards learning.
• Provide opportunities for each child to express, understand and control his/her own feelings.
• Encourage and support development of self-control by setting clear, consistent limits, and having realistic expectations.
• Provide opportunities for children to interact and cooperate with one another to promote respect, acceptance and appreciation of cultural and ethnic diversity, and promote appropriate social skills, competence, and respect for the feelings and rights of others.
• Provide a positive daily routine with simple, consistent rules that are respectful and understood and accepted by all adults and children.
• Model positive teacher/child and teacher/parent interactions.

Family

• Conduct at least two home visits each year with parents of children in assigned classroom.
• Establish mutual expectations with parents and staff about the experiences children will receive in the classroom.
• Conduct two Parent-Teacher conferences to discuss the childs development and plan goals and action steps for home and school.
• Be available for all parents on a formal and informal basis.

Staff

• Participate in case conference meetings with the Assistant Teacher and Family and Community Advocates to facilitate information sharing, goal setting, and action plans for each child.
• Attend Center meetings.
• Participate in CCDC Consultation Meetings.
• Participate in staff development trainings and professional development opportunities.
• Provide supervision, guidance and trainings to Assistant Teacher, Teacher Aides, Center Aides and Parent Volunteers on a daily basis and as needed.
• Conduct weekly team meeting with teaching team.
• Maintain records for attendance, meal counts, parent participation and other in-kind contributions and submit in a timely manner as needed.
• Report inappropriate behavior of staff, parents and on-site consultants to the appropriate supervisor.
• Perform other duties assigned.

Qualifications: Kai Ming is looking for experienced classroom personnel who can attend to the care and education of young children in a high quality setting to foster their school readiness of and establish a foundation for success in school and life.

• Bachelors degree (BA) in Early Childhood Education or Child Development or related field with a California Child Development Site Supervisor Permit, plus
• At least two (2) years of experience working with children as a teacher in a preschool classroom setting.
• Ability to take initiative, but also to accept direction and seek guidance appropriately.
• Ability to maintain highest levels of Health, Safety & Supervision of children.

Other Requirements:

• Annual Physical exam and TB Clearance
• Criminal Background Clearance
• Child Abuse Index Clearance
• Current certification in CPR and First Aid
• Adherence to the Confidentiality Agreement
• Adherence to the Child Abuse Reporting Mandate
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to change position; to sit, stand, walk, climb or balance; to stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; to bend, twist and reach with hands and arms; and to pick up children.
• Light to moderate lifting (up to approximately 50 lbs) is required, such as lifting a child, chair, table, etc.
• Adhere to the Kai Ming Code of Conduct and all other internal policies and procedures.
• Accountable for the health, safety and supervision of all children and families.

Qualifications: Kai Ming is looking for experienced classroom personnel who can attend to the care and education of young children in a high quality setting to foster their school readiness of and establish a foundation for success in school and life.

• Bachelor's degree (BA) in Early Childhood Education or Child Development or related field with a California Child Development Site Supervisor Permit, plus 

• At least two (2) years of experience working with children as a teacher in a preschool classroom setting.

• Ability to take initiative, but also to accept direction and seek guidance appropriately.

• Ability to maintain highest levels of Health, Safety & Supervision of children. 

Other Requirements: 

• Annual Physical exam and TB Clearance

• Criminal Background Clearance

• Child Abuse Index Clearance

• Current certification in CPR and First Aid

• Adherence to the Confidentiality Agreement

• Adherence to the Child Abuse Reporting Mandate

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to change position; to sit, stand, walk, climb or balance; to stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; to bend, twist and reach with hands and arms; and to pick up children. 

• Light to moderate lifting (up to approximately 50 lbs) is required, such as lifting a child, chair, table, etc. 

• Adhere to the Kai Ming Code of Conduct and all other internal policies and procedures.  

• Accountable for the health, safety and supervision of all children and families. 

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: Proof of COVID-19 vaccination record, or weekly Negative COVID-19 test result.

Compensation: Salary will be commensurate with job and skill level. Benefits include health, vision, dental, acupuncture, chiropractic, life insurance, retirement, vacation time, sick leave time and personal time.

Equal Opportunity: Kai Ming promotes Equal Opportunity and strongly encourages women, LGBT, people of color and diverse backgrounds to apply.

Application process: Please apply on this page. Applications are accepted and evaluated until a suitable candidate has been selected.