Early Childhood Educator

Description

Foundations Child Care Center, Inc. provides enriching environments for early childhood and out of school children in the community.  The company consists of 5 (with a 6th location in the building stage) separate programs in both Elkhart and South Bend, Indiana.  Interns will be placed in a classroom and learn about developmentally appropriate interactions, creating a high-quality environment and implementing activites and lessons to promote growth and development within the classroom.  Each intern will be paired with an experienced teacher and mentored throughout their time with the organization.  Interns will have a choice of staying at one specific location or spending time at the different sites.  

The goals of the internship are that the candidate will:

*Gain experience in an early childhood classroom.  

*Develop the skills necessary to facilitate high-quality interactions with children.

*Enhance communication skills.

*Accurately and objectively communicate learning observations.

*Implement lesson plans that align with state standards.

*Problem solve negative behaviors in the classroom.

Responsibilities

The intern will spend a majority of their time working in the classroom and gaining hands-on experience. The time will be factored into several segments- there will be planning and preparation time, implementation and documentation periods, reflection and review periods and mentoring periods.

The planning and preparation period is where the intern will use their time to review and plan for the daily lesson and activities, set up the learning centers and obtaining necessary materials and supplies for the day.  

The Implementation and documentation period is where the intern will assist or have the opportunity to facilitate the daily activites and document the interactions for the children's portfolios.  This is a time for teachers and interns to learn along side the children.  The implementation, facilitiation and observation time allows for the intern to see what the children can and cannot do, observe social-emotional, fine motor and gross motor skills, as well as listen to how a child is able to communicate.  This provides the intern and teacher objective information that will be used to build future activities.  The intern will learn to document the learning that is taking place and different ways to record the information.

The review and reflection periods allow for the intern to review the activities and the day.  This is a time that the intern will be able to see what changes should be made and what things should remain the same.  The reflection period also encourages the intern and teacher to review how they could improve as leaders in the classroom.

Qualifications

The interns should be enrolled in a high school early college program or early childhood education program or possess a high school diploma or GED.  Interns will be fingerprinted and receive a background check through the state of Indiana.  Interns will need a negative TB test, negative drug screen and employee physical. These things will be paid for by Foundations.