Pre-School Teacher Working With Toddlers

How I Got The Job

My Education: BA in Psychology, Hartwick College

My Prior Experience: I worked as a children's service worker for the State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families for 10 years. I took some time off to raise my children and then returned to the work force as a pre-school teacher's assistant.

My Job Profile

My Company: I work for a pre-school program that provides care for children from 4 weeks to 6 years of age. We have extended the hours to accommodate working parents and offer before and after Kindergarten programs.

Job/Career Overview: My primary responsibility is to provide a safe, loving and stimulating environment where children come to learn, thrive and grow in every area of development. I have been employed at the Pre-school for 9 years. I have spent the majority of the past 5 year in the Toddler room caring for children ages 15 months to 2 years 9 months.

This can be a challenging age as children at this stage of development typically have separation issues initially. Once they come to trust their surroundings and their teachers they get such joy exploring all the areas of the classroom. The classroom is carefully designed to encourage exploration and development in such areas as gross and fine motor, imaginary play, sensory motor, cognitive and social development to name a few.

The emphasis is learning through play, which is what children do best...and which is developmentally appropriate for this age group. We spend the morning interacting with the children, helping them learn to share and take turns, playing with them and encouraging appropriate pro-social behavior.

At this age, the children's language is just beginning to develop which can add another challenge to the job; however it is amazing how well children can make their needs known prior to language acquisition, and it is truly amazing to watch as language development explodes in this population.

We use music and poems a lot and we follow a set routine so the children become familiar and comfortable with transitions times. A typical day would progress as follows: free play, clean up, hand washing, snack and story, more free play and outside time.

I work with the preschoolers in the afternoon in a Kindergarten readiness program and the routine is similar however there is a bit more structure and group time incorporated as well.