General Responsibilities and Specific Duties of a Preschool Teacher
A preschool teacher is an individual who has a very important role in regard to their job duties. They are the men and women who are responsible for caring for young children while teaching them various things along the way. These individuals are the first teachers to provide instruction to the children and they have many different general responsibilities and specific duties in their daily teaching role.
What Is A Preschool Teacher?
A preschool teacher is responsible for teaching children, usually up to the age of 5, about things related to intellectual, physical and social growth. They will help the children to interact with others while learning necessary tools to get them ready for kindergarten. Some preschool teachers must be certified while others may not have to be as it all depends on the state in which they teach. The preschool teacher will instruct children in a wide variety of settings such as preschool, day care or other types of child development centers.
General Responsibilities of a Preschool Teacher
The preschool teacher has a number of general responsibilities in their daily teaching job. They must provide a wonderful learning environment for the children, teach them how to interact with others and help them with their daily needs. The preschool teacher will instruct them in basic educational programs, teach them to be creative and provide them with a safe and caring environment to learn and grow.
Specific Duties of a Preschool Teacher
A preschool teacher has a wide array of specific duties which they must complete on a daily basis. With regard to educational aspects, the preschool teacher must prepare daily lesson plans to help the children start learning basic education to get them ready for primary school. The preschool teacher will have a set educational plan each day which the children will be involved with as a group.
The preschool teacher must also prepare creative activities for the children to complete each day. It is important that creativity is a big part of the preschool experience and preschool teachers will prepare various activities for the children to engage in. Things such as arts and crafts, music and imagination will all play a big role in the creative learning process.
One who is a preschool teacher must also prepare outdoor activities and games for the students. This will help them improve their coordination and motor skills. With that said, the preschool teacher must ensure a safe play environment for the children to engage in activities within.
A preschool teacher must also cater to the basic needs of the children. One who oversees a preschool class must feed the children, serve them beverages and help them with their bathroom needs. They must ensure that they provide a comfortable, nurturing environment for the little ones within their care.
Along with teaching the children various things, the preschool teacher must also monitor their development. It is important to know which children are doing fine and which ones may need a little extra help. This will be done by monitoring progress and making notes of the progress of each child.
The preschool teacher is also responsible for meeting with other education professionals and parents of the children. During these meetings, the preschool teacher will discuss their lesson plans, what they are doing to improve their classroom techniques and how each of the children are doing with their progress.
Positive Traits for a Preschool Teacher to Possess
There are many positive traits every preschool teacher should possess. One such trait is compassion. Since many of these children enrolled in preschool are of a young age and new to the school-like setting, it is important that the preschool teacher has compassion for the children and treats them in such a manner that they feel safe and cared for. This will greatly help to produce a favorable learning and creative environment for the children.
The preschool teacher must also be able to relate information to the children in a way in which they can understand. One who teaches preschool has to know how to format lesson plans and activities so that preschool children pick them up quickly and are not confused by what the teacher is saying.
One who is a preschool teacher must also have good people skills. Since they will not only have to relate to the children but their parents and other teachers as well, a preschool teacher should be a people person and find it easy to correspond with others. This will help in many aspects of the teaching role.
A preschool teacher should also be an alert individual. Since young children can often be quite active, it is important that the preschool teacher knows exactly where all the kids are all the time. It is crucial for the teacher to run a formatted classroom and be alert in manner so that he/she can keep up with the kids.
It is also helpful for preschool teachers to be good planners. Since they will need to create educational lesson plans and activities for the children on a daily basis, they need to know how to adequately construct lesson plans that will be entertaining and educational for all of the children involved.
Creativity is another wonderful trait preschool teachers should possess in their teachings. Those who are creative by nature will find it much easier to construct interesting lesson plans and prepare unique activities for the kids to engage in while they are at preschool. Children love to learn and make things so it is important that the teacher possesses a creative nature in order to make this possible.
Conclusion
A preschool teacher has a very important job as they are helping to shape the young ones into wonderful people. Skills which children acquire during their preschool years will help them out greatly when they get to primary school. Therefore, it is important that preschool teachers do the best job possible as what they do will affect the children within their care.
