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Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education

Instruct preschool-aged students, following curricula or lesson plans, in activities designed to promote social, physical, and intellectual growth.
  • Summary

  • Details

  • Work Activities

    • Assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them.
    • Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
    • Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
    • Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
    • Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
    • Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
    • Perform administrative duties, such as hall and cafeteria monitoring and bus loading and unloading.
    • Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
    • Serve meals and snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
    • Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
    • Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
    • Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guests, or other experiential activities and guide students in learning from those activities.
    • Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, and changing their diapers.
    • Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
    • Organize and lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, storytelling, and field trips.
    • Attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required.
    • Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
    • Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
    • Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order.
    • Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
    • Arrange indoor and outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, and safety.
    • Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
    • Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
    • Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of preschool programs.
    • Enforce all administration policies and rules governing students.
    • Arrange indoor and outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, and safety.
    • Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
    • Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
    • Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
    • Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
    • Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
    • Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
    • Teach proper eating habits and personal hygiene.
    • Demonstrate activities to children.
    • Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
    • Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
    • Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
    • Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to children.
    • Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and needs, determine their priorities for their children, and suggest ways that they can promote learning and development.
    • Organize and label materials and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their ages and perceptual skills.
    • Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
    • Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, and potential.

    Skills

    • Service Orientation
      • Looking for ways to help people.
    • Coordination
      • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
    • Negotiation
      • Bringing people together to solve differences.
    • Technology Design
      • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
    • Time Management
      • Managing your time and the time of other people.
    • Monitoring
      • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
    • Persuasion
      • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
    • Complex Problem Solving
      • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
    • Instructing
      • Teaching people how to do something.
    • Reading Comprehension
      • Reading work-related information.
    • Operations Analysis
      • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
    • Social Perceptiveness
      • Understanding people's reactions.
    • Science
      • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
    • Quality Control Analysis
      • Testing how well a product or service works.
    • Management of Personnel Resources
      • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
    • Operation and Control
      • Using equipment or systems.
    • Judgment and Decision Making
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
    • Equipment Selection
      • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
    • Speaking
      • Talking to others.
    • Programming
      • Writing computer programs.
    • Mathematics
      • Using math to solve problems.
    • Management of Financial Resources
      • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
    • Equipment Maintenance
      • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
    • Active Listening
      • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
    • Learning Strategies
      • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
    • Systems Analysis
      • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
    • Troubleshooting
      • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
    • Systems Evaluation
      • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
    • Repairing
      • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
    • Writing
      • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
    • Operations Monitoring
      • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
    • Critical Thinking
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
    • Active Learning
      • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
    • Management of Material Resources
      • Managing equipment and materials.
    • Installation
      • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    Abilities

    • Extent Flexibility
      • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Dynamic Flexibility
      • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Explosive Strength
      • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
    • Information Ordering
      • Ordering or arranging things.
    • Memorization
      • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
    • Speech Clarity
      • Speaking clearly.
    • Speech Recognition
      • Recognizing spoken words.
    • Number Facility
      • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
    • Flexibility of Closure
      • Seeing hidden patterns.
    • Spatial Orientation
      • Knowing where things are around you.
    • Visualization
      • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
    • Time Sharing
      • Doing two or more things at the same time.
    • Glare Sensitivity
      • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
    • Depth Perception
      • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
    • Peripheral Vision
      • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
    • Sound Localization
      • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
    • Wrist-Finger Speed
      • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
    • Written Expression
      • Communicating by writing.
    • Gross Body Coordination
      • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
    • Category Flexibility
      • Grouping things in different ways.
    • Mathematical Reasoning
      • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
    • Perceptual Speed
      • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
    • Manual Dexterity
      • Holding or moving items with your hands.
    • Trunk Strength
      • Using your lower back and stomach.
    • Auditory Attention
      • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
    • Hearing Sensitivity
      • Telling the difference between sounds.
    • Oral Expression
      • Communicating by speaking.
    • Oral Comprehension
      • Listening and understanding what people say.
    • Night Vision
      • Seeing at night or under low light.
    • Originality
      • Creating new and original ideas.
    • Static Strength
      • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
    • Visual Color Discrimination
      • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
    • Deductive Reasoning
      • Using rules to solve problems.
    • Inductive Reasoning
      • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
    • Far Vision
      • Seeing details that are far away.
    • Response Orientation
      • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
    • Speed of Closure
      • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
    • Finger Dexterity
      • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
    • Multilimb Coordination
      • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
    • Stamina
      • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
    • Fluency of Ideas
      • Coming up with lots of ideas.
    • Problem Sensitivity
      • Noticing when problems happen.
    • Near Vision
      • Seeing details up close.
    • Gross Body Equilibrium
      • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
    • Written Comprehension
      • Reading and understanding what is written.
    • Reaction Time
      • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
    • Speed of Limb Movement
      • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
    • Dynamic Strength
      • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
    • Selective Attention
      • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
      • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
    • Control Precision
      • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
    • Rate Control
      • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    Knowledge

    • Chemistry
      • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
    • Sociology and Anthropology
      • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
    • Administration and Management
      • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
    • Physics
      • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
    • Economics and Accounting
      • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
    • Food Production
      • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
    • Mathematics
      • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
    • Communications and Media
      • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
    • Law and Government
      • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
    • Customer and Personal Service
      • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
    • Administrative
      • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
    • Building and Construction
      • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
    • Transportation
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
    • Geography
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
    • Therapy and Counseling
      • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
    • English Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
    • Production and Processing
      • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
    • Philosophy and Theology
      • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
    • Medicine and Dentistry
      • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
    • Engineering and Technology
      • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
    • Education and Training
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
    • Public Safety and Security
      • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
    • Sales and Marketing
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
    • Psychology
      • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
    • Foreign Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
    • Biology
      • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
    • History and Archeology
      • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
    • Design
      • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
    • Mechanical
      • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
    • Fine Arts
      • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
    • Computers and Electronics
      • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
    • Personnel and Human Resources
      • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
    • Telecommunications
      • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    Education

    Education
    Associate's degree
    Work Experience
    No work experience
    Training
    No on-the-job training

    Pay

    Washington Annual Salary
    43350/yr
    Washington Hourly Wage
    20.84/hr

    Washington Employment Trends

    Currently Employed
    15,270
    Yearly Projected Openings
    1990

    Personality

    Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking. They do well at jobs that need:
    • Integrity
    • Self Control
    • Dependability
    • Concern for Others
    • Adaptability/Flexibility
    • Cooperation

    Tools

    • Balance or gross motor equipment
    • Board games
    • Building blocks
    • Cognitive toys
    • Compact disk players or recorders
    • Desktop computers
    • Digital cameras
    • Mobile medical services first aid kits
    • Personal computers
    • Photocopiers
    • Puzzles
    • Sand or water tables or activity centers
    • Tactile toys

    Technology

    • Computer based training software
    • Desktop communications software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Mobile messaging service software
    • Multi-media educational software
    • Office suite software
    • Project management software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Video conferencing software
    • Video creation and editing software
    • Word processing software