Oscar Rennebohm Foundation Early Childhood Development Community Intern Job Description
Position Summary: The primary responsibility of the ECD Intern is to assist in the care of children in the community program. This includes aiding in the supervision, management, and guidance of a classroom of children, as well as preparation for daily activities and routines. The ECD Intern reports to their supervising Lead Teacher in the community program and the Executive Director of the CDL in the School of Human Ecology. The other Lead Teachers in the classroom and Program Administrators also provide direct support and supervision to the ECD intern.
Mission of the Rennebohm Foundation Grant
The School of Human Ecology Human Development & Family Studies received a grant from the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation to increase the capacity of students and professionals in the field of early childhood to address the social-emotional needs of young children and their families. The School of Human Ecology aims to meet this mission in two ways: 1) provide opportunities for paid HDFS internships in community programs serving young children; and 2) provide professional development opportunities and scholarships to help HDFS students and our partnering teachers in the community work toward Infant Mental Health Endorsement from the Wisconsin Alliance of Infant Mental Health. This is a three-year grant, with year one being a pilot of this project.
Principle Duties:
Training & Programmatic Responsibilities:
- Demonstrate effective communication with all staff, families, and children.
- Attend and actively participate in all staff meetings and in-service trainings that are required for interns.
- Maintain confidentiality of information and documentation (including photos) in relation to staff, children, and families.
- Maintain prompt hours (preferably arriving 5-10 min. early) and follow the site’s attendance policy.
- Complete required paperwork within the timelines and established procedures (e.g., personnel file, classroom attendance sheets, classroom documents).
- Follow WI State Child Care Regulations, as well as the policies and procedures of the community program.
- Complete the training necessary for Wisconsin State Child Care Licensing and the specific site in which they are placed.
- Regularly complete their timesheet and have their Supervising Teacher in the classroom sign off after every shift. Rennebohm interns must upload these logs to the Rennebohm Canvas course by the weekly deadline to verify hours for their Human Ecology timesheets.
- Give their supervising teacher sufficient time to work with them to set goals and to complete mid-and end of semester evaluations.
- Work with their internship site to identify an internship project that will benefit the internship site and further the student’s education.
Classroom Responsibilities:
- Ensure the safety and well-being of children at all times.
- Demonstrate high quality assistance and initiative in the planning and facilitation of a daily program of care and activities for the assigned classroom according to best practices in early childhood education and developmentally appropriate practice.
- Help set up and prepare materials for learning activities.
- Participate in classroom daily routines and jobs as requested by staff (e.g., support individual children during large group time, collect documentation information for anecdotal notes and developmental assessments, assist with parent-teacher conferences, etc.).
- Assist with large and small group learning activities and provide appropriate supervision and guidance to all children while they are engaged in child-initiated and teacher-directed activities.
- Implement established classroom child guidance program consisting of positive discipline approaches.
- Assist children in areas of self-help skills, such as eating, dressing, toileting or diapering.
- Assist in preparation and clean-up of snack, lunch, and nap.
- Demonstrate sensitivity and expertise working with a diverse group of people (e.g., children, families, co-workers).
- Work effectively with children, families, and co-workers from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
- Work effectively with children with special needs.
- Assist in the arrangement of space, setting and materials in the school learning environments (e.g., classrooms, neighborhoods, outdoors).
- Effectively observe and share information with other staff regarding children’s experiences.
- Interact daily with parents about children’s home and school experiences, at a level their supervising teacher at the site feels is appropriate.
- Ask for help when needed and indicate when a break is needed so all interactions with children and staff can be calm and positive.
Essential Functions:
- The ability to get up and down from the floor on a continuous basis, both to interact with children on their level and to help them settle on their cots during naptime.
- The ability to sit on small chairs 12” off the floor, off and on throughout the day.
- The ability to lift children weighing 35 pounds on average, if needed.
- The ability to place a child up on a changing table or bend over to change a diaper on a pad on the floor, if needed.
- The ability to bend over to help children wipe (and sanitize) low tables and floor spills.
- The ability to reach containers from upper shelves.
- The ability to move with children during their large motor activities several times each day.
- The ability to supervise children via sight and sound.