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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

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

    Skills

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

    Abilities

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

    Knowledge

    • Mathematics
      • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Food Production
      • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
    • 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.
    • Fine Arts
      • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Design
      • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
    • Sociology and Anthropology
      • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
    • History and Archeology
      • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
    • Telecommunications
      • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
    • Biology
      • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
    • Production and Processing
      • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
    • Economics and Accounting
      • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
    • 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.
    • Law and Government
      • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
    • Mechanical
      • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Computers and Electronics
      • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
    • Transportation
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
    • English Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
    • 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.

    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