Preschool teachers, except special education, instruct preschool-aged students, following curricula or lesson plans, in activities designed to promote social, physical, and intellectual growth.
Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order.
Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
Serve meals and snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, and changing their diapers.
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 lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, storytelling, and field trips.
Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
Assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them.
Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to children.
Arrange indoor and outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, and safety.
Teach proper eating habits and personal hygiene.
Demonstrate activities to children.
Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Enforce all administration policies and rules governing students.
Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
Organize and label materials and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their ages and perceptual skills.
Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of preschool programs.
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.
Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, and potential.
Attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required.
Provide disabled students with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
Perform administrative duties, such as hall and cafeteria monitoring and bus loading and unloading.
Work Context
Contact With Others — 90% responded "Constant contact with others".
Work With Work Group or Team — 60% responded "Extremely important".
Assisting and Caring for Others — Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Developing and Building Teams — Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.
Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
Coaching and Developing Others — Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
English Language
Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
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.
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.
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.
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Learning Strategies
Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Coordination
Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Social Perceptiveness
Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Service Orientation
Actively looking for ways to help people.
Active Learning
Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Persuasion
Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Writing
Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Speech Clarity
The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Oral Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity
The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Originality
The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Fluency of Ideas
The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Written Comprehension
The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Speech Recognition
The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Deductive Reasoning
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Information Ordering
The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Near Vision
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Written Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Far Vision
The ability to see details at a distance.
Inductive Reasoning
The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
