The primary purpose of this position is to facilitate the mission of the Early Learning (ELC) - to foster scientific understanding of young children’s development. The ELC accomplishes this mission through (a) interdisciplinary research, (b) academic programs for undergraduate and graduate students, (c) early education programs for young children, and (d) outreach, advocacy, and public policy. The Demonstration Educator Apprentice and Demonstration Educator are both an integral part of the teaching and research mission of the ELC, providing direct training, mentoring, and supervision to undergraduate and graduate students in the program, as well as day-to-day supervision of and education programming for children in the laboratory school setting. More information about the ELC is available at elc.utk.edu.

Demonstration Educator Apprentice Qualifications:

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in any field
• Experience: At least two years teaching young children (birth-8) in a school or childcare setting

• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

  • Prioritization skills

  • Ability to manage the comprehensive set of classroom and program/school requirements with consistency and efficiency

  • Knowledge of and ability to recommend practices in early childhood education environments

  • Knowledge of appropriate curricula and program plans for child care programs for children

  • Intentional, individualized modeling for students of recommended instructional practices

  • Supervision, program planning, instructional strategies, and guidance techniques

  • Skills in organization and care of the physical environment, routine care, family relationships, and observation

  • Strong skills in interpersonal, communication (both oral and written), professionalism, and organization

  • High level of initiative, accountability, and ability to self-regulate

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, or closely related field
• Experience: Four years teaching young children (birth-8)
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities: Consistent demonstration/ evidence of:

  • Skills in inquiry-based teaching, reflective practice, and pedagogical documentation

  • Skills in teaching, evaluation, and mentoring of students

  • Application of informed judgment and decision-making skills, considering multiple factors

Demonstration Educator Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, Special Education, OR related field may be substituted (Human development/family science, elementary education, deaf education, psychology, social work, etc.)
• Experience: At least three years teaching young children (birth-8) in a school or childcare setting
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

  • Prioritization skills

  • Ability to manage the comprehensive set of classroom and program/school requirements with consistency and efficiency

  • Intentional modeling for students of recommended instructional practices

  • Supervision, program planning, instructional strategies, and guidance techniques

  • Skills in organization and care of the physical environment, routine care, family relationships, and observation

  • Strong skills in interpersonal, communication (both oral and written), professionalism, and organization

  • High level of initiative, accountability, and ability to self-regulate

  • Skills in inclusion planning and cultural responsivity

  • Consistent demonstration/evidence of:

    • Application of informed judgment and decision-making skills, considering multiple factors

    • Individualized skill and knowledge development support plans for undergraduate students in teacher licensure programs

    • Curriculum development for undergraduate student learning objectives

    • Design, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance of high-quality lab environments and experiences

    • Design and implementation of innovative curriculum and instructional methodology in laboratory classroom

    • Implementation and evaluation of experimental pedagogy in laboratory contexts

    • Interaction with current ECE research and innovative ECE pedagogy

    • Design of individualized support and child development intervention plans in partnership with families

    • Engagement with pedagogical documentation methods

    • Commitment to dissemination of work through presentations, professional writing, and other modalities

    • Support for center outreach efforts

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Master’s Degree
• Experience: Five years of teaching young children (birth-8), Working with diverse families, Disseminating pedagogical work through writing, conference presentation, or other context
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

  • Public speaking and academic writing skills

  • Ability to effectively provide supervisory and performance feedback to all educators in classroom context, as well as beginning educators across the program

  • Management of many details and systems, project management, and leadership skills

  • Ability to consistently use judgement and multiple sources of complex data to make informed decisions impacting multiple stakeholders and areas of program operations

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Work Location

• Knoxville, TN: In-Person workplace

Compensation and Benefits

• UT market range:

Demonstration Educator Apprentice: MR07

Demonstration Educator: MR08

• Anticipated hiring range:

Demonstration Educator Apprentice: $50,000

Demonstration Educator: $54,000

• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here

• Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments:

• Resume

• Cover Letter

About The College/Department/Division

ELC is a Center within the Theory and Practice in Teacher Education Department and the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As an education department at a land-grant institution, the mission is to benefit local, regional, national, and global communities by preparing teachers, educators, and education researchers, and through community engagement in educational outreach.

Demonstration Educator Apprentice

Duties

Academic Programs / Mentoring and Curriculum Design

• Provides direct training, mentoring, and supervision of undergraduate and graduate students in their assigned ECE classroom.
• Meets weekly with assigned undergraduate pre-service teachers, providing resources to support their growth and learning.
• Evaluates performance in the classroom.
• Corresponds regularly with Course Instructors re: student performance, needs, concerns.
• Demonstrates specific teaching skills, strategies, and techniques.
• Demonstrates how to provide developmentally appropriate and safe environments and guidelines for children, observe and assess children's needs and behaviors, follow children's questions in forming project work with children, documentation, etc.
• Develops documentation and materials that visually represent demonstration practices and how they relate to course content.
• Serves as a guest speaker in courses.
• Engages with professional learning experiences toward consistent growth in mentoring skills and ECE content knowledge.

Early Childhood Education Classroom Leadership

• Responsible for the leadership, direction, training, and operational management of early childhood laboratory classrooms specializing in the following:
  • Tennessee DOE licensing regulations, modeling Developmentally Appropriate Practice, and operationalizing NAEYC professional competencies and standards.
• Provides day-to-day classroom management.
• Works with other classroom teachers to provide high-quality care, supervision, and education.
• Supervises all teaching staff in the classroom at any given time, including the assistant teacher, student teacher, etc.
• Plans and implements meaningful and effective lessons for the children engaged in the classroom.
• Provides ongoing assessments of the children, implements and maintains health and safety standards, and state licensing standards.
• Plans and implements culturally responsive curriculum and classroom practice.

Family Support and Outreach

• Coordinates community-building events for families.
• Provides parenting education content to families and educators.
• Supports outreach initiatives, including the Early Learning Institute and study tours.

In addition to duties in Demonstration Educator Apprentice position, Demonstration Educator duties also include

Academic Programs / Mentoring and Curriculum Design

● Designs individualized skill and knowledge development support

plans for undergraduate students in the program.

● Develops curriculum for undergraduate student learning objectives.

● Designs, implements, evaluates, and maintains high-quality lab

environments and experiences.

Early Childhood Education Classroom Leadership

● Designs and implements innovative curriculum and instructional

methodology in laboratory contexts

● Implements and evaluates experimental pedagogy in laboratory contexts

● Interacts with current ECE research and innovative ECE pedagogy

● Implements and demonstrates instructional strategies and programming

design elements that support social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion

goals in laboratory setting

● Responsible for data reporting, representation, and dissemination

● Responsible for collaborative design, evaluation, and maintenance of

program operational systems; contributes to complex decision-making

processes impacting all educators and classrooms

● Translates programmatic systems, policies, procedures, and structures into

accessible and contextually appropriate modes and procedures for a wide variety of program staff and students; provides training, accountability structures, and oversight on these structures for staff and students