Position Responsibilities
Elementary School Educator Responsibilities
- Foster a sense of student belonging by cultivating joy and purpose throughout the Elementary School.
- Cultivate a caring and culturally responsive learning community in the classroom, taking into account the physical, emotional, and intellectual well-being of students.
- Utilize the principles of Responsive Classroom to build a community where students feel valued, respected, and motivated to succeed.
- Identify essential learning and use a planning framework with standards, learning targets, real-world issues, and a culturally responsive curriculum.
- Design and implement engaging learning experiences that are collaborative, culturally responsive, and differentiated.
- Employ high-impact instructional practices based on current pedagogical approaches to teach the curriculum.
- Design and deliver engaging, differentiated lessons that align with curriculum standards and meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all students.
- Regularly assess student progress through formative assessments and other data-driven tools.
- Accurately and regularly assess student progress through formative and summative standards-based approaches.
- Continuously monitor student learning and make appropriate modifications of goals and strategies to meet students’ needs.
- Group students flexibly based on their individual needs, abilities, and assets, using data to inform grouping decisions.
- Design quality formative, summative, and self-guided assessments that provide students with frequent feedback and communicate their growth and achievement.
- Integrate technology in innovative ways in daily instruction to enhance learning.
- Respond to learners’ diverse needs using responsive, measurable, and research-informed interventions and extensions.
- Demonstrate experience with current best pedagogical practices, teaching materials, and instructional strategies.
- Engage with students in meaningful activities beyond the classroom that extend student learning experiences (coaching, organizing field trips, sponsorship of clubs, events, overseas travel and/or community service projects, etc.).
- Work closely with team members, PLC teams, and school administration to develop cohesive curriculum materials and establish common instructional goals and assessments.
- Engage in team planning, curriculum review, budgeting, and other school-required activities as needed.
- Collaborate as a member of a Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) that creates a supportive community, plans curriculum, gives and receives feedback with one another, and engages in professional learning and reflection.
- Actively engage in professional learning and growth through regular observation and feedback cycles with Professional Learning Community Coaches and Principals.
- Experience with or interest in co-teaching in a flexible learning environment.
- Engage in co-teaching practices with other members of the PLC and utilize learning community spaces with intention and flexibility.
- Demonstrate an understanding of interdisciplinary teaching and learning.
- Strive for continuous self-improvement as a lifelong learner.
- Model the Core Values in your interactions with all members of the school community.
- Cooperate with and participate in the planning and evaluation of the school program as needed.
- Engage with students in meaningful activities beyond the classroom that extend student learning experiences (coaching, organizing field trips, sponsorship of clubs, events, overseas travel and/or community service projects, etc.).
- Connect with and be available to parents and students during and outside of school hours (in person and via email communication)
Role-Specific Responsibilities
PLC coaches act as champions for their team by focusing on the growth of individual members as well as the collective. They do this in three ways: teaching, coaching, and leading.
- By teaching, they hone their own craft, serve as a model, and experience the same challenges as those they are coaching and leading.
- By coaching, they facilitate feedback, learning, and professional growth for individual team members.
- By leading, they cultivate the health of their team and guide their team’s collective focus on enhancing student learning and well-being.
Teach
- Utilize ACTFL proficiency approach to consistently plan, teach, and assess student learning.
- The World Language (Spanish) Teacher is expected to integrate cultural content related to the language being taught, offering students meaningful insights into the customs, traditions, history, and arts of the target cultures.
- Use an inquiry-based approach to language development that strengthens cultural competency, develops conceptual understandings, nurtures and sustains curiosity, builds transferable skills and dispositions, and develops student agency.
Coach
- Use the SAS Guidebook to Teaching to coach on high quality culturally-responsive instructional practices in the learning space
- Observe instruction, analyze student work, and provide regular direct actionable feedback to coachee(s)
- Focus on individual and collective growth in both hard skills (e.g., pedagogy) and soft skills (e.g., trust, collaboration) and invest in development of own skill set related to teaching, coaching, and leading
- Coordinate team professional learning based on needs emerging from coaching experiences, data and current research
- Facilitate the goal setting, learning, monitoring and reflection process with the team. Support coachees and PLCs to ensure their goals are focused on measurable student learning outcomes and/or school/division priorities
- Demonstrate a willingness and ability to build and sustain trusted professional relationships with teachers, leaders, and other coaches. This may involve demonstrating a willingness to be a learner, to be vulnerable, and to establish a conducive working rapport with educators that enables them to grow and learn in their teaching practice.
- Collaborate with other PLC coaches and participate in PLC coach professional learning related to: working with adult learners, giving feedback, providing coaching, and regularly giving input into the PLC coach model
Lead
- PLC Support and Leadership
- Lead and/or support PLCs with engaging in the 5 question PLC inquiry cycle and ensuring roles and responsibilities within a PLC are distributed effectively and there are norms for collaboration.
- Support PLC teams with collecting, organizing, and analyzing common assessment data. Review data across the department and focus on evidence of student learning and not-learning.
- Support PLC teams with taking action based on student learning data.
- Collaborate with school leaders on how to best meet team needs and implement school priorities focusing on culturally responsive practices to plan, teach, and assess, as well as social-emotional learning
- Instructional Leadership
- Provide strong curricular and instructional leadership in the department.
- Coordinate effective facilitation of department meetings and professional learning
- Lead department members in fulfilling expectations and best practices in standards-based assessment, grading and reporting.
- Lead the department and division in our journey towards a more personalized learning environment for students and collaborative work experiences with flexible learning environments.
- Provide support and/or participate in subject-area reviews and/or coordinate participation of colleagues and lead implementation of the review.
- Monitor and support subject-area instructional program alignment across all divisions (PS-12). Work with the divisional Principal Leadership team and the Office of Learning to ensure consistency and strong planning, instructional, and assessment practice.
- Contribute to shaping the academic direction of the division by participating and providing regular input at divisional leadership team meetings.
- (MS and HS) Provide support as needed to the division and/or Department Coordinators with the annual review of courses and information included in the Program Planning Guide and other division handbooks.
- Program Leadership
- Collaborate with Department Coordinators and/or divisional Principal/Deputy Principals on aligning talent, resources and the curricular and instructional program of the department.
- Participate in the hiring process for open positions within the department and provide hiring input to divisional principals.
- Participate and lead in professional development and new faculty onboarding for designated days during new faculty week each year.
- Work collaboratively with Department Coordinators and/or team leaders on other needs of the department or grade level as needed.
Position Requirements & Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field
- Master’s Degree in relevant field preferred
- Teaching license or a degree in education
- At least two years of full time teaching experience preferred
- Standards-based curriculum experience preferred
- Demonstrates a strong track record of effective collaboration
- Experience teaching Spanish as a second language to Elementary School students preferred
- Teacher leadership and instructional coaching skills and experience preferred
- Excellent verbal and written English language skills
- Demonstrates fluency in the Spanish language
- Confident technology skills for teaching and administrative tasks
Working Requirements
- Sponsoring and/or coaching after school activities are part of the responsibility of the professional educator. Therefore, faculty shall be available to coach and/or sponsor an athletic team or other extra curricular activity. Each faculty member is expected to do a minimum of one category 1 activity or sport per year.
- Mandatory attendance of school orientation and participation in a minimum of four evening and/or weekend school activities each year, as assigned (including "Back-to-School Night").
- Attend Responsive Classroom professional learning (virtual), specified by the school, in the months prior to the official start of employment.
