Elementary School Educator Responsibilities
1. Classroom Culture & Student Well-being
- Foster Student Belonging: Cultivate a caring, joyful, and purposeful learning community where all students feel valued, respected, and motivated.
- Promote Social-Emotional Learning: Utilize principles like Responsive Classroom to support the physical, emotional, and intellectual well-being of every student.
- Uphold School Values: Model the school's Core Values of respect, responsibility, honesty, fairness, and compassion in all interactions with students, staff, and the community.
- Implement Culturally Responsive Practices: Create a learning environment that is culturally responsive and affirming of students identities.
2. Curriculum & Instructional Planning
- Standards-Based Planning: Use a planning framework to identify essential learning based on Common Core State Standards (CCSS), learning targets, and a culturally responsive curriculum.
- Interdisciplinary & Real-World Connections: Design curriculum that demonstrates an understanding of interdisciplinary teaching and connects learning to real-world issues.
- Collaborative Curriculum Development: Work with PLC teams and administration to develop cohesive curriculum materials, establish common goals, and participate in curriculum review and budgeting.
3. Pedagogy & Instructional Delivery
- High-Impact Instruction: Employ current, research-informed pedagogical practices and high-impact instructional strategies to deliver engaging lessons.
- Differentiated Learning Experiences: Design and implement collaborative and differentiated learning experiences that meet the diverse academic and social-emotional needs of all students.
- Flexible Grouping: Use data to flexibly group students based on their individual needs, abilities, and assets.
- Technology Integration: Integrate technology in innovative ways to enhance daily instruction and student learning.
- Responsive Interventions: Respond to learners diverse needs, including those related to emerging multilingualism and neurodivergent profiles, by using measurable, research-informed interventions and extensions.
4. Assessment & Data-Driven Practices
- Comprehensive Assessment System: Design and use a variety of quality formative, summative, and self-guided assessments to provide students with frequent feedback.
- Monitor and Adjust: Continuously monitor student learning through standards-based assessments and data analysis to make appropriate modifications to goals and strategies.
- Communicate Progress: Use assessment data to accurately communicate student growth and achievement.
5. Collaboration & Professional Growth
- Engage in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): Actively collaborate with team members to plan curriculum, give and receive feedback, and engage in professional reflection and learning.
- Practice Co-Teaching: Engage in co-teaching practices and utilize flexible learning spaces with intention and purpose.
- Commit to Continuous Improvement: Strive for self-improvement as a lifelong learner by actively engaging in professional development and feedback cycles with coaches and principals.
- Support School-Wide Programs: Cooperate with and participate in the planning and evaluation of the overall school program as needed.
6. Community & Family Engagement
- Extend Learning Beyond the Classroom: Engage students in meaningful extracurricular activities such as coaching, clubs, field trips, or service projects.
- Build Strong Partnerships: Connect with and be available to parents and students during and outside of school hours through in-person meetings and email communication.
Role Specific Responsibilities:
- Use the ACTFL proficiency approach to plan, teach, and assess student learning.
- Foster language proficiency by nurturing and sustaining curiosity around cultural competency, conceptual understanding, transferable skills, and student agency.
- Engage in professional learning and collaboration, integrating cultural content to give students meaningful insights into the target culture.
Position Requirements & Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in relevant field (Chinese Language Instruction or Chinese Literature is preferred)
- Master's Degree in relevant field preferred (Chinese Language Instruction or Chinese Literature is preferred)
- Teaching license or a degree in education
- At least two years of full time teaching experience
- Standards-based curriculum experience preferred
- Knowledge of and experience with the ACTFL standards and proficiency guidelines preferred
- Strong background in Chinese language and literature and the capability to teach students at a near-native or native speaker level
- Demonstrates a strong track record of effective collaboration
- Experience teaching Chinese as a second language to Elementary School students preferred
- Excellent verbal and written English language skills
- Demonstrates fluency in the Chinese 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.
