Spanish Teacher

THE OPPORTUNITY

Sabot at Stony Point, a Reggio-inspired preschool-8th grade school in Richmond, VA, seeks a World Language Teacher to teach Spanish. The Spanish Language Teacher will continue to develop and implement a best-practice, research-based, world language curriculum that supports the needs of a constructivist learning environment. 

We regard world language as a crucial part of our curriculum. One of our guiding objectives is to prepare children for global citizenship and the cross-cultural competence (including the ability to communicate across language barriers) that such citizenship requires. We emphasize world language study beginning in Lower School because we know that language learning helps children open themselves to others and increases empathy.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Constructivism. Recognize that there is an important dialectic between the individual and the group – the individual is responsible to the group and the group is responsible to the individual. Recognize students as independent learners, intrinsically motivated to generate, discover, build, and enlarge their own frameworks of knowledge. Guide students’ processes of discovery and understanding rather than simply transmitting knowledge to them. Encourage the development of meta-cognitive skills such as reflective thinking and problem-solving techniques.
• Differentiation. Recognize that students have various learning styles and types of intelligence. Employ a variety of teaching styles (visual, aural, tactile, kinesthetic, etc.) and provide a variety of learning opportunities (independent and group work, project-based learning, experiments and investigations, representations in various modes and media).
• Documentation of Learning. Facilitate and document students’ development and learning through ongoing assessment, daily planning, and portfolio development and review. 
• Student Assessment. Assess student understanding as an ongoing and cumulative process. Allow students to participate in their own assessments. Use the results of assessments to augment and solidify student learning.
• Student Support. Respond to and manage student concerns and issues, and collaborate with the Division Director and School Counselor, when necessary, to develop and adhere to student support plans. Effectively communicate with families about student concerns and well-being, and mediate any disagreements or misunderstandings. Maintain student confidentiality.
• Research. Engage in action research by generating hypotheses and questions, documenting student work, and reflecting individually and collaboratively.
• Planning. At the start of school, provide students and parents with a clear set of expectations regarding behavior, classwork, and homework.
• Communication & Connection with Children. Observe and listen to the intentions of the students in order to support learning in both individual and collaborative work.
• Communication with Parents. Be visible, approachable, and available. Collaborate with teacher-researchers and administrators to ensure that parents are engaged, participating, and respected members of our learning community. Maintain open and regular communication with parents.
• Communication & Collaboration with Other Teacher-Researchers. Teacher-researchers will share their work with other teacher-researchers, both informally and – occasionally – formally. This will help create a community of learners and of colleagues and will also facilitate both continuity and innovation across the grades and across the curriculum.
• Engagement. Engage with the Sabot at Stony Point faculty through faculty development and community-wide events to forward the work of the school. Engage with the larger field of progressive education to disseminate Sabot’s work and remain conversant in best practices.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity. We nurture a learning environment where diversity is valued, respected, and celebrated. Diversity, and the variety of experiences and perspectives it provides, is central to our approach to education. Our emphasis on co-construction – an environment where everyone teaches and everyone learns – is strengthened by a community that includes diversity in all ways.  
• Supervision/Safety. Ensure the physical and emotional health and safety of students both inside and outside the classroom by providing active and appropriate supervision and guidance.

SPECIFIC TO TEACHING SPANISH

• Able to teach critical thinking while advancing students’ bilingual verbal and written communications skills
• Sensitive to the needs of a diverse range of students working toward language proficiency
• Facilitating target language use through authentic text, interpersonal tasks and effective feedback
• Dedicated to developing cross-culturally competent and empathetic global citizens who are empowered to communicate interpretively, interpersonally and presentationally.
• Design a curriculum that includes a diversity of perspectives, especially voices that are underrepresented in our society.
• Use of authentic resources from a wide range of people 

TO APPLY

Candidates must submit the following materials electronically (as separate PDF attachments) to [email protected] with the subject of the email as “World Language Teacher Application”.

• Letter of interest
• Resume
• Statement of educational philosophy
• Contact information for three professional references

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This position will start on August 15, 2021.

This is a 10-month position.