NYS Certified Special Education English Teacher

WILLIAMSBURG CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL

Special Education English Teacher

Program

WCHS's powerful educational program enables every student to graduate well-prepared for college and the world beyond it. Most importantly, all WCHS students mature intellectually, socially, and morally as a result of being active members of a school community that endorses high expectations that challenge each student to achieve his/her full potential.

We realize that there are no 'quick-fixes and so, WCHS has designed a longer school day with longer instructional periods to allow students to spend more time on task but never sacrifice time for extracurricular activities, performing/visual art, and health classes-all important parts of a full high school experience.

In order to fulfill its mission, WCHS is looking for exceptional teachers. Our teachers play very critical roles in realizing the core mission, philosophy, and unique youth-centered approach of the school's educational design. WCHS teachers are not just classroom teachers, but school teachers-educators that are committed to facilitating the entire learning and instructional process and coaching young people to become independent learners, thinkers, and researchers.

Prospective Williamsburg Charter High School Teachers:

• Are committed to the idea that every child can succeed at high levels

• Believe that they have been called to teach and empower young people

• Demonstrate a commitment to providing students with a rigorous academic experience

• Are resilient, resourceful, relentless, and well-able to adapt to the many changes that can happen in an organization focused solely on doing what is best for students

• Excel at working in a highly collaborative, professional setting but can also work independently

• Understand the unique needs of the community they serve as well as the complex issues that affect urban youth and their families

• Are committed to inquiry-based teaching

• Engage a youth development approach in their interactions with young people by being sensitive to their developmental needs

• Are passionate and positive about school culture

• Feel full responsibility for students' achievement

• Love 'the details' and realize that student success depends almost exclusively on them

• Are reflective and willing to improve upon their practice through professional development and support

• Effectively manage their time, resources, and technology

• Are convinced of the transformative power of education for all students, families, and educators

Position Description

The ideal Williamsburg Charter High School teacher will provide our students with rigorous instruction. They will be responsible for the following:

Teacher as Advisor

As students transition to high school, one of the things they could lose is the comfort of having a teacher who understands their background, challenges, and successes. Research has shown that this relationship is a key part of having students feel accounted for and by extension, accountable. In support of our students, our teachers are also Advisors to between 12-15 students for the duration of their high school careers. This allows the teacher to become a part of the developmental process of their students and allows each family to have a primary contact within the school at all times. Advisors serve students and families by:

• Taking complete ownership of the academic, behavioral, and overall success of a group of 12-15 students

• Ensuring advisees are in attendance, punctual, excelling in all their classes, and seeking out appropriate support

• Creating an advisory period that acts as a 'home base' for each student

• Being the academic expert on each advisee

• Acting as the liaise between the student, the family, and the school teams

• Teaching the advisory curriculum that has been created for their advisees' grade

• Accompanying advisees on educational field trips as determined by the School Leader

• Contacting their advisee's families a minimum of seven times a year and responding within 24 hours to all communications from their advisee's families

• Developing and overseeing Individual Student Support Plan plans twice a year for each of their advisees

• Facilitating discipline-related required meetings on behalf of their advisees

• Performing any other advisor-related duties as requested

Ensuring Student Learning Through Data-driven Instruction:

• Prepare rigorous, student-centered lesson plans that will engage and motivate students to learn

• Plan standards-based units of study with clear, intended outcomes and goals in mind

• Provide meaningful feedback on student work to determine student progress and to make suggestions for improvement

• Proactively and relentlessly seek new ways to promote student learning

• Create thoughtful, standards-based assessments

• Work closely with school leaders and colleagues, using data to drive instruction and by extension, consistently raising student achievement and intervening with improvement plans and support for struggling students

• Have fun and pass the love of learning onto students!

• Design opportunities for students to use the world around them as a classroom through field trips and or/inviting guests into the classroom as appropriate

• Hold students to high behavioral and academic expectations and support students to succeed

• Model professional and collegial behavior for students

• Engage in the process of collaborative evaluation with school leaders

• Ensure that students are well-prepared for all New York State exams and WCHS interim assessments

Positively Contributing to Student and Teacher Culture

• Arrive at school no later than 7:55 AM (to ensure that the classroom is clean, supplies are prepared and the instructor is ready to receive students) and leave no earlier than 3:10 PM (to hold necessary interventions, hold office hours, attend school meetings, and to ensure that students that need extra help are able to receive it). Even with these times parameters in mind, we ultimately seek educators that will simply do whatever it takes and will work relentlessly to ensure each student's learning is maximized

• Teach four class periods per school day

• Serve two periods of School Service per week as determined by his/her supervisor (e.g., Study Hall supervision, cafeteria duty, hallway duty, monitoring of student entry and exit, etc.)

• Cover at least five periods per semester for absent teachers

• Proactively involve the student's family in their learning through regular communications including (but not limited to): weekly informal communication via emails, notes, telephone calls, and meetings

• Realize that although student achievement is central to our work, Williamsburg Charter High School graduates are not just academically well-prepared, but also good citizens of their community. The cornerstone of our ideology is based on providing students with life skills and a sense of responsibility to their community in addition to an excellent education

• Share expertise and curriculum with colleagues

• Respond to all school-related communications within 24 hours, including but not limited to voicemails and emails, from Williamsburg Charter High School faculty and staff (including supervisors and other teachers)

• Attend and participate in school-related activities and events outside of normal school hours (e.g., Parent Advisory meetings, Back-to-School Night, field trips, student events, and performances, etc.)

• Adhere to the WCHS Student Handbook, Teacher Handbook, Personnel Policies, and Instructional Manual

History

Williamsburg Charter High School (WCHS) is a high-performing, public charter high school located in Brooklyn, New York. WCHS opened in August 2004 as the first Chancellor-authorized charter high school in the City of New York with a ninth-grade class of 267 students. Now in its seventeenth year of operation, WCHS has grown to serve approximately 963 students in grades nine through twelve. The school's mission is to unite youth, families, staff, teachers, and the community at large in providing young people with the tools necessary to make sense of the world and prepare them in their journey to become skilled workers and literate citizens of the world. Young people will accomplish this through their participation in a rigorous and demanding liberal arts education that includes language, literature, writing, science, history, mathematics, the arts, technology, and exploration in disciplines designed to teach fairness, justice, respect, and compassion for themselves and others, as well as the skills of critical thinking, communication and research.

Williamsburg Charter High School provides a broad liberal arts academic program to the high-school-age youth of north Brooklyn. School programs are individualized to connect to each student's particular level of development, including English Language Learners and students with Special Education Services. Further, WCHS provides supportive relationships with faculty, extended instructional periods, and opportunities after-school and on Saturdays for additional academic support. Social and emotional support is also available to students to ensure their non-academic needs are addressed. Students are accepted to WCHS through a random lottery with no minimum requirements, tests, or auditions required to gain entrance, and, as a public charter school, there is no tuition.

Qualifications, Education, and Credentials

• Bachelor's degree

• At least two years of experience teaching in an urban high school setting

• New York State certified 7-12

• New York State Fingerprint clearance