Teacher Founding 10th Grade Science Teacher
Job Description
Founding 10th Grade Science Teacher
South Bronx Community Charter High School is a new high school borne out of the Young Men’s Initiative in New York City, committed to dramatically increasing the educational opportunities and outcomes for young men and women in the South Bronx. South Bronx Community fosters deeper learning and promotes social justice in a culturally responsive and competency-based learning environment. This school is the newest addition to the EPIC network of schools, and is EPIC’s first charter high school.
What We Are About:
Some notable elements of our school model include the following principles and practices:
| We are competency-based: SBC organizes teaching and learning around a critical set of skills that students need for academic, career and life success. Teaching involves making learning targets explicit, providing students with the time and support required to reach their goals, and a process of continuous feedback. We use a mastery-based approach to grading so that students have a clear understanding of what they know and are able to do. On progress reports, students see the skills they are working on and their proficiency levels, rather than course titles and letter grades. | |
| We are culturally responsive: At SBC, strong relationships between staff and students are at the core of our learning model. We implement an advisory and rites of passage program that helps to strengthen relationships throughout all aspects of the school including our pedagogical approaches, routines and practices. Group mentoring takes place for an extended block of time every week. | |
| We are human-centered and adaptive: At SBC, we encourage the development of all members of the school community and provide opportunities for sharing strengths and talents to enhance individual and collective performance. Significant time is built in to all staff schedules for collaborative planning and tuning of curriculum, supported by improvement science methodology and protocols. | |
| We are holistic in terms of integrating academic, social and emotional and professional skills: SBC integrates social and emotional learning into our competency framework. We strive to make all learning experiences interdisciplinary and inclusive of these skills so that students are prepared for college, careers and community. Being able to manage your relationships and demonstrate leadership can be just as important to success in life as many academic and technical skills. |
Who We Are Looking For:
All staff at SBC have a demonstrated desire and capacity to:
Innovate with curriculum and pedagogy – We seek to support students in taking ownership of their learning. All staff participate in designing and facilitating highly engaging, rigorous learning experiences with resources and scaffolds that allow students to lead their own learning.
Pioneer through start-up – Founding a new school is difficult and can be exhausting in many ways. Staff must be motivated by the challenge and opportunity to develop and design protocols, processes, tools and ultimately establish a culture for learning among young people and staff.
Work in community every day – All learning experiences are interdisciplinary and so staff must be motivated to co-facilitate and co-plan with their colleagues.
Practice social justice – Design, facilitate and participate in experiences and conversations that relate to race, gender, class and sexual identity in ways that empower students and foster community.
Be open to new roles – All staff co-lead group mentoring sessions every week with a small group of students that they support through all four years of high school.
Fail forward – We try new approaches to achieve breakthrough results. All staff contribute to, and learn from, these experiences.
Lead through uncertainty – In order to achieve dramatically better outcomes for young people, sometimes there is no precedent for the strategies we employ. We need staff that can demonstrate leadership in uncharted waters.
Science Teacher Responsibilities
- Design and facilitate 10th grade STEM interdisciplinary course with a specialization in a core science domain -Earth Science, Chemistry or Physics – in partnership with another teacher.
- Support students to diagnose a problem so that they can create a solution and be able to help students through the inevitable highs and lows of making something.
- Facilitate Advisory and Rites of Passage program in partnership with a Learning Coach (staff member with youth development experience).
- Develop and implement targeted small group skill development for students.
- Participate in and facilitate professional learning sessions with colleagues to norm expectations, promote high quality student learning experiences, engage in inquiry, problem solve, etc.
- Participate in and facilitate restorative circles as a means of fostering student investment in community and resolving conflict.
- Engage actively in professional growth through the development of a personalized learning plan and attendance at staff orientation during the last two weeks of August.
- Use school-wide mastery-based approach to assess learning competencies.
- Maintain proactive relationships with students and their families.
- Be available to support student advisees in crisis, during and outside school hours.
- Participate in and lead elements of a Summer Bridge program for new students during the last two weeks of August.
- Other duties, as needed and assigned by school leaders.
Qualifications:
- Minimum Bachelor’s degree in subject area to be taught, Master’s Degree preferred
- Experience working on projects in Maker environment is highly desirable. This can range from basic Maker experience to more advanced experience with computer-aided design, electronics design/production, computer-controlled cutting, 3-D printing, mechanical design, among other skills.
- Commitment to SBC’s core values and educational approach
- Sustained effectiveness teaching in an urban public high school preferred, but not required
- Valid New York State Certification preferred, but not required
- Spanish language proficiency a plus
