What Success Means In This Position
The Teacher position is an exempt 10 month position. Algiers Charter approach to teaching and learning embraces a continuous improvement cycle that focuses on practices through planning, doing, reflecting, and revising. Our schools are moving to a more complex conceptual framework of analyzing, synthesizing, hypothesizing, understanding and creating connections on a daily basis.
Algiers Charter teachers participate in the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). TAP is a bold initiative designed to attract, develop, and retain talented people in the teaching profession. Continuous learning coupled with strong support that produces the best results for students in a positive working environment is expected. Success means improved student achievement, professional attitude, school-wide attainment of School Performance Score (SPS) goals and achieving the longest charter renewal available.
Position Description & Expectations
Professional Learning, Development, and Growth for Teachers:
Teachers are expected to attend yearly professional development in the form of:
- New Teacher Induction
- Faculty and Grade-Level Meetings
- Job embedded Professional Development
- Estimated 60-90 minutes per week
- Focused on student strategies, student work analysis, and Individual Growth Plan (IGP) Development
- Attendance at cluster meetings
- Teacher Accountability via observations and evaluations based on the TAP Instructional rubric (3 times per year)
- Other meetings as designated by school leaders
- Performs other duties that may be required.
Student Engagement
- All or almost all students complete instructional tasks, volunteer responses and/or ask appropriate questions.
- All or almost all students follow behavioral expectations and/or directions.
- Students execute transitions, routines, and procedures in an orderly and efficient manner with minimal direction or narration from the teacher.
- Class has a quick pace and students are engaged in the work of the lesson from start to finish. Students who finish early engage in meaningful learning without interrupting other students’’ learning.
- Performs other duties that may be required.
Essential Content
- Create common core aligned lesson plans and unit plans that lead to standards mastery and are aligned to grade level expectations and end-of-year assessments.
- The lesson focuses on content that advances students toward grade-level standards or expectations and/or IEP goals.
- All activities students engage in are aligned to the stated or implied learning goal(s) and are well sequenced and built on each other to move students toward mastery of the grade-level standard(s) and/or IEP goals.
- All instructional materials students use, such as texts, questions, problems, exercises, and assessments, are high-quality and appropriately demanding for the grade/course and time in the school-year, based on guidance in the standards and/or students’ IEP goals (ex. Lexile level and complexity of text).
- Performs other duties that may be required.
Academic Ownership
- All or most all students provide meaningful oral or written evidence to support their thinking.
- Students complete an appropriately challenging amount of the cognitive work during the lesson, such as reading, writing, discussion, analysis, computation, or problem solving, given the focus of the lesson.
- Students respond to and build on their peers’ thinking, ideas or answers.
- Students routinely provide constructive feedback to their classmates and respond productively when a peer answers a question incorrectly or when they do not agree with the response.
- All or almost all students consistently try hard to complete academic work and answer questions, even if the work is challenging.
- Performs other duties that may be required.
Demonstration of Learning
- Questions, tasks or assessments yield data that allow the teacher to assess students’ progress toward learning goals and help pinpoint where understanding breaks down.
- Students have extensive opportunities to express learning through academic writing and/or explanations using academic language.
- All students demonstrate how well they understand lesson content and their progress toward learning goals through their work and/or responses.
- Student responses, work, and interactions demonstrate that all or almost all students are on track to achieve stated or implied learning goals.
- Performs other duties that may be required.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Education or a related area of study
- Valid Louisiana Teaching Certificate with Louisiana Certification Preferred
- Two years of teaching experience preferred
- Proven record of high student achievement as listed on previous evaluations, if previously taught
- Desire and ability to succeed in a student-friendly, detail-oriented, community environment.
- Belief in the Algiers Charter mission and educational model
- Open to professional learning, formal/informal observations, and feedback
Physical Demands: the physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear.
- Possess the ability to fulfill any and all office activities normally expected in an office setting, to include, but not limited to: remaining seated for periods of time to perform computer entry, participating in filing activity, lifting and carrying office supplies.
- The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds.
- May require more than 40 hours per week to perform the essential duties of the position.
- Fine hand manipulation (keyboarding).
Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- May work prolonged or irregular hours
- Frequent district wide travel; occasional statewide or out-of-state travel
- The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate
- Internal office space within a school environment