Lead Teacher

About AppleTree

AppleTree's mission is to close the achievement gap before students get to kindergarten. To accomplish this mission, we focus exclusively on Preschool and Pre-K education. We provide free, full-day public charter school programming for three- and four-year-olds in 12 locations across Washington, DC, employing our innovative and award-winning instructional model, called Every Child Ready (ECR). This instructional model provides educators with tools and resources for "What to Teach", "How to Teach" and "How to Measure Success." Our instructional model is also used with partners across the nation. We continuously test and improve this model through feedback from AppleTree educators, partners and other stakeholders to ensure that children are learning and exploring through play and appropriate instruction.

Position Summary

The Itinerant Spanish Speciality Teacher is responsible for immersing early childhood students in the Spanish language, using the Every Child Ready Instructional model which includes a Spanish scope and sequence. The Spanish Speciality Teacher uses his/her knowledge of Spanish, language acquisition, the development of young children, the ways in which young children learn and scientifically based practice to provide instruction and support the social, emotional and cognitive development of young children.

This Spanish Speciality Teacher will help AppleTree build out a new Specials/Elective Program offering students an exploratory, hands-on approach to learning Spanish as a foreign language and building on their play-based learning in other subject areas.

The Spanish Speciality Teacher Teacher is a non-supervisory position and reports to the Principal.

Why you'll do…

Establish rich and engaging physical learning environments:

• Maintain a safe, clean, thematically based, attractive, and engaging classroom that encourages both exploration and complex play
• Ensure the classroom contains sufficient supplies and materials for the weekly plans and that unit materials are inventoried before and after each unit
• Encourage children's ownership and contributions to the classroom environment
• Serve as an itinerant Specialty Lead Teacher providing Spanish language acquisition and development instruction across multiple AppleTree schools

Create environments and instructional opportunities that meet the needs of diverse learners:

• Develop and implement lesson plans and classroom activities in alignment with the Every Child Ready (ECR) instructional model
• Use a variety of age-appropriate teaching tools for the purpose of teaching students to read, write, and speak Spanish.
• Follow the the Every Child Ready (ECR) instructional model with fidelity and collaborate with the coach and principal to ensure fidelity
• Actively seek out available resources and supports for children who are not making expected progress, provides additional support for students in need of remediation and differentiation in the classroom
• Use a variety of observational and direct assessment tools in collaboration with ECR standards to determine children's varying needs and opportunities
• Use information and data from a variety of sources in order to differentiate instruction for all children
• Establish clear behavior expectations, rules and procedures to maximize learning time. Ensures effective implementation of universal behavior management systems as well as targeted plans to support student behavior
• Actively support the diversity of learners in their classrooms (e.g. cultural, linguistic and academic diversity)
• Foster tolerance and a sense of community in their classrooms, modeling and explicitly teaching acceptance and appreciation of others
• Collaborate and cooperate with related service providers and student support staff (SPED, ELL, PBS, etc.) to ensure the needs of all children are met, as needed

Supports the development of young children:

• Plan adequate time for student talk and encourages children's language use throughout the day
• Plan and integrates instructional activities that promote children's understanding of the way things work and the world around them into the thematic curriculum
• Skillfully and systematically motivate students to participate in activities that support the development of their early literacy skills
• Implement instructional activities that encourage children's abilities to analyze, conceptualize, synthesize and evaluate
• Intentionally provide modeling and support for children's expressive and receptive language
• Intentionally and systematically implement direct instructional opportunities and provides modeling and practice opportunities for activities that promote children's social and emotional development
• Plan and implement intentional, systematic, playful and engaging activities that support the development of the above skills

Collaborate with families and communities to support children's social, emotional and cognitive development:

• Actively seek to make connections with their children's family members and other important people in their children's lives
• Solicit parents and community members to share their skills, experiences and cultures in the classroom
• Regularly communicate the school's and individual children's educational goals and progress to families
• Support school-wide family engagement activities (i.e. planning, communicating, and/or leading) and participates in at least one family event each month

Contributes to a community of practice:

• Plan collaboratively and shares ideas and resources with instructional team
• Share best practices with others throughout the network and with AppleTree leadership
• Actively participate on at least one site-wide committee
• Provide informal and formal feedback on instructional materials, school-wide practices and professional development/coaching
• Guides professional development and growth of teaching assistant and helps team members meet professional goals
• Actively participates in school and network based professional development opportunities provided and seeks out additional professional development
• Incorporate coaching and feedback from regular observations conducted by Instructional Leader and AppleTree Leadership Team members
• Communicates professionally and constructively with colleagues
• Fulfills the standards of professionalism including appropriate dress, attendance and timeliness
• Participates and collaborates with families in Kindergarten Transition process and is informed of local DCPS and Public Charter Schools and private schools within the District (Pre-K teachers only)

Note

The preceding description is not designed to be an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required of the Spanish Speciality Teacher. All employees may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.

What we're looking for…

• Bachelor's degree in Spanish, elementary education, reading, psychology, human development, early childhood education or a closely related field
• Bilingual Spanish/English
• Two or more years of successful professional teaching experience
• Demonstrated leadership experience, organizational skills and communication abilities to lead or co-lead the instructional team
• Experience in curriculum development a plus
• Must receive a passing score on the *Praxis II: Early Childhood Education (test code 5025) or *Praxis: K-12 World Language (test code 5195) by the start of the school year or within 60 days of the hire date, whichever comes first. *Previous Praxis Early Childhood or Elementary Content Knowledge accepted
• Demonstrated sensitivity to linguistic, cultural, social, economic, individual and role differences among persons and families served
• IMPORTANT: Per Mayor's Order , on-site staff are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

What's in it for you…

• Competitive Salary
• Employee Health Benefits that are in the 95th percentile of other schools in the DC Metro Area
• Fully covered Dental
• Benefits for you and all eligible dependents
• Fully covered Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability, Accidental Death and Dismemberment and Life insurance with buy-up options
• Free Online Wellness Platform for you and up to 4 eligible dependents
• Competitive Paid Time Off, including early close Mental Health Days
• 5% Employer Contribution to your Retirement Account (whether you contribute or not)
• AppleTree Scholarship to pay for continued education
• Network Professional Development Opportunities