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Secondary & Elementary Mathematics Teacher

Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership

Role: Part Time Math Block Teacher
9am – 12pm Mon, Tues, Thurs, Friday
Topics: Grade 5/6 math group 11am – 12pm
Geometry 1, Algebra 1 math group 9am – 10am

Summary:

Acera School (moving to Winchester, fall 2013) emphasizes STEM and creative problem solving. Math groups are created based upon student ability, not age. Most Acera students learn math 1 – 4 grade levels ahead of age expectations. We seek flexible, passionate mathematician teachers who imbue excitement in problem solving! This role is for 4 or 8 hours of math instruction per week for class groups of 3 – 10 students. Math block groups occur from 9am-10am (algebra 1 or geometry) and 11am – 12pm (elementary) on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We seek candidates facile with mathematics who are eager to share their love for this topic in an applied and relevant way. The ideal candidates will be deeply capable mathematical thinkers, and creative, articulate, and flexible teachers. Acera teachers customize and invent learning approaches and leverage math curricula when helpful, maximizing learning as determined by student potential and interests, not limited by curriculum. Our core values and learning philosophies can be found on our website: www.Aceraschool.org Excellent classroom management skills required. hiring@aceraschool.org

School Overview: Acera is a growing, private K-8 school that provides high ability students with unbounded access to learning. At Acera, students learn, discover and explore at a pace appropriate to each child’s unique motivation and potential, not their age. Our culture is not about pressure to achieve; it is about freedom to thrive. We support our students’ innate curiosity and love of learning with an interdisciplinary, hands on learning approach. Through developing character, knowledge, and talent, we develop thinkers and innovators who will be able to make positive change in our world. The Acera community strives to consistently cultivate a committed and highly educated faculty, maintain a high degree of parental involvement and nurture in its students a life-long love of learning.

The Need for Something Different:

Massachusetts ranks at the bottom of the 50 states in supporting the needs of gifted students; there is great urgency and need within the gifted population that currently does not have access to an appropriate education.

Job Description:

The expectations for this position are:

Customize and/or invent curriculum that would support a small group of gifted students to make a year’s worth of math progress. Students are younger than common age expectations for the course work, and often need additional executive functioning support.
Research and plan to find the best strategies for your group, and acquire curricula and tools needed
Differentiate instruction, enabling each student to learn at a rate and in a style that fits them best and maximizes their potential. Continuously adapt classroom focus and strategies to accommodate for each student’s needs.
A key expectation is that learning goals will be framed, strategies planned, implemented, and revised based upon student interest and need, and that appropriate assessment will be embedded so that students can mark their own progress.
Create and adapt individualized learning goals to drive learning approaches and focus for each student throughout the year. Share these with the student’s core teacher for inclusion in the written Individualized Learning Plan.
Communicate learning goals and strategies to Acera administrators, other math block teachers, core teachers and parents through open exchanges, brief group email updates once per month, as comments on narrative report cards twice per year, and during parent conferences (planned and impromptu)
Support students who are ready to leap frog ahead of others to do so. Scaffold a transition to another group or establish an independent sub group as needed.
Collaborate and share ideas with other teachers; work as a community to utilize each person’s knowledge across the whole school, to serve students as a whole community, and to continuously improve as a school and as professionals.
Apply an eclectic blend of learning pedagogy, including direct instruction, hands on learning, experiential projects, and on line tools.
Use a blended teacher style, being a knowledge leader combined with a facilitator of inquiry and student discovery
Communicate openly, with honesty and compassion. Share teaching philosophy and pedagogical beliefs; educate parents.

Qualifications:

Bachelor degree, ideally in science or math
Masters degree in education a bonus but not required
At least 3 years of teaching experience
Experience with gifted education, special education, progressive learning approaches and a goal for understanding orientation (instead of a focus on core knowledge acquisition) is highly preferred.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills
Training and confidence in all STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) is highly beneficial
A personal background as a student who was or would have been identified for gifted education programming themselves enables our teachers to relate to the unique challenges, depth of inquiry and needs of gifted students

Application:

Please submit cover letter and resume along with a personal statement of educational philosophy, description of your classroom management / discipline beliefs, any experiences and/or training in gifted education you have had, and salary history to: hiring@Aceraschool.org

Anticipated start date: August 28, 2013

Equal Opportunity Employer

Acera is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, veteran status, political affiliation or disability as defined and required by state and federal laws.

Foreign Language Teacher

Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership

Acera seeks a creative, fun, flexible foreign language teacher (French or Spanish) to lead a middle school course from 8am – 8:45am four mornings per week. Teacher should be eager to differentiate for varying ability levels and have a flexible and progressive approach for foreign language learning – and a hope to inspire love for languages and culture! Our teachers customize and invent learning approaches and leverage curricula when helpful, maximizing learning as determined by student potential and interests, not limited by curriculum. Our core values and learning philosophies can be found on our website: www.Aceraschool.org Excellent classroom management skills required. hiring@aceraschool.org

This will be an optional program that occurs before the regular school day commences at 8:45am. We expect 7 – 12 students will enroll in this program.

Please send cover letter, educational approach and philosophy, resume. and compensation expectations to hiring@aceraschool.org. Acera moves to Winchester MA for the 2013/2014 School Year.

School Overview:

Acera is a growing, private K-8 school that provides high ability students with unbounded access to learning. At Acera, students learn, discover and explore at a pace appropriate to each child’s unique motivation and potential, not their age. Our culture is not about pressure to achieve; it is about freedom to thrive. We support our students’ innate curiosity and love of learning with an interdisciplinary, hands-on learning approach. Through developing character, knowledge, and talent, we develop thinkers and innovators who will be able to make positive change in our world. The Acera community strives to consistently cultivate a committed and highly educated faculty, maintain a high degree of parental involvement and nurture in its students a life-long love of learning.