High School English Language Arts Teacher

About This Job

The Louisiana Special Schools are experiencing a critical shortage of certified teachers, school counselors, interpreters and educators of the Deaf or hard of hearing and Visually Impaired. The LA SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT is seeking applicants for a High School English Language Arts Teacher, LSD (Louisiana School for the Deaf). This position is currently located in the High School but may move around within other LSD departments. This is a full time 9 month and 7.5 hours per day position.

The Louisiana School for the Deaf (LSD), established in 1852, has a long proud tradition of educating deaf and hard of hearing children in the state of Louisiana. We are dedicated to providing a quality education for all deaf and hard of hearing children by incorporating innovative teaching methods, rigorous curriculum, state-of-the-art technology, and the American Sign Language/English Bilingual Approach throughout our program. Children who are hard of hearing or have cochlear implants benefit from auditory access via spoken English language instruction. LSD provides extracurricular activities, leadership opportunities, and mentoring by successful deaf and hard of hearing adult role and language models. Students directly interact with teachers, staff, and peers daily.

LSD will continually work to ensure full communication access in all settings; to present instructional materials in a bi-lingual environment utilizing both American Sign Language (ASL) and English; to ensure that we are driven by research in best developmental practices for learners that are deaf and hard of hearing; to value and recognize the diverse language learning styles of our students; and to use advances in audiological and educational technology.

LSD strives to be an educational environment that encourages students to become literate/analytical thinkers; that encourages families to develop reciprocal communication with their child and to share in decision making about their child's education; that promotes teachers who are experts/specialists in language and literacy instruction and who reflect on their students' progress; that is led by an administration that supports and advocates for innovation, expansion of curricular and dormitory residency programs and over-all school improvement; with the full collaboration of the school's core stakeholders. Our mission is:

• To enhance the academic, vocational, physical, emotional, social and cultural development of each student.
• To provide a visually accessible, positive and nurturing environment that emphasizes literacy and effective communication skills.
• To be a caring community where students can achieve personal excellence and become independent lifelong learners.

Teacher Positions – English Language Arts

All of our teachers are leaders with unique opportunities to create pathways for success for every student and other teachers in the years to come. This is a rare opportunity for teachers who are looking to increase their responsibility and impact within a school and across our state.

Specific Courses

• English, pre-Kindergarten through Grade 8
• Business English
• Technical Writing
• English I
• English II
• English III
• English IV

The Louisiana Special Schools do not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in our programs and activities, and we provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination may be referred to Human Resources.

Minimum Qualifications

• Must have a Bachelor's degree
• Louisiana teaching certificate, 2+ years of teaching experience, preferably working with students from similar backgrounds to LSD students.
• Certification in deaf education preferred.
• Sign Language Proficiency-Advanced level, preferred (2 years to achieve)
• Strong knowledge in content area of choice, demonstrated through lesson planning, execution, and intervention with all students.
• Strong desire to participate in all school activities, including extracurricular activities, clubs, sports, school health and wellness activities, and other activities and events that promote school identity and culture
• Effective rating measured using the Compass observation and goal setting cycle and tools, which includes measures of setting instructional outcomes, managing classroom procedures, questioning and discussion techniques, engaging students in learning, using assessment in instruction, and measurable student learning targets.
• Desire to grow as a teacher and face the challenges that come with deep reflection and direct feedback on your classroom practices.
• Positive attitude and strong work ethic. Ability to constantly find joy in the successes and challenges of our work. Ability to demonstrate that joy towards students, families, and teammates.
• Personal initiative to better yourself and those around you. Drive to actively pursue excellence in everything you do, even when not given direct coaching.
• Desire to work at a college and career prep school rebuilding education for deaf and/ or hard of hearing students.

Job Specification

Responsibilities

The employee must be able to perform these assigned duties without significant risk of substantial harm to his/her own safety/security and the safety/security of others.

Planning for College and Career Ready Bar

• Plan rigorous lessons aligned to the college and career ready bar. Use the Louisiana State Standards, the ACT College Readiness Standards, and the school's internal curriculum to align all of your planning.
• Utilize curriculum assessments at the daily, weekly, and unit level to measure what your students learned: Daily Exit Tickets (formative) to know if you were successful in teaching that day; Weekly or Unit Assessments (summative) to assess students learning. For each assessment, create your ideal student response or mastery response to clearly define the bar of rigor your students must reach.
• Utilize curriculum summative assessments to test overall mastery at the unit level that are aligned to the end of year assessment for your course.
• Know your content deeply. Ensure lessons demonstrate your knowledge and passion for your content. Lessons must drive mastery and investment in your content from every student you teach.

Culture That Builds Strong and Positive Student Identities and Investment

• Ensure your students know that you believe in them as well as know what you expect from them and why.
• Create a classroom culture where 100% of your students are engaged in your lesson and doing rigorous thinking at every moment throughout your lesson.
• Create and leverage a classroom narrative along with the school system of positive behavior support and positive discipline to build strong and positive student identities. Use praise and recognition to ensure your students know what you value. Use corrections and consequences to teach expected behavior while holding students accountable to high standards.
• Build relationships with students that let them know you care about them as individuals. Leverage those relationships to push your students to the highest heights academically and as people.
• Use Restorative Approaches with every student when approaching corrections and consequences. Work hard to keep your students in class and only send a child out when he or she needs time to step back, re-center, or reflect on something that needs improvement behaviorally.
• Incorporate best practices received in trainings on social and emotional learning for students and model the use of these strategies.
• Check in with students monthly to support positive student relationships and to identify potential concerns. For example, attendance, grades, discipline and other concerns.
• Ensure regular communication every month with parents so they also know you are invested in their child.

Lesson Execution Using Data Throughout the Lesson Cycle

• Execute the lessons you've planned with fidelity and at the highest level, ensuring 100% of your students are engaged in your lesson and doing rigorous thinking at every moment.
• Bring passion, joy, and energy to your execution. Ensure students reflect the level of passion, joy and energy you feel as a result of your execution.
• Gather data throughout your lesson to ensure students at all levels in your classroom are mastering the material. Use these Checks for Understanding to pivot your lesson in the moment.
• Ensure your lessons drive towards both mastery of the Exit Ticket for that day and mastery in the larger themes of your unit: The Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions.
• Reflect on your data daily to know what your students learned and what they didn't learn. Make a plan to fill in those gaps the following day and retest later on.

Interventions and Supports to Meet the Needs of All Students

• Teach to the diverse learning needs of every student you teach. Take action on and responsibility for every student in your classroom regardless of incoming achievement level or diverse learning needs.
• Plan and execute strong Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions within the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework to ensure every child can master the material in your class every day.
• Track data to assess the efficacy of your interventions