Middle School ELA Teacher - 26-27 School Year

Job Description

Job Description

Middle School ELA Teacher

Launch EL Charter School  |  Brooklyn, NY

About Launch

Launch EL Charter School serves middle and high school students from across Brooklyn, reflecting the vibrant diversity of our city. Rooted in the values of Crew, Excellence, and Equity, our mission is to prepare students in under-resourced communities to thrive in college and careers — through active learning experiences and powerful character development that develop learners, leaders, and changemakers.

Our model is built on EL Education's proven approach, and Launch has earned credentials in Mastery of Knowledge and Skills and Character — with High Quality Work in progress this year. Launch students consistently outperform NYS peers in both growth and achievement.

Our vision is to offer a world-class public education to students and families in Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, and surrounding communities — one that opens doors to the most competitive universities and careers, and empowers students to lead fulfilling lives of choice and purpose. At Launch, we are committed to engaging, rigorous instruction and strong character. We support the growth of smart, good people.

Why Launch

At Launch, you will not be handed a script and left alone to figure it out. This is a school where the adults model the same habits of learning and reflection we ask of students. Our families are deeply engaged: 96% approve of what we are doing, and they will hold us to it. If you are looking for a place where the work is serious, the community is real, and your growth as a teacher is treated as non-negotiable, Launch is that place.

The Role

Launch EL Charter School is seeking a passionate and skilled Middle School ELA Teacher to join our instructional team. At Launch, literacy is not a subject. It is a schoolwide commitment and a social justice imperative. We believe every child has the fundamental right to read, and that expanding literacy is one of the most powerful tools for advancing educational equity.

You will teach using Red Thread, a globally themed, project-based reading and writing curriculum that organizes every unit around a big humanistic question students are expected to investigate, take a position on, and defend. Units are thematically rich and culturally grounded, built around diverse and rigorous texts that develop students as independent readers, writers, thinkers, and doers. Your students will read closely, write across genres, engage in structured discourse, and produce work that goes beyond the classroom. You will do this inside a school where reading culture is alive: monthly themed reading challenges, Books of the Month featuring authors and characters of color, a One Book One Launch whole-school read, Battle of the Books, an Author Series, and a library where students see themselves in the collections. Reading is cool here. Writing matters. Literacy is not a program — it is how this community operates.

The ideal candidate brings strong content knowledge in ELA, a commitment to equitable instruction, and a genuine belief that every student can produce meaningful, ambitious work.

Who You Are

You bring more than content knowledge to this work. You believe deeply that literacy is a civil right and that every student, particularly Black and brown students, deserves access to rich, culturally sustaining texts and the skills to read, write, speak, and listen with precision and confidence. You are the kind of teacher who does not just accept feedback but acts on it before the next lesson. You lead with care and hold high expectations at the same time.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate our Launch Habits of Responsibility:

• Integrity and Stewardship: You always work to do what is best and right for our community and inspire confidence in others through consistent honesty and care.
• Kindness and Collaboration: You make others feel like they belong through empathy and genuine care.
• Imagination and Spirit: You hold an unwavering belief that we can accomplish our goals, even when the work is hard.
• Dedication and Practice: You use each opportunity to support our mission and reflect on your actions with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Equity Commitment: You actively examine your own practice through an equity lens, name and address barriers that prevent students from thriving, and believe that creating an equitable classroom is ongoing, intentional work, not a checkbox.

What You Will Do

Instruction and Planning

• Develop and deliver standards-aligned ELA lessons grounded in the Red Thread curriculum and EL Education's instructional model, with intentional attention to all four literacy domains: reading, writing, speaking, and listening
• Design and facilitate expedition-based learning experiences where students engage with complex texts, develop original ideas, and present and defend their thinking to authentic audiences
• Provide explicit writing instruction across an ambitious range of forms — literary analysis, argumentative essays, personal narratives, research papers, poetry, persuasive media, and social impact plans — guiding students through an iterative process of drafting, peer and teacher feedback, and revision that builds academic courage and a genuine understanding of craft
• Teach close reading as a transferable skill across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and primary sources — building students' ability to slow down, notice what a text is doing, and construct meaning from evidence rather than instinct
• Facilitate structured academic discourse, Socratic seminars, and oral presentations that build students' confidence and skill as speakers, listeners, and critical thinkers
• Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners, including students in ICT settings, students with IEPs, English Language Learners, and extension groups, using small group instruction, flexible grouping, and targeted intervention and enrichment
• Use formative and summative assessment data, including reading level data and writing benchmarks, to drive small group work, adjust whole-class instruction, and document student growth over time
• Go deep with a curriculum already built around diverse, rigorous, and culturally grounded texts — your job is not to find representation but to teach into it, so that every student sees their history, community, and identity as central to the literary conversation, not supplemental to it
• Prepare students for NYS ELA assessments through targeted, data-informed test preparation that builds skills without sacrificing the depth and joy of the broader literacy program

Classroom Community

• Establish consistent expectations and routines in a student-centered classroom that is organized, welcoming, and celebratory, using a restorative justice framework to build relationships, repair harm, and keep students connected to the community rather than removed from it
• Lead a Crew, EL Education's student advisory structure, serving as a consistent, trusted adult who guides a small group of students in their academic growth, character development, and sense of belonging

Collaboration and Growth

• Plan and analyze student work alongside your colleagues in department and grade-level meetings, using data to ask hard questions and make better instructional decisions together
• Engage in quarterly coaching cycles built on an asset-based approach — you will be observed, given feedback, and supported to grow, with the expectation that your practice improves and students feel it
• Prepare students to lead their own Student-Led Conferences and Passages, putting student voice at the center of the learning community
• Build and sustain genuine relationships with students and families, communicating honestly and regularly about growth, challenges, and what students are capable of

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred
• Valid New York State Teaching Certification in ELA
• Deep knowledge of ELA pedagogy including close reading, writing process, and structured academic discourse
• Experience teaching writing as a craft, not just a skill — middle school experience preferred
• Teaching experience in an urban setting preferred
• Unwavering commitment to equity, Launch's mission, and the EL Education model
• Documented success moving student reading and writing achievement, with clear evidence of growth over time
• Familiarity with Red Thread or a similar thematic, inquiry-driven ELA curriculum is a plus; experience with project-based or expedition-based learning where students produce work for real audiences is strongly preferred

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) and/or Roth IRA with employer match; flexible spending accounts (Health Care FSA, Dependent Care FSA, Transit); short- and long-term disability; Employee Assistance Program with mental health, family, and wellness support; professional development funding and ongoing coaching; parental leave; summer benefits. School calendar follows the NYC academic calendar with additional professional development days.

Compensation

$65,000 - $115,000 annually, commensurate with experience. Salaries at Launch are set through a lens of equity and based on an individual's skills, education, and years of relevant experience.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Launch is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any individual or group for reasons of race, color, creed, sex, age, culture, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability. We actively recruit, hire, and retain a diverse and inclusive staff because we believe our team should reflect the communities we serve.

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