Special Education Teacher (Lower School)

MJCS is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school that offers an education that is a source of freedom and possibility for all students, permitting them to develop their talents fully, become contributing global citizens, and attain the foundation needed to excel at college, career, and beyond.

Morris Jeff Community School (MJCS) is committed to diversity, inclusion, and open access. We include all students in the age/grade-appropriate classrooms. The special education teachers are critical to helping our students with IEPs participate in the classroom community and meet their learning goals. Special education teachers are a part of the general education teams and collaborate with student support staff members, leaders, teachers, and assistants to ensure student needs are met in and out of the classroom. Our special education teachers must be certified or working towards certification.

Position Responsibilities

• Believe in, support, and model the mission and values of Morris Jeff Community School
• Work closely with the principal and special education coordinator to develop and implement strategies for all students to be successful
• Design lessons and materials with the general education team that lead to standards mastery and are aligned to grade-level expectations/learning connectors and end-of-year assessments
• Implement effective classroom routines and manage students effectively without disruptions (redirect inappropriate behavior)
• Communicate and collaborate with families and colleagues
• Provide feedback to students by asking pertinent, scaffolded follow-up questions that affirm correctly understood content, clarify misunderstood content, or extend students' thinking
• Inspire and invest students in achieving their goals
• Seek out and constructively respond to feedback and engage in problem-solving with others
• Reflect on teaching practice regularly
• Provide IEP minutes
• Ensure compliant IEP documentation for all students on caseload by facilitating IEP development, FBA/BIP development and implementation, transition planning, and maintaining other supporting documentation related to service delivery (logs, progress reports, Extended School Year, etc.)
• Be actively on duty when in any area of the building and campus, monitoring students for their safety and well-being
• Fulfill all other assigned school duties and requirements professionally and on time

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree required
• 2 or more years of lead teaching (as the teacher of record), strongly preferred
• Experience working with diverse student populations
• A strong background in and command of the content area
• Louisiana Teacher Certification Special Education completed or in progress (or be eligible to hold for our out-of-state applicants) in the specific disability/grade levels served, as necessary

Desired Qualities & Characteristics

• Believe in every student's ability to achieve
• Achieve results based on agreed-upon expectations
• Take personal responsibility
• Highly detail-oriented
• Collaborate effectively with a range of stakeholders
• Share a commitment to creating great schools in New Orleans
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Model the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile attributes

Physical Requirements

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be required to sit, walk, stand, talk, and hear.
• Light lifting of equipment may be required (up to 20 lbs.)