Job Description

Job Description

Job Description

St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School (SSSAS) of Alexandria, VA is looking to hire a dynamic Lower School Long-Term Sub Art Teacher beginning in November 2024 who wants to make a real difference in the lives of students . Are you passionate about teaching art to young children? Do you like to inspire students to explore visual arts processes, skills, concepts, and principles through engaging and hands-on learning experiences. Do you have strong knowledge of child development principles and developmentally appropriate teaching methods? Would you like to be part of a supportive and amazing faculty in a positive, inclusive environment? If so, please read on!

The Visual Arts program at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School is a comprehensive arts education program. Our Lower School Visual Arts program includes students' guided engagement with a wide range of materials and media. The school welcomes a diversity of experiences in its Visual Arts Teachers, so that children encounter many avenues for thinking, revising, constructing, negotiating, developing, and symbolically expressing their thoughts and feelings through art.

The Art Teacher will inspire students to explore visual arts processes, skills, concepts, and principles through engaging and hands-on learning experiences. The Art Teacher will also collaborate frequently with other art teachers in the Lower School and in the other two divisions and also with the other Lower School specials teachers and classroom teachers. Members of the SSSAS faculty and staff are required to exercise professional judgment and responsibility in keeping with the expectations of the school.

The ideal candidate will:

• Have previous experience teaching art to young children in a classroom setting.
• Possess a wide knowledge of elementary art education.
• Have the ability to integrate emerging current technologies and STEAM principles into the curriculum.
• Possess a desire for ongoing professional growth.
• Be flexible, patient, nurturing, and collaborative.
• Have prior knowledge of the Reggio-Emilia approach and an interest in supporting students' visual arts pursuits in a Reggio-inspired environment.
• Have a strong artistic portfolio demonstrating personal art practice.

The primary responsibilities include:

• Using the Responsive Classroom approach, provide a structured, encouraging, and collaborative classroom environment where deep curiosity and creativity is fostered among students.
• Commit to elevating our community's understanding of race and prioritizing our work towards racial justice.
• Teach visual arts processes, content, and skills in self-contained art classroom, the outdoor classroom, and other spaces around the campus, and on field trips.
• Encourage the exploration of materials and media as languages for personal expression.
• Work in partnership with the other Lower School art faculty member to maintain and refine an intellectually challenging and creative art program with developmentally appropriate research-based practices.
• Implement an academically strong, inquiry-based and differentiated art curriculum.
• Develop lesson plans and supplementary materials compatible with the Lower School art curriculum.
• Incorporate multimedia technology in art instruction.
• Plan, implement, and evaluate developmentally appropriate learning activities that complement grade-level curricula and support plans for development of integrated content between classroom and specials curricula.
• Utilize the natural world as inspiration for inquiry and forward and expand opportunities for a rich outdoor education strand of the art curriculum.
• Develop familiarity with each student's individual strengths, affinities, and challenges.
• Evaluate each student's progress meeting the course standards in visual arts knowledge and skills as well as social growth of students.
• Keep appropriate records and prepare report card summaries and comments.
• Communicate student concerns with classroom teachers, parents, and administrators.
• Work closely with the chair of the art department and ES-12 art department faculty, most specifically the other Lower School Art Teacher.
• Demonstrate flexibility with regard to scheduling and student instruction.
• Share expertise, recent professional development, and current research in the respective field with colleagues and community.
• Monitor students in a variety of educational environments (carpool, playground, field trips, etc.) providing a safe and positive learning environment.
• Respond promptly to communication from colleagues and families.
• Attend and participate in faculty meetings, interdisciplinary collaborations, and meetings of any committees joined.
• Use the Seesaw learning management system to assign and review student artwork.
• Maintain engaging visual displays around the Lower School campus and displays in the digital format.
• Perform all other duties, as assigned.

All members of the faculty instill our school's mission by helping their students to become responsible, honest, compassionate, respectful citizens. The successful candidate will be required to exercise professional judgment and responsibility in keeping with the expectations of the School's faculty.

The School accepts candidates with the following minimal qualifications:

(1) Bachelor's degree in Art Education, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education or another relevant field; advanced degrees are strongly encouraged; state certification is not required.

(2) A minimum of three years full-time teaching experience teaching early elementary art.

(3) A strong commitment to educating a diverse student body within a caring and creative environment.

(4) Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

(5) Strong references who confirm the applicant's ability to exercise sound professional judgment.

Overview

St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School is an affirming and collegial community committed to our mission to "pursue goodness as well as knowledge and to honor the unique value of each of our members as a child of God in a caring community." SSSAS is an age 3 to Grade 12 Episcopal day school located on three campuses six miles from Washington, D.C., in beautiful and historic Alexandria, Va. We believe that educating the whole child by tending to their individual academic, social/emotional, cultural, and physical needs, prepares them to be knowledgeable, kind, and empathetic citizens in a complex world. Combining a rigorous academic program with outstanding opportunities in the arts, athletics, and service learning for our students, SSSAS is a community that values diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and we seek candidates who share these same values.

Our culture promotes lifelong learning, and employees have a wealth of opportunities available to them to continue expanding their knowledge of both their disciplines and in their field of education. Cultural competency workshops for all faculty and staff, regular, small-group DEIB exploration/workshops, support for graduate studies, summer study grants, and conferences (e.g., People of Color Conference, the National Association of Independent School Annual Conference, and CASE-NAIS) are just a few of the ways in which we support and encourage our Saints faculty and staff to continue to develop and learn in their field and as part of our community.

READY TO JOIN OUR COMMUNITY?

We understand your time is valuable, and that is why we have a very quick and easy application process. If you feel that you would be right for this teaching job, please fill out our initial 3-minute, mobile-friendly application . We look forward to meeting you!

Interested applicants should apply through the SSSAS website at

-us/employment

For more information about St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School, we invite you to visit our website at

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