Instrumental Music Teacher (Elementary School)
Uncommon Schools - Excellence Boys
Brooklyn, NY

Uncommon Schools (Uncommon) is a nonprofit organization that starts and manages outstanding urban charter public schools that close the achievement gap and prepare low-income students to graduate from college. Uncommon builds uncommonly great schools by developing and managing regional networks that are philosophically aligned and highly accountable and by designing and implementing "best-in-class" teacher training. The organization has achieved outstanding academic results based on internal assessments, statewide exams, and graduation milestones. Its schools consistently outperform their district schools and are among the highest-performing urban schools in their cities and states.
To learn more about Uncommon, visit our website at www.uncommonschools.org.

Position
Our Enrichment Department is seeking an incredibly dedicated and talented Instrumental Music educator interested in a creating and sustaining our school's first music program.

The Instrumental Music Program will include classes for students Kindergarten through Grade 4, with the early years teaching the fundamentals of music education, and in the later years, focusing on developing expertise with a musical instrument.

We are looking for an imaginative, resourceful, self-motivated and results-oriented instrumental music teacher who possesses the skill and desire to train elementary school students, expects high quality, and believes they can change lives through music.

Qualifications

• The ideal candidate would possess:
  • Is looking to and has the proven ability to grow an elementary school instrumental music program from the bottom-up.
  • The desire to plan and work together with our Performing Arts teacher to create and support a culture of enrichment across the school.
  • The passion to foster skill and expertise with instrumental music in children of a young age, in preparation for pursuing outstanding musical opportunities.
  • Experience with teaching children (ages 9-14) the fundamentals of music.
  • Experience with teaching children (ages 9-14) in instrumental music.
  • Drive to improve the minds and lives of students in and out of the classroom.
  • Evidence of self-motivation and willingness to be a team player.
  • Actively seeks and quickly implements instructional and professional feedback from school leaders and colleagues.
  • A self-starter and resourceful professional - a person who isn't 'waiting' to be told how to improve or take their content or teaching to the next level.
  • At least two years successful teaching at an urban school is preferred, though not required;
  • Valid New York State Certification is helpful, but not required.
• At a minimum:
  • Bachelor's degree is required.
  • Belief in and alignment with Uncommon Schools' core beliefs and educational philosophy is non-negotiable.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate a relentless drive to improve the minds, characters, and lives of students both in and out of school.
• Show unwavering commitment to urban youth achieving greatness.
• Create a positive, structured learning environment to ensure that students observe the school's core values, high expectations, and strict code of conduct.
• Implement curricula and activities to meet academic standards.
• Participate in the collaborative curriculum development process.
• Provide consistent rewards and/or consequences for student behavior to ensure that students observe the school's core values, high expectations, and strict code of conduct.
• Be accountable for students' mastery of academic standards.
• Share responsibility for grade-level and school-wide activities.
• Exhibit resilience to persevere and turn challenges into opportunities.
• Focus constantly on student learning, thinking critically and strategically to respond to student learning needs.
• Communicate effectively with students, families, and colleagues.
• Engage families in their children's education.
• Commit to continual professional growth, participating actively in department meetings, faculty meetings, and other meetings.
• Participate in an annual three-week staff orientation and training.

Compensation
We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package. Aside from extensive professional development, all our staff members are equipped with a laptop computer, email, high-speed internet access, and all necessary supplies.

The foregoing information is requested for mandatory government reporting purposes only. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other category protected by applicable law.

Please note that your application will not be saved until you click "submit" at the end of the application question set. Unfortunately, you will not be able to save your resume or answers as you go along. Please take this into consideration. You are welcome to open the application, copy and paste the questions into a Word Document, and then copy and paste your answers into our application once they are complete. Additionally, if you leave your application before beginning the question set, you will need to upload your resume again in order to move forward with the process upon returning. Thanks in advance for the time you are taking to apply to Uncommon Schools.