Jobs

The School – Neighborhood School’s mission is to provide transformative, personalized, justice-centered learning to children from all families of all economic means, helping students find their voice, form community, and become the next generation of world-changers. Children can become conscious and critical of the world around them in order to build a more equitable community. Teachers who are learning about power and identity, and who want to use schools to dismantle systems of oppression, can best support them.

Neighborhood School is unique in Boston’s educational landscape. A teacher-founded independent school that began in 1986, it is intentionally small and creatively personalized with a demonstrated commitment to promoting social justice and helping children flourish to their fullest potential. It is a place where 40 students, ages 5-12, learn about themselves, others, and about how to form an authentic community. Everyone is well-known and connected to everyone else at NS.

Teachers at NS take advantage of curricular freedom to design a learning environment where children are nurtured to be kind, curious, informed, literate and involved. Students connect with people and places in the city to further their classroom investigations and to participate in lessons designed to develop needed skills and strategies. Teachers have the opportunity to promote experiential learning and foster students’ connections to the world around them by designing thematic studies led by questions, fueled by research, and framed by reflection.

Parents have opportunities to be involved in the life of the school and in the lives of other school families. Neighborhood School is a place where a foundation for lifelong learning is nurtured and where lifelong relationships (including faculty) are often formed.

The Classroom – We have an opening for a Lead Teacher with a nature-based and identity-affirming philosophy for our 5 year old classroom called Level One. You will collaborate and be supported by the school’s Director who is a veteran Level One teacher with specialization in Reggio Emilia philosophy. You will set the course of classroom culture, curriculum, and routines for a class of ten children. Level One is a place where children learn to be friends, social thinkers, community members, and empowered learners.

The Opening: Preferred Qualifications

• Experience as an Early Childhood teacher preferred, minimum of four years
• Masters level degree preferred in Early Childhood or a related field
• Experience in an inclusive classroom with various intersections of learning profiles and identities
• Justice-centered pedagogy and progressive philosophy of education

Our ideal candidate is an avid learner. The candidate will be ready to:

• Foster nurturing relationships with children and apply an equity lens to all aspects of classroom learning including units of study and analysis of power dynamics among children. – develop a classroom environment where children learn about themselves, one-another, their families, and recognize they are responsible members of a learning community – create an environment that normalizes learning differences and accommodations among children, i.e. hold intentional conversations about differing strengths, needs and how that translates to helping everyone get what they need in order to learn
• Promote social-emotional development by a demonstrated understanding of child development, social thinking, i.e. coaching non-violent communication and restorative justice strategies – create and lead meaningful, developmental curriculum
• Use a variety of classroom materials and methods, including some specialized Montessori materials
• Foster a love of books as well as drawing and writing
• Develop and implement a writer’s workshop suitable for 5-6 year olds
• Promote the development of mathematical and scientific thinking and skills – develop community learning connections in the neighborhood and Boston area – cultivate relationships with parents and promote healthy parent-teacher communication, including classroom updates, active listening, and effective meetings
• Plan classroom gatherings for parents that showcase their children’s learning – educate parents as to why we teach the way we do and how children learn through the experiences we provide
• Collaborate with and learn alongside colleagues informally and formally
• Implement formative assessment and write trimester reports for parents

Salary is in the range of $60,000 to $70,000 depending on experience and training.