SY 2024-2025: Early Childhood Chinese Support Teacher (Pre-K3 or Pre-K4)

at  Global Citizens Public Charter School

Position: Early Childhood Chinese Support Teacher (Pre-K3 and Pre-K4)
Supervisor: Founding Director of Teaching & Learning
Start Date: August 2024
Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through June 2024. However, the position may be closed prior to that date if a qualified candidate is hired. Please note that we will begin reviewing applications starting on January 3, 2024.
The Opportunity: We are seeking support teachers with experience in early childhood education to provide instructional support in either Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, or English at Global Citizens Public Charter School (Global Citizens PCS), for the 2024-2025 school year. Global Citizens PCS is the first dual language immersion elementary school in Washington, DC, to offer language immersion in both Mandarin Chinese and Spanish pathways - exposing students to the top three languages spoken in the world. Paired with a focus on social justice and whole child wellness, Global Citizens PCS equips children to become empathetic, globally competent, and socially-minded leaders who are prepared for a future we cannot yet imagine. Global Citizens PCS opened in Ward 7 to provide children and their families living east of the Anacostia River with equitable access to dual language immersion programs. This position offers an incredible opportunity to work alongside a founding team, within an entrepreneurial and collaborative environment focused on improving educational opportunities for all students, especially those who are most marginalized and undervalued.
Mission: The mission of Global Citizens PCS is to inspire and prepare the next generation of global citizens. We will do this by supporting students, ages 3-11, to reach their full academic and leadership potential in a nurturing learning environment. We will immerse them in the Mandarin and Spanish languages, promote the value of diversity, and equip them with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets they need to contribute to a better world.
Vision: We envision academic excellence, language acquisition, and authentic inclusion of a diverse student population. We will build a strong community of learners who are confident in their ability to communicate in the Chinese, Spanish, and English languages. Our children will use language to liberate and advocate for themselves and those most marginalized. All of our children will develop a sense of self and a sense of belonging, build empathy and emotional resilience, learn to understand and appreciate diverse perspectives, and challenge themselves to take action to improve the world.
Philosophy: We believe that all cultures have richness and value, deserve respect and consideration, and do not belong to a hierarchy. We are aware of white supremacy culture and the systemic oppression that exists – even in the current education system. At Global Citizens PCS, we will critically examine our biases and then actively work on counteracting these biases and disrupting the dominant narrative. We will continually examine our teaching and curricula to ensure we incorporate multiple perspectives from diverse cultural backgrounds and life experiences, including the experiences of our students, families, communities, and staff. We will create an environment in which all students will yearn for intercultural connections and see their benefits.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are our core values and central to our learning, development, and growth:

• Diversity: All children, of all backgrounds, learning abilities, and physical capacities, will thrive and contribute to a positive, inclusive, and supportive learning community.
• Equity: All children are capable of reaching high levels of academic excellence and whole child wellness. Thus, all children will have the opportunity to gain fluency in more than one language/culture and learn from and with each other. All children will be held to high expectations – ensuring equally high outcomes for all and removing the predictability of success or failure that currently correlates with social, cultural, or socio-economic factors.
• Inclusion: We will live our core value of diversity by creating an environment of connection, belonging, empowerment, and respect – where the richness of different ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are harnessed to create value.

The core values live in our Global Citizens PCS educational model through four key pillars: Globally Competent Bilingualism, Academic Excellence, Social Justice, and Whole Child Wellness.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CHINESE SUPPORT TEACHER JOB DESCRIPTION

The Classroom Support Teacher is instrumental in influencing the lives of children at Global Citizens PCS, so they can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Support teachers will support the lead Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, or English teachers with creating a student-centered learning environment that respects the culture and identity of each and every child. In early childhood, our children will learn all content areas in the partner language for approximately 90% of the school day. They will learn their early literacy and math skills in English for approximately 10% of the school day. The support teacher will collaborate with the lead Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, or English teacher to implement lessons in the partner language (Mandarin Chinese or Spanish) and also serve as a model for the partner language. The support teacher will also facilitate small group instruction and lead mini-lessons on a regular basis. Together, each teacher will work in tandem to positively impact student development by creating a warm and inviting learning environment; building relationships with students and families; creatively designing and implementing effective lessons within a free and liberating classroom environment; analyzing and interpreting data; collaborating professionally with colleagues; and, participating in the larger school-wide community. Support teachers, under the direct supervision of the Director of Teaching & Learning, will work collaboratively with lead teachers and all leadership team members to fully understand and respond to the needs of students and families, support in the implementation of plans according to the mission, vision, and key pillars of Global Citizens Public Charter School, while also remaining focused on the implementation of high-quality dual language instruction.
Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

SUPPORT TEACHER REQUIREMENTS

• At least two years of experience as a support teacher or teacher preferred
• Progressing towards meeting state educational requirements, preferably a valid state-issued teaching license for Teaching in elementary education or meet eligibility, including a Bachelor’s degree in Education and passing scores on Praxis I & II
• Experience and knowledge of learning standards and student-centered curriculum
• An energetic, flexible, creative, innovative individual who can develop strengths-based, student-centered support plans that support learning for students of various abilities, including those with various identified exceptionalities
• Ability to excel as a member of a multidisciplinary team and an instructional team
• Ability to work in a multicultural, multilingual environment
• Ability to collaborate and teach through a lens of diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion
• Communication skills (both oral and written)

Please refer the Job description for details