Creative Arts Teacher - Part Time (.5 FTE)

Creative Arts Teacher - Part Time (.5 FTE)

The Valley School

The Valley School is a co-educational elementary school, serving students in grades pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade. Founded in 1985, The Valley School offers a high-quality academic foundation in a small school setting, rich with opportunities for creativity, exploration, and play. We celebrate childhood. Our learning program is a mixture of playful work and purposeful play and is designed to be developmentally appropriate at each grade. Social emotional learning and skill development form an important pillar of our program, in addition to academics, specialist classes, and dynamic playground spaces designed to offer myriad opportunities for students to learn and grow. At Valley, we are committed to helping students learn to advocate for environmental justice in elementary school and beyond.

The Valley School Mission
At The Valley School, we ignite children’s natural passion for learning. Our students develop an academic foundation and become joyful learners through playful work, purposeful play, and the practice of community.

Our Values include: celebration of childhood, collaboration, creativity, equity and inclusion, kindness, and respect for individuality.

Diversity, Equity, Belonging, and Justice (DEBJ) Statement
The Valley School honors diversity, practices inclusion, and invites courageous conversations. We strive to create a community where each individual is valued, respected, and included. Though the journey can be muddy—much like our playground—we aim to give every child the tools necessary to flourish.

Essential Functions
Consistent with the Valley School’s Standards of Effective Teaching, the ideal candidate will:

• Model and respect the School’s Mission and Values
• Demonstrate a belief that all children can learn and recognize the different developmental stages, cultural backgrounds, learning styles, and passions that influence a child’s educational experience
• Use a variety of teaching strategies to meet the learning, social, and emotional needs of a wide range of diverse learners
• Design a clear, well-organized, well-balanced, and flexible curriculum that is responsive to the learning of each class and each child
• Create and effectively manage a positive and respectful classroom environment that promotes student learning while fostering kindness, self-expression, creativity, and respect for differences
• Set clear goals for student learning and use a variety of assessment tools to inform instruction and to provide frequent feedback to students about their progress
• Communicate with parents and colleagues about student growth in a clear, professional, and timely way
• Actively support colleagues and collaborate with other teachers and specialists to meet each student’s needs and to ensure the overall quality of education
• Engage regularly in opportunities for professional growth and model a growth mindset
• Participate actively in the life of The Valley School

Job Duties
The Creative Arts Teacher Position consolidates the teaching of Music, Visual Arts, and Drama in one position to offer students experiences that develop their creative, artistic, and performing skills. The Creative Arts Teacher teaches Valley students at all grades throughout the year. The Creative Arts Teacher will:

• Develop a curriculum for students in grades Pre-k through 5th grade that incorporates visual arts, performing arts, and music and that presents a coherent scope and sequence
• Incorporate age-appropriate standards into the art curriculum in all three areas of learning – visual art, performing art, and music
• Provide meaningful lessons and activities for students that promote creativity and self-expression
• Incorporate school-wide environmental justice themes in lessons and units
• Create, rehearse, and perform with each grade at least once a year
• Collaborate with teachers, whenever possible, in coordinating the Creative Arts program with classroom curricula and themes and behavior management strategies
• Provide regular feedback about students during meetings, conferences, and twice a year in progress reports
• Communicate about Creative Arts class happenings and curriculum through monthly newsletters
• Maintain all art and music equipment that serves the curricular needs of a diverse school population of students
• Manage an annual budget for the Creative Arts program
• Organize and produce an all-school Creative Arts show and mount and maintain displays of student artwork on campus throughout the year
• Establish and nurture relationships with professional organizations related to the arts
• Organize visits to campus from artists, actors, musicians, and other art professionals
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Head of School and Director of Teaching and Learning

The Valley School offers salaries that are competitive with comparable schools in the Seattle area and are commensurate with experience and credentials. We also offer an excellent benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, and Paid Time Off, plus frequent opportunities for professional development.

In experience and skills, the ideal candidate will have:
1. A Bachelor’s Degree in education, preferably in early childhood and elementary education;
Master’s and Washington State teaching certificate preferred
2. Three years of experience as a classroom teacher
3. Clear fingerprint background check

To apply, please email a cover letter, a current resume, and contact information for three references to Alice Baggett, Director of Teaching and Learning, at [email protected]
Subject Line: The Valley School Creative Arts Teacher

08/21/2023

At half-time, salaries for specialist teachers range from $24,500 to $43,000.