Elementary ELA/Social Studies Teacher (2024-2025 School Year)

Our students need your expertise, passion, and leadership. Are you ready to join something bigger?

We are looking for highly motivated, skilled, and equity-minded 2nd Grade ELA/Social Studies Teacher to join our team at Smothers Elementary School for the 2024-25 school year. We seek individuals who are passionate about transforming the DC school system and making a significant difference in the lives of our public school students, parents, and the greater DC community.

Smothers Elementary seeks to build collegiality and collaboration among the staff and foster an environment where students love to come to school and teachers love to come to work. We place the highest priority on reading, writing, and math instruction to ensure that our students have the skills needed to be career and college ready. We provide targeted interventions and supports to meet students? academic and social-emotional needs as a means of developing the whole child. Smothers students will be critical thinkers, problem solvers, and productive citizens. We leverage the help of our community to make Smothers a great school because it is a school for the community.

DCPS serves approximately 51,000 students in the nation's capital through the efforts of approximately 4,200 educators in 116 schools. As part of a comprehensive reform effort to become the preeminent urban school system in America, DCPS intends to have the highest-performing, best paid, most satisfied, and most honored educator force in the nation and a distinctive central office staff whose work supports and drives instructional excellence and significant achievement gains for DCPS students.

Position Overview

Vision

Every student feels loved, challenged, and prepared to positively influence and thrive in life.

Mission

Ensure that every school guarantees students reach their full potential through rigorous and joyful learning experiences provided in a nurturing environment.

Strategic Priorities

• Promote Equity: Define, understand, and promote equity so that we can eliminate gaps and systematically interrupt institutional bias.
• Empower Our People: Recruit, develop, and retain a talented, caring, and diverse team.
• Ensure Excellent Schools: Increase the number of excellent schools throughout the city.
• Educate the Whole Child: Provide rigorous, joyful, and inclusive academic and social emotional learning experiences to ensure all students are college and career ready.

This position is a safety-sensitive position. As a result, throughout employment this position will be subject to the Employee Mandatory Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy.

The Teacher (10-month) will report to the Principal.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The statements below are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned.

• Sets and reinforces clear expectations and routines that are aligned with the school’s overall vision.
• Develops and implements curricula and activities to meet academic standards.
• Thoughtfully plans daily lessons and implements specific strategies to meet the needs of all students, providing extra support, enrichment, or variation of work when necessary.
• Demonstrates strong content knowledge.
• Designs and implements assessments that measure progress towards academic standards and diagnoses areas of student misunderstanding.
• Uses assessment data to refine curriculum and informs instructional practices.
• Is accountable for students’ academic growth and increases each individual student’s achievement.
• Creates a positive, achievement-oriented learning environment.
• Reflects on successes and areas of growth as a teacher, seeks to improve performance, and responds to feedback.
• Participates in collaborative curriculum development, grade-level activities, and school-wide functions.
• Invests parents and families in their children’s academic success through regular communication.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus.
• Possesses or is eligible for a valid District of Columbia Teaching License issued by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).
• Strong instructional skills and classroom management.
• Enthusiasm for and demonstrated mastery of subject matter.
• Unrelenting commitment to students, self, and school’s constant learning and development.
• Ability to self-reflect on teaching practices and be responsive to feedback.

DCPS Values

• STUDENTS FIRST: We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.
• COURAGE: We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success.
• EQUITY: We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds.
• EXCELLENCE: We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions.
• TEAMWORK: We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically.
• JOY: We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other.