Spanish Teacher - Middle School

Whitby School - Greenwich, CT

Full-time - Mid Level

Greenwich, CT

Educational Services

About the position

Whitby School is seeking an experienced and innovative Spanish teacher to join our middle school team, which serves grades 5-8. Our mission is to provide excellence in Spanish language acquisition, literature, and cultural instruction to students with diverse experiences, abilities, and passions. At Whitby, we believe that students should be active participants in their learning journey, driving the process through inquiry and reflection. To facilitate this engagement, the Spanish department employs a holistic approach, dedicated to helping students not only acquire language skills and concepts but also to discover their identities as learners and individuals. Our Spanish instruction is differentiated and spans from toddler classes to grade 8, with classes flexibly grouped for grades 5-8. The focus is on enhancing each student's ability to comprehend and produce the language both orally and in writing. The curriculum is rooted in a deep conceptual framework and contextualized within larger global themes, enabling students to make sense of the world around them. Through reading and writing, students explore multiple genres and text types, while peer and self-assessment, teacher conferencing, and total immersion are integral components of our program. We are looking for a candidate who is willing to collaborate with colleagues, possesses a love for middle school education, and has a passion for the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.

Responsibilities

• Engages students in active learning.
• Promotes a 'hands-on and minds-on' culture of thinking, stimulating inquiry into local, regional, and global issues from multiple perspectives.
• Challenges students to become life-long learners by taking risks and reflecting on their experiences.
• Delivers differentiated instruction based on identified student needs and learning styles.
• Utilizes a range of teaching techniques effectively and inquiry-based instruction whenever appropriate.
• Engages collaboratively with members of the World Languages department and the school faculty.
• Integrates a variety of resources effectively to enhance instruction.
• Communicates in a clear, inviting, respectful, and caring manner with students.
• Institutes effective classroom management routines; utilizes positive discipline techniques and displays awareness of the whole classroom.
• Builds a strong sense of personal and social responsibility that sets the foundation for a balanced lifestyle and encourages service to others, our community, and our environment.
• Promotes international-mindedness throughout our curriculum by exploring our diversity of culture, language, and experience while gaining insights from the unique perspectives of our host culture.
• Develops the use of technology as a learning tool within the classroom and as an extension of the classroom when appropriate.

Requirements

• Holds a Bachelor's degree in elementary/secondary education, Spanish, or a related field.
• Native or fully bilingual Spanish speaker.
• Has a minimum of two+ years of experience teaching.
• While not essential, IB MYP experience would be a plus.
• Willingness to engage in IB MYP training and professional development.
• Satisfactory completion of pre-employment background check.

Nice-to-haves

• IB MYP experience would be a plus.