Elementary English Support and K2 Team Leader

Purpose:

The Team Leader – Elementary English Support and K2 position is primarily a teaching position. It must be occupied by a British Columbia certified educator.  This role aims to help students develop proficient literacy skills that will contribute to their academic growth.

This position will have 50% of the time allocated to support teaching assignment. The remaining time is for the leadership role which would include the responsibilities to lead the Support ESL Instructors and K2 homeroom teachers.

English Support Team Leader Detailed Duties:

• Plan services that will be offered by the Support Program for English language acquisition based on concepts and approaches agreed upon with the school Principal and British Columbia (BC) Program Heads
• Plan the scope of the program services, such as number of students and grades, in a particular year/term and taking into consideration available staff resources, student needs and school priorities.
• Conduct assessment for students referred to the program to identify if support is warranted, the appropriate plan, which may include working with students in their classes
• Design interventions and write lesson plans detailing methods and materials.
• Use identified needs to guide the learning process toward student achievement of the reading/language arts content standards. Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units and projects using formal and informal assessment data obtained from students.
• Work with individual or small groups of students who are at-risk in reading to provide educational interventions and progress monitoring.
• Use a variety of instructional techniques and literacy materials consistent with reading/language arts content standards and the needs and capabilities of the individuals or student groups involved.
• Plan instruction and supervise the work of ESL and other Instructors and TA's working in the program. Direct part-time BC certified teachers who teach in the program to the needs of students and supervise their work in the program.
• Instruct support teachers to implement small group/individual Reading instruction, progress monitoring, and other activities related to Reading support.
• Contribute to supporting teachers in recognizing and responding to the multiple needs of the diverse learners in our ELL environment, utilizing a variety of on-going, instructionally based assessment approaches to inform and differentiate instruction and implementing a balanced approach of direct teaching using authentic, literature-based reading and writing opportunities.
• Work with the BC Administration to develop and use appropriate literacy strategies, implementation plans, assessment tools and initiatives that aim to improve literacy achievement.
• Work with the classroom teacher and BC Head to coordinate reading instruction designed to meet the individual needs of students using the progress-monitoring instrument as a base.
• Work with the classroom teachers to monitor student progress.
• May contribute to the dialogue with parents about students struggling and needing support and to the school recommendation to refer struggling students to external Psycho-Ed specialists.
• May contribute to the decisions about students who may be retained in their grades or asked to move to another school.
• May be asked to help in updating Entry Assessment, conducting assessments and, at the discretion of the Principal, be the reference for Entry Assessment of debatable applications.
• May contribute to the development of class lists factoring reading levels.
• Plan initiatives to promote interest in reading.
• Strive to maintain and improve professional competence in teaching Literacy through professional development activities.
• Helps locate, order, and promote materials to improve reading instruction.
• Participate in discussions or activities focused on using research to improve reading/language arts teaching.
• Maintain data-based documentation of continuous monitoring of student performance and progress during interventions and report periodically and as needed to the Principal, BC Program Heads and teachers.
• Attend meetings, professional development and staff committees as required.
• Perform related duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Principal.

K2 Team Leader Detailed Duties

The Team Leader supports the school Principal in the Principal’s instructional leadership role aiming to deliver a rigorous educational program for HUBS’ predominantly ELL population. At HUBS, we aim to have students engaged in meaningful and strategically focused learning using formative assessment to inform instruction, summative assessment to measure the actual level of student achievement and by supporting students to meet the specific learning goals stipulated based on the school mission and BC Ministry of Education standards.

The K2 Team Leader assumes the following responsibilities:

1. Planning for Instruction and Assessment
   • Leading/contributing to the discussions within teacher and admin teams for the purpose of developing policies for instruction, assessment, reporting, homework, student co-curricular and extra- curricular activities and student support with consideration for the needs of the student body who is predominantly Qatari and is ELL;
   • Selecting instructional programs and frameworks to bring the structure and consistency required for effective delivery of the BC curriculum while taking into consideration the fluid nature of staffing in International schools. The BC Program Head is to support planning instruction using those programs developed over the nine years of HUBS School;
   • Identifying instructional strategies that will support teacher instruction, in addition to the mandated strategies;
   • Selecting learning resources required for the BC curriculum including books for sale to students, classroom and library resources, manipulatives and IT resources;
   • Preparing or leading the preparation of materials such as professional teacher resources (planning templates, sample plans and self-contained activities) and student resources (reference materials, map of curriculum to textbooks and homework);
   • Leading the development of class lists with student grouping that minimizes the heterogeneity of reading levels within one class;
   • Leading and supporting teachers as they develop the following:
     • year plans/course overviews, unit plans, weekly newsletters and daily lesson plans using the school-mandated templates and ensuring differentiation, technology integration, ESL emphasis and implementation of hands-on and inquiry-based approaches required for the redesigned BC curriculum
     • homework assignments
     • formative and summative assessment
     • Plans for student co-curricular and extracurricular activities that support learning and diversify opportunities to maximize student achievement.
2. Monitoring Instruction, Assessment and Student Achievement
   • Making regular classroom visits as per the school policy to monitor the consistent use of required daily plans; adherence to the yearly plans/course overview; use of instructional strategies, resources and assessment as per policies and plans; student-engagement and positive classroom environment;
   • Reviewing exam papers before administration;
   • Collecting and reviewing samples of items such as instructional plans, student classwork, homework, completed assessment and, wherever applicable, assess students to spot-check teacher assessment;
   • Supervising exam invigilation;
   • Monitoring the use of formative and summative assessment and adherence to the assessment policy through periodical checking of Gradebook;
   • Reviewing and signing student progress reports (Report Cards);
   • Monitoring materials published on the Student Information System (Plus Portal), to communicate with students and their families;
   • Reviewing and analyzing student assessment data to identify trends and anomalies and prepare for discussion with the school Principal, school Head Office and teachers to identify actions to be taken to improve student achievement.
3. Managing Behavior and Discipline
   • Contributing to developing schoolwide policies and procedures for behavior management and student discipline;
   • Contributing to developing classroom routines and expectations common/calibrated across grades to bring consistency in managing behavior and support to new teachers as they address this challenging aspect of teaching at HUBS;
   • Monitoring the implementation of school policies, procedures, programs, and classroom routines during classroom visitations and while on duty during recess. Coordinating with the school counselors and reflection areas assistants to make sure teachers are following the discipline process as they refer students to the counselors/reflection rooms. Supporting teachers in communicating with parents, arrange meetings related to negative behavior and follow up on behavior plans set for students who are not meeting school behavior expectations.
4. Identifying and Supporting At Risk Students
   • Contributing to the development of a process to identify students who are at risk of failing and possibly leaving HUBS due to academic performance or poor behavior;
   • Working with teachers and counselors to see that the process is implemented in a timely manner to ensure at risk students are identified as early as possible, parents are engaged in the process, support and behavior plans are developed, the performance of students is monitored and, cases of possible retention or denial of re-registration, are identified.
5. Coaching Teachers
   • Leading weekly meetings for grade-level team collaboration that are meant to create opportunities for teachers and the BC Head to share ideas and experiences to develop common/consistent instructional plans and assessment practices; to help solve problems related to teaching and managing behavior and to have issue and ideas discussed and implemented as needed;
   • Working with teachers either during class visitations or through one-to-one meetings to support them with their planning, assessment and managing behavior;
   • Modeling best teaching practices and the use of school mandated resources, instructional programs, frameworks, strategies and assessment;
   • Contributing to healthy teacher morale by helping teachers positively view the challenges of the profession while working in an international setting with a different culture by providing them with guidance and support and constructively and proactively communicating teacher concerns to the school Principal and the school Administration Council to help address these concerns.
6. Engaging Parents
   • Coach and monitor teachers to ensure that they are following the best practice of engaging parents and in supporting any policies/procedure/systems the school is implementing in this regard;
   • Meet with parents to discuss their concerns, educate them about the school programs and policies and constructively address their issues or ideas;
   • Plan and deliver/ensure the delivery of meaningful activities that will integrate parents in the school life such as:
     • Student performances that will showcase student learning
     • Subject projects such as Science, Social Studies and Arts
     • Presentations on the BC programs
     • Workshops on teaching methods used at HUBS in areas such as literacy, numeracy and character development, so that parents may be able to support the work of the school at home.
7. Entry Assessment
   • Review and, if needed, update entry assessment for grades the BC Head is assigned to lead;
   • Review entry assessments administered by teachers and make the final recommendation to the school Principal.
8. Professional Development
   • Contributing to the annual plans for professional development and in service including the two-week orientation prior to the start of the school year;
   • Identifying sources and receiving suggestions from teachers for professional development and working with the school admin team to screen these opportunities and arrive at decisions;
   • Planning and offering professional development in areas of expertise.
9. General School Leadership Duties
   • Working with members of the school administration team and teachers to plan and offer student activities such as showcases, intra and inter school competitions, science and art fairs and projects to expand learning opportunities for students beyond the classroom in order to develop school pride, enhance the positive climate, and meaningfully engage parents;
   • Participating in supervision of recess to monitor and support teaching staff and assistants;
   • Contributing to school improvement through policy/procedure development, the analysis of data from a variety of sources, the development of growth plans and participation in school accreditation;
   • Playing a key role in the implementation of staff discipline policy and procedure by alerting the school Principal to staff members who may be struggling to meet their professional responsibilities; working with staff under discipline to help them improve and alerting the Principal if support attempts are not resulting in the required change;
   • Contributing to effective school operation, positive school climate and improving staff/student retention by engaging in a transparent and constructive dialogue with other members of the school administration team, the Principal and school Head Office executives to identify problems both at the grades the BC Head is leading as well as across the whole school, and to consider and support an agreed-upon course of action.