Position Overview

Wellan Montessori School is seeking an experienced Primary Lead Teacher (ages 3-6) for the 2024-2025 school year. This is a full-time position beginning in August 20224. The Primary Lead Teacher oversees all aspects of classroom operation, including planning/implementing curriculum and communicating with families, while working with a Co-Classroom Teacher to ensure classroom standards are met consistently. The Lead Teacher must excel at preparing the environment, taking shared responsibility for creating and maintaining an orderly, safe, and appropriately challenging learning environment for children in the class.

The successful candidate will be patient, well organized, flexible, professional, and dependable; have strong classroom management skills; have strong verbal and written communication skills; be able to function in a cooperative teaching environment; and be able to collaborate with other educators in our community to create an environment where children learn, socialize, explore, and grow together. Experience working in a Montessori classroom is required, with certification for ages 3-6 preferred.

Position Details:

• Full Time 40 hours per week, with attendance at staff meetings and occasional night and weekend events outside of regular hours required.
• Regular Hours: Monday Friday, 7:30am to 3:30pm

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree or beyond in related field.
• EEC Preschool Lead Teacher certified.
• Montessori certification for ages 3-6 or in training / willingness to undertake training.
• Experience working in a Montessori classroom.

Responsibilities & Duties

Planning & Preparation:

• The Primary Lead Teacher must be aligned with Wellan's mission and educational purposes and demonstrate best practices for teaching the Primary curriculum. The Primary Lead Teacher must collaborate with a Co-Teacher to plan lessons that follow the scope of the Montessori curriculum; provide an environment designed to maximize student learning; and display understanding of key developmental milestones and the ability to determine whether such milestones are met.

• To be considered for enhanced salary band placement or salary band advancement, The Primary Lead Teacher should demonstrate a commitment to teaching as a craft and pursue a plan that enhances teaching effectiveness, including creation and implementation of age-appropriate work that enriches students and is in line with Montessori philosophy; and implement effective strategies for supporting students who are not meeting developmental or academic milestones.

Classroom Management:

• The Primary Lead Teacher must treat students with respect and fairness through positive interactions. The Primary Lead Teacher must demonstrate abilities to establish and maintain clear and age-appropriate behavior expectations and classroom routines while guiding students to follow them; and foster social-emotional development by modeling appropriate behavior.

• To be considered for enhanced salary band placement or salary band advancement, The Primary Lead Teacher should consistently maintain behavior expectations with effective strategies for supporting students when they are not met; implement effective strategies to maintain calm and successful routines when disruptions arise; structure efficient transitions; and display a range of strategies for supporting social-emotional growth, both formally and informally.

Delivery of Instruction:

• The Primary Lead Teacher must present lessons following the steps outlined in Montessori training materials, while recognizing the need to differentiate instruction at times. The Primary Lead Teacher should demonstrate an ability to implement necessary adjustments in consultation with the Division Leader, a Co-Teacher or other colleagues.

• To be considered for enhanced salary band placement or salary band advancement, The Primary Lead Teacher should be able to present lessons in a clear, fluid, and engaging manner both to individual students and groups of students, and to make instructional modifications to Montessori curricula as needed.

Monitoring, Assessment & Follow-up:

• The Primary Lead Teacher must engage in and document routine observation of students, discussing these observations with a Co-Teacher at regular intervals and prepare well-written and grammatically correct narrative progress reports for each student.

• To be considered for enhanced salary band placement or salary band advancement, The Primary Lead Teacher should be able to jointly develop effective systems and schedules for making and documenting observations; strategically use observations to plan lessons, communicate with parents, and monitor student learning; and independently produce narrative progress reports that are highly detailed, well structured, descriptive, and informative.

Family & Community Outreach:

• The Primary Lead Teacher must be able to keep parents informed as to their child's educational goals and progress, and recognize both positive and negative information with respect to a child's education. The Primary Lead Teacher must communicate such information to parents in a timely, sensitive, supportive, and professional manner, employing assistance from the Division Leader as needed; explain the basic scope of curriculum to parents both formally and informally; and coproduce daily classroom reports to families in a succinct and grammatically correct manner.

• To be considered for enhanced salary band placement or salary band advancement, The Primary Lead Teacher should be able to provide parents with strategies to enhance and enrich the curriculum for their children; provide in-depth and articulate descriptions regarding the Montessori curriculum; and demonstrate an ability to present in-depth information regarding the teaching profession and/or particular areas of child development expertise at conferences or other public forums.

Collegiality, Collaboration and Supervision

• The Primary Lead Teacher must collaborate well with colleagues, use direct and respectful communication skills, listen thoughtfully to other viewpoints, and respond constructively to suggestions and criticism. The Primary Lead Teacher must use an agreed-upon system for equitably sharing classroom responsibilities, including administrative and instructional tasks, and consistently follow through with these expectations. The Primary Lead Teacher must work in conjunction with direct colleagues to share and maintain classroom norms, collaboratively solve problems as they arise, and plan an appropriately challenging curricular path for each student. If applicable, The Primary Lead Teacher must also set clear guidelines and expectations for all Assistant Teachers and/or Support Teachers under supervision.

• To be considered for enhanced salary band placement or salary band advancement, The Primary Lead Teacher should seek ways in which to interact with colleagues with whom the teacher does not work with directly, go above and beyond to make them feel supported and valued, and elicit and implement feedback from them in order to improve performance. If applicable, The Primary Lead Teacher should also mentor Assistant Teachers and/or Interns by providing regular training, applicable resources, and opportunities for professional growth.

Professionalism and Administrative Skills

• The Primary Lead Teacher must demonstrate a professional demeanor, be ethical and forthright, use good judgment, and maintain appropriate confidentiality. The Primary Lead Teacher should also be able to successfully manage a classroom budget, including making prudent investments in the classroom as needed; have excellent attendance and arrive to school and meetings on time; consistently follow established policies and procedures; and fulfill any responsibilities expected of teachers outside of normal work hours.

• To be considered for enhanced salary band placement or salary band advancement, The Primary Lead Teacher should demonstrate an ability to carefully establish annual spending plans and/or make recommendations to the Division Leader regarding the need for material investments in the classroom; contribute and implement ideas or resources that benefit the Division or School as a whole; and voluntarily exceed fulfillment of any responsibilities expected of teachers outside of normal work hours.

Wellan Montessori School believes that each individual is entitled to equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, gender, pregnancy, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, military service, application for military service, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under federal or Massachusetts law. The School will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law. The School's equal employment opportunity practices extend to recruitment, hiring, job assignment, compensation, benefits, transfer, promotion, training, discipline, and all other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.

The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the School's non-discrimination policies, including its Title IX policy:

Name: Joseph Jolly

Title: Director of Finance, Operations, Development, HR, and Legal Affairs

Office Address: Wellan Montessori School, 80 Crescent Avenue, Newton Centre, MA 02459

Telephone Number: 617-969-4488 ext. 3

Email Address: joe.jolly@wellan.org

For assistance related to Title IX or other civil rights laws, please contact OCR at OCR@ed.gov or 800-421-3481, TDD 800-877-8339.