School Based Master Teacher

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: Individual must hold a valid Louisiana Teaching Certificate, meeting the requirements listed in the Louisiana Standards for State certification of school personnel, Bulletin 746, Part Ill, IV, V, VI, VII, IX and X. Minimum requirements as stated in SDE Bulletin 746 (as revised). Minimum of three (3) years successful teaching experience. Master’s Degree preferred. 

REPORTS TO:   Principal

FLSA STATUS:   Exempt

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT: 182 days 

METHOD OF EVALUATION: District level evaluation.

PERFORMANCE RESPONSIBILITIES

PLANNING INSTRUCTION / LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

1. The Master Teacher develops quality lesson plans with rigor that promotes learning for all students including:

• Goals are aligned to state content standards.
• Activities, materials, and assessments that
• Are aligned to state standards.
• Are sequenced from basic to complex.
• Build on prior student knowledge, are relevant to students’ lives, and integrate other disciplines.
• Provide appropriate time for student work, reflection, and lesson and unit closure.
• Provide evidence that plan is appropriate for the age, knowledge, and interests of all learners.
• Provide evidence that provides regular opportunities to accommodate individual student needs.

1. The Master Teacher plans meaningful student work that deepens student understanding and builds essential skills. This requires students to:

• Interpret information rather than reproduce it. 
• Draw conclusions and support them through writing.
• Connect what they are learning to experiences.

1. The Master Teacher develops effective assessment plans that support his/her ability to plan, diagnose, and intervene on a continual basis to raise student achievement. Plans:

• Are aligned with state content standards.
• Have clear measurement criteria.
• Measure student performance in more than three (3) ways (e.g., in the form of a project, experiment, presentation, essay, short answer, or multiple choice test).
• Require extended written tasks.
• Include performance checks throughout the school year.

1. The Master Teacher creates a safe learning environment with high expectations for every student and opportunities for all students to experience success. This is evidenced by:

• Teacher sets high and demanding academic expectations for every student.
• Teacher encourages students to learn from mistakes.
• Teacher create learning opportunities where all students can experience success.
• Students complete their work according to teacher expectations.

1. The Master Teacher manages student behavior in a timely and effective manner in order for effective instruction to take place. This is evidenced by:

• The students are mostly well-behaved and on task.
• The teacher establishes rules for learning and behavior.
• The teacher uses some techniques, such as social approval, contingent activities, and consequences to maintain appropriate student behavior.
• The teacher overlooks inconsequential behavior.
• The teacher deals with students who have caused disruptions.

1. The Master Teacher arranges and furnishes a classroom environment that:

• Welcomes most members and guests.
• Is organized and understandable to most students.
• Has supplies, equipment, and resources accessible.
• Displays student work.
• Is arranged to promote individual and group learning.

1.   The Master Teacher creates a positive classroom environment evidenced by:

• Teacher-student interactions are generally friendly.
• Students’ exhibit respect for the teacher and are generally polite to each other.
• The teacher is sometimes receptive to the interests and opinions of students.

INSTRUCTION/RESPONSIBILITIES

1. The Master Teacher creates and communicates clearly defined learning outcomes or objectives appropriate for the students.

• Most learning objectives and state content standards are communicated.
• Sub-objectives are mostly aligned to the lesson’s major objective.
• Learning objectives are connected to what students have previously learned.
• Expectations for student performance are clear.
• State standards are displayed.
• There is evidence that most students demonstrate mastery of the objective.

1. The Master Teacher organizes and presents the content in a manner that motivates students to learn.  The Mentor Teacher:

• Consistently organizes the content so that it is personally meaningful and relevant to students.
• Consistently develops learning experiences where inquiry, curiosity, and exploration are valued.
• Reinforces and rewards effort.

1. The Master Teacher clearly communicates performance expectations in a concise and logically sequenced manner. Presentation of content includes:

• Visuals that establish the purpose of the lesson, preview the organization of the lesson, and include internal summaries of the lesson.
• Examples, illustrations. Analogies, and labels for new concepts and ideas.
• Modeling by the teacher to demonstrate his or her performance expectations.
• Concise communication.
• Logical sequencing and segmenting.
• All essential information.
• No irrelevant, confusing, or nonessential information.

1. The Master Teacher effectively segments the lesson so that sufficient time is allocated to all parts of the lesson to best support student learning. This is evidenced by:

• Most lessons start promptly.
• The lesson’s structure is coherent, with a beginning, middle, end, and time for reflection.
• Pacing is appropriate and sometimes provides opportunities for students who progress at different learning rates.
• Routines for distributing materials are efficient.
• Little instruction time is lost during transition.

1. The Master Teacher chooses to implement variety and appropriateness of activities and materials during a lesson that:

• Support the lesson objectives.
• Are challenging.
• Sustain the students’ attention.
• Elicit a variety of thinking.
• Provide time for reflection.
• Are relevant to students’ lives.
• Provide opportunities for student-to-student interaction.
• Induce student curiosity and suspense.
• Provide students with choices.
• Incorporate multimedia and technology.
• Incorporate resources beyond the school curriculum texts.

1. The Master Teacher asks questions within a lesson that are/provide:

• Varied and high quality, providing a balanced mix of question types: Knowledge and comprehension; Application and analysis; and Creation and evaluation.
• Usually purposeful and coherent.
• A moderate frequency of questions is asked.
• Sometimes sequenced with attention to the instructional goals.
• Sometimes require active responses.
• Wait time is sometimes provided.
• The teacher calls on volunteers and non-volunteers, and a balance of students based on ability and gender.

1. The Master Teacher provides quality feedback to students that supports student learning and uses student feedback to make adjustments in instruction. This is evidenced by:

• Oral and written feedback is mostly academically focused, frequent, and high quality.
• Feedback is sometimes given during guided practice and homework review.
• The teacher circulates to support engagement and monitor student work.
• Feedback from students is sometimes used to monitor and adjust instruction.

1. The Master Teacher arranges students in instructional groups for the instruction and activities of the lesson and how they will be held accountable for the work they are expected to complete.

• The instructional grouping arrangements (either whole class, small groups, pairs, or individual; heterogeneous or homogeneous ability) consistently maximize student understanding and learning efficiency.
• Most students in groups know their roles, responsibilities, and group work expectations.
• Most students participating in groups are held accountable for group work and individual work.
• Instructional group composition is varied (e.g., race, gender, ability, and age) to best accomplish the goals of the lesson.

1. The Master Teacher possesses knowledge of the content he/she is teaching, as well as the ability to implement strategies to support student learning. In addition, the teacher connects the content being taught to other ideas and concepts.

• The teacher displays accurate content knowledge of all the subjects he or she teaches.
• The teacher sometimes implements a variety of subject-specific instructional strategies to enhance student content knowledge.
• The teacher sometimes highlights key concepts and ideas, and uses them as bases to connect other powerful ideas.

1. The Master Teacher knows his/her students and their learning styles and interests.

• The teacher practices displays an understanding of each student’s anticipated learning difficulties.
• The teacher practices sometimes incorporate student interests and cultural heritage.
• The teacher sometimes provides differentiated instructional methods and content to ensure children have the opportunity to master what is being taught.

1. The Master Teacher consistently and thoroughly teaches all four types of thinking over the course of multiple observations. These are:

• Analytical thinking where students analyze, compare and contrast, and evaluate and explain information.
• Practical thinking where students use, apply, and implement what they learn in real-world scenarios.
• Creative thinking where students create, design, imagine, and suppose.
• Research-based thinking where students explore and review a variety of ideas, models, and solutions to problems.

1. The Master Teacher regularly provides opportunities where students:

• Generate a variety of ideas and alternatives.
• Analyze problems from multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

1. The Master Teacher implements activities that teach and reinforce 6 or more of the following problem-solving types, over the course of multiple observations. These are:

• Abstraction.
• Categorization.
• Drawing Conclusions/Justifying Solutions.
• Predicting Outcomes.
• Observing and Experimenting.
• Improving Solutions.
• Identifying Relevant/Irrelevant Information.
• Generating Ideas.
• Creating and Designing.

1. The Master Teacher: 

• Works collaboratively with the principal school community to develop and maintain a shared school vision.

• Maintains faculty focus on developing learning experiences that will enable students to prosper in subsequent grades and as adults.

• Maintains open communication with the school community, and effectively convey high expectations for student learning to the community.

• Leads the design and delivery of research-based professional development activities for his or her cluster group.

• Consistently presents new learning in cluster that is supported with field tested evidence of increased student achievement.

• Models new learning in cluster meetings and in classrooms throughout the year demonstrating how to effectively implement the skill developed in cluster meetings.

• Providing access to materials and researched-based instructional methods to his/her cluster group members.

• Works closely with cluster team members to plan instruction and assessments during cluster development time.
• Guides and reviews the cluster members’ Individual Growth Plans.
• Provides specific evidence, feedback, and suggestions during coaching identifying areas of reinforcement and refinement.
• Advances the career and mentor teacher’s knowledge of state and district content standards and the TAP Rubrics.
• Observes and guides the mentor teacher’s professional relationships and responsibilities to career teachers.
• Guides, supports, and monitors the Individual Growth Plans of career and mentor teachers.
• Identifies resources for career and mentor teachers that enhance instructional planning, assessment design, and classroom management.
• Provides ongoing follow-up and support (e.g., demonstration lessons, team teaching, observations with feedback) to career and mentor teachers.
• Actively supports school activities and events.
• Works with other leadership team members in developing appropriate school and cluster plans to target student academic and teacher instructional needs.
• Leads and supports the analysis of school and student achievement data to identify strengths and weaknesses and make suggestions for improvement.
• Communicates and reflects the visions and decisions of the TAP Leadership Team.
• Assists the administrators in inducting new teachers into the TAP school environment and processes.
• Develops and works on his/her Individual Growth Plan which includes new learning based on school goals, self-assessment, and feedback from observations.
• Includes activities on his/her Individual Growth Plan to enhance content knowledge or pedagogical skills in order to increase his/her proficiency.
• Thoughtful assesses the effectiveness of his/her instruction, as evidenced in cluster by the new learning modeled and the student work presented from his/her field-tests.
• Considers the varied strengths and weaknesses and personal/cultural differences of adult learners through communications and actions that promote effective teaching with all cluster members.
• Plans, offers, and implements specific alternative actions to improve teaching.

*PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: 

ATTENDANCE, PUNCTUALITY, AND SAFETY

1. Adhere to district guidelines relative to attendance. Clock in/out on district timeclock and utilize time when appropriate.
2. Employees are to notify their supervisors as early as possible about scheduling time off from work (e.g. doctor’s appointment, personal days etc.), whether paid or unpaid.
3. Regularly report to work on time and adhere to their workplace schedule. 
4. Work additional hours assigned (i.e. faculty meeting, cluster meetings, professional development etc.)  Attend and constructively participate in meetings and professional development activities. Use active listening skills and accept and recognize the value of the contribution of others.
5. Complete tasks in a safe manner as prescribed by the Safety Department or by the employee’s profession/craft.
6. Report any unsafe conditions or any incidents of injury or damage immediately to the appropriate official.
7. Maintain a neat and orderly work environment.
8. Dress appropriately for the job assigned and in compliance with state law and Board policy GAMB Employee Dress Code. Display employee ID tag at all times on duty. 
9. Comply with policies on GAMA Employee Tobacco Use, Drug-Free Workplace, and use of cell phones when on duty.
10. Assist in any safe schools’ procedures and protocols. Including, but not limited to sanitizing classroom/work area high frequency contact points.

PROFESSIONALISM AND COMMUNICATION

1. Maintain the confidentiality of all School Board business by refraining from accessing, discussing, or disclosing anything outside the scope of employment unless authorized by immediate supervisor.
2. Timely and accurately complete/compile data and submit all records, reports or other documents required by  state or federal law, the United States or Louisiana Departments of Education, the Board's central  office, or other entities; (if applicable) Complete tasks, reports, and documents accurately according to specified timelines and expectations.
3. Observe professional ethics as prescribed by the employee’s profession/craft and in accordance with state law and board policy (Policy GAIB/Policy GBJ)
4. Establish and maintain a harmonious working relationship with staff members, administrators, co-workers, teachers, parents, and the general public.  Treat all stakeholders in a respectful and helpful manner. Work and cooperate with the entire staff and exhibit a caring, positive attitude towards others. Use verbal and non-verbal communication in a respectful manner.
5. Adhere to high standards of professionalism and encourage professional growth. Fulfill the requirements of the position in an honest manner.
6. Maintain communication with your immediate supervisor, keeping him/her informed of problems, concerns, and significant developments. Identify problems and issues and work collaboratively to contribute ideas and find solutions. Demonstrate skills to receive and give constructive feedback.
7. Adhere to Board policies and procedures and administrative rules, guidelines, and regulations. Adhere to ethical, legal, and professional standards. Refrain from conduct which calls into question the Employee's integrity and that of the Assumption Parish School System. (Including, but not limited to, Policy EFAA/Policy IFBGA)
8. Cooperate with building and district staff in planning and evaluation. 
9. Apply laws, policies, regulations, and procedures fairly, consistently, wisely, and compassionately.
10. Understand and interpret written and verbal instructions from immediate supervisor and give clear written and oral instructions to others as required.
11. Provide and participate in virtual lessons/meetings and virtual/digital teaching in a professional manner.
12. Follow the chain of command for various administrative procedures.
13. Follow directives as assigned by your supervisor.

Domains with (*) denotes non-instructional indicators. Deficiencies in these areas shall not be subject to a plan of intensive assistance.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, speak, hear and sometimes sit. Occasionally the employee will bend or twist at the neck more than the average person. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may occasionally push or lift up to 50 lbs. such as boxes of books and AV/VCR carts. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision such as to read handwritten or typed material, and the ability to adjust focus. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment described here is representative of which an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job the employee is frequently exposed to a noise level in the work environment which is moderate to loud.