MS Technology Teacher

Middle School Technology Teacher

Position Overview:

AoA is seeking a Middle School Technology teacher committed to delivering a high level, engaging curriculum that supports all students to be successful. 

Who We Are:

AoA is a community of professionals committed to serving ALL students well and who continually strive to close the opportunity gap so that a student’s demographic markers are not predictors of their success.   We accomplish this by offering a rigorous, socially conscious, student-centered education that prioritizes students’ academic and social-emotional development.  We believe that collaboration on a deep level is necessary in order to achieve our mission and serve our community well.

Our Mission:  

The Academy of Alameda is an equity-centered public school that equips ALL students with the critical thinking skills, knowledge, mindset, and personal qualities so that they are on track for success in college and are inspired to affect change in their communities.

An Ideal Candidate Will:

• Be committed to supporting students with high needs and believe that all students can be successful at high levels and that a student’s academic success should not be determined by their race or ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender, sexual preference, etc.
• Have a student-focused lens and continually seek to build strong relationships with students and their families. Utilize restorative practices with students.
• Value community and collaboration with other teachers, and supporting staff members
• Be a successful teacher – strong in content knowledge, culturally responsive practices, skilled at curriculum development. Experience with competency-based learning is a plus. 
• Reflect deeply and often about how to grow and develop instructional practices in order to impact student learning. Be open to coaching and feedback to improve practice.
• Be passionate about promoting equity and social justice in their practice, and incorporate themes of social justice into the curriculum, including narratives that have been silenced throughout history.

Teaching Requirements:

The Middle School Technology Teacher creates and teaches intermediate computer skills such as media arts, coding, design, robotics, typing, productivity, and a variety of software applications appropriate for Middle School students, in collaboration with Middle School faculty, within the context of the Middle School curricula. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Initiate, develop and teach technology curriculum, under the supervision of the Director of Operations and the Middle School Principal
• Lead scheduled technology classes in grades 6-8
• Assess and report on student progress
• Schedule and supervise the MS Technology Lab
• Maintain equipment in MS Lab and carts for curricular use
• Research and recommend purchases to augment curriculum
• Ongoing collaboration with colleagues

Software Application Areas

• Basic operations, such as OS functions, email, LMS, and online documents
• Multimedia arts and production
• Computer-aided design & rapid prototyping (preferred skill)
• Coding & software development (preferred skill)

Basic Technical Proficiencies Preferred

• Macintosh, Windows, iOS, ChromeOS
• MS Office & 365, Google Drive/Apps
• On-location and studio-based video production
• Adobe Creative Suite, especially Photoshop, InDesign, and Premiere
• SketchUp, Sculptris or other 3D modeling
• JavaScript, Python, Processing or other programming languages
• Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or other microprocessors 
• Typing course skills

Instructional and Software Support

• Occasional one-on-one and group instruction with faculty and staff;
• Consultation with support staff for student account creation and maintenance;
• Application-level support for content-area technology tools.
  

Current Technology Curriculum Includes the following components:

Projectstem.org (Used for the past 3 years)

• Computer Science and Explorations (CSE) 1-3 teaching Scratch Block coding as well as access to High school level introduction to Python

Teacher created ancient technology units (Used for past 2 years)

• “6 simple machines” for year 1
• “Earth, Water, Air, Fire” for year 2

Teacher created electricity/coding units (Used for past 2 years)

• Breadboards + LEDs for year 1
• Disassembly project for year 1
• Arduino IDE + breadboards for year 2

(AoA signed up this year and prior to 2020)

San Jose Tech Challenge (ongoing science competition external to the school)

Requirements:

• Clear Single Subject Teaching Credential or a multiple subject credential
• Dual credential in another subject is a plus
• Secondary classroom experience and strong classroom management
• Commitment to school hours 

Compensation and Benefits: Compensation is competitive and based on experience. We offer a comprehensive benefits package and participate in the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS).