Details
Posted: 16-Dec-22
Location: Sandy Spring, Maryland
Type: Full Time
Categories:
English/Language Arts
Required Education:
4 Year Degree
Founded in 1961, Sandy Spring Friends School is a progressive, coed, academically-rigorous day and boarding school serving approximately 600 students from age three through 12th grade. The campus is located on 140 acres in the historic Sandy Spring area of Montgomery County, Maryland, and the School is approved by the Maryland State Board of Education and accredited by the Association of Independent Maryland Schools.
Our school’s culture, rooted in the idea that collaboration engenders achievement, can be traced to our Quaker heritage and abiding belief in the Quaker values of simplicity, equality, honesty, stewardship of the environment, and peaceful resolution of conflict.
Summary: The 6th-12th Grade English Department Head provides instructional leadership and ensures curriculum alignment with standards across all grades. Reporting to the Director of Curriculum and Professional Development, the English Department Head will support teachers in the department and work with the school leadership team to assist in creating a culture of continuous learning and improvement. The English Department Head will also collaborate with other department heads and be an integral member of the Department Heads meetings and the school-wide Curriculum Committee.
Responsibilities
Curricular Leadership
- Oversee Grade 6-12 English curriculum in collaboration with Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School division heads and Director of Curriculum and Professional Development
- Support curriculum continuity within and across Lower, Middle, and Upper School
- Oversee curricular design, development, implementation, and review
Institutional Leadership
- Lead hiring searches for department faculty, in tandem with the administrative team
- Represent department to all constituents
- Serve on school-wide committees
- Represent the department at admissions and outreach events
- Manage department business and budget
Instructional Leadership
- Mentor colleagues, serving as a pedagogical and curricular facilitator
- Monitor individual professional development, goal-setting and evaluations
- Oversee course sectioning and staffing in collaboration with school administration
- Establish department’s annual goals in collaboration with school administration
- Plan and lead department meetings
- Serve as immediate supervisor to approximately 10 department members
Teaching
- Teach 3 sections of Upper School English, including at the AP level
- Serve as advisor to students in Upper School
Knowledge and Skill Set Requirements:
- Visionary, student-centered educator who is able to embrace Quaker values and use Quaker process
- Strong knowledge of inclusive pedagogy and progressive, inquiry-based, experiential education
- Bachelor’s Degree in English or related field required, Master’s degree preferred
- Proven skills in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, with experience leading and working successfully in a diverse environment
- A collaborative leader and worker with strong internal motivation, follow-through, and strong executive functioning skills
- Experience teaching 9-12 grade English classes required, and additional experience with 6-8th grade desired
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Proficiency in technology, particularly technology that supports the teaching process such as Canvas, Google Suite or comparable technologies
- Creativity and innovation
Please note that the School has a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, which requires that all employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide proof of vaccination, including documentation of a booster shot given five months or more since you completed the final dose in the primary series
Commitment to Diversity: Sandy Spring Friends School embraces the Quaker testimony of Equality and seeks applicants who represent all backgrounds and demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We greatly value our diverse student population with 42% of students self-identifying as people of color and 89 international students representing 21 different countries. We actively seek faculty representative of our students’ diversity. Click to learn more about diversity at Sandy Spring Friends School. Special consideration may be given to members of The Religious Society of Friends.
Sandy Spring Friends School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or a person's status as a qualified candidate with a disability in administration of its educational program, admission policies, financial aid program, staff hiring and other school-administered programs.
Please provide a cover letter, resume, a completed application, and three professional references by selecting the link.
About www.ssfs.org
SSFS offers an inquiry-based college preparatory program that emphasizes deep understanding throughout the curriculum while encouraging collaboration, instilling confidence, fostering practical experience, and cultivating respect for others. The School's teachers help students internalize a process we call "QRA” —Question, Reflection, Action—which ensures that they think critically, integrate new knowledge, and apply what they learn. We help students develop their individual sense of purpose as they become caring citizens of the world.
Our school’s culture, rooted in the idea that collaboration engenders achievement, can be traced to our Quaker heritage and abiding belief in the Quaker values of simplicity, equality, honesty, stewardship of the environment, and peaceful resolution of conflict. Our teachers are lifelong mentors and strive to identify and cultivate each student’s intellectual, extracurricular, and social passions. In doing so, we help shape students whose actions speak volumes and whose lives become exemplars—not only among their peers and families today but also in their personal, educational, and professional communities long after high school. Sandy Spring Frie
...nds School students are taught to act upon what they learn. This call to action propels their accomplishments as graduates, in college, and beyond.
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