Career Center

Lynnhaven is a progressive, coeducational high school of 70 students located in Richmond, VA. Lynnhaven School is committed to cultivating and sustaining an educational community that values difference. Our commitment to social justice work is embedded in our ethos. The ideal candidate will be eager to use an inclusive, social justice lens in their work with all students and adults on campus. Building a just and inclusive community is a shared responsibility, and Lynnhaven supports all its employees in developing this critical skill set. Lynnhaven School seeks a creative, energetic, organized faculty member in our humanities department. The humanities teacher is responsible for teaching humanities classes in grades 9-12 five days a week. Humanities at Lynnhaven School integrates social studies, language arts, and civics; all humanities classes include a heavy focus on reading and writing skills. Lynnhaven School is a community-oriented organization that values its employees and supports the continued growth and education of all its staff. We aim to have a work environment that mirrors our school, with staff loving to come in each day just as much as our students love coming to school. Working at Lynnhaven should be as much of a joy as the learning experiences are, and we aim to inspire future leaders in progressive education. Teaching at Lynnhaven School requires teachers to put student learning first, demonstrating excellence in the subject-area matter and progressive teaching pedagogy. Teachers are expected to regularly reflect and research up-to-date teaching strategies for continuous improvement for their own and students' benefit. Teaching at Lynnhaven School assumes a role beyond the classroom. Applicants must demonstrate the ability to work and communicate collaboratively within a team, assist with the holistic development of students and the school, and be open and willing to undertake duties in addition to their teaching duties. 

The Humanities Teacher is expected to: 

Instructional Planning 

• Develop epics (see agile classroom) for humanities classes using the understanding-by-design model in which planning follows these three steps: 1) identifying standards-aligned desired results (in terms of acquisition, meaning, and transfer); 2) designing (project/problem based learning experiences,) performance tasks/assessments that provide evidence of learning; and 3) creating a learning plan. Humanities units must integrate language arts, social studies, and civic standards.
• Involve students in planning for their own learning through appropriate and regular assessment 
• Ensure planning which builds on students’ previous knowledge and experience, working towards school and grade-specific learning objectives and goals 
• Plan significant units of work within a framework of continuity and progression 
• Ensure planning which emphasizes connections between curriculum areas 
• Ensure planning which accommodates a range of ability levels 

Teaching 

• Set high expectations and standards in the classroom, maintain strong classroom management and hold students accountable for upholding school rules, student-developed norms, and classroom expectations.
• Regularly update pedagogical and subject knowledge. 
• Use a variety of different teaching strategies and resources to motivate and cater to a variety of different learning situations and styles to build on students’ knowledge. 
• Empower students to feel responsible and to take action 
• Involve students actively in their own learning 
• Pursue open-ended inquiry, project-based learning, and real-life investigations 
• Address the needs of students with different levels and types of ability 
• Use and develop course materials and resources to enhance the delivery of the curriculum 
• Serve as an advisor to a group of 12 to 15 students who you meet with daily and to whom you provide support. Develop a sense of community within the advisory group and implement any advisory curriculum. Celebrate student success at least weekly.
• Ensure planning and delivery of an after-school club or sport at the school.
• Maintain open and consistent communication with students and their families about their academic progress, health success, and needs, parenting success and needs, individual graduation plans, and college planning. Also communicate proactively with colleagues about student needs to ensure integrated support. 
• Are committed to restorative justice as a means of addressing conflicts or challenges in the community, whether between students, staff members, or students and staff members. 
• Are committed to inclusive excellence and are willing to engage in conversations about privilege, power, and equity and are willing to invest time in community-building and professional development based on inclusive excellence. 
• Are active participants in a supportive professional community that fosters respect, trust, honesty, risk-taking, open-mindedness, flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement. 
• Can operate in a demanding but rewarding environment that requires staff to be flexible problem solvers who manage ambiguity and challenges well. 
• Will dedicate themselves to the school’s mission and vision, adopting a “whatever-it-takes” attitude in helping our students succeed. 
• Engage in rigorous professional development to build on both personal and school-wide strengths and areas of growth to promote the school’s mission and vision.

Required qualifications to effectively perform the job at the time of hire will include an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience. Additional requirements and/or substitutions may be requested and require the approval of the Head of School. The humanities teacher is expected to:  

• Have three to five years of experience. 
• Have a bachelor’s degree and/or secondary teaching license in English/language arts.  
• Be a highly collaborative, results-oriented, adaptable, problem-solving self-starter.  
• Embrace using data to inform instructional planning and practice. 
• Comfortable sharing and analyzing student performance results and having humility in constantly working to improve instructional practices.
• Experience in standards-based, backward planning.  
• Experience working in an entrepreneurial, dynamic school or related demanding environment.  
• Be positive, thoughtful, passionate, motivating, and empowering with students. 
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills.  
• Be computer savvy, and proficient in email, word processing, spreadsheets, Google Docs, etc.  Ideally, have experience using iPads in the classroom.

About Lynnhaven School

Lynnhaven School provides a social learning experience built on progressive education principles inspired by great philosophers such as John Dewey, Francis Wayland Parker, Booker T. Washington, and Lucy Sprague Mitchell. We look for driven, creative students who want to and can take advantage of their intellectual freedom and autonomy in the classroom and across their school experience. Lynnhaven teachers describe their most successful students as those with an appetite for learning, eager to seize responsibility for their education, and are team players. In addition, Lynnhaven works best for learners excited by their own curiosity and who take ownership of their learning. As a result, Lynnhaven students regularly devise questions, challenge assumptions, and propose new directions to pursue. Our students experience a significant increase in the amount of information they retain when given the opportunity to practice what they are learning in the form of hands-on activities. Studies have shown that when students sit and listen intently but passively in a lecture-style environment, they retain 20 percent of the presented information. When they are given the opportunity to pr...actice what they have just learned, that percentage increases to 75 percent. A Lynnhaven lesson often includes stimulating, active, and engaging activities. Seven competencies anchor Lynnhaven's social learning environment called the Sassafras Seven, which includes critical thinking, creativity, connection, collaboration, curiosity, communication, and civic engagement that represent a well-rounded citizen capable of success in the 21st century.

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Connections working at Lynnhaven School