Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy (Barrack) seeks an experienced, organized, thoughtful, and caring educator to serve as the full-time learning specialist for middle school students, adept with the push-in model for the 2023-2024 school year. Barrack is a pluralistic Jewish day school for students in grades 6-12. located in Bryn Mawr, PA, and is the premier Jewish day school in the Delaware Valley, attracting students from Philadelphia and its suburbs, Allentown, New Jersey, and Delaware. The school integrates a comprehensive and rigorous college preparatory curriculum with the teaching of essential Jewish and American values and texts. Guided by our four Derech Eretz values of honor, moral courage, kindness, and community, Barrack values diversity, celebrates the richness of Judaism's language, culture, and history, and is strongly connected to Israel. Barrack prepares future leaders of the American, Jewish, and global communities who work for a better world through acts of justice and compassion.
Barrack’s push-in program guides students to gain an understanding about how they best learn and to discover and develop the strategies and techniques to become independent learners. The learning specialist facilitates both learning in and out of the classroom: pushing into Core (language arts and social studies), science, and possibly Jewish studies classes to help students organize, focus and use time efficiently and works with the students in a small group outside the classroom on study, organizational, reading comprehension, writing, and executive functioning skills. Instruction is customized to best meet the needs of each student.
Qualified candidates should be experienced in teaching executive functioning and metacognitive skills through multi-sensory techniques and have a strong understanding of developmentally appropriate current practices in education. The learning specialist will be expected to assist in creating classroom accommodations and modifications based on assessments and formal psycho-educational testing for students with learning differences. Interested candidates must have the ability to collaborate with colleagues and foster a growth mindset for each of their students. Developing an inclusive environment where students feel safe to take risks in their learning is a central value for the Barrack academic program. A degree in special education or a related subject area is required.
Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:
- Work with students individually and in small groups, providing support in the areas of executive functioning, reading, writing, and study skills
- Provide push-in support to students in Core (language art and social studies), science, and possibly Jewish studies classes
- Provide curriculum support as well as skills-based remediation for students
- Review psycho-educational evaluations and develop student learning plans
- Support classroom teachers with differentiated instruction and curriculum, as well as classroom based accommodations and modifications.
- Communicate with families and allied professionals
Skills and Qualifications:
- Bachelor or Master’s degree in special education with 3-5 years of teaching experience and a strong background in educating Middle School students.
- A positive, strong work ethic, able to meet deadlines in a timely manner
- Enthusiasm for working with students and participating in school life
- Kindness, patience, and a healthy sense of humor
- Ability to work as a team member, cooperatively, with administrators, faculty, and staff
- An understanding of developmentally appropriate strategies and practices for middle and upper grades
- Comfort with using technology such as word-processing, electronic presentations, web navigation, email, and learning and information management systems
- Strong organizational skills to maintain documentation and reports as well as to assist students with executive functioning skills
- Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills
For consideration, please submit a resume and cover letter to Mr. Matthew Dorsch, Director of Learning Support, at [email protected]