Lower School Visual Arts Specialist

The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, a pluralistic community Jewish day school, seeks qualified candidates to fill an opening for the position of Visual Arts Specialist for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The Visual Arts Specialist is the instructor of all students in grades Junior Kindergarten-5th grade in their co-curricular art special and 5th grade elective blocks. During the weekly period, students have the opportunity to interact with various visual art media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, and weaving. While working with grade level teams on integration of the arts into the wider curriculum, the Visual Arts Specialist also has great freedom to select and design curricular units and the projects associated with them. In seeing themselves as artists, our goals for our students include: gaining experience with many different types of materials, developing a sense of identity as an artist, and cultivating autonomy, an open mindset and creative expression within their work. The Visual Arts Specialist supports creating a visual environment within the school that supports our mission and values through the design and decoration of our collection of public bulletin boards.

Candidates will possess the following approaches and dispositions toward education:

• A passion for education
• A palpable love for and warmth with students
• A “whole-child” approach to teaching and learning that focuses on growth in academic, social-emotional, physical, and spiritual domains
• A progressive approach to education that includes expertise in differentiation of instruction
• Strong proactive and positive classroom management skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Skills to create a joyful, interactive, and engaging learning environment
• Comfort with proactive parent collaboration
• A commitment to fostering an inclusive and communal learning environment
• Openness to professional reflection and feedback
• Skill in partnering with colleagues within and across subject disciplines to plan and develop curriculum
• Demonstrated commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ)

Candidates must also possess expertise in the following content and pedagogical areas:

• Ability to reflect on curricular scope and sequence and make additions/adaptations as needed, in consultation with the administration
• Thorough knowledge of art history and contemporary trends in art
• Expertise in at least one visual arts discipline with experience and comfort in many other areas
• Experience with teaching through digital platforms (Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Schoology, SeeSaw, etc.) and integrating technology into typical classroom teaching practice

BA in Art or Art Education or related experience; Master’s in Art Education preferred. Ability to teach JK-5th grade students providing interdisciplinary connections between art and other curricular subjects; two or more years of formal teaching experience required. An understanding of Jewish art and culture is desirable, but not required.

To learn more about this opportunity and the School, please visit https://www.cesjds.org/about/work-at-cesjds.

Work Environment:

• Faculty may be asked to perform their work responsibilities on campus and/or at home. In both settings, the teacher is required to maintain a professional environment.

• While on campus, classes may be operating either in person or in an alternative setting. Teachers are expected to be present and accessible for the entire school day (contracted hours), regardless of the setting.

• In accordance with the School's duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards, the School has adopted a mandatory Vaccination Policy to safeguard the health of our employees and their families and the community at large from infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and the flu, which may be reduced by annual vaccinations. This policy complies with all applicable laws and is based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health authorities, as applicable.

The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applicants without unlawful consideration of race, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. The School encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply.