Waldorf Teachers.com - Waldorf Employment in Waldorf Schools

Lead Teacher, 2nd Grade

Reports to: Faculty Council, Pedagogical Administrator
Full-Time Faculty, yearly Contract
Salary starts at $60,000, commensurate with experience, non-exempt.
Benefits include medical and dental health insurance coverage, retirement, flexible spending and Metrocards.

About the Brooklyn Waldorf School (BWS)

BWS is a thriving progressive school nestled in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a historically African-American neighborhood in Brooklyn. Our faculty hails from all over the world and includes both seasoned Waldorf teachers and those new to Waldorf education. Typically, teachers remain with and lead a class through multiple grades, forming deep relationships with the children. Teachers do not use a prepared curriculum, but develop their content through an active engagement with the curricular resources prepared by the School and the broader Waldorf community.
Our curriculum is based on the developmental insights of Waldorf education, but reflects our local urban environment and community values. Equity, cultural pluralism, and caring for the whole human being in the context of a big city inform all our programs. Waldorf education has a deep connection to the arts, so in addition to our main lesson curriculum, students also receive instruction from specialty teachers in Games and Movement, Eurythmy, Chorus, Mandarin and Castellano (Spanish).
BWS serves approximately 216 students from our early childhood programs through grade eight. We are known throughout the Waldorf community as well as the local independent school scene for our dual commitment to the spiritually enlivening Waldorf educational system and contemporary social justice movements. We are involved with our local community in a number of ways, including hosting “Undoing Racism” workshops and partnering with the Lenape nation in a land acknowledgment process. People of color and other historically underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

Job Description

Engage students in Waldorf curriculum.
Plan and deliver main lessons in an engaging, thoughtful manner, combining traditional Waldorf topics with an attentiveness to equity issues in both the curriculum and the classroom
Possess strong classroom management skills
Adapt and differentiate teaching styles to student needs and interests, in collaboration with our strong learning support team

Engage parents.
Write a weekly email updating parents on class activities.
Be available to parents for collaboration on student needs, including parent evenings and twice yearly parent-teacher conferences.
Write yearly reports on student work in a timely way

Participate in larger school community.
Attend weekly faculty meetings and occasional special events (open houses, festivals, fair).
Assist in school governance by sitting on various committees (after your first year).

Ideal Candidates Will:
Have a Bachelor’s degree and prior teaching experience.
Have previous Waldorf training and/or a willingness to take Waldorf courses within the first few years of employment (professional development funding is available to partially offset associated costs).
Be well-rounded in the arts.
Be committed to leading a class through multiple grades.

Physical Requirements:
Stand and walk for extended periods of time and significant lengths.
Sit for extended periods of time, both in chairs and on the floor.
Use a computer for report-writing, email communication, and simple record-keeping.
Squat, stoop and/or bend over.
Escort children up and down staircases.