Bricolage Academy Middle School is searching for a Middle School Social Studies Teacher. Bricolage is a New Orleans charter school that started in 2013 with a Kindergarten and grew one year, and one grade, at a time until school year 2021-2022, during which we served Pk-8th grades. We opened our Middle School in the 2018 - 2019 school year when our founding class entered 5th grade.  

BRICOLAGE MIDDLE SCHOOL OVERVIEW

Instructional Model

At Bricolage Academy Middle School, the Social Studies teacher will apply common-core-aligned Social Studies curriculum that is culturally relevant. The curriculum will derive from LDOE guides, Wit and Wisdom, the DBQ Project, SHEG, and The Writing Revolution. Social studies lessons and experiences will prepare students to tackle challenges in a world full of interrelated concepts and ideas.

Students will also take English Language Arts, where they will study the Wit and Wisdom Curriculum. Frequently, the Social Studies and ELA classes will collaborate on literacy strategies, including vocabulary and knowledge-building.

Students will take four years of Math using the Illustrative Mathematics Curriculum, a hands-on approach to learning the concepts and applications of math.

Students will take four years of Science using the Amplify Curriculum (5th-6th) and IQWST (7th-8th), which invites students to explore phenomena with the purpose of solving authentic problems.

Students can choose their Cocurricular classes and have options of Spanish, Music, Workshop, Physical Education, Theater, and Art. Students will specialize in specific skills, arts, and languages throughout their time at Bricolage Middle School.

Personalized Learning 

Each day, students spend one block on an individualized schedule called Personalized Learning, or PL. During this block, they get “just right” instruction designed to meet their individual academic and social-emotional goals. During this time, students may be working on:

• Adaptive learning programs

• Enrichment projects

• Small group remediation, intervention, or extension

• Interventions

School Culture

Restorative Practices, Social Emotional Learning curriculum, and a robust PBIS system are used to proactively build a physically and emotionally safe, joyful, inclusive, and supportive school culture. We also emphasize family engagement to support and create a full school community.

Undoing Racism

We attempt to undo racism by addressing the traditional power structure by creating space for dialogue across traditional lines of division. We offer trainings and workshops that focus on racial reconciliation for teachers, students and families, and employ culturally responsive instructional practices. We are committed to supplementing the dominant narrative approach to History/Social Studies with culturally responsive pedagogy that uses “cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Geneva Gay’s definition of culturally responsive teaching). This work is not ‘nice to have’; it is essential to advance equity.

Bricolage Academy is a school with a big goal: we aim to be the highest performing non-selective school in New Orleans. There are many people who contribute to making Bricolage special - parents, administration, students and community members - but teachers are at the center of it all.  Bricolage teachers must demonstrate a deep commitment to our mission of advancing educational equity by creating innovators who change the world.  Our teachers embody our organizational values (integrity, empathy and innovation). They are always trying to get better, have a deep love for children and approach everything with a joie de vivre. Our teachers create the kind of classrooms that nobody ever wants to leave - where it’s fun to learn and you can almost see the discovery fireworks bouncing off the walls.  We’re looking for others who approach their work like we do – balancing seriousness and diligence with warmth and levity.

DUTIES

Specifically, the Middle School Social Studies Teacher is responsible for:

• student outcomes. We use multiple measures to assess student learning and preparedness, but it’s on teachers to deliver.  

• creating a classroom culture where students:

  • share in its ownership

  • treat each other with empathy and act with integrity

  • learn how to be responsibly autonomous

• delivering engaging, rigorous, and effective Social Studies instruction that includes: 

  • inquiry-based history/social studies instruction

  • explicit writing instruction using strategies from the Writing Revolution and the DBQ Project

  • Project and experience based instruction

• actively seeking ways to supplement the dominant narrative approach to literacy with culturally responsive pedagogy

• differentiating instruction to meet the needs of each individual student

• integrating technology, innovation, and design thinking into instruction 

• being an active member of the school community including assuming before, during, and after school duty posts, advising/mentoring small groups of students and attending school activities and events 

• developing relationships with colleagues, students and their families 

Some other things you should know about us:

We're building a new kind of school that doesn't have a formula to follow.  There is no 'how-to' book for our community.  We're making it ourselves.  That requires people who can embrace vulnerability, take initiative, learn from mistakes, and be open to giving and receiving feedback.

Bricolage is a diverse community, but we are committed to being an anti-racist one.  This means devoting time to understand what racism is, exploring how it manifests, and taking actions to dismantle it.  Also, Bricolage's diversity is not itself an end. Rather, we believe our diversity is a means to amplifying empathy, advancing equity and facilitating creativity and innovation.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Strong belief in Bricolage Academy’s mission, vision and core values

• Strong belief in and commitment to diverse, equitable, and inclusive educational access and equitable outcomes 

• Strong belief in and commitment to the city of New Orleans 

• Bachelor’s degree

• Demonstrated success raising student achievement

• Louisiana teaching certificate or working towards it 

• At least 3 years of middle school (5th-8th grade) Humanities (ELA and/or Social Studies) teaching experience

Preferred

• Middle school (5th-8th grade) Social Studies teaching experience 

• Familiarity with/experience using the Common Core Standards 

• Familiarity with/experience using a scripted curriculum

• Familiarity with/experience delivering explicit writing instruction (i.e. the Writing Revolution) 

• Familiarity with/experience with Personalized Learning 

• Success as a teacher with a predominantly middle to high income student population and success as a classroom teacher with a predominantly low income population

• Familiarity with/experience using culturally responsive teaching strategies 

People of color are strongly encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Bricolage Academy does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, gender or gender identity, age, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law.