Grade 6 Class Teacher

Viroqua, Wisconsin

Full Time

Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School

Grade 6 Class Teacher

Job Category: Middle School: Grades 6-8

Opening Statement

Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School is looking for a motivated and enthusiastic Waldorf teacher for our upcoming sixth grade class. A commitment to the Waldorf curriculum and interest in collaboration with colleagues and parents are required qualities in candidates wishing to be considered for this position.

The Class Teacher will plan, organize, and implement appropriate instruction that follows our school curriculum, which is rooted in Waldorf pedagogy and embraces today’s culture in a manner that is inclusive, compassionate, and nurturing. The Class Teacher serves as the leader of the class community and oversees its educational, social, and practical functions. As a PRWS teacher, you will work closely and collaboratively with faculty, staff, and parents to create a learning environment that guides and encourages students to develop and fulfill their academic and personal potential.

About

Far from the interstate highways and the hustle of the city, in a beautiful landscape of dramatic cliffs, winding rivers, and fertile valleys, there’s a lively community of people who share a dream of a simpler, more connected life.

A life lived in harmony with nature’s rhythms.

A life in which friends live and learn together, sharing their struggles and triumphs.

A life with children, family, and community at its very heart.

Forty five years ago, a few of these families came together to found a school. Their vision was to build a child-centered educational community that reflected the values they held dear: reverence for life, for learning, and for the children themselves. They began by searching for an educational approach that aligned with their vision. When they discovered Waldorf education, Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School was born.

From its humble beginnings as a one-room schoolhouse with three students and one teacher, PRWS has grown to serve nearly 150 children in kindergarten through eighth grade.

But while our school has grown, we remain true to our founders’ vision of providing a balanced educational experience that instills in children a love of learning, a respect for nature, a strong sense of community, and an abiding appreciation for the value of service.

Essential Job Duties

Responsibilities in regard to the curriculum:

Strive to understand the model of child development that underlies the Waldorf curriculum, coupling this with study of the curriculum itself, the PRWS curriculum standards, and an awareness of the class and community attributes, plan lessons for the grade level of their students.
Written plans should be prepared each year which include the order of main lesson blocks, goals for the students’ development of academic, artistic, physical, and social skills, and daily and weekly class schedules.
In addition to main lessons, Class Teachers are responsible for planning and teaching lessons in form drawing, music, painting, drawing, modeling, and skills or practice periods in which the main lesson learning is practiced and reinforced.
Work to deepen their understanding of the curriculum through the anthroposophical study of human development and the evolution of human consciousness.

Responsibilities to the children:

Provide a conscious model of responsible behavior that together with loving authority and discipline, conveys a sense of respect, reverence, and gratitude.
Develop the ability to work with the class as a whole, while concurrently being aware of (and tending to) the individual needs.
Observations are to be made of the class as a whole and of individual children, and working with these, the children are to be taken into the teacher’s meditative life.
Responsible for keeping the children’s work in an organized manner, and developing methods of evaluation of the children’s physical, emotional, and intellectual development through record-keeping.

Responsibilities to the parents:

Interact with parents with honesty, courtesy, warmth, and professionalism. Work with parents to promote awareness and understanding of their child’s school experience, as well as to foster the parents’ development as a supporting and protecting calyx around the development of the class as a whole.
Regular class updates should be communicated to parents via letter or email.
Conduct parent-teacher conferences at least two times during the year according to the school’s schedule.
Parent evenings are to be held at least three times during the year.

Responsibilities in regard to the school and colleagues:

Work collaboratively with colleagues – sharing observations, questions, and insights – to support each other’s professional and personal development.
Take active roles in the administration of the school. After the first year, a Class Teacher is to serve on at least one committee.
Contributes to public relations aspects of the school’s work as follows: taking part in at least one informational event per year and contributing to the Calyx, the school’s newsletter.
Responsible for the physical environment of their classrooms – creating a place that is inspiring for learning by giving care to the beauty, artistic aspects, cleanliness, and order of the room – and for the shared school building and grounds.
Attend weekly faculty meetings, section meetings, in-service days, festivals, and school-wide events as scheduled.

Full job description available upon request.

Qualifications

Skills/Qualifications:

Completion of a bachelor’s degree
Experience and/or training in teaching children
Waldorf Teaching certification from an AWSNA-recognized institute or a clear path to certification
Strong understanding of and enthusiasm for Waldorf education, including curriculum and pedagogy
Knowledge and understanding of anthroposophy and the picture of child development it presents
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and comfort working independently and collaboratively
Ability to work artistically and creatively with the education in an organized, timely manner