Middle School English Language Arts Teacher, LSD (Louisiana School for the Deaf)

LOUISIANA SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Louisiana is a State as a Model Employer for People with Disabilities.

The Louisiana Special Schools are experiencing a criticalshortage of certified teachers school counselors interpreters and educators of the Deaf or hard of hearing and Visually Impaired.

The LA SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT is seeking applicants for a

Middle School English Language Arts Teacher LSD (Louisiana School for the Deaf)

This position is currently located in the Middle and High School but is anticipated to change to Middle School.

Position #41117

This is a full time 9 month and 7.5 hours per day position.

To be filled for the 2025-2026 school year.

Special School District

All of our teachers are leaders with unique opportunities to create pathways for success for every student and other teachers in the years to come. This is a rare opportunity for teachers who are looking to increase their responsibility and impact within a school and across our state.

The Special School District (SSD) was established by the Louisiana Legislature and serves students annually across Louisiana. Our mission is to provide compassionate collaborative and innovative educational opportunities for students with low incidence disabilities meeting each students unique needs. Our goal is to ensure 100 percent of the students served in our schools and programs will leave with a clear path to success. Our core values include:

• Unity
• Collaboration & Innovation
• Trust
• Compassion
• Commitment
• Results
• Hope

Louisiana School for the Deaf

The Louisiana School for the Deaf (LSD) established in 1852 has a long proud tradition of educating deaf and hard of hearing children in the state of Louisiana. We are dedicated to providing a quality education for all deaf and hard of hearing children by incorporating innovative teaching methods rigorous curriculum state-of-the-art technology and the American Sign Language/English Bilingual Approach throughout our program. LSD provides extracurricular activities leadership opportunities and mentoring by successful deaf and hard of hearing adult role and language models. Students directly interact with teachers staff and peers daily.

LSD will continually work to ensure full communication access in all settings; to present instructional materials in a bi-lingual environment utilizing both American Sign Language (ASL) and English; to ensure that we are driven by research in best developmental practices for learners that are deaf and hard-of-hearing; to value and recognize the diverse language learning styles of our students; and to use advances in audiological and educational technology.

LSD strives to be an educational environment that encourages students to become literate/analytical thinkers; that encourages families to develop reciprocal communication with their child and to share in decision making about their childs education; that promotes teachers who are experts/specialists in language and literacy instruction and who reflect on their students progress; that is led by an administration that supports and advocates for innovation expansion of curricular and dormitory residency programs and over-all school improvement; with the full collaboration of the schools core stakeholders. Our mission is to maximize the full potential of each student. LSD is also committed to serve as an exemplary resource in the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students by providing:

• ASL/English Bilingual-Bicultural services within a language-rich environment.
• Rigorous educational curriculum while maximizing vocational training and job earning potential within a variety of professions.
• Established programs to address the social emotional cultural physical and educational needs of every child within a safe environment.
• A culture of high academic expectations and opportunities for students to grow with the support of professionals; emphasizing instruction; teaching study skills time management skills and organizational skills.
• Support and training for students to develop a culture of self-sufficiency a sense of identity and self-advocacy.

The Louisiana Special Schoolsdo not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race color national origin sex disability or age in our programs and activities and we provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination may be referred to Mary Gloston Human Resources Director at.

RELEASE OF ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION INFORMATION: La. R.S. 17:3884(D) requires that any school board wishing to hire a person who has been assessed or evaluated pursuant to the Children First Act La. R.S. 17:3871 et seq. whether that person is already employed by that school system or not shall request such persons assessment and evaluation results as part of the application process.Please be advised that as part of the mandated process your previous assessment and evaluation results will be requested. You have the opportunity to apply review the information received and provide any response or information you deem appropriate.

Physical Activity Level:
The employee must be able to perform assigned duties without significant risk of substantial harm to his/her own safety/security and the safety/security of others. Some work is performed in physically comfortable positions with little or light physical effort and some work requires moderate effort. Physical requirements are subject to reasonable accommodation in accordance with ADA standards.

There is no guarantee that everyone who applies to this posting will be interviewed.Specific information about this job will be provided to you in the interview process should you be selected.

To apply for this vacancy click this link - complete an electronic applicationwhich can be used for this vacancy as well as future job opportunities. Applicants can check the status of their application at any time by selecting the Application Status link after logging into their account.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed application.Youmustinclude all relevant education and experience on your official State application.

Applicants qualifying based on college training or receipt of a baccalaureate degree will be required to submit an official college transcript to verify credentials claimed prior to appointment. Please make every effort to attach a copy of your transcript to your application. The transcripts can be added as an attachment to your online application or faxed to . The selected candidate will be required to submit original documentation upon hire.

• Deep belief that all students regardless of their backgrounds and educational pasts have the potential to succeed in college career and beyond and that it is the responsibility of schools to help students realize that potential.
• Louisiana teaching certificate 2 years of teaching experience preferably working with students from similar backgrounds to LSD students.
• Certification in deaf education preferred.
• Sign Language Proficiency-Advanced level preferred (2 years to achieve)
• Desire to work at a college and career prep school rebuilding education for deaf and/ or hard of hearing students.
• Desire to grow as a teacher and face the challenges that come with deep reflection and direct feedback on your classroom practices.
• Positive attitude and strong work ethic. Ability to constantly find joy in the successes and challenges of our work. Ability to demonstrate that joy towards students families and teammates.
• Personal initiative to better yourself and those around you. Drive to actively pursue excellence in everything you do even when not given direct coaching.
• Strong knowledge in content area of choice demonstrated through lesson planning execution and intervention with all students.
• Strong desire to participate in all school activities including extracurricular activities clubs sports school health and wellness activities and other activities and events that promote school identity and culture
• Effective rating measured using the Louisiana Educator Rubric observation and goal setting cycle and tools which includes measures of setting instructional outcomes managing classroom procedures questioning and discussion techniques engaging students in learning using assessment in instruction and measurable student learning targets.

Planning for College and Career Ready Bar

• Plan rigorous lessons aligned to the college and career ready bar. Use the Louisiana State Standards the ACT College Readiness Standards and the schools internal curriculum to align all of your planning.
• Utilize curriculum assessments at the daily weekly and unit level to measure what your students learned: Daily Exit Tickets (formative) to know if you were successful in teaching that day; Weekly or Unit Assessments (summative) to assess studentslearning. For each assessment create your ideal student response or mastery response to clearly define the bar of rigor your students must reach.
• Utilize curriculum summative assessments to test overall mastery at the unit level that are aligned to the end of year assessment for your course.
• Know your content deeply. Ensure lessons demonstrate your knowledge and passion for your content. Lessons must drive mastery and investment in your content from every student you teach.

Culture That Builds Strong and Positive Student Identities and Investment

• Ensure your students know that you believe in them as well as know what you expect from them and why.
• Create a classroom culture where your students are engaged in your lesson and doing rigorous thinking throughout your lesson.
• Create and leverage a classroom narrative along with the school system of positive behavior support and positive discipline to build strong and positive student identities. Use praise and recognition to ensure your students know what you value. Use corrections and consequences to teach expected behavior while holding students accountable to high standards.
• Build relationships with students that let them know you care about them as individuals. Leverage those relationships to push your students to the highest heights academically and as people.
• Use Restorative Approaches with every student when approaching corrections and consequences. Work hard to keep your students in class and only send a child out when he or she needs time to step back re-center or reflect on something that needs improvement behaviorally.
• Incorporate best practices received in trainings on social and emotional learning for students and model the use of these strategies.
• Check in with students monthly to support positive student relationships and to identify potential concerns. For example attendance grades discipline and other concerns.
• Ensure regular communication every month with families so they also know you are invested in their child.

Lesson Execution Using Data Throughout the Lesson Cycle

• Execute the lessons youve planned with fidelity and at the highest level ensuring 100% of your students are engaged in your lesson and doing rigorous thinking at every moment.
• Bring passion joy and energy to your execution. Ensure students reflect the level of passion joy and energy you feel as a result of your execution.
• Gather data throughout your lesson to ensure students at all levels in your classroom are mastering the material. Use these Checks for Understanding to pivot your lesson in the moment.
• Ensure your lessons drive towards both mastery of the Exit Ticket for that day and mastery in the larger themes of your unit: The Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions.
• Reflect on your data daily to know what your students learned and what they didnt learn. Make a plan to fill in those gaps the following day and retest later on.

Interventions and Supports to Meet the Needs of All Students

• Teach to the diverse learning needs of every student you teach. Take action on and responsibility for every student in your classroom regardless of incoming achievement level or diverse learning needs.
• Plan and execute strong Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions within the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework to ensure every child can master the material in your class every day.
• Track data to assess the efficacy of your interventions. If interventions arent working find new interventions to test out to ensure all students are growing as fast as possible towards their goals.
• Ensure all students have high quality accommodations and modifications in place to meet their unique needs.
• Commit to a minimum of one hour two days per week of tutoring. Additional compensation will be paid for actual hours spent tutoring.

Teamwork that Drives the Success of our Whole School

• Actively participate in all team meetings including but not limited to: Weekly Professional Learning Team meetings Professional Development Data Digs and so on.
• Collaborate with others to drive the success of your grade level and school.
• Seek solutions to problems you see constantly. Constantly look across the school and ask yourself How can our school be better tomorrow
• Proactively propose solutions and ideas to improve the school.

Refer to Job Specifications.