Interim Woodshop Teacher (half-time)

Peninsula School, a leader in progressive education since 1925, is a Preschool-8th grade school where children thrive and develop to their full promise as confident contributors in the world. At Peninsula, children learn about themselves and others, discover their passions, and grow intellectually in an inclusive community rich with choices, exploration, and play. In addition to intellectual development and social and emotional learning. Peninsula School has an explicit focus on educating for democracy, student choice and voice, and social justice. Peninsula School is celebrating its centennial in 2025.

Specialist teachers work as part of the whole school team, sequencing and coordinating curriculum and managing miscellaneous logistics to serve our children. Specialist teachers are provided flexibility in their classrooms to enable them to best serve the needs and interests of their students while remaining true to the mission, values, and progressive pedagogy of the school.

Job Title: Woodshop Teacher 0.5 FTE (with benefits)

Salary range: $35,500 to $47,500

The purpose of the Woodshop program is to nurture student interests in both functional and non-functional artistic and inventive projects in a hands-on and process-oriented environment. The Woodshop program provides developmentally-appropriate skill and safety training, tools and materials for students in each grade to explore a wide range of construction projects in a purpose-built space. These projects build self-understanding and self-esteem, promote cooperative and enthusiastic individual and group work, and provide encouragement for creative expression.

Primary duties and responsibilities

Support and promote Peninsula School’s mission and values
Provide a flexible, progressive program using instructional methods and materials that are responsive and appropriate to the intellectual, social and emotional needs of students and that fosters their positive learning and personal growth
Maintain a cooperative classroom environment that encourages problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, and intellectual curiosity
Create and maintain a welcoming, safe, equitable and respectful learning environment that honors and values the learning and cultural diversity of the student population
Remain current on educational research, topics and progressive practices
Participate in and contribute to the school’s process of continual reflection and evolution of its program
Collaborate and communicate constructively with other teaching staff, administration, Learning Specialists, and all staff members
Recognize and address the unique needs and varied learning styles of all children, ensuring each child’s progress in all areas
Develop and implement teaching units that explore and examine multiple cultures, ethnicities, perspectives, lifestyles, lived experiences and identities
Monitor student learning
Build class community by fostering students’ social/emotional learning
Integrate anti-racist principles and practices into teaching and learning.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Regularly adhere to the Peninsula School professional expectations and reflect on your engagement with our staff competencies (listed at end of job description)
Teaching and Learning/Program:
Class Instruction -Develop, plan and teach developmentally appropriate woodshop classes on a regularly scheduled weekly basis for our K-1 students
Facilitate Lower School and Middle School Activities -Implement an Activities Program with multi-age groups on a daily basis
Choice – Implement choice units in the Middle School (5th-8th)
Communications with families:
Coordinate with Head Teachers to include woodshop based communications in their newsletters
Clearly articulate program and developmental goals to parents
Clearly communicate student learning to students and parents
Maintain open lines of communication with parents
Reflect on Practice:
Examine and evaluate classroom program and teaching regularly and adjust as needed
Define at least one PD goal and complete a PD (in addition to in-service learning) according to your goals and in agreement with a supervisor
Collaboration:
Support an open door policy for classrooms and meetings for teaching colleagues and administrators
Participate in coaching conversations and peer-review on an as needed basis
Support generating content for Student/Staff Community Gatherings
Logistics:
Be in the classroom ready to welcome and greet children at least 15 minutes prior to the first class of the day
Be available on Tuesdays from 3:15-5pm for meetings
Attend the full work week before school starts, Tuesday staff meetings (until 5pm), in-service days, and other meetings as appropriate, according to individual classroom and student needs. Occasional weekend events required.
Attend (at least briefly) 2 of the 3 Big school community building and fundraising events organized by the “POP” People of Peninsula.
Camping/overnights – support our annual camping trips in the fall and spring by staying overnight as a chaperone

Other Responsibilities

Participate in school committees as needed

Competencies

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging – A demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and an ability to work with and support a diverse population of students and families. An ability to remain sensitive to the experiences of students, parents and faculty in all situations and integrate feedback into practice.

Growth Mindset – Recognize the importance of learning and adopting and modeling a growth mindset. Stay abreast of best practices in schools and in supporting positive child and youth development, enthusiastically seek out professional growth opportunities.
Relational Skills – Ability to relate well to a wide range of people, including building rapport with students, parents, faculty, staff, and administrators. Willingness to work to understand the culture of the school. Knowledge of each child’s challenges and strengths. Skill with conflict resolution, consensus building and decision-making.

Emotional Intelligence, Regulation, and Maturity – Ability to interact with individuals in heightened emotional states and navigate complex and emotionally challenging situations involving children and adults. A high degree of emotional stability, ability to separate one’s own emotions from a situation, and ability to maintain perspective in the midst of emotional situations is essential.  A willingness to center children.

Communications Skills – Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of constituents. Maintain open communications channels with teaching staff, parents and administrators. Able to present information formally and informally in an effective manner both through oral presentations or conversation and through written means. Have a strong understanding of the power of word choice and the need for a high level of tact and professional, accurate communication.

Time Management Skills – Ability to manage many tasks and projects simultaneously and to prioritize them appropriately.

Organizational Skills – Ability to balance many tasks and processes, including keeping track of progress on longer term projects or goals, managing details accurately, and following through in a timely fashion.

Problem Solving Skills – Ability to consider a broad range of internal and external factors when solving problems. Grasp complexities and perceive relationships among different problems or issues. Use various solution-focused problem-solving strategies appropriate to the situation, including enlisting and seeking advice from others when appropriate.

Strategic Thinking Skills – Ability to work with others to gather, synthesize, and analyze quantitative and qualitative information and to develop plans for meeting short and long-range goals which support student learning and growth and advance the broader strategic direction of the school.

Child-Centered:  Ability to center children, the Mission Statement and the values of the school.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, ability to adjust focus, and sound hearing. The ability to speak clearly and coherently is required. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands, talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to reach with hands and arms. On occasion, the employee is required to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, or crouch. Employee is required to operate a computer and office productivity machinery, communicate across a variety of media, and work in close proximity to others. The role may also require the employee to work in inclement weather during special activities and work at a desk for extended periods of time.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to listen, physically direct, and speak. The employee is required to sit (sometimes for extended periods); stand; walk on a variety of surfaces; climb stairs, bend and squat when communicating with younger students; use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision and ability to adjust focus.

The noise and activity level in the work environment is variable, with times of quiet and times of high stimulation and activity.

Peninsula School is an equal opportunity employer and we actively promote the principles and practices of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the school community. We actively support equal opportunity for all people and encourage members of BIPOC communities and LGBTQ+ candidates to apply. Our school is strongly committed to learning about and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in all interactions and programs. We offer competitive compensation and a progressive community dedicated to learning and engaged citizenship. We encourage people of under-represented groups to apply.  For more information, please visit Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging – Peninsula School | Serving PK-8 in Menlo Park, CA

To Apply:

Please fill out an employment application (also found on the Join Our Team page of our website https://www.peninsulaschool.org/about-us/join-our-team) and send it with a cover letter and resumé, to HR@peninsulaschool.org.

Peninsula School | 920 Peninsula Way, Menlo Park, CA, 94025

650-325-1584 | www.peninsulaschool.org

Tagged as: K-6, Middle School