K-8 Special Education Teacher
Values and Beliefs
We Value…
● Community
● Our Natural World
● Inclusivity & Equity
● The Whole Child
● Perseverance
● High Academic Expectations
Mission
Austin Discovery School is an academically rigorous public charter school dedicated to building
compassion, collaboration, and critical thinking by engaging students with the natural world.
Vision
Austin Discovery School is a tuition-free, innovative charter school serving children in grades K-8.
A small, community-oriented school, ADS offers naturally lit, beautiful classrooms with a low
student-teacher ratio. Classrooms are full of movement and social interactions as learners work
cooperatively and share their knowledge with one another. ADS features hands-on math and science and integrates literacy across the curriculum. All students attend an Essentials Class daily, which may include Eco-Wellness, Physical Education, Music, Art, Library, and/or Theater. Students in our program master the skills necessary to demonstrate social responsibility, good health,
and environmental responsibility while creating and pursuing rigorous academic goals. There is a natural harmony when we come to appreciate and respect others, ourselves, and the environment we live in. By focusing on the whole child, ADS benefits our whole society.
Success Profile
Core responsibilities:
1. Provide social skills and math inclusion support in general education settings K-8.
Social Skills Support:
- Collaborate with team members to assess and create targeted lessons on skills that are needed in a group of students.
- Knowledge of accommodations for students who will need inclusion support of social skills.
- Monitor the classroom and check-in with students frequently, especially if there are signals or triggers observed.
Inclusion Support:
- Collaborate with team members to assess and create differentiated lessons that address the mathematical needs of the IEPs within a general education class.
- Knowledge of accommodations and modifications for students who will need math inclusion support.
- Monitor the classroom and check-in/re-teach with students individually or in a small group setting utilizing resources that support the accommodations and modifications for students with IEPs.
2. Provide resource small group instruction in the areas of math and social skills for K-5
Small-Group Resource Instruction:
- Create a safe environment where students feel safe to take risks.
- Prepare resources, curriculum, and materials needed for each small group’s instructions
- Have consistent routines and structures that perpetuate high expectations
Assess and Differentiate Goals:
- Construct and differentiate lessons that target goals and PLAAFPS of the group.
- Assess and monitor the progress of the students within the group.
- Reflect and adjust lessons and trajectory according to data given from assessments.
3. IEP Case Manager
Writing IEPs:
- Collaborate with the team to construct an IEP that follows all SPED guidelines.
- IEP Team makes sure IEP goals are tied to the general curriculum for a student of the same age and grade.
- The IEP is checked regularly during the year and needed changes are made to improve student results.
Progress Monitoring and Quantifiable Documentation:
- Creates measurable goals and benchmark dates to reach these goals within a year.
- Documents quantifiable data from assessments.
- Measures result and adjust goals.
Knowledge of Special Education of Laws:
- Understands that there are federal laws that are binding through the IDEA act.
- Understands that parents have the right to mediation and due process.
- Understands that there are dates and windows that steps must happen according to the law.
4. Knowledge of conscious discipline and restorative practices.
Conscious Discipline:
- Design logical consequences that have students make connections to the behavior.
- Build preventative routines and systems that allow children to problem solve and have control of their outcomes.
- Always assume positive intent and create spaces to reflectively discuss choices made by the student.
Restorative Practices:
- Resolve conflict and hold individuals and groups accountable through mediation.
- Create safe spaces to allow students to control impulses and reflecting when the student is ready.
- Create plans that help students follow through with agreed-upon terms.
Key Qualifications:
Education / Certification / Experience:
● Bachelor’s Degree in education or related field
● Valid Texas teaching certificate appropriate to grade level and subject, including special education teaching certificate
● Experience in student teaching, internship, observation, and / or field work as required by
universities or state-approved programs for certification
Skills:
● Builds relationships with kids
● Good communication skills with families, students and teachers
● Strong Documentation Skills
● Writes effective PLAAFPS and Goals
● Assess, plans, and instructs differentiated lesson to small groups
Personal Characteristics:
● Team player
● Flexible
● Intrinsically motivated to complete assigned job duties
● Willing to do what is best for kids
● Calm under pressure
● Reflective and Willing to learn