*This position has been filled.
GENERAL FUNCTION
The Professional Development Facilitator for the TEAMS USA professional development course is responsible for leading teams of school administrators and educators to successfully complete a year- long collaboration to improve services to multilingual students and their families at their school.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the TEAMS USA professional development is to grow equity in the education of students who are identified as English learners in order to boost educational outcomes by improving English language development services, making grade-level instruction comprehensible, and leveraging students’ funds of knowledge and home language skills for new learning.
LEVEL SCOPE
The Professional Development Facilitator is a fully competent and productive professional contributor who applies job skills, policies, and procedures to complete a complex assignment according to specifications. Works independently with general supervision; exercises judgment with defined guidelines and practices to determine appropriate action.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Master’s degree in an area that is directly relevant to educating multilingual students (e.g., TESOL, Bilingual Education, Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on ELD).
- Certified teaching experience in K-12 schools with multilingual learners.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
- Working knowledge of current best practices for educating multilingual learners in US K-12 school (including applicable practice guides of the What Works Clearinghouse and resources by WIDA and the Missouri MELL program)
- Working knowledge of federal laws and regulations for educating English learners in US public schools (including the toolkits of OELA/NCELA and the publications of the Office for Civil Rights)
- Experience working with district or school-level Lau plans
- Experience evaluating and continuously improving district or school-level implementation of Lau plans/ELD programs
- Knowledge of home languages and cultures of multilingual students who attend Missouri schools (e.g., Spanish speakers from Central America, speakers of indigenous languages from Central America, Dari/Pashto speakers from Afghanistan, Chuukese/Pohnpeian/Marshallese speakers from Micronesia)
- Working knowledge of WIDA assessments and the use of ACCESS for ELLs scores for differentiating instruction and assessments for developing multilinguals
- Experience with facilitating an educator learning community
- Experience with online teaching
- Facility with a range of instructional technology (e.g., learning management system, video conferencing via Zoom, collaboration tools, webinars)
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to solve common problems with instructional technology
- Ability to develop trust and respect to engage with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds
- Ability to energize and inspire teamwork and collaboration
TRAVEL REQUIREMENT
Travel is not required. All facilitation is online.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Develop and maintain positive working relationships with educator teams through regular contact, prompt communication, and constructive feedback.
- Boost attendance and engagement during the monthly collaboration meetings.
- Conduct team building. Maintain ground rules for productive discussions and teamwork.
- Help teams set goals, keep them on task, and guide them to achieve their goals.
- Ask helpful questions that guide participants’ thinking and actions to a deeper level.
- Promote honesty and respect in discussions; ensure that all voices are heard.
- Detect problems with group dynamics; mediate disagreements tactfully; keep teams moving forward.
- Model professional judgment for the appropriate treatment of any potentially sensitive and confidential information about any individuals, institutions, or school/district practices.
- Be sensitive that teams and team members are likely to be at different levels of preparedness for developing services for multilingual learners. Try to meet everyone at their own level.
- Model the use of strengths-based language when discussing diverse students and families.
- Report issues promptly to the Show Me Multiliteracy project supervisor and be prepared to solve problems.
- Follow the syllabus, agendas, and protocols with fidelity. Document changes and the reasons for them.|Be familiar with the resources and readings in the course.
- Keep the agreed-upon schedule of dates; report attendance for every session.
- Maintain a reflective journal of each session for the records of the Show Me Multiliteracy project.
- Follow up with participants’ questions, comments, and requests.
- Participate in the continuous improvement and evaluation of the TEAMS USA PD course.
- Follow the policies and acceptable use agreement for course materials of the Show Me Multiliteracy project.