K-5 Teaching Assistant/PARA (26-27 SY)

Job description

**Who We Are** Since its founding in 2010, Challenge Preparatory Charter School (Challenge Prep) has provided students and families with a successful academic program in Far Rockaway, Queens. We currently serve over 1200 scholars from Kindergarten to 12th grade across 3 sites. Our school’s mission is to prepare students from the greater Far Rockaway community to excel academically, to demonstrate mastery of the NY State Learning Standards, and to achieve their career aspirations. Challenge cultivates and supports the intellectual, aesthetic, social, emotional, and ethical development of its students and prepares them to be responsible 21st century citizens. To accomplish its mission, Challenge offers a rigorous instructional program in a safe, supportive, technology-infused and data-enriched and social-emotional learning sequence, authentic field experiences, career counseling, and college coursework. It is understood that we are one organization with multiple sites, and it is expected that all members of the team collaborate to support all of our scholars. **Understanding the Role** Every member of the Instructional Team at Challenge Charter Schools plays a critical role in ensuring our students have the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose - college, career, and beyond. Our educators are passionate advocates for their students and their families, working tirelessly to ensure our students have access to opportunities. We are especially committed to attracting and developing individuals who share the life experiences of our students because the best work we do is grounded in the realities and experiences of our families and students. As a Teacher Assistant, you will help deliver exceptional instruction and assess student growth. You are dedicated to constant learning and proactively provide academic and cultural support to your school and team. We seek candidates who are on the pathway to teacher certification. ### Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following: - Work with small groups of students to assist in reaching IEP goals - Teach, review, and reinforce academic content - Keep accurate & organized records of student information - Assist in classroom set-up and logistics – prepping student materials or manipulatives, classroom beautification, and maintenance, etc. - Support in student behavioral management and de-escalating challenging student behaviors - Collaborate with families and staff to support student learning - Ensure the safety of students at all times - Supervise students in and out of the classroom as needed - this may include but is not limited to - moving students to proper locations during fire drills, lunch and recess duty, enrichment activities/classes, etc. - Administrative, task-based support for teachers and operations staff - Additional responsibilities to meet the needs of our students ### Skills, Qualifications, and/or Competencies Required: - Dedicated to working in communities that have historically been underserved and under-resourced - Committed to thoughtfully engaging in identity work necessary to take a culturally responsive approach to pedagogy and relationship-building with students and colleagues - You possess an exceptional level of patience and focus to overcome challenges and achieve results - Strong classroom management skills: You can set high expectations in the classroom and keep scholars engaged - Classroom presence: You are clear and precise when sharing new content with students and can effectively lead students through inquiry-based class discussions - Detail-oriented and highly organized - Bachelor’s degree preferred - Teaching Assistant Certification required ### Benefits - Competitive Salary - Paid Time Off - 403b plan with a matching 3% contribution - Medical - Dental - Vision - Health Savings Account