Big Picture High School - Teacher/Advisors

The Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education announces vacancies in the following positions:

BIG PICTURE HIGH SCHOOL –  TEACHER/ADVISORS

Individuals are invited to nominate candidates or make application UNTIL CANDIDATES ARE SELECTED.

Big Picture High School - Nashville

BIG PICTURE HIGH SCHOOL OVERVIEW

Big Picture High School is  a new small, innovative high school in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. In 2007-08, (our inaugural year), we served 60 9^th grade students who traveled to our campus from all corners of Nashville. Big Picture’s approach to learning is grounded in a commitment to educate one student at a time. Our structures and practices are dramatic departures from what is commonly known as “traditional” high school education.

In conjunction with their teachers (called advisors) and family members, each student designs a customized learning plan focused on their interests and passions, which includes two days a week at an internship and three days of academic study and project work on campus. The internships give students a deep sense of how their interests play out in the adult world, and provide an authentic environment and audience for their work. The courses our students take support academic rigor in the internship-based and independent projects they develop.

The new Big Picture High School in Nashville is a member of the Big Picture Schools network based in Providence, Rhode Island. You can learn more about Big Picture at www.bigpicture.org.

We are committed to providing an inquiry-based academic environment in which students take charge of their own learning. We seek teachers who are willing to work as guides, resources, and inspiration rather than as deliverers of facts. Big Picture HS teachers are as excited about being learners as they are about being teachers, and enjoy working side by side with students to learn together.

We believe that all students can and want to learn. When students pursue interests of their own, and develop projects borne out of those interests, they will naturally seek to understand and master academic standards. We take time to assess our students’ interests, talents, prior achievement, goals, hopes, and dreams. Together, we develop inquiry-based projects which allow them to achieve their goals in various ways, and earn the credit they need to be eligible for four year colleges.

At the end of each quarter, our students demonstrate their learning through a public exhibition. They answer questions and receive feedback from their peers, teachers, parents, mentors, and community members.

At Big Picture High School, each Advisor (teacher) works closely with 15 students and their families over a 2 year period, to develop exciting, uniquely challenging educational programs for each student each semester.

We visit our students’ homes, meet and speak with their families frequently, and get an understanding of them as whole people.

Our students spend two days a week working with a mentor at an internship of their choosing, learning professional expectations, communicating effectively with adults from different backgrounds, and producing real world work. Student internship sites at other schools in the Big Picture network have included animal hospitals, museums, recording studios, newspapers, science laboratories, restaurants, children’s hospitals, schools, real estate companies, investment firms, auto body shops and law offices.

YOUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE

As an Advisor, you will teach Advisory to your 15 students Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. Advisory class includes community building activities, project development, and academic units in your content area that are specifically designed to teach the skills and habits in our five Learning Goal Areas: Empirical Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Social Reasoning, Communication, and Personal Qualities and our school wide Learning Objectives.

The rest of MWF are spent in one-on-one meetings with your advisees, discussing project work, coaching them on individual assignments, checking in about life. As an Advisor, you are part teacher, part project manager, part social support. You will conduct regular meetings and phone conferences with your students’ family members regarding the progress of their student. You will coordinate academic opportunities for students inside and outside of school for the school year and the summer.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are spent visiting students’ internship sites all over Nashville, meeting with them and their mentors to plan, troubleshoot, reflect on and evaluate project work and internship work. We coach our students through the search process, from creating professional resumes, to making cold calls, to conducting informational interviews. You will develop, support, and monitor in-depth, multi-disciplinary projects with students and internship mentors.

Planning time will equal five hours per week but may not occur on some days but will be more than one hour on other days.

The staff of Big Picture High School works together weekly to create curriculum, reflect on our teaching and our students’ learning, evaluate our results, and plan for school-wide improvement. We plan and implement multi-disciplinary curriculum in grade level teams. We share our best practices and our teaching dilemmas in a creative, collaborative, respectful environment.

Summer work prepares us for an excellent school year, through home visits to students, student orientation days, and 10-13 days of professional development which includes integration of new staff into our professional learning community, collaborative curriculum planning time, and whole-school focus work (based on our year-long school wide focus).

As part of the Big Picture Company network of schools, we receive training and support from Big Picture coaches, a wealth of curriculum, and technological tools.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

The Big Picture Company : http://bigpicture.org/index.htm

Big Picture Publications: http://bigpicture.org/publications/index.htm

Please send the following to Ralph Tagg, Principal at Nashville Big Picture High School, MNPS. We begin reviewing candidates in April 2009.

1. A resume

2. Two letters of recommendation (one from a recent supervisor and one from a  student or student's parent)

3. A cover letter (addressed to Ralph Tagg, Principal) that describes: 
        a. Why you would be a good fit at Big Picture High School
        b. Your interests and passions beyond teaching
        c. How you have supported improved student achievement
        d. Ways you have participated in a professional learning community

You can email or send your application packet to:
Ralph Tagg, Principal
Attn: Big Picture High School Hiring Committee
1625 Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37208
615-329-8180
Ralph.Tagg@mnps.org

SUMMER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAYS ARE A REQUIRED PART OF THIS POSITION AND WILL BE PAID AT A RATE OF $75.00 PER DAY. PERSONS SELECTED FOR THESE POSITIONS WILL BE ASKED TO MAKE A MULTI-YEAR COMMITMENT TO REMAIN AT BIG PICTURE SCHOOL.

SALARY: Teacher salary. Ten months. Exact placement on the salary schedule depends upon educational qualifications and experience. Career Ladder eligible.