In the spirit of ensuring an empowering education for all Nashville students, Managers of Teacher Leadership Development (MTLD) are at the heart of Teach For America – Nashville’s vision. MTLDs manage, coach, and develop our corps members to fundamentally transform the lives of students and inspire corps members to become lifelong advocates for educational equity. At the end of a successful year of work, MTLDs will see students on a new life path of extended life opportunities, due to major academic and personal growth. They will have built leadership in their cohort of corps members both in their classrooms as well as the long-term movement. They will also be deeply involved in our schools; engaged with our principals, students and necessary support staff. They are leaders in every sense.
To reach this vision, MTLDs work directly with a cohort of approximately 20 teachers. They regularly collaborate and problem solve with other members of the TLD team to ensure the success of their cohort. They play important roles in achieving critical organizational goals in multiple functional areas (for instance, selecting new corps members, recruiting alumni to join staff, or helping out at regional events). MTLDs report to the Managing Director of Teacher Leadership Development who manages and develops them to achieve these goals.
Build Corps Member Leadership (40%)
- Build authentic relationships through multiple touch points to connect with corps members' diverse styles, strengths, and needs, including meetings and communication on evenings and some weekends
- Support and foster corps members' leadership development by staying centered on the Teach For America vision, corps member's classroom visions, and evolving within the mindset to become limitless leaders towards our mission of "One Day".
- Ensure corps members build perspective and ground their daily work in the bigger picture toward One Day
- Help corps members understand the community in which they teach and provide strategies for corps members to build meaningful relationships with multiple stakeholders within their school community
Coach and Empower Corps Members (35%)
- Support 1st year teachers in their classroom and leadership development
- Help corps members diagnose top needs based on student progress and gaps in their learning
- Observe corps member instruction in live action, requiring independent travel to school sites during normal business hours
- Provide detailed coaching to corps members on instructional techniques, classroom management, standards alignment, and rigorous lesson planning and assessment in order for students to reach their classroom vision while also coaching toward corps members’ long-term leadership, while helping them connect their values and beliefs to their work
- Facilitate small group sessions and learning experiences to continue additional learning of best practices and assist corps members in assembling communities of collaboration among other corps members, including occasional meetings on evenings
Lead Across the Movement (10%)
- Serve as active and engaged members of school communities; requiring independent travel to school sites during normal business hours
- Collaborate with a deep commitment to Teach For America core values, including, but no limited to fostering a diverse movement by partnering with people in the communities such as stakeholders, teachers, and school leaders to expand access and opportunity for students and teachers.
- Travel to (at least two)Teach For America conferences each year (as applicable due to availability)
Regional Stewardship (15%)
- Participate in staff committees and task forces
- Corps member recruitment, admissions, and matriculation
- Team meetings and professional development
- Regional events and programming (such as teacher orientation and end-of-year celebration)
- Act as liaison and/or ambassador for regional and national initiatives as pertinent to the TLD team
Prior Experience
- Minimum of two years of experience achieving ambitious outcomes as a classroom teacher in a low-income community
- Deep knowledge of effective teaching practices
- Teach For America corps member experience preferred
Skills
- Have a deep commitment to Teach For America's mission and core values
- Focus to constantly keep "eye on the prize" and remember the end goals- even when the going gets tough
- Self starter by continuously seeking opportunities and reflection on ways to improve
- Build deep relationships and connect with others, including those who are quite different from you
- Make smart choices about what to prioritize and what matters most, especially when things get busy
- Reflect and proactively work to grow and improve
- Connect and build relationships with key influencers in the community
- Excellent candidates who have strong content knowledge, community relationships, and diversity, equity, and inclusiveness depositions
- A record of excellence, pursuing results, teamwork, and leading adults
- Orientation towards further developing a critically conscious lense towards educational equity (including development of self)
- A record of maintaining optimism (with healthy criticism) while overcoming obstacles and respect and humility
Work Demands
- Ability to work some weekends and evenings
- Ability to travel independently to multiple school sites throughout the day that may be significant distances from one another
- Ability to navigate school facilities that may or may not be ADA-compliant
Salary for this position is competitive and depends on prior experience.