2024- 2025 Content Teacher and Advisor Job Description

About New Harmony

New Harmony High School is a public open-enrollment Type 2 charter high school located in New Orleans. New Harmony opened August 2018 with 9th grade, adding 1 grade per year until graduating our first class in 2022. During the 2023-2024 school year, New Harmony served approximately 320 students across 9th-12th grade. 

We have a diverse student body with students from across the region including Jefferson, St. Tammany, Plaquemines and Orleans parishes. Students enroll through EnrollNOLA’s centralized NCAP system. As of Spring 2023, approximately 75% of our students identify as a Black or Latinx, and approximately 18% are students with IEPs. Approximately 70% of our families qualify as economically disadvantaged.

Our staff is diverse in background and experience as well. We have life-long educators, career-changers with industry experience, and teachers who are new to the profession. We are a small organization that fosters and necessitates cross-functional collaboration. As of spring of 2024, our staff is approximately 65/32/3% female/male/non-binary, and approximately 65% Black or Latinx.

Mission

New Harmony High School educates diverse problem solvers rooted in their communities and informed by a greater social and environmental context.

Vision

New Harmony High School empowers each student to actively direct their own learning. As our name suggests, students will work to find new harmonies in order to restore balance that has been lost in our coastal communities, finding new ways of sustaining ourselves in an uncertain future.

Learning at New Harmony happens through the lens of social justice and the impacts of climate change. Each student works on relevant, rigorous projects, and engages with the community through mission-aligned experiential field trips, community impact projects, and internships--working alongside teachers/advisors and mentors on real problems.

Students graduate as individuals who practice resilience and understand ecology – the interconnectedness of people, land, air, and water. They are prepared for college, career, and beyond, knowing they have already made a significant impact here in Louisiana.

Strategic Plan & Graduate Profile

For more information on New Harmony, review our Strategic Plan and Graduate Profile.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Advisor Role: Advising a small group of students (approx. 15 students) who remain together throughout the year. Fostering a safe, trusting space in which students are allowed to grow and work through issues they encounter on a daily basis. 

All advisors support in these 5 areas:

• Restorative Practices: Our belief is that we can come back to center or better through the use of restorative conversations and trauma-informed practices. Advisors teach and facilitate circle.

• Social/Emotional Skills Building: Advisors design soft skills (non-cognitive skills) lessons that align with our Graduate Profile using various resources and curricula, such as MHA Labs’s soft-skills building blocks, which is supported by our community partners YouthForce NOLA. Especially in 9th and 10th grade, our advisors work with the SEL Program Director and others to ensure students are transitioning to high school effectively, and finding individual academic and social success in a new environment.

• Graduate Profile Alignment and Exhibitions: Advisors also support students with the tracking and organizing of Graduate Profile artifacts to be used during Exhibitions of Learning. Exhibitions are presentations of learning by each student at the end of each semester.

• Individual Graduation Plan & Post-Secondary Support: Advisors support students/families in Individual Graduation Planning (IGP) alongside the support of the Academic/College Counselor. Advisory is a support arm for post-secondary research, exploration, and applications.

• Community Engagement & Career Exploration Support: Support students community engagement and career exploration efforts, which includes experiential field trips that cultivate environmental awareness,  informational interviews, worksite visits, and internships with community partners (11th grade).

Advisors facilitate and support students through the following milestones and activities during their four-year experience:

• 9th Grade - Exposure to the environment and our relationship to it. 

• Community & Career: Work with the grade level team to help students cultivate an appreciation for the environment through outdoor activities and experiential trips with community partners.  

• IGP/Post-Sec: Advisors support college exploration and the Youth Force NOLA Career Expo. All 9th graders take Quest for Success which also facilitates this exploration.

• 10th Grade - Exploration of solutions to sustainability development issues that plague our community.

• Community & Career: Work with the grade level teams to support students’ development of career & life and project management skills by facilitating mission-aligned community based projects.

• IGP/Post-sec: Advisors support local design and service learning field trips.

• 11th Grade - Experience with community organizations focused on making New Orleans a more resilient and sustainable city.

• Community & Career: Support students’ career exploration efforts, which includes informational interviews, shadow days and visits with community partners. Advisors encourage each advisee to explore  opportunities for a meaningful work experience that is relevant to their academic interests and experience and cultivates soft-skills and project management competencies.

• IGP/Post-sec: Advisors support local and regional college field trips and college and career exploration via SchooLinks, our College and Career Readiness Platform.

• 12th Grade - Impact on our community.

• Community & Career: Support the management of individual students’ Community Impact Capstone projects. These are projects whereby students identify an issue or need in the community and design a project in concert with their advisor, the Project Management course teacher, and a community partner/mentor. 

• IGP/Post-sec: Advisors support regional and beyond college trips, FAFSA completion, and the college application process.

Content Teacher Role: Teachers at New Harmony are inspired and energized to create unique learning experiences inside (and outside) their classrooms that embody the mission and values of the school. They are motivated by the opportunity to move beyond traditional curriculum and classrooms, to create spaces where student voice and choice is at the center, where our community serves as our classroom and where issues of sustainability, resilience and social justice are at the forefront. They are committed to grounding learning in connections to ecology, environmental impacts and social implications, with an eye toward coastal restoration and preservation. They actively work to include and respect all students, and build relationships with students with trauma-informed and restorative practice at the center. Specific responsibilities include:

• Develop and implement mission-aligned curriculum that centers project-based, place-based learning experiences

• Collaborate with the Dir. of Learning to develop high-quality, mission-aligned projects and learning experiences using NHH’s project-based and place-based learning framework and tools

• Collaborate with the Dir. of Learning and grade level teaching team to develop curriculum and coursework that aligns to shared mission-aligned themes, essential questions and learning goals. See a previous draft of a Learning Progression document for more details.

• Identify Graduate Profile skills that map to content area and and incorporate into curriculum to  support student development of identified skills

• Collaborate with Dir. of Learning and fellow teachers to develop cross-curricular, mission-aligned and potentially co-taught projects and learning experiences

• Collaborate with school leadership to actively engage community partners and resources in student learning

• Implement trauma-informed and restorative practices as supported by school social worker and Student Support Coordinator 

• Differentiate instruction in order to meet the needs of all learners; ensure accommodations and modifications are made with fidelity to all learners with IEPs

• Collaborate with Dir. of Diverse Learning, interventionists and case managers in order to fully meet all needs of diverse learners, potentially acting as a co-teacher or other classroom support during a non-teaching period

• Participate in goal setting around curriculum and instruction, with regular cycles of observation and feedback in working toward goals

• Participate in professional development (both school-based and with outside partners) to deepen knowledge and practice of accessible, equitable, high-quality instruction; with a focus on mission-aligned, project-based and/or place-based learning and instruction 

• Specific Responsibilities for teachers of classes with End of Course LEAP 2025 Exams (English I, English II, Biology, US History, Algebra I and Geometry:

• Adapt, develop and implement curriculum aligned to LA and Common Core Standards as assessed on end of course (EOC) exams that are LA graduation requirements

• Utilize diagnostic, benchmark and interim data to respond to student needs and to direct instruction in order to meet student achievement goals

• Goal: 100% of students will pass EOCs required for graduation, or qualify for April Dunn Act.

Additional Responsibilities and Opportunities:

All advisors and content teachers will be part of the following 2 teams: 

• Content Team Member (English Team, Social Studies Team, Electives Team, etc.)

• These teams collaborate on a quarterly basis to identify opportunities and areas for support/collaboration, including vertical alignment and learning progression alignment.

• Grade Level Team Member (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th - based on the grade you mostly teach; this will also be the grade you advise)

• These teams collaborate on a bi-weekly basis to build relationships and create and implement community building events for students in and across grade levels; they identify student needs, especially for necessary interventions; they identify graduate profile skills to be incorporated across the grade band; they identify and plan cross-curricular opportunities, looking at cross-curricular student work, and align around major projects, feedback and grading.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A commitment to fulfill the school’s mission and vision

• A commitment to help each student excel academically, emotionally and socially

• Extensive knowledge of research-based practices for curriculum and instruction

• Extensive knowledge of research-based best practices for differentiating instruction for students with diverse learning needs, and for meeting requirements of an IEP or 504. 

• Exceptionally high standards for instructional quality, and a desire for feedback on those practices   

• Able to develop and implement effective lesson plans in a non-traditional setting

• Significant experience using student performance data to drive instruction

• Advanced classroom management practices (engagement being the most effective tool)

• Ability to improvise and work through uncertainties in a collaborative, team-oriented setting

• Demonstrated flexibility, patience and persistence   

• Outstanding written and oral communication skills, organizational skills, and attention to detail; expert at Google Classroom and Google Suite; expert at research/navigation of world wide web

• History of positive evaluations

• Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts Degree

Preferred Qualifications:

• Possess a valid Louisiana teaching certificate or have relevant student-based experience

• Experience with technology integration, project-based and/or place-based planning and assessment, and team-sourced integration of disciplines (cross-curricular planning)

• Experience with promoting high expectations, demonstrating a caring attitude, and establishing a positive learning environment that enhances academic achievement in young adolescents

• Experience as an advisor in an educational or supportive setting

• Experience in exceptional communication with families and community groups

Terms of employment:

• Mid July 2024 through May 31, 2025

• Health benefits package paid at 100% for employee (including health, dental, vision, STD, LTD and life)

• Retirement benefits matched up to 4% and all plan administrative costs paid by NHHS

• Salary to be determined based on experience, certifications, and education level

• Vacation days provided in addition to ~5 weeks of embedded breaks throughout the year

• Reports to School Leader

At New Harmony High School, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our students, our families, our staff, and our community. New Harmony High School is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

This description is intended to describe the essential job functions and their requirements.  It is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and/or requirements of the position.  Other functions may be assigned and management retains the right to add to or revise this job description at any time, with or without prior notice.  Employment is at-will and this job description does not imply an employment contract.