Music Teacher (Lower School: preschool-3rd grade)

Peninsula School, a leader in progressive education since 1925, is a Preschool-8th grade school where children thrive and develop to their full promise as confident contributors in the world. At Peninsula, children learn about themselves and others, discover their passions, and grow intellectually in an inclusive community rich with choices, exploration, and play. In addition to intellectual development and social and emotional learning. Peninsula School has an explicit focus on educating for democracy, student choice and voice, and social justice. Peninsula School is celebrating its centennial in 2025.

The Lower School (LS) Music Program promotes students’ sense of empowerment, joy and confidence and includes all interested children, irrespective of prior musical experience. The LS Music teacher has the responsibility to develop and provide a music curriculum appropriate to the interests and needs of the children in each class from our Preschool students up to our 3rd grade students. Our LS program allows for our students to join bands in a variety of genres when they reach our middle school program.

Specialist teachers work as part of the whole school team, sequencing and coordinating curriculum and managing miscellaneous logistics to serve our children. Specialist teachers are provided flexibility in their classrooms to enable them to best serve the needs and interests of their students while remaining true to the mission, values, and progressive pedagogy of the school.

 General Responsibilities

• Support and promote Peninsula School’s mission and values
• Provide a progressive program for children using instructional methods and materials that are responsive and appropriate to the intellectual, social and emotional needs of students and that fosters their positive learning and personal growth
• Maintain a cooperative classroom environment that encourages problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, and intellectual curiosity
• Create and maintain a welcoming, safe, equitable and respectful learning environment that honors and values a diversity of learning, cultural, ethnic, racial and sexual identities and lived experiences of the student population
• Center student growth by managing and monitoring student learning
• Remain current on educational research, topics and progressive practices
• Participate in and contribute to the school’s process of continual reflection and evolution of its program by being an example of positive leadership
• Collaborate and communicate constructively with all other Peninsula School staff members
• Integrate culturally competent ways of thinking, anti-racist principles and practices into your daily teaching and learning approach.
• Recognize and address the unique needs and varied learning styles of all children, ensuring each child’s progress in all areas
• Develop and implement teaching units that explore and examine multiple cultures, ethnicities, perspectives, lifestyles, lived experiences and identities
• Monitor student learning and growth
• Build class community by fostering students’ social/emotional learning

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

• Teaching and Learning/Program:
  -Class Instruction: Develop, plan and teach developmentally appropriate music units and projects that support music learning across the school by:
  –Hold regularly scheduled classes in Preschool-3rd grade one time a week
  –Collaborate with Assistant Teachers who attend music classes with students to support a positive learning environment focused on student social-emotional development and growth
• Communications with parents/caregivers:
  -Coordinate with LS Head Teachers to include music based communications in their weekly newsletters
  -Clearly articulate program and developmental goals to parents/caregivers as needed
  -Clearly communicate student learning to students and parents/caregivers
  -Maintain open lines of communication with parents/caregivers
• Reflect on Practice
  -Examine and evaluate classroom program and teaching regularly and adjust as needed
  -Identify self-selected goals in 4 categories identified as a staff and work towards achieving them: dialogue with HoS/DIB 2 times a year about your progress
  -Identify a learning opportunity that will support your professionalism in your role at Peninsula School – submit a request to utilize our PD funds.
• Collaboration
  -Support an open door policy for classrooms and meetings for teaching colleagues and program administrators, appropriate to their role
  -Participate in coaching conversations and peer-review on an as needed basis
• Logistics:
  -Schedule will be determined and coordinated with the Director of Instruction and Belonging, for 20 hours a week during school hours.
  -Attend Tuesday staff meetings (until 5pm), in-service days and other meetings as appropriate, according to individual classroom and student needs.
  -Make an attempt to attend, at least briefly, the big 3 People of Peninsula annual events

Competencies: To perform the job successfully at Peninsula School, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging – A demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and an ability to work with and support a diverse population of students and families. An ability to remain sensitive to the experiences of students, parents and faculty in all situations and integrate feedback into practice.
• Child-Centered:  ability to center children, the mission statement, vision and the values of the school.
• Emotional Intelligence, Regulation, and Maturity – Ability to interact with individuals in heightened emotional states and navigate complex and emotionally challenging situations involving children and adults. A high degree of emotional stability, ability to separate one’s own emotions from a situation, and ability to maintain perspective in the midst of emotional situations is essential.
• Growth Mindset – Recognizes the importance of learning and adopting and modeling a growth mindset. Stays abreast of best practices in schools and in supporting positive child and youth development, enthusiastically seeks out professional growth opportunities.
• Relational Skills – Ability to relate well to a wide range of people, including building rapport with students, parents, faculty, staff, and administrators. Willingness to work to understand the culture of the school. Knowledge of each child’s challenges and strengths. Skill with conflict resolution, consensus building and decision-making.
• Communications Skills – Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of constituents. Maintains open communications channels with teaching staff, parents and administrators. Able to present information formally and informally in an effective manner both through oral presentations or conversation and through written means. Has a strong understanding of the power of word choice and the need for a high level of tact and professional, accurate communication.
• Time Management Skills – Ability to manage many tasks and projects simultaneously and to prioritize them appropriately.
• Organizational Skills – Ability to balance many tasks and processes, including keeping track of progress on longer term projects or goals, managing details accurately, and following through in a timely fashion.
• Problem Solving Skills – Ability to consider a broad range of internal and external factors when solving problems. Grasps complexities and perceives relationships among different problems or issues. Uses various solution-focused problem-solving strategies appropriate to the situation, including enlisting and seeking advice from others when appropriate.
• Strategic Thinking Skills – Ability to work with others to gather, synthesize, and analyze quantitative and qualitative information and to develop plans for meeting short and long-range goals which support student learning and growth and advance the broader strategic direction of the school.

Qualifications and Requirements

• B.A. required, degree in music discipline preferred
  Keyboard and/or guitar playing ability a plus
  Experience working with school-age children preferred
  Passionate about working with school-age children
  An understanding of child development
  Adept in facilitating group dynamics among mixed ages
  Ability to work with a diverse population
  Embrace progressive education ideals in a diverse environment
  Display initiative, internal motivation, growth mindset, flexibility, curiosity, and a commitment to whole-child learning and growth
  Initial and continued criminal background clearance by DOJ and FBI
  Current first aid/CPR (to be renewed every 2 years)
  Initial and continued tuberculosis clearance (to be renewed every 4 years)
  Mandated reporter per the State of California and Department of Education

Physical Demands 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, ability to adjust focus, and sound hearing. The ability to speak clearly and coherently is required. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands, talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to reach with hands and arms. On occasion, the employee is required to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, or crouch. Employee is required to operate a computer and office productivity machinery, communicate across a variety of media, and work in close proximity to others. The role may also require the employee to work in inclement weather during special activities and work at a desk for extended periods of time.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to listen, physically direct, and speak. The employee is required to sit (sometimes for extended periods); stand; walk on a variety of surfaces; climb stairs, bend and squat when communicating with younger students; use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision and ability to adjust focus.

The noise and activity level in the work environment is variable, with times of quiet and times of high stimulation and activity.

Job Title & Compensation: Lower School Music Teacher, .5 FTE (with benefits) $37,8750-52,500 depending on experience

To Apply: 

Peninsula School is an equal opportunity employer and we actively promote the principles and practices of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the school community. We actively support equal opportunity for all people and encourage members of BIPOC communities and LGBTQ+ candidates to apply. Our school is strongly committed to learning about and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in all interactions and programs. We offer competitive compensation and a progressive community dedicated to learning and engaged citizenship. We encourage people of under-represented groups to apply.  For more information, please visit https://www.peninsulaschool.org/about-us/diversity-equity-inclusion-belonging

Please complete an employment application Peninsula School APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT and send it with a cover letter and resumé, in PDF format, to HR@peninsulaschool.org. We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply.

Tagged as: K-6, Preschool