Technology Coach and Innovation Specialist
Almaden Country Day School seeks a dedicated Instructional Technology Coach and Innovation Specialist. This is an exciting opportunity for a qualified, experienced educator to contribute personal knowledge, skills and experience to a dynamic, progressive program. The Coach is responsible for collaborating with teachers to co-design and implement curricular projects integrating technology, spanning academic disciplines across the elementary and middle school grade levels. The Coach also teaches and models the design thinking process as the administrator responsible for the Imaginarium, our makerspace environment.
About the ACDS Technology Program:
The ACDS technology program is designed to develop technological literacy in teachers and students. A central goal of this process is to build technological autonomy, so that technology becomes a tool for learning and not an end itself. Students and teachers are also encouraged to exercise the design thinking process as a framework for solving problems in new and creative ways. All ACDS teachers have been trained in project-based learning, and are in the process of developing PBL activities that can be carried out in the Imaginarium or classroom. Technology at ACDS is intended to be both ubiquitous and invisible, an essential tool that is used by teachers to extend and enrich their lessons, and by students to accomplish their learning goals. Technology is to be embedded in rather than apart from teaching and learning objectives.
Key Responsibilities of the Technology Coach and Innovation Specialist
● Guide faculty in cross-curricular integration of technology and makers activities in the classroom and Imaginarium
● Manage “Open Space” sessions in the Imaginarium for students from grades 1-8 several times a week
● Teach a one-trimester coding elective and a one-trimester makerspace elective in middle school annually; a third elective class may be called for depending on student demand, program needs, and the Coach’s own interests and qualifications
● Monitor changing trends in technology to foster best practices in the classroom
● Train teacher and student users on all new hardware and software
● Support the Systems Administrator in database management of courses and classes as well as the parent, student, and faculty portals
● Assist with device preparation prior to the start of the school year including updates, maintenance and annual inventory audits
● Manage and maintain the various tools in the Imaginarium; train faculty and student users; plan and advocate for ongoing improvements
Other Duties
● As a member of the ACDS administration and instructional leadership team, the Technology Coach is expected to attend all professional development, in-service, and training days, weekly faculty and instructional team meetings, evening events, weekend open houses, as well as attending and/or presenting at onsite workshops and offsite conferences
● The IT team is quite busy during summer months as well
● All administrators are expected to take on other duties as assigned, such as carpool supervision, setup and cleanup at open houses and all-school events, and temporary substitute teaching when necessary
Qualifications
● K-8 teaching experience required
● Strong working knowledge of a modern coding language such as JavaScript or Python
● Understand the fundamentals of computing
● Knowledge of makerspace tools and workflow
● Ability to teach computing, coding, “making,” and design thinking
● Experience facilitating project-based learning
Technical Skills
● MacOS
● Creative application of video, animation and digital design
● Web applications and presentation software
● Computer Programming
● End user diagnosis and troubleshooting
● Help Desk
Personal Qualities Necessary:
● Collaborative, team player orientation
● Passion for developing and facilitating innovation and engagement of students in a K-8 setting
● Enjoys working with and among children and teachers
● Patient, calm, welcoming presence
● Effective communication, organization and documentation skills
If this sounds like you, please send a cover letter, résumé, and hand-written statement your philosophy of educational technology to jobs@a-cs.org, attn: Olaf Jorgenson.
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Almaden Country Day School is an independent, preschool through 8th grade school located in the Almaden Valley of San Jose. The school's mission is to "discover the gifts in every child." ACDS promotes the belief that children learn best when instruction is age-appropriate, individualized, and joyful.