Urban Academy Hiring Physics teacher for 2025-26 school year.
Urban Academy anticipates having an opening for a full time Physics teacher, beginning the 2025-26 school year. We would like candidates to visit the school as soon as possible. Candidates will need to have current New York State teacher certification. While we will consider strong candidates licensed in other areas of science, our priority and preference is to find a Physics teacher. Candidates who also hold special education or ESL licenses are especially encouraged to apply.
Urban Academy is a small, NYC public high school serving a diverse group of students, many of them transfer students, from all over the city. Inquiry is the center of our academic philosophy and understanding of our students. As a progressive school, the staff make decisions collaboratively and work together in many different ways to meet students’ diverse needs. Read more about us at www.urbanacademy.org. We are a member of the NY Performance Standards Consortium and have been granted a Regents waiver from the NY State Education Department, which allows us to use Performance Based Assessments as graduation requirements instead of Regents Exams.
Our science courses primarily focus on a hands-on, experimental, inquiry approach. Students grapple with authentic questions and scenarios and discover properties and abstract science concepts. Teachers create curriculum that supports student-centered learning and focused, in-depth study rather than breadth of coverage. To satisfy their graduation requirement in science, students must apply scientific concepts to an experiment that they design and carry out.
Candidates should also be interested in collaborating with the rest of the faculty in many aspects of the running of the school. We are also looking for teachers who have interests they like to share with students, outside of science.
Science Teacher description
Teach four science classes (13-17 students) each semester, with an emphasis on an Inquiry-Based learning approach. Classes may include Optics, Mechanics, or Electricity and Magnetism. (Please see our website for a past course catalog to get a sense of some of our past course descriptions).
Create a supportive and caring classroom environment in which students can learn and interact positively with one another through student-centered instruction that emphasizes student choice and authentic assessment.
Guide students in use of the scientific method and process with primary emphasis on student demonstration of skills that show growth over time.
Build strong relationships with students from a variety of backgrounds (and varying levels of school engagement) and with a variety of learning abilities, including those with special needs.
Run mixed-aged, mixed-level classrooms with students aged 14-19.
Mentor students through Science experiments that are part of their graduation requirements. (Students design an original experiment, analyze their results, and present their paper in a science defense).
General Teacher Responsibilities
Tutorial advisor - Advise 10-12 students on their academic progress throughout their time at Urban Academy High School.
Participate in staff meetings, policy and decision making, and implementation of school initiatives, in collaboration with other teachers and staff in this teacher run high school.
Collaborate with the science department (and other depts) in curricular revision, implementation, and development.
Team-teach in our staff-created 3 week Project that kicks off every fall and spring semester.
As a full-time teacher, the science teacher shares general teacher responsibilities and collective responsibilities that all Core subject teachers share. Some of these responsibilities are listed below.
If you are interested, please email us with a cover letter and resume to hiring@urbanacademy.org.