Early Childhood Curriculum Specialist:

Young Audiences is seeking a passionate individual who possesses a strong background in early childhood curriculum and developmentally appropriate practices, with an approach to the work through a race equity lens. This is an independent contractor role and will partner with YAMD’s Wolf Trap Regional Director to deliver professional learning opportunities for early learning teaching artists, as well as provide ongoing support and feedback to artists.

About Early Learning at YAMD

As the Maryland regional affiliate of Wolf Trap, YAMD believes that the way we engage children in the first years of their lives has a profound impact on future learning and success. By bringing the arts into classrooms, we create joyful, active learning experiences that lead to greater academic achievement and social-emotional development for our youngest learners. Our Early Learning programs, led by Wolf Trap-trained artists, use arts-integrated learning strategies that connect the arts with core subjects such as language, literacy, science, and math to bring learning alive. These programs are all delivered through an embedded professional development model that aims to impart these arts strategies and skills to caregivers, families, and classroom teachers. For more information about Young Audiences of Maryland’s Early Learning Programs, visit https://www.yamd.org/programs/early-learning/

About Young Audiences/Arts for Learning

Young Audiences/Arts for Learning, founded in Baltimore in 1950, is the country’s foremost arts-in-education non-profit organization. The Maryland chapter of Young Audiences (YA) provides more than 9,000 arts education opportunities to nearly 200,000 students, artists, and educators throughout the state each year. YA is a mission-driven organization that values community, innovation, and passion. The staff, board, and teaching artists have a shared commitment to advance equity in the field of education by working tirelessly to generate opportunities for students to imagine, create, and realize their full potential through the arts.

We...

• believe unwaveringly that ALL students can achieve high standards in and through the arts;
• provide opportunities for students to develop powerfully articulate voices through art forms and honor their creative processes along the way;
• create safe, brave learning environments for students to grow, make mistakes, and contribute to the community;
• collaborate and reflect by learning from and with each other at every step of the process, cultivating positive relationships between all ages;
• encourage the development of critical thinking, problem solving, inquiry, imagination, and creativity, and provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate knowledge and mastery;
• learn about, honor, and leverage the cultural knowledge, experiences, and frames of reference of our students and community to make learning more relevant and effective;
• ensure that our students are known, loved, supported, celebrated, and valued.

Dates and Times:

To fulfill this contract, the time and frequency of deliverables will be discussed in the contract agreement. This is a contractual position spanning six months from the start date of the contract, with possibility to renew.

Compensation:

• Early Childhood Curriculum Specialist will be paid an hourly rate of $50.
• The contract will be approximately 15 hours/week (average of 60 hours/month).

Scope of Work

• Serve as early learning curriculum content expert:
  • Stay relevant with the trends and advancements in early childhood development and curriculum and communicate these to the Early Learning team and teaching artists
  • Provide recommendations to the Early Learning team for new programs and/or program modifications based on needs and changes in the early childhood field
• In collaboration with Regional Director of MD Wolf Trap, create and lead professional learning opportunities for YAMD’s early learning teaching artists around:
  • Early Childhood Development (ages 0-3 and 3-6)
  • Developmentally appropriate practices
  • Equitable teaching practices
  • Specialized topics as needed that support teaching and learning experiences for early childhood aged children
• Provide feedback and support to YAMD early learning artists around early childhood development, and culturally relevant and responsive teaching practices, as related to:
  • Lesson plans and program guides;
  • Program delivery and teaching;
  • Effective partnership and collaboration with classroom teachers.
• Develop tools, templates, and resources to support YAMD staff and artists around best practices in early childhood education.
• Support with the development and execution of other early learning projects as needed.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education or related field, with specific educational and professional experience with inclusion classrooms.
• Strong knowledge of the principles and best practices in early childhood education as well as Maryland State Department of Education’s programs and policies that support the field.
• At least five years of overall professional experience in early learning educational settings.
• Experience designing and delivering professional development for early learning educators.
• A passion for and knowledge of the arts, arts integration, and the role of teaching artists/community artists in education.
• Strong administrative skills and ability to work in a fast paced environment.
• Experience working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• An understanding of the concepts of institutional and structural racism and bias, and its impact on policies and practices, especially related to the administration of public education.
• Knowledge of and passion for play-based learning and the critical role it plays in developing executive function skills.

For consideration:

For consideration, send resumes to [email protected]. The early bird application deadline is April 30, 2021. Priority will be given to early bird applications.