Student Support Specialist | SALA; Summer Arts Learning Academy

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Student Support Specialist | SALA (Summer Arts for Learning Academy)

SUMMER ARTS FOR LEARNING ACADEMY (SALA)

STUDENT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

Reports to:

Site Director, Summer Arts for Learning Academy

About the Summer Arts for Learning Academy:

Baltimore City Schools’ Summer Arts for Learning Academy (SALA), operated by Arts for Learning Maryland, offers students an opportunity to imagine, create, and express who they are through the arts. This is an action-packed, full-day, five-week program (Monday - Thursday) that introduces students to a wide variety of art forms —from illustration and spoken word to percussion, drama, and dance— which gives students a chance to work alongside students from across the city and be taught by professional Artists.

Students’ work is celebrated through a student showcase on the final day of the program. Arts for Learning Maryland will host ten Academy sites throughout the city, locations TBD.

Mission and Core Values:

The mission of Arts for Learning Maryland’s Summer Arts for Learning Academy (SALA) is to provide students with an opportunity to spend summer learning from the best Teachers and Teaching Artists our state has to offer. Through a dynamic, creative, and supportive environment, students will explore math and literacy in a unique arts-integrated environment that allows them to develop socially and emotionally, expands their personal creative process, introduces them to different art forms taught by professional Artists, and allows them to experience math and literacy content from a different lens.

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.

SALA Student Support Specialist

Job Description:

The Summer Arts for Learning Academy (SALA) Student Support Specialist works side by side with the Site Director, the Arts Integration Coach, and the Lead Special Educator to create and foster a positive, safe, and productive learning environment for all students and staff at their site. The Student Support Specialist is key in developing the Student Support Plan for the site in partnership with the Site Director, who will effectively oversee these plans throughout the Summer.

The position requires the staff member to facilitate one-on-one and group conflict-resolution sessions and provide in-classroom support when needed. The Student Support Specialist is also required to provide supervision to students while not in classroom settings (e.g., lunchtime, Fitness and Fun, field trips, etc.)

Ideal Student Support Specialists Have:

• A knowledge of and experience utilizing restorative practices when conflict arises.
• A willingness to collaborate with the Site Director in finding strategies to best support the students at their site.
• An ability to support inclusive environments where all students’ unique gifts and talents are discovered and cultivated, and where students’ identities (racial, cultural, social, gender, etc.) are acknowledged, affirmed, and reflected around them.
• An ability to examine biases and an understanding of the concepts of institutional and structural racism and its impact on policies and practices, especially related to the administration of public education.
• A passion for students: an ability to build meaningful relationships and a desire to “go above and beyond” to ensure each student’s success.
• A commitment…