Department Head​/Teacher, Social Studies

Job Description

Job Title:

Social Studies Department Head/Teacher

Location:

Wilson Middle School

Reports To:

Principals at Kennedy and Wilson Middle School and the Asst. Superintendent of Teaching, Learning and Innovation

Work days/FTE: 183 days/1.0 FTE

Salary/Benefits:
Salary and benefits per contract with the Education Association of Natick

Benefits Eligible?:
Yes

Start date:

8/24/2026

Responsible for maintaining a program of high quality curriculum, instruction and assessment in the individual's department across both middle schools and for being a productive and supportive member of the school's administrative team. The social studies department head will be responsible for being a valuable member of a team and will teach up to 3 sections of Social Studies at Wilson Middle School in a grade level within the school (Grade 5-8).

• Education: Masters Degree and a minimum of three years teaching and/or administrative experience.
• Professional Certification:
  • DESE Certification:
    Social Studies, 5-8
  • Supervisors license preferred
  • Assistant Principal/Principal license optional
• Specialized Knowledge:
  • Adolescent development
  • Best practices in instructional pedagogy
  • Strong content area knowledge
  • Best practices for supervising adults
• Preferred Experience:
  • Minimum of three years teaching and/or administrative experience
  • Prefer experience teaching in a diverse middle school
• Skills:
  • Demonstrated aptitude for work to be performed
  • Bilingual skills, especially in Spanish and Portuguese, are highly desirable
  • Ability to apply knowledge of current research and theory in specific field
    
    Ability to facilitate the writing of curriculum within the subject area
  • Ability to perform duties with awareness of all district requirements and School Committee policies. Candidates should have a passion for working with students, families, and colleagues
  • Candidates must be flexible and collaborative
  • Candidates must be able to multitask in a fast-paced, supportive environment that nurtures student growth
  • Candidates must be organized and able to meet ongoing, time-sensitive deadlines for work production
  • Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of administrators, staff and the general public
  • Ability to write reports, business correspondence and procedure manuals
  • Candidates must have highly effective communication skills with a variety of audiences including staff, colleagues, students, families and caregivers

Alternative degrees/experience may be substituted for the above at the discretion of the Superintendent, if such a substitution brings a strong candidate forward.

• Phone, intercom, personal computer and software applications as outlined above, scanner, copy machine, calculator, camera, printers and fax machine.

• Establishes a positive and productive learning environment, setting challenging, yet realistic expectations for staff and students.
• Demonstrates an understanding of the learning processes of adolescents and develops policies and programs which appropriately reflect these stages.
• Demonstrates understanding of applicable educational theories and leads staff in applying effective methods of curriculum design, implementation and evaluation.
• Encourages staff development of innovative curriculum concepts.
• Oversees the writing of curriculum within the subject area.
• Ensures department's curriculum and instructional methods are adapted to address the characteristics of different cultural groups and ethnic minorities.
• Uses community resources to enhance curriculum and instruction.
• Works toward designing and implementing assessment mechanisms to measure the school's performance on the statement of purpose criteria and for the curriculum.
• Using assessment results, develops a constant feedback loop to improve academic performance within department and school-wide.
• Designs and implements changes in curriculum and instruction to address identified areas of need (resulting from assessments).
• Leads department's efforts to obtain new print and other media to continually update and support the curriculum.
• Chairs committees as necessary to address areas of improvement as identified by the NESC accreditation process.
• Teaches up to three classes.
• Engages in various and appropriate professional development activities to remain current in the field of certification and provides information and resources gained on department's subject matter to staff.
• Holds department meetings as needed.
• Understands and utilizes effective models of staff development and in-service education.
• Attends department head meetings, constructively contributing to discussions and supporting the school's mission and goals.
• Works with staff and administration to actively promote a positive school climate. Represents the department at public forums (i.e. School Committee, PTSO, Parent Orientation Night).
• Consults with same-subject teachers at the middle and elementary levels within the system, acquainting these…