Thank you for your interest in a faculty position at Ben Bronz Academy. We are seeking people who have had college training in Precision Teaching, Direct Instruction, or Mediated Learning, and who wish to perfect these skills in a setting that appreciates them. Teaching certification is an asset, but if your credentials make it possible for you to gain Connecticut Certification within a year or two, some accomodation may be made.

We place the highest value on teaching and learning, and we have built almost ideal conditions to allow this to happen. These conditions include small, carefully selected classes, a supportive faculty, a solid curriculum, excellent supervision, the latest technologies, a supportive parents group, and a hunger for solutions fed by an active research arm.

The Upper School of the Academy accepts only forty-five full-time students and a few part-time students, grades 6 to 12, ages 11 to 18. The Lower School (Grades 2 to 5) has a capacity of up to fifteen students.

All of our students are learning-disabled. A few have secondary diagnoses such as Attention Deficit Disorder or emotional problems, but they are only accepted if it is clear that the secondary problems will not interfere with their education. At present, two-thirds of the students are sponsored by school districts, and one-third are private. We usually have 75% boys. They are all day students, mostly from the greater Hartford area.

The faculty is all appropriately certified to meet state standards. There are fourteen full-time teachers, four part-time, and five teaching assistants. Class sizes range from one to twelve, depending on the most efficient combinations for effective teaching and learning.

The salary is $28,200 for a first-year teacher, rising steeply after three years of employment. Adjustments may be made for relevant training and experience. Our wage scale becomes competitive with public school scales after the fourth year. We continue to upgrade salaries to reflect the pride we feel in our teaching. Fringe benefits include a full medical plan, fully-paid for our employees (which has some eligibility restrictions), long-term disability and a retirement plan.

The teaching day begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m. Classes are divided into nine 45-minute periods and a 30-minute "fluency" period. Each teacher has one period for lunch, one period preparation, and one period in which he/she attends, observes and begins co-teaching another class. Each teacher assists in supervising lunch period and study hall (3:15 to 4:00 p.m.) once each week. On Tuesdays, faculty members stay until 5:00 p.m. for a weekly meeting.

The school calendar for faculty is 187 days, (180 for students) with the usual holidays, a winter break (mid-February), and spring break. There is no stated limit of sick, personal, or professional days, but we substitute for one-another when a teacher is away, so we all elect to keep days away within reasonable limits.

A full curriculum is offered, with most of the students aiming for college. The core of the program is a philosophy and approach called Mediated Learning. At the high school level, we use Instrumental Enrichment, a thinking skills curriculum developed by Israeli Psychologist Reuven Feuerstein. In the Lower School, we have developed our own curriculum, the "MetaLearning Program" (MLP). We have found that by studying cognition, we have gained further insights into good teaching, which Feuerstein calls mediated learning. Rather than being the imparter of content, a mediator helps the learner develop a need, or curiosity, and ways to manipulate content so that he is excited by it and learns it in an active way. All faculty attend or teach Instrumental Enrichment classes and use its concepts in all of the other content classes.

Since many of our students come to us with severe reading deficits, language arts are accented. There are several reading classes (linguistics, morphological analysis drill, experience stories, comprehension, etc.) Direct Instruction is the dominant method of instruction in most of the reading classes. There are also remedial mathematics, and language/grammar/writing classes. We require the use of the word processor/outline processor/spell checker (There are more computers than students, and they are well distributed among the rooms.) Literature and spelling classes are also provided. Some students are scheduled into up to five reading classes per day.

The third area of accent is oral language. Most learning-disabled students are also language-disabled. We have classes in language enrichment and pragmatics, as well as an Academy-wide vocabulary enrichment program.

Organizational and study skills are stressed, and practiced uniformly throughout all classes. Students learn to use a plan book for all assignments, set up papers uniformly, preview, analyze, summarize, review and build vocabulary, and manage time.

Fluencies are a driving force at the Academy. All students are assigned fluencies in typing, digit pad, arithmetic, reading, and vocabulary building. Most of these fluencies are managed by the computer system, and they all generate charts of progress. We have regular chart shares, and students boast of their progress, or ask for advice from students and faculty about 'flatlines' or low accelerations. Students and faculty also use the charts to communicate progress in trimester reports, or at their PPT's.

We add in "projects" classes for our gifted/learning-disabled students to challenge their strengths while remediating their deficits.

We consciously maintain an upbeat attitude toward learning. We use a point/awareness system in all classes. Students earn positive points each time we see them do something that enhances their learning. Similarly, they earn negative points for behaviors that interfere with learning, including "tuning out" (which they have dubbed "being in La-la Land"). Some of the students choose to chart selected points earned at the end of each day. The charts are one way they can see their gradual improvement.

To overcome the passive attitude most of our students brought with them, we stress independence. Special "Independence Points" are awarded within the point system, and a series of active techniques are provided. Students help to develop their IEPs and their Individualized Transition Plans (ITPs).

As a result of our accent on learning, students are highly motivated and excited by their own growth. The peer group norm is one of individual accomplishment, and students spontaneously applaud when they see a classmate gain a new insight. Discipline problems are minor, usually settled by having the student write an "Awareness Paper", or if the behavior is willful, a "Critical Incident Report," in which he states what he did to interfere with his learning and what he will do to avoid such behavior in the future.

Our faculty is proudly professional. We make major curricula and teaching decisions as a group. Each teacher advises three or four students, meeting weekly with the advisee, coordinating his/her IEP, attending PPTs, contacting parents, etc. We cooperatively write the IEP objectives, each teacher providing input from his/her content area.

We are also growing professionally. Supervision is scheduled weekly in the first few months, and observations are frequent. Video equipment is available to tape classes for discussion in supervision. Classes are often team-taught, providing opportunities for teachers to learn skills from one another.

There is an in-service seminar every Friday afternoon (2:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.), and three days are set aside annually for full-day training. We encourage faculty taking courses at local colleges, (50% tuition reimbursement for pre-approved, relevant courses) and presenting papers at learned conferences.

A research arm (Ben Bronz Foundation) actively pursues research into better techniques for remediating learning disabilities. If you have a flair for research, there are many opportunities to take an active part in this aspect. We are presently testing software developed in-house to increase students' typing, reading, spelling, and arithmetic fluency as well as comprehension.

We are mildly crowded for space. We rent five large classrooms, nine smaller rooms, four offices, a library, and a storage area from the American School for the Deaf. Sometimes this means that small groups work in adjoining rooms or partitioned spaces, creating a mild noise factor. As in some high schools, teachers do not have a classroom they can call their own. The plus side of our rental agreement is that we have access to the ASD pool, gymnasium and fields, and their fully-equipped vocational education programs.

If you are still excited about the frontiers of learning and intrigued by our description, please contact tli@tli.com.

Ben Bronz Academy is an equal opportunity employer.
 
 

Susan L. Sharp, Ph.D.

Education Director