HS Spanish Teacher in Austin, Texas at Austin Waldorf School Inc

Job Title: Spanish Teacher – Part-time (Grades 9-12)

Department: Waldorf High School

Reports to: High School Director

Classification: Exempt, Part-time, Benefits-ineligible

Supervisory responsibility: No supervisory responsibilities

Salary: Salary offered depends on qualifications and years of teaching experience

How to Apply

If you are qualified and interested in joining a warm, hospitable, and growing community such as ours, please email your updated resume and letter of intention along with three professional references, to awsrecruitment@austinwaldorf.org.

Place the job title and your full name in the subject line of your email message and send it as shown below. If you are applying for multiple jobs, please send a separate message for each job.

High School Director

Austin Waldorf School, Inc.

8700 South View Road

Austin, TX 78737

awsrecruitment@austinwaldorf.org

Position Purpose

The High School Spanish Teacher (“Spanish Teacher” or “Teacher”) is responsible for guiding students in grades 9–12 in developing linguistic fluency, cultural understanding, and confidence in communication through the study of Spanish. Teaching 12 periods per week, the Teacher’s work is grounded in a developmental and experiential approach that integrates speaking, listening, reading, writing, movement, music, and cultural context.

In addition to classroom teaching, the Teacher coordinates and leads the school’s student exchange program, supporting immersive, relational, and culturally rich learning experiences aligned with Waldorf educational values. Teaching and program leadership are grounded in an anthroposophical understanding of adolescent development, supporting students’ growing capacity for abstraction while maintaining a living, relational connection to language.

TEACHING AND PROGRAM ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

The Teacher must perform the following essential job duties with or without reasonable accommodations.

Spanish Language Instruction

1. Teach high school Spanish courses across grades 9–12, including multiple levels of proficiency
2. Design and deliver developmentally appropriate lessons that integrate:
   1. Spoken language and conversation
   2. Listening comprehension
   3. Reading and writing skills
   4. Grammar taught in context
   5. Cultural studies of the Spanish-speaking world
3. Create a classroom environment in which Spanish is used actively and regularly as the language of instruction
4. Support students in developing confidence, accuracy, and expressive capacity in Spanish
5. Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners while maintaining clear expectations
6. Integrate artistic, rhythmic, and experiential elements such as:
   1. Song, poetry, drama, and movement
   2. Storytelling and dialogue
   3. Cultural projects and celebrations

Student Exchange Program Leadership

1. Coordinate and oversee the school’s Spanish-language student exchange program
2. Serve as the primary liaison between the school, partner exchange organizations or sister schools, students, and families
3. Support students and families through the application, preparation, participation, and reintegration phases of exchange
4. Collaborate with administration to ensure exchanges align with school policies, safety standards, and developmental appropriateness
5. Integrate exchange experiences into the broader language and cultural curriculum
6. Support visiting exchange students and host families as appropriate

Pedagogical Approach

1. Teach out of an anthroposophical understanding of human development and adolescent learning
2. Balance experiential, oral, and relational language learning with increasing grammatical and written rigor
3. Support students’ transition from immersion and imitation toward conscious understanding and independent expression
4. Foster cultural empathy, curiosity, and global awareness
5. Encourage resilience, confidence, and risk-taking in communication

Collegial and Community Duties

1. Carry shared responsibility for the Spanish program in collaboration with other language faculty
2. Collaborate closely with STEM, Humanities, World Language, and Arts faculty to support interdisciplinary learning
3. Attend and participate fully in departmental faculty meetings and full faculty meetings
4. Participate in faculty mentoring, evaluation processes, and ongoing curriculum development
5. Substitute for colleagues as requested
6. Participate in school festivals, assemblies, open houses, year-start and year-end trips, and community events
7. Represent the Language program and the school professionally to parents and the wider community

Operational and Professional Requirements

1. Teach an average of 12 class periods per week (480 minutes per week), including main lesson blocks and skills classes
2. Be on campus as required during the regular school day (typically 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM)
3. Check and respond to email daily and communicate promptly with students, families, and colleagues
4. Demonstrate proficiency with Google Workspace and familiarity with learning management systems
5. Maintain accurate attendance, grading, and reporting records
6. Take responsibility for the physical classroom environment, contributing to order, safety, beauty, and care of shared spaces
7. Report health and safety concerns promptly
8. Act professionally at all times and contribute positively to a strong, collaborative faculty culture

QUALIFICATIONS and EXPERIENCE

The Teacher must possess the following qualifications and experience.

Required or Strongly Preferred:

1. Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, World Languages, Education, or a related field
2. Demonstrated proficiency in Spanish (native or near-native fluency preferred)
3. Experience teaching Spanish, preferably at the high school level
4. Strong classroom management and organizational skills
5. Commitment to or openness toward Waldorf pedagogy and block-style learning

Highly Valued:

1. Waldorf teacher training (completed or in progress)
2. Experience coordinating student exchange, travel, or international programs
3. Strong cross-cultural communication skills
4. Experience integrating arts, movement, or experiential learning into language instruction
5. Familiarity with adolescent development
6. Experience advising or mentoring high school students

Physical and Mental Requirements

The Teacher must meet the following mental and physical requirements with or without reasonable accommodation.

1. The ability to learn, understand, remember, and communicate effectively information about the job.
2. The ability to understand the meaning of and use and speak words understandably and effectively in the English language.
3. Good hearing and listening abilities, that is, the Teacher must be able to hear spoken words from students, parents, co-workers, and others.
4. Good motor coordination skills, that is, the ability to coordinate his or her eyes, hands and fingers rapidly and accurately in order to handle precise movements such as typing.
5. Make and use repetitive hand motions over an extended period, as when typing.
6. Work effectively under pressure and deadlines.

Sit, stand, move around, bend, reach, grasp, stretch, push and pull, and remain sitting or upright for extended periods of time in one room.