This listing is a call for a Literacy Foundations Adult Education Instructor in Indy Reads' Community Classrooms program. The part-time instructor will need to be immediately available 10-20 hours a week to teach a Literacy Foundations class in Fall 2024.

The class meets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9am-11am at Indy Reads (1066 Virginia Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46203) through May 2025.

Interested applicants should apply as soon as possible via this listing, attaching both a resume and a cover letter to the listing on the Indy Reads website. Go to the "About” tab on the Indy Reads homepage and choose the "Our Team” page from the drop-down menu. A link to open positions is at the top of the page.

About Indy Reads

Our vision is simple: 100% literacy for all.

Located in historic Fountain Square and serving central Indiana, Indy Reads builds the literacy, English language, and job readiness skills to empower adults and families to reach their full potential. We advance our mission through our virtual and in-person Community Classrooms and our community bookstore, which serves as a retail space, community space, and extension of educational programming. This is a highly regarded, well-established nonprofit organization with nearly 40 years of experience in adult education. Under the direction of new leadership and deeply committed to advancing social equity within all aspects of the organization, Indy Reads is poised for growth.

Our adult learners are at the heart of everything we do. Dedicated staff and volunteers work with native and non-native English speakers to strengthen their literacy and English language skills, earn their High School Equivalency diplomas, and acquire workforce certifications. With literacy and language education, our adult learners redefine their potential for success. They get new and better jobs, help their children with homework, and engage with society in new and deeper ways. Indy Reads advances social equity through education.

Position Overview

At Indy Reads, our vision is to make Central Indiana 100% literate. With 1 in 5 Hoosiers reading at or below a sixth-grade ability, our mission to promote and improve the literacy of adults and families in Central Indiana is needed now more than ever. We take a community literacy approach to teaching adult students. Through an innovative social learning model, instructors are supported by a team of volunteer tutors in each dynamic classroom setting offered at partner locations throughout the Indianapolis area.

The Indy Reads program is an opportunity for each student to access comprehensive literacy education from an instructor-led and volunteer tutor-driven team. Using the Indy Reads curriculum, the part-time Instructor will create individualized lesson plans that meet the unique needs of literacy foundations students. Reporting to the Vice President of Community Impact, the part-time Instructor will also oversee student progress and lead and develop a team of volunteer tutors who will act as instructional aides.

The role of the Instructor encompasses teaching distance learning, academic advising, professional development and institutional and community service. They provide quality instruction to adult learners, integrating meaningful classroom activities and valuable experience that facilitate student learning goals and workforce training and employment skills.

The goal of instruction will be to support individual adult literacy students in making continuous improvements in their reading, writing, language, and critical thinking skills across the disciplines by developing the underlying processes needed to develop these skills.

The following is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the job. Other duties may be assigned.

Responsibilities and Duties

Creating a Comfortable and Positive Learning Community

• Establishing a rapport with students
• Promoting student self-efficacy and growth mindset
• Evaluating and responding to individual student needs
• Observing confidentiality of students and program information

Individualization

Lead students in a multi-level classroom: Analyze and select diverse texts from traditional print, digital, and online resources that link to multiple ability levels and multicultural perspectives, and connect to students’ backgrounds, interests, and proficiency levels, for a class of up to 20 students.

• Design in-depth instruction to improve students’ abilities to read and understand varied text, and to spur student interest in more complex reading materials.
• Coordinate tutors to maximize differentiation: Work with, support, and assist volunteer tutors in providing engaging 1-1 and small-group sessions.
• Retain students by ensuring instructional content is relevant to individual specific adult students’ lives and goals.

_Relevant, Dynamic Lesson Planning & Instruction _

• Provide ABE activities and instruction across a continuum, from pre and basic literacy through elementary levels, culminating with competencies equivalent to the eight-grade level. Instruction includes reading, mathematics, communication skills, social studies, science, and career and college readiness competencies.
• Write individualized lesson plans (ILPs).
• Develop reading and writing instruction that is responsive to the diverse needs, interests and goals of our students, including ability levels.
• Use appropriate and varied instructional approaches supported by research for the following areas, comprehension, fluency, critical thinking, motivation, vocabulary, integrated writing, phonological processing development, etc.
• Administer appropriate assessments to identify, monitor progress, and measure effectiveness of intervention practices and students’ responses to instruction.
• Support students’ ability to succeed in a high school equivalency exam prep.
• Communicate assessment results and effective strategies to staff in digital platforms.
• Provide instruction for students to learn career and college planning including establishing short-term and long-term goals. Additional instruction on employment and training awareness, career and college readiness, and transition skills.

Other Duties

• Training and Meetings: Plan collaboratively with Instructional Team Lead and other instructors to implement high-leverage learning strategies. Professional Development workshops will be held quarterly.
• Meet consistently with Instructional Team Lead and fellow literacy team instructors to strengthen professional teaching knowledge and to stay current with professional literature, including the latest research on promising practices for adult literacy.
• Uses existing technology effectively in the performance of duties.
• Performs other work as required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field required. Educator license or degree preferred.
• Experience teaching English as a subject preferred.
• Minimum two years classroom instruction experience
• Experience working with students with learning differences and/or working with adults
• Ability to facilitate Math learning through Algebra and Geometry level
• Must have reliable transportation
• Proficiency with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office Suite, Office 365, Asana, Slack, and other tools
• Ability to work well as part of a team within a culturally diverse environment with people from all backgrounds and with varying degrees of experience and skills
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing
• Curious, open, and dedicated to participating in Indy Reads’ journey to advance DEIA
• Commitment to the mission of Indy Reads
• A sense of humor

We strongly encourage people of color, people from marginalized backgrounds, and people with immigrant experience to apply for positions at our organization. Indy Reads is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Studies have shown that people from marginalized communities are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. If you are excited about this opportunity and believe you have skills to contribute to the role, yet your past work experience isn't 100% in alignment with the listed qualifications, please apply anyway. We seek employees from all backgrounds to join our team and encourage them to bring their authentic and best selves to work.

We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Indy Reads makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to use his/her hands to feel objects, tools or controls. The employee is regularly required to stand, walk and sit. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required for this position include close vision, peripheral vision, and depth perception.

Compensation

This is an outstanding opportunity for a highly motivated individual to assume a pivotal role in advancing Indy Reads’ mission. Pay is $32 an hour. Indy Reads also offers a 401(k) and 3% company match to part-time staff.