Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Brooklyn, New York
Los Angeles, California
Posted: 08-Apr-26
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Type: Full Time
Salary: $62000-$76000
Salary Details:
Preferred Education:
Music Teacher - Elementary School
A Full-Time Benefits-Eligible Faculty Position beginning August 18, 2026
NPES is seeking an accomplished, inspiring, emotionally attuned, and culturally responsive general Music Teacher to teach preschool through middle school music classes. Since its founding in 1980, NPES has offered all students across the school an engaging and enriching fine arts program as an essential component of our curriculum. We believe that music education consistent with our mission and core educational beliefs nurtures the whole child, intellectually, emotionally, and socially, inviting students to explore their creativity, express their identities, develop their voices, and connect with cultures beyond their own. We also believe the arts can foster empathy and inclusivity while providing healthy outlets for challenging systemic injustices. In an intimate and authentic educational community like ours, a vibrant music program builds confidence and collaboration skills, and creates joy, giving every student voice and a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves, as they share their gifts with others.
As the instructional time for this full-time faculty position averages about 2.5 hours per day (14 hours of classroom music instruction per week), the Music Teacher also serves as a Middle School Advisor, offers a Middle School elective class, and is available to serve as an in-house substitute teacher across the school during designated periods (excluding prep time and the lunch break, of course).
Responsibilities Related to Classroom Instruction in Music
- Foster a love of music, develop foundational music theory literacy, and empower students to recognize and appreciate the connections between music as an art form, history, and current events
- Design, plan, and implement a culturally diverse curriculum across grade levels that builds conceptual understanding and skills in singing, rhythm, movement, playing, and a variety of genres, empowering students to express themselves authentically and creatively
- Prepare and implement differentiated instruction, activities, and assessments that enable all learners to find success in music, with honest effort and open minds.
- Build relationships with students so they are actively and meaningfully engaged in their work, and integrate student choice (optionality) into select units
- Create and maintain a welcoming, engaging, affirming, and safe classroom environment for all students, one in which listening, patience, sharing, different perspectives, and mutual respect are practiced (NPES employs the Positive Discipline framework)
- Collaborate with colleagues to plan and facilitate periodic cross-curricular units and activities throughout the school, including but not limited to core classes, Visual Arts, Drama, and Design Thinking
- Manage and maintain instruments
Responsibilities Beyond the Music Classroom
- Collaborate with NPES’ choral director and band director (part-time positions) in preparing grade-level classes and individual student performers for various performances over the course of the year
- Sponsor a Middle School Music Club during the students’ lunch/recess period 1x weekly from mid-0ctober through mid-May
- Offer a Middle School elective and serve as a Middle School advisor or co-advisor
- Evaluate students and report curriculum highlights and student progress to families at designed reporting times each year
- Attend and participate positively in after-school faculty meetings 2x per month, opening and closing faculty meetings, parent-teacher conferences, and all professional development days and required programs
- Serve as an on-call in-house substitute teacher across the school as needed by the Office Manager
- Other duties as assigned by the Head of School
