Middle School Math Teacher

• Type:
  Full-Time (10-month employee)
• Supervisor:
  Head of Middle School
• Location:
  
  Chicago, IL, on-site
• Starting Date:
  August 2026

Cook is a vibrant and inclusive learning community where curiosity, connection, and compassion are at the heart of everything we do. We are dedicated to developing creative, collaborative problem solvers who tackle global challenges from multiple perspectives. Our dedicated faculty and staff help students from preschool through 8th grade become empowered learners and leaders.

All Cook employees are trained and supported in incorporating wellness and belonging into their work with students and adults. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and social-emotional learning (SEL) are the cornerstones upon which we build a curriculum and community. At Cook, we commit to all community members being active learners, from our preschool students to us as adults.

We invite you to consider how Cook will benefit from having you, along with your experiences in educating and learning, as a part of our community.

The Middle School Math teacher will strengthen the Cook community by bringing fresh perspectives, strong collaboration, and student-centered expertise to the Middle School division, Grade Level Teams, and the Math Department. Through engaging, problem-based instruction and active participation in ongoing curriculum development, this educator will help shape a cohesive, inclusive, and forward‑thinking learning environment. By contributing ideas, partnering with colleagues, and building meaningful relationships with students and families, they will support the continuous growth and vibrancy of the Cook community both inside and beyond the classroom.

• Connecting with and caring for students and colleagues through weekly duties and administrative tasks
• Growing as a life‑long learner through active participation in meetings and professional development opportunities
• Applying skills as supported by training and protocols for proactive and responsive community building.
• Proactively and reflectively communicating through various platforms the vision, goals, and progress of your work with both internal and external collaborators
• Growing our culture of belonging and wellness through active participation in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and social‑emotional learning (SEL) efforts
• Serving as an Ambassador for our Enrollment Management and Development efforts
• Employing Google and Outlook Applications for individual and team collaboration and communication

The ideal candidate is an early to mid-career dynamic mathematics educator who believes that all students are capable of deep, meaningful mathematical thinking. They create a classroom where students reason, collaborate, question, and persevere. Grounded in the Illustrative Mathematics philosophy of problem-based learning and the Building Thinking Classrooms framework for promoting student thinking, this teacher fosters a culture where students learn with understanding rather than simply doing procedures.

They value curiosity over correctness, discourse over direction, and thinking over compliance. The ideal candidate views themselves as a designer of learning experiences, not a deliverer of content, who empowers students to take ownership of their mathematical journeys.

• Creates learning experiences where students make sense of mathematics through rich problems and purposeful discourse.
• Prioritizes conceptual understanding, reasoning, and student‑generated strategies in alignment with the Illustrative Mathematics approach.
• Encourages productive struggle and supports students in developing mathematical identities built on confidence and agency.

• Implements practices from Building Thinking Classrooms such as:
• Using rich, non-routine tasks to spark thinking from the very start of class.
• Encouraging students to work at…