Rhetoric Stage Humanities Teacher

Title: Rhetoric Stage, Humanities Teacher – Grades 9-12 

Position: Full-time 

Location: Donahue Academy, Ave Maria FL 

Reports to: Principal 

OVERVIEW 

Donahue Academy is the parochial elementary, middle, and high school of Ave Maria Catholic Church, which serves more about 2,000 households through liturgy, evangelization, formation, education, and ministry activities. Donahue Academy provides a faithful Catholic, classical education, including a robust athletics program, to children from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 in an authentically Catholic, tight-knit community environment. At Donahue Academy, we believe that the pursuit of the transcendental realities cannot be separated from Christ, the source of all truth. It is only in the context of our allowing God His due place, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church, that an authentic and rigorous liberal arts education is possible. Our academically excellent school has waiting lists in nearly every grade and the highest scores in the Diocese of Venice. With the next phase of our campus expansion underway, we have an expected enrollment of 625 students for the 2026-27 school year. 

POSITION DESCRIPTION 

The humanities double-block class fuses literature, history, and philosophy in an interdisciplinary exploration of a few great texts, questions, and historical events from one of the four major time periods of Western Civilization (Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern). The teacher plays a vital role in engaging the students to experience the rich depth of Catholic classical education in the rhetoric stage of learning; thus, the high school humanities instructor must be prepared to lead students more and more regularly into seminar discussion and/or scholastic disputation while carefully guiding them in their intellectual and spiritual formation to be faithful Catholics in the liberal arts tradition.   

Candidates must see themselves as called by God to manifest the love of Christ to high school students through the teaching of literature, history, and philosophy, and, even at times, theology; they must give Christian witness to all that is true, good, and beautiful. This calling is joyfully carried out among faculty who strive for personal sanctity and are, in the words of St. Don Bosco, “entirely consecrated to the welfare of [their] pupils […] ready to face every difficulty and endure fatigue in order to attain [this] object.”   

The Rhetoric Stage Humanities program is ordered to help students enter the “Great Conversation” of the adult world in the Western Tradition. As their freedom develops through adolescent maturation into adulthood, they are guided in their inquiry into reality to wrestle with difficult questions considering revealed truth, right reason, and competing opinions, and to form their own position, articulate it, and defend it.  The program culminates with the senior thesis presentation: a public defense of a research paper written in a neo-scholastic model of disputation. 

Salary is competitive and comes with the standard Diocesan benefits.   

  
RESPONSIBILITIES 

Teach a high-school-level Humanities curriculum in the classical tradition and consistent with the Diocese of Venice requirements and Donahue Academy objectives. 

Promote a classroom environment that is loving, safe, orderly, and conducive to individualized and small-group instruction, in a seminar format, based on student learning style and needs.  

Work in close partnership with and under the Rhetoric Stage Dean and Department Chair to develop lessons and related instructional materials that are all part of a unified presentation of the specified grade level curriculum; write accompanying and adequately detailed lesson plans, using technology to enhance student learning where/when applicable; conduct ongoing and varied forms of assessments, including administering standardized tests in accordance with Diocesan assessment programs.   

Encourage parental involvement in student education and ensure effective and transparent communication with students and parents.  

Engage in continuing education on the topics of classical and Catholic education models by reading, attending seminars, workshops, and professional meetings; actively participate in faculty meetings and committees, as needed. 

Participate in activities outside of the classroom that involve students, as often as possible.  

 
CREDENTIALS, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE 

A minimum of a bachelor's degree, from an accredited college or university, applicable to a teaching assignment is required. 

Current 5-year renewable Professional Florida Educator Certificate, or a 3 or 4-year non-renewable Temporary Florida Educator Certificate, or eligibility for certification is required.   

Understanding and knowledge of Catholic pedagogy (i.e., Gravissimum Educationis) is strongly preferred. 

Experience in a classical school is preferred. 

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS 

Must be a practicing Catholic in good standing; fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church is required.  

Love for working with adolescents is necessary. 

Must be familiar with the classical model of education.   

Must abide policies and procedures as set forth in the Diocese and Donahue Academy Employee and Family handbooks.  

Willingness to undergo a FDLE Level 2 background check.   

Must demonstrate a love for children and teaching. 

Must demonstrate strong written and verbal communication, planning, and organizational skills.