Early Childhood Educator (4 -7 year olds)
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Verdi EcoSchool, the only Urban Farm School in the southeastern United States, is seeking an energetic and passionate educator to provide strong teaching, leadership, and direction for the school’s early elementary Journeys program.
Journeys provides student-centered, project-based learning in indoor and outdoor classroom settings encompassing community-classroom partnerships with local institutions, student-maintained gardens, an outdoor art studio, and chicken and rabbit habitats. The Verdi EcoSchool seeks to foster a learning community that employs the best aspects of progressive educational approaches including place-based education and project-based learning in a constructivist curriculum that inspires creative thought, critical reasoning and the development of skills in a nature-based context.
The Verdi EcoSchool is seeking a dynamic, energetic and forward-thinking early elementary educator with proven experience in inquiry and student-directed learning to facilitate a nature- and place-based education. The collaborative educator will be responsible for all aspects of the students’ experience and for developing strong partnerships with parents.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate has a love and knowledge of nature and the outdoors and enjoys educating children from 4 to 7 years of age in a mixed group learning community. The candidate will embrace the mission of the school, possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, function very effectively as a member of a collaborative teaching team, engage enthusiastically with families and other members of the school community, and embrace the opportunities and challenges of teaching in an innovative start-up school. Specializations in structured literacy and Conscious Discipline are highly preferred. Organization, reliability, flexibility, composure, strong work ethic, and a love of being in nature are key to the role.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
PLANNING:
- Develop place-based lessons that reflect the needs of the children, the standards of project-based learning, and the mission of the Verdi EcoSchool.
- Implement policies and procedures.
- Design and set up the classroom space.
- Responsible for cleanliness of indoor and outdoor classroom spaces each day.
- Obtain necessary supplies and materials.
- Manage and adjust the annual program budget
- Work with Marketing & Development staff to promote the school’s programs.
- Work toward growing and expanding the scope of Verdi EcoSchool’s offerings.
- Oversee and improve the programs currently offered by the school.
TEACHING AND EVALUATING:
- Serve as a collaborative/team educator for the Journeys (early childhood) program.
- Generate and archive weekly lesson plans that focus on students’ interests and submit to administration per accreditation requirements.
- Assess and evaluate the effectiveness and success of educational programs.
- Ensure compliance with all relevant governmental rules and regulations.
- Train and apply positive skills in managing behaviors in line with Conscious Discipline.
- Lead workshops for parents in best practices in student-led learning.
- Design and teach engaging summer experiences.
REPORTING
- This position reports to the administration of the Verdi EcoSchool.
- This position meets weekly with their program team, weekly 1:1 with a member of the administration, monthly with the collaborative educators of the school’s other programs, monthly with all school staff, and monthly with all parents.
SUPERVISING
- Interview, train, direct, schedule, supervise, and evaluate Interns, or Volunteers as needed to infuse programs with art, music, dance, etc.
- Help to draft and oversee the school budget.
CREATING COMMUNITY
- Plan and facilitate parent and volunteer involvement in programs.
- Participate in Verdi EcoSchool staff meetings and special events to ensure connection with the rest of the staff and members.
EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE
- Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Education, Reading Education, or Nature-Based Education (Master’s preferred).
- Working knowledge of basic natural history/ecology concepts.
- Experience teaching children ages four to eight for 3 or more years in a school setting, preferably using structured literacy (Orton-Gilligham approaches), project-based learning, and/or place-based learning.
- Experienced and comfortable immersing children in nature.
- Strong planning, organizing, and management skills.
- Experience supervising staff and volunteers.
- Demonstrated verbal and written skills.
OTHER SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- Provide a physically and emotionally safe environment for students in both indoor and outdoor settings.
- Able to identify local natural hazards such as poison ivy, wasps, fire ants, dangerous snakes, etc.
- Demonstrate positive and proactive communication and interpersonal skills.
- Spend three or more hours outdoors with students each day during all seasons, except in extreme/dangerous weather- such as high winds, extreme cold, etc.
Successful candidates will need to pass a background check and remain current on First Aid/CPR certifications.
PAYMENT RANGE
Salary:
Starting at $45,000 commensurate with experience
TO APPLY
Send a cover letter, resume, and letters of recommendation to info@verdiecoschool.org and fill out application at www.verdiecoschool.org/workwithus