School Around Us (SAU) in Arundel, Maine has an opening for a full-time early childhood educator to join our team and support our younger spiral (ages 5-7) starting in August 2022. SAU’s mission is to bring together young people, educators, families and our extended community to create a participatory, learner-driven environment grounded in meaningful relationships, which expresses the world we would like our children to live in—a world where all are supported to be self-aware and engaged global citizens.
In 2020, we evolved from identifying ourselves as a “school” to a “Co-Learning Community.” A core value in Co-learning is that it focuses not only on students, but on families and communities together as ecosystems of learning. As a Co-Learning Community, School Around Us serves youth ages 5 – 14 who are registered with the State of Maine as homeschoolers.
SAU seeks an awesome and adaptable educator who values a co-created educational environment balancing structure and spontaneity/freedom. This educator will be responsible for designing and implementing educational programming for a group of children ages 5-7. As SAU is currently in transition and emerging into a new organizational and educational model, this person will be a core member of our team in this emergent process — and we will benefit from someone who wants to be part of that process. Further, you may be an amazing fit for our organization if you are a passionate educator who believes that humans are built to learn, that education is a life-long journey, and that education is a collaborative process of self-discovery where one size doesn’t fit all.
Job Description An educator at SAU is…
- A teacher, mentor, and guide for students
- A collaborative co-creator of educational experiences with fellow teachers, with parents, and with students
- An advocate and coach who aids young people in developing and achieving their own desired path to learning and becoming themselves
- Someone who uses an integrated, hands-on curriculum appropriate to developmental stages, knowledge, and abilities and able to adapt to emergent curriculum
- Someone who shares their own passions with the SAU community
- Someone who implements School Around Us’ philosophy of holistic education through the framing of Eight Knowledge Areas (Logical Thinking & Quantitative Reasoning, Scientific Inquiry & Environmental Understanding, Practical Life Skills, Creative Arts, Language & Communication, Citizenship, Body Knowledge) in our curriculum
- Someone who addresses issues of diversity, inclusion and equity with learners.
- A creative guide able to balance freedom with co-created structure.
- Someone who establishes strong relationships with learners and their families by:
- Being consistently in contact with families in person and by email/phone as needed
- Posting on our “Loft” social network to inform our community of SAU programming (through written posts and videos) and through our year-long portfolio-building process
- Someone who facilitates supportive conflict resolution processes
- A willing participant in a democratic organizational and staff culture
Work Commitments At SAU we contract our teachers annually for 210 working days through the school year: August – June. These days include on-site school days, planning time before and during the school year, and other events that support our organization. A typical week for teachers during the school year is Monday through Friday, beginning 30 minutes before programming starts and ending 30 minutes after it closes – usually from 8:30 to 3:30. There are also weekly staff meetings and monthly community meetings that we ask teachers to attend in addition to occasional evening school events (eg. School Play, Concerts). It is important to note that a substantial amount of time is spent outdoors throughout our programming through all four seasons so teachers are expected to be prepared for both indoor and outdoor time.
Additional work days may be available for this role to participate in guiding and/or supporting our summer programs (which could lead to an earlier start date), and would be contracted and compensated separately from this position.
Compensation + Benefits Salary Range: $39,000-42,000 (depending on experience and qualifications) Current Benefits:
- 10 days Paid Time Off (includes both sick and personal days)
- Professional Development Stipend
- Certification Support (if needed)
Job Requirements:
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent educational and training experience
- Minimum 3 years of experience working as a teacher (need not be in traditional schooling context) with learners ages 5-14
- Exposure to and interest in holistic education + self-directed learning
- Knowledge of, and ability to use, conflict resolution skills that are supportive of an equitable and inclusive learning environment
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Able to give and receive honest and thoughtful feedback. Willing to use feedback to grow as an educator and support the SAU community.
- Excitement to create educational experiences in a non-prescriptive context and is not attached to assessments and curriculum looking a certain way (Eg. tests, teaching at grade level, following standards)
- Can embrace both structure and spontaneity and utilizes both as a teacher
- Able to share the stage and work within a collaborative organizational environment
- Can design effective, clear and meaningful learning experiences
- Willingness to engage with parents/families consistently
- Willing to spend substantial time outdoors with learners throughout all four seasons
Preferred
- Master’s Degree
- Maine Teaching license/certification
- Experience guiding project-based, experiential learning programs and environments
- Experience in holistic learning (i.e. child-led education, montessori, waldorf, reggio, free schools, democratic education, agile learning, etc.)
- Multiple years experience working with children ages 5-7
- Demonstrated ability to facilitate group processes
- Experience with participatory decision-making processes such as consent (as used in sociocracy/holacracy), consensus, robert’s rules, etc.
- Is willing to create unexpected, spontaneous and unimaginable things based on student interest and passion
- Experience as part of a teaching team and/or collaborative teaching environment
- First-Aid and CPR certifications
Interested applicants should submit their resume, cover letter, and three references by April 8 to: will@schoolaroundus.org
School Around Us. is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture and workforce reflective of our mission, values and communities we serve. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.
