July 5, 2023

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A NEW LEAF

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School Teachers & Early Childhood Educators for children from toddler and preschool to 4th grade

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A New leaf School of Nashville is growing and we are looking to hire qualified educators for both our farm and arboretum campuses. Our students range in age from 18 months to 4th grade. We work in the Reggio way spending vast amounts of time outdoors and inside our labs, ateliers and dens. We incorporate several compatible practices to create an emergent curriculum to engage as co-researchers in collaboration with other educators, our students, and families. Our approach is project based. Explicit instruction to meet Tennessee standards often takes the shape of games or scientific inquiry. Surrounded by plants, soil, water, and animals, we never lack for study systems! We encourage a naturalist way of life with environmental protection on local and global levels. We spend hours in natural settings aiming to connect with and love the inhabitants of our ecosystems. We become part of the environment, and our connections include humans. To connect with each other, we must also serve our community by developing social emotional competencies for ourselves and then take care of our city by participating in community events and projects.

 

Working at A New Leaf is a journey of discovery and experimentation. You are guaranteed to learn a lot about yourself and the world. A New Leaf is a breath of fresh air, it is also hot, beautiful, muddy, creative, head scratching, wet, engaging, frosty, laughter, challenges, relationship building, sweet moments, hands-on, inspiring, and filled with mentorship and leadership opportunities for all participants. That is what we do best: playfully and seriously learn, together in community, about things that are real, meaningful, at times enigmatic, and always powerful! Here you are part of something greater than yourself. Together we question and improve the means and goals of education.

 

The interview process is as follows:

First submit a resume with a cover letter describing 1-your work experience, 2- your teaching philosophy, 3- your understanding of the Reggio educational experience, 4- your hobbies and passions, 5- your abilities and skills, 6- describe your relationship with the outdoors, 7-look at our website anewleafnashville.org and explain how your work with us would further our mission, and 8- describe your short and long term career goals.

 

Second, we will reply with an email to send more information for you to prepare for a Zoom interview.

 

Third, selected applicants will come for a Discovery Day Interview, to teach alongside our educators, experiencing the day as a co-teacher.

 

Fourth, we will make offers to two toddler teachers, two preschool teachers, two kindergarten teachers, one teacher for first and second graders, and one teacher for third and forth graders.

 

Responsibilities

• Attend the first two weeks of In-Service to receive invaluable training and onboarding regarding our culture, values, procedures, and roles.

• Understand the history and culture of A New Leaf as a jumping point to evolve an emergent curriculum and schedule to educate the whole child using our land and resources.

• Integrate the big picture of the emergent curriculum with activities and projects that address the Tennessee Standards and meet your students’ needs.

• Plan explorations, lessons, activities, and projects using a template in our Notion software by writing lesson plans (called weekly explorations) weekly.

• Contribute towards ongoing projects that will serve to enhance the education of the children following common observed interests or developmental needs.

• Plan and conduct your own group’s projects to evolve to benefit the plants and animals on the land.

• Develop learning opportunities to take place outdoors in all kinds of weather working in gardens, fields, creek, pond, and hilly forests, at times with animals such as goats and chickens.

• Develop learning opportunities to take place in the Art Studio, Light Lab, Exploratorium, Botany Lab, and other spaces that we develop together.

• Observe each child to help them improve their social competencies, build self-esteem, and grow in all developmental domains.

• Create various types of documentation to reflect on your practices, and to make the learning visible to the students, families, and the community. Documentation takes many forms from notes, pages of text, to a weekly gallery of photos and culminating project photo albums.

• Develop portfolios for each of your students. Teachers of students from Kindergarten to 4th Grade have 8 to 10 full time students each. Preschool teachers have 12 to 14 since some students attend part time.

• Assessing student progress. Communicate progress and delays with the director and with parents.

• Participate in weekly meetings with other educators at our school and in professional development.

• Activate parent engagement with different types of “homework”.

• Prepare for parent-teacher conferences and parent engagement nights, as well as participate in such events and various festivals.

• Collaborate with co-teachers on the development and activation of projects.

• Maintain clean and tidy learning spaces consistent with health and safety standards.

 

Requirements

• Experience working with groups of children and/or an Associate, Bachelors, or Masters degree in early childhood education or elementary education.

• Understanding of child development.

• Excellent communication.

• Excellent organization.

• Ability to act as mediator between children.

• Cool-tempered, friendly, and reliable.

• Balance between a creative mind and a practical acumen.

• Ability to integrate and isolate the teaching of language arts and numeracy.

• Enthusiasm and ability to develop the outdoor classroom space in par with the indoor classroom space and to integrate nature/environmental education daily.

• Stamina to hike on a hill and endurance for bug bites, ticks, and other wild-life.

• Ability to work in teams as well as independently.

• Ability to follow and create rituals that help nurture transitional and calming moments.

• Ability to work outdoors in all elements.

• Certification in adult/child/infant first aid and CPR (or willing to get the training).

• FBI background and criminal check, health report (when you receive our offer).

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Job Type: Full-time

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Salary: $15.00 - $23.00 per hour depending on degree and experience.

 

Yearly renewable positions begin July 31st 2023 and end June 21st 2024. We encourage all of our teachers to work the weeks of summer camps, but you may potentially have up to five weeks of unpaid vacation in the summer, with a minimum of two weeks.

 

Reviews and contract renewals for all teachers are conducted in March each year for the next school year.

 

Benefits:

• Paid planning time weekly

• Paid time off: 28 days

• Paid In-Service days: 22 days

• Monthly bonus of $265 to be applied to your choice of tuition, health care, IRA, or additional insurances such as Dental, Cancer, Life, Short Term Disability, or other.

• Sick/Personal discretionary time: 80 hours (not intended for vacations or leisurely travel).

• Worker’s Compensation Insurance.

• Accident at work medical coverage.

 

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday, 40 hours a week, teachers are staggered between 7:30am and 4:30pm.

• Planned work at home to finish documentation or weekly intentions and faculty zoom staff meetings.

• Occasional evenings with families and weekend festivals (all are posted ahead of time on the school calendar).

 

Education:

• Experience working with groups of children and/or an Associate, Bachelors, or Masters degree in early childhood education or elementary education.

 

Work Location:

• Ability to drive to 7520 Charlotte Pike 37209, and to 4341 Pecan Valley Road 37218.

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