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. Verdi Ecoschool is located on the central east coast of Melbourne, Florida.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

The Verdi EcoSchool Educator values and practices our inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning. They teach in a community of children, engage in daily collaboration and reflection with other team members, and make learning visible through documentation, publishing, and presenting to the public. The Verdi EcoSchool Educator employs excellent interpersonal skills, strong organizational skills, cultural competency, a commitment to the rights of all learners, and the passion to realize the school’s mission of cultivating lifelong learners who view themselves as resources to and for the continued vitality of their community.

The ideal candidate has a love and knowledge of nature and the outdoors and enjoys educating children in a mixed age 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. Organization, reliability, flexibility, composure, strong work ethic, and a love of being in nature are key to the role.

The Verdi EcoSchool educator:

• Encourages a culture of mutual respect and equitable practice
• Exhibits knowledge of student cognitive development and various learning styles
• Communicates effectively with students and families about classroom activities and student progress
• Demonstrates strong content knowledge
• Identifies and supports students’ social, emotional, and behavior learning needs
• Implements Project-Based Learning techniques and strategies
• Facilitates and designs effective group work
• Provides timely feedback and collaborates with faculty to offer specialized support
• Fosters student growth through student-led conferences and presentations of learning
• Showcases student work within the community
• Scaffolds instructional activities that facilitate engaging and appropriate learning opportunities
• Differentiates instruction based on feedback, needs, and learning levels
• Provides opportunities for student engagement through voice and choice”
• Creates relevant and authentic learning experiences
• Implements backward design to align all lessons, activities, and assessments
• Designs formal and informal assessments that measure student progress

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create Authentic, Student-Led Learning Experiences
• Approach work through a growth-mindset as an educator-researcher-guide and engaged collaborator who is curious, eager to learn, joyful and kind
• Develop and deliver vigorous and challenging interdisciplinary experiences within disciplines, connecting standards in mathematics, science, reading, writing, history and the arts
• Value and practice nurturing the social and emotional intelligence of children through listening, asking questions, seeing conflicts as learning opportunities, offering strategies, and supporting them to repair relationships through problem solving and restorative practices
• Arrange physical environments and materials in ways that support the teaching and learning of students
• Effectively organize time, space, materials and student documentation
• Obtain necessary supplies and materials
• Use research, documentation, and assessment to inform teaching practice and curriculum decisions.

TEACHING AND EVALUATING:

• Collaborate and Reflect with Teaching Team
• Participate as an engaged member of the teaching team in which collaboration, dialogue, risk taking, honesty and reflection are practiced values
• Develop and utilize frameworks to understand and assess individual growth and learning
• Demonstrate an eagerness to continue to learn and grow as an educator-guide and researcher by practicing inquiry, actively digging into current research related to this work, and regularly journaling and sharing reflections with others
• Participate as a member of the community and collaborative teaching team through dialogue, analysis of student work, sharing observations and questions, planning, and capturing thinking
• Generate weekly lesson plans that focus on students’ interests and submit to administration per accreditation requirements
• Train and apply positive skills in managing behaviors in line with Conscious Discipline
• Making Learning Visible to Families and Educators
• Employ strategies for making adult and children’s learning visible in a variety of ways, including blog posts, presentations, documentation panels, etc.
• Communicate with parents/guardians about student’s experiences, gifts, learning edges and growth toward Verdi EcoSchool Goals and Expectations via informal conversations, conferences and Student Success Plans
• Contribute to weekly classroom or community updates for parents/guardians
• Model our teaching and learning approaches to educators who participate in workshops; engage in dialogue with them (in person and online) about our values and practices
• Present research and participate in public forums to influence the field of education
• Integrate technology to support learning and documentation including digital photographs, audio recordings, scanned work, and video; organize and catalog the experiences of children and adults each week in the digital platform
• Fulfill all other responsibilities as assigned

REPORTING

• This position reports to school administration.
• This position meets weekly with their program team.

SUPERVISING

• Interview, train, direct, schedule, supervise, and evaluate visiting experts, interns, or volunteers as needed to infuse program complementary experiences

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

Job Types: Full-time, Contract

Pay: From $40,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Disability insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

Monday to Friday

COVID-19 considerations:
Verdi EcoSchool is only able to consider individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at this time of heightened community spread. All are required to wear face coverings indoors and follow recommended quarantine guidelines as released by the CDC.

Education: Bachelor's (Required)

Experience: Teaching: 3 years (Required)

Work Location:  Multiple locations

Work Remotely: No