We’re Hiring: garden educators

The SNAC Garden Foundation is seeking a part-time, seasonal, Garden Educator to assist us in teaching in our outdoor classrooms. The position is 16-18 hours a week during our two programming seasons: September-November and Mid-March-Mid June.

The SNAC Garden Educator will be responsible for managing an outdoor garden classroom and teaching the SNAC curriculum to students at our North Georgetown Elementary (NGE) location in Georgetown. The SNAC Garden Educator will foster a safe learning environment for students supported by Social Emotional Learning (SEL) disciplinary practices, mindfulness, inclusivity, exploration, and curiosity. The SNAC Garden Foundation will provide curriculum and SEL training to garden educators before the season starts.  

The SNAC Garden Foundation’s mission is to transform schoolyards into vibrant outdoor classrooms and thriving ecosystems where students of all backgrounds, ethnicities, abilities, and socioeconomic situations have equitable access to quality environmental STEM learning and health education.

Start Date: Training before the season in early April for the Spring Season, and training in August for the fall season.

Tasks include:

-Teaching twice a week at a school partner for the duration of our programming seasons. We will provide curriculum training to coordinators before the season starts. The season lasts 6-8 weeks depending on weather.
-Coordinating with Executive Director to prepare weekly curriculum items as needed to support lesson plans
- Working with teachers to integrate the garden into their classroom cultures and curriculum
-Simple garden tasks during the school day as needed (monitoring irrigation system/hoses, weeding, planting with students, harvesting, monitoring compost, and reporting garden status to Executive Director.
-Planting and closing garden tasks outside of the teaching season

Experience:

Experience teaching youth in an outdoor setting
Knowledge of sustainable agriculture, ecology, and sustainable systems

Skills:

-Strong skills in communication, time management, reliability
- Spanish fluency is required
-Ability to follow through on details and complete tasks with a minimum amount of direct supervision
-Flexibility in planning and execution of lesson plans, ability to work in an outdoor classroom setting in which the conditions for lesson plans are unreliable 
-Creativity and flexibility in guiding the classroom to learn each topic covered
-Ability to use the curriculum as a backbone to provide quality learning in the changing garden classroom, with flexibility to guide classroom activities beyond the curriculum instructions based on the reception of the classroom, variations in the garden based on season, or other unexpected occurrences. Classrooms can vary significantly in their ability to grasp information or their attention levels on a day-to-day basis. It is important that the educator can keep kids involved and interested, even if they must stray from a planned lesson.
-Ability to problem solve on the spot to provide quality learning experiences for the students if a set curriculum plan is not being received well by a classroom, or if an unexpected problem in the garden occurs  (ie, a crop doesn’t grow the way it is expected, something in the garden breaks, weather is not conducive to the lesson plan, the classroom isn’t finding a certain bug or type of plant that was expected to be found, there is a distraction from other areas of the schoolyard) 
-Ability to notice connections in the living classroom and respond by integrating observations into the day’s lesson
-Treats people with respect and can be patient with children from various diverse backgrounds
-Be comfortable in outdoor settings in hot/cold/rainy weather
-Ability to stand and walk for extended periods
-Knowledge of plants native to the southern DE region not required but preferred
-Preference will be given to applicants who are willing to work multiple seasons

Please email shandra@snacgardens.org with your resume and a cover letter and the position title you are applying for in the subject line and we will be in touch.

The SNAC Garden Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. We shall not discriminate and will not discriminate in employment, recruitment, Board membership, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, or for any other discriminatory reason.