Farm Program Teacher/Assistant

Farm Program Teacher/Assistant

Starting August 2023

The Wheeler School, a co-ed, N-12 independent day school with city and farm campuses serving approximately 800 students in the Greater Providence and Greater Boston areas, is seeking a Farm Program Teacher/Assistant.

The Sixth-Grade Farm Program Teacher/Assistant supports student work that is hands-on and experiential, often based around iterative design or making use of the natural environment. The Farm Program Teacher/Assistant will work with sixth-graders, manage materials, and contribute to the growth of the program. The successful applicant must be curious, kid-centered, and flexible -- as well as comfortable being outdoors, working with their hands, taking initiative, and allowing students risk and responsibility.

This is a part-time position with administrative support and teaching responsibilities taking place from 9:00 to 1:30, Monday through Friday when school is in session. The Farm Program Teacher/Assistant will also be expected to:

• Work approximately 40 hours in August/September before the start of school to assist in set-up.

• Work approximately 40 hours after the school year has ended in June to assist in organizing and packing away materials.

Qualifications: experience or a desire to work with middle school-aged students is a must. A bachelor's degree is preferred but not required.

Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Work with students at the Farm for about four hours each day, including recess and lunch. Most of the year, this is one of three revolving sections of about 16 students, but for 48 days, it also includes another section, bringing the total to approximately 27 students.

• Teach or co-teach a range of classes, eventually being comfortable with the basics of topics such as the laws of motion, combustion and photosynthesis, and the relationship between pressure, volume, and temperature.

• Guide students in hands-on projects that may involve woodworking, embroidery, painting, etc.

• Monitor student behavior, giving students freedom and age-and-program-appropriate feedback, ensuring they follow the Farm Program values: responsibility, consideration, stewardship, gratitude, and joy.

• Share passions through experiential learning.

• Be prepared to discuss and develop ideas with another teacher in front of the students, modeling collaboration and the Farm Program values.

• Manage materials set up and clean up, such as moving bricks and water buckets for fires, preparing supplies for students to cook meals, helping students clean up afterwards, and setting up an air compressor for water rockets.

• Maintain inventory of materials, including organizing and ordering supplies.

• Maintain safety of the students at all times and be able to take charge in an emergency.

• Ride the bus with the students between campuses from Providence to Seekonk and back again at the end of the day.

• Coordinate scheduling needs including, but not limited to, coordinating early sports dismissals and monitoring the school calendar to anticipate conflicts and/or adjustments to the Cityside schedule, e.g. Holiday Festival, Talent Show, and guest speakers

• Communicating with parents and guardians regarding program schedule and logistics, e.g. doctor’s appointments, mid-day arrival, etc.

• Coordinate daily transportation needs with the bus company

• Processing accounts payable, ordering and purchasing and tracking expenses to stay within budgeted expenditures

• Shopping for supplies as needed, including purchasing food for cooking

Ideal candidates for faculty and staff positions at Wheeler are people with a sense of humor, warmth, and humility. They are excellent communicators, with empathy for others and an ability to listen and respond with good intuition and with the help of colleagues. They are ambitious and hard-working, committed to supporting students by offering help and creating new opportunities. When developing curriculum and programming, our faculty and staff members are curious, striving each year to stretch and grow, to implement new ideas that improve the Wheeler experience. In the end, they love to spend their days with young people and enjoy all that the Wheeler community - creative, energetic, dynamic, and diverse - has to offer.

To learn more about Wheeler, please visit www.wheelerschool.org, and our Careers page.

How to Apply: Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume by June 30, 2023 to Young Un, Head of Strategic Innovation at youngun@wheelerschool.org and cc’d to careers@wheelerschool.org.

Statement on Diversity and Cultural Competency At Wheeler

We actively seek students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds in the belief that a broad range of experiences and viewpoints enhance learning, enriches life on campus, and better prepares us all for full participation in a pluralistic, democratic society. We seek to further the overall diversity and cultural competency within our community through hiring.

The Wheeler School is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or disability, and any other category protected by federal, state or local law.

About The Wheeler School:

Founded in 1889 by visionary artist and educator Mary C. Wheeler, The Wheeler School is an N-12 independent day school of approximately 800 students from throughout Greater Providence and Greater Boston. Wheeler’s mission, “to learn our powers and be answerable for their use,” is incorporated into our classrooms, athletic fields, art studios, and STEAM labs, as students are encouraged to think deeply and explore the world on and beyond our two campuses in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island and our 120-acre farm in Seekonk, Massachusetts. Across Wheeler’s campuses and grades, dedicated faculty and staff identify students’ learning path and passions, challenging and supporting them in pursuit of academic excellence, artistic expression, and personal growth. Our graduates are prepared for college and life as creative, ethical, and engaged global citizens. Wheeler is also home to The Hamilton School, where skilled faculty meet students’ learning differences with the individualized instruction that leads to success.