Summer Teacher-in-Residence

2022 Summer Teacher-in-Residence (May 23, 2022-August 19, 2022)
Interested in helping children connect with nature? Slide Ranch is a non-profit farm-based environmental education organization located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, on coastal wildlands just 25 minutes north of San Francisco. The mission of Slide Ranch is to connect children and people of all ages to the outdoors and partner with community groups, families and educators to provide transformative learning experiences on our organic farm and national park land along the California coast. 

Position Summary

As a Summer Teacher-in-Residence (STIR), you will grow as a youth and environmental leader while living and working with a dynamic group of about 20 community members on a rural, coastal farm within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. From June-August, Slide Ranch hosts 10 weeks of day camp. Summer camp participants learn to care for farm animals and an organic garden, explore wildland trails, discover ocean tide pools, cook farm-to-table, and participate in nature-based arts & crafts projects. Teachers-in-Residence lead groups of students in experiential education camp programming.

Apply yourself for a season of work that challenges you to grow as a person and as a professional educator. You will gain valuable hands-on experience in agricultural and environmental education and learn how to live and work in a rural setting as a member of a community.

Summer Teacher-in-Residence (STIR) Position Summary

The Summer Teacher-in-Residence program trains emerging environmental and youth leaders through a residential, hands-on teaching position. Our teaching philosophy fosters an experiential, student-centered and nature-centered approach and the values of community and respect.

STIRs receive an initial multi-week training focused on organic gardening, animal husbandry, wildlands stewardship, residential community norms and best practices in outdoor education. Teachers will participate in creating curriculum, and potentially also photos, video clips or blog entries that appear on our website and other social media.

STIR Position Components

The central focus of this position is on teaching. Summer camp programs serve 5-13 year old campers plus teen Junior Environmental Educators. The work week typically involves 5 teaching days, with a Monday-Friday camp week within a two-week camp session. Camp week themes include “Ocean Exploration,” “Science Investigation,” “Birds,” “Seeds,” “Pollinators” and “Food and Cooking.”

A typical work day is 8 hours and includes morning farm chores and preparation for camp, teaching a camp day from 9:30am-2:30pm, followed by clean-up, and prep for the following day. Regular afternoon sessions, led by permanent staff, blend ongoing training with hands-on opportunities to learn through work projects. These afternoon sessions include teacher meetings on curriculum, educator skill building and planning, garden and animal husbandry, and farm and environmental maintenance and stewardship. Teaching observation and coaching and mentoring by program staff complement the position.

We uphold a high standard of safety, meeting or exceeding all requirements related to Covid-19 safety protocols. Programs are held exclusively outdoors and staff, as well as students, wear masks; small camp cohorts do not mingle; and we follow a regimen of hygiene and sanitization.

STIR Training

The positions begin with a 3-week intensive training period, including introductions to the bioregion, farm chores, and foundations of environmental education practice at Slide Ranch led by Slide Ranch staff as well as outside experts. Our trainings and teaching practices are influenced by BEETLES, a program of the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley.

Farm and Community Life

STIRs are responsible for a daily, ~30 minute ranch chore. In addition, everyone shares residential community responsibilities outside of the work day, including a weekly residential chore, cooking dinner for fellow residents with a partner twice each month, and monthly resident meetings.

Requirements

Desired Qualifications

Both of these positions require a collaborative and positive spirit to work with a team of teaching peers, organization staff, and residents. The successful candidate will possess a great attitude and strong motivation to experience all facets of the job as important to one’s learning and development. A successful candidate will also possess a growth mindset, with a desire to set goals, reflect, and provide feedback to the rest of the team. Applicants must be comfortable living in rustic accommodations.

• Prior experience in education or working with children.
• Desire to learn about and practice farming and land stewardship
• Awareness of multicultural environmental education and issues related to the urban environment and current local, regional and global events.
• Dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching and learning.
• Flexibility, enthusiasm, creativity, curiosity, and positive attitude.
• Eagerness to engage campers of various ages with an interactive, student-centered teaching approach.
• High level of personal responsibility in work and professionalism when dealing with the public and colleagues, including plants and animals.
• Ability to take initiative and adopt a solution-oriented approach, while understanding the value of teamwork.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to accept supervision and guidance.
• Interest in supporting nonprofit organizations, including participating in fundraising activities, volunteer programs and donor events.

Physical Requirements

• Duties are performed in a hilly and rural outdoor setting and can be physically demanding, including outdoor teaching in all weather, manual labor such as shoveling, and lifting up to 40 lbs.

Benefits

Compensation

• $15 per hour + housing and local, organic food is provided with a deduction

How to apply:

No phone calls, please. Email a single PDF document including:

1. Your resume
2. A one-page cover letter (see below)
3. Contact info for 3 references

Slide Ranch
Attn: Education Director
2025 Shoreline Hwy
Muir Beach, CA 94965
Email (preferred): program@slideranch.org

Apply for this job: https://apply.workable.com/slide-ranch/j/17DE6F3B04/apply/

Applicants must be at least 18 years old to apply.

In the cover letter, please indicate why you are interested in this position. We encourage you to describe any professional or personal experience you think may be relevant, including working with youth, additional languages besides English, previous experience living in a residential community, and any unique skills or diversity you would bring to this team. We are also interested in any farm, garden or other outdoors experience you may have. Please indicate in your application where you saw this job posting.

We will begin interviewing applicants after March 15th, and all applicants will be notified by email when the positions have been filled. Applications will be accepted until all positions are filled.

Please note that Slide Ranch aims to increase diversity in our staff and support a Teacher-in-Residence cohort that reflects the demographics of our San Francisco Bay Area community. People of all colors, cultures, class, age, genders, and sexual orientations are encouraged to apply.