Garden Educator
Contra Costa County, CA, USA
Application Details:
To apply, email a resume to Laney Cline King at Laney@GrowingHealthyKidsBayArea.org
Job Type:
Hourly
Compensation:
$34/hour, teaching two-four days a week for 24-36 weeks, annually
We strive to employ a staff that represents the students we serve - All Genders, LGBTQ+, BIack, Latina/o/x/e, Indigenous and People of Color are strongly encouraged to apply.
About the Role
Growing Healthy Kids seeks to hire Garden Educators to teach daytime garden class at public schools in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD). Garden Educators are placed at specific MDUSD Elementary Schools, and responsible for teaching three seasonal units to all grades, TK through 5, in the Fall, Winter, and Spring!
Garden Educators maintain outdoor garden classrooms at their sites, and teach most lessons outdoors. Outdoor lessons in the Fall and Spring cover topics including pollination, flowers, life cycles, compost, bugs, planting, and much more! Hands on lessons are designed to align with Next Generation Science Standards. In the Winter, Garden Educators move inside to teach students about cooking and nutrition.
About Growing Healthy Kids
Growing Healthy Kids brings highly engaging, standards-based outdoor education to public school students during the school day to build academic success while promoting physical and mental wellness. What began as a pilot in 2015 has grown to be a multifaceted program providing standards-based garden, nutrition, and outdoor education during the school day to over one third of MDUSD students. In addition to garden education at students’ schools, Growing Healthy Kids provides free field trips to students at low income schools, leads school greening projects, and distributes organic vegetables and fruits in areas with low access to fresh produce. Growing Healthy Kids also trains staff, community members, MDUSD classroom teachers, and MDUSD high school students in how to teach outdoors effectively.
Requirements
Our ideal Growing Healthy Kids Garden Educator is someone with teaching experience and garden knowledge/experience. Bilingual candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
Duties & Responsibilities
Job Duties include:
Teach 16 or more weeks of Next Generation Science Lessons in the garden to K-5 students, in the fall and spring seasons.
Teach 8 or more weeks of CA Health Standards through cooking & nutrition lessons to K-5 students, in the winter season.
Incorporate sustainable education and actions such as how to reduce, reuse and recycle in lessons.
Maintain and improve the educational garden.
Plan and procure materials for all garden and nutrition lessons.
Gather data on new foods tried and student proficiency in science and health concepts through various assessment tools and methods.
Participate in monthly meetings with the Growing Healthy Kids garden education team.
Participate in Growing Healthy Kids Workshops, Open School Gardens Weekend, and other community education efforts throughout the school year.
Participate in professional development whenever possible to improve delivery of garden-based education and related topics.
Coordinate and communicate with the principal, teachers, custodian, cafeteria staff, CARES after school program staff, GHK Co-Executive Directors and GHK Garden Educators as needed for effective delivery of garden and nutrition lessons.
Work together with Growing Healthy Kids Co-Executive Directors and other Growing Healthy Kids Garden Educators and MDUSD teachers to procure and/or produce garden and wellness curriculum that is integrated and correlated with Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core State Standards, Career Technical Education Standards, and other MDUSD curricular and wellness standards, in alignment with the goals of the Growing Healthy Kids program.
Additional Compensation & Scheduling Details
This is a part-time non-exempt position starting at $34/hour, teaching two-four days a week for a total of 24-36 weeks (depending on the school site), spread into blocks in the fall, winter, and spring. Some sites have modified schedules tailored to the needs of the school site that may require additional teaching weeks and/or garden maintenance. Garden maintenance is year-round. Days and times are somewhat flexible, but once the schedule is decided, it remains the same for the duration of the year. Garden Educators are employed by Life Lab, the fiscal sponsor of Growing Healthy Kids, and must pass a background check with MDUSD.
Growing Healthy Kids/Life Lab is committed to a policy of non-discrimination as an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment candidates and employees will be considered and managed without regard to race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other basis in accordance with applicable law.