Position:  Lead Teacher for Living in Maine Semester

Schedule: Feb 24 - June 6 2022.  Full Time.  

Position Summary:  Maine Local Living School (formerly Koviashuvik Local Living School) seeks a passionate educator committed to providing transformative semester-long learning experiences for high school students in rural Maine.   The Living In Maine Semester is a 90-day, homestead-based residential program centered around ecological living, community engagement, environmental justice and handwork. We seek teachers ready to invest in a tight learning community blending critical pedagogy, traditional knowledge, culturally responsive teaching, and experiential learning.  Our goal is to equip the next generation of Maine residents to craft their own answers to this vital question: How do we live wisely in this place?

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Payment: $14,500 per semester, plus room and board =(ecological housing and great local-food!)

 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Teach a junior-year curriculum that utilizes a place-based subsistence living experience to bring context and relevance to academics.

• Be an integral part of a small team of adults that embraces and tends to the social and emotional needs of 12 teens in their junior year.

• Joyfully take part in the physical life of the homestead, sharing in work and helping the students to do their work so that the community may thrive.

• Be a contributing, invested, and emotionally mature member of our team which consists of a program director, two lead teachers, and an apprentice.  

• Role model and participate in routines for exercise and play.  Examples include morning runs, capture the flag, etc.

Required Qualifications: 

• Love of teaching and working with high school age learners.

• Ability and excitement to seek and share connections between simple living, academics, and social change.

• Strong interpersonal communication skills.

• Strong ability to build rapport with a diverse group of high school learners.

• Willingness to learn new skills, be a life-long learner.

Pre-Requisites:

• A bachelor’s degree or higher in relevant discipline such as the natural sciences, environmental studies, environmental education, secondary education, cultural anthropology etc.

• Current Wilderness First-Responder Certification.

• At least one year of prior work experience in outdoor education, environmental education, or classroom teaching.

• 24 years of age or older.

• Drivers license and a clean driving record.

Demands:

• Though you will have the support of a small teaching staff there is no doubt that semester program work is immersive for the teacher as well as the student.  You need to be willing to tend to the group during all hours of the day and night, from early morning chores to the evening sharing circle.  You will have 2 evenings and 1 to 2 days off per week.

• The homestead demands basic physical fitness.  You need to be able to lift 50 pounds, carry buckets, split wood, and keep up on a multiday backpacking expedition.  That said, if you have a disability and want to pursue this lifestyle and work, please inquire, our goal is to be inclusive.

• You need to live on sight at the Maine Local Living School.  Housing is comfortable and beautiful but, congruent with the mission, simple and locally sourced.  There is no running water, heat is passive solar and wood fired, all buildings are off grid with small PV systems for light and composting toilets for facilities.

Desired Qualities:

• Local ecological literacy

• Practical life experience with physical work, farming, building, etc.

• Understanding of Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards requirements.

• Independently seeking lifestyle and educational opportunities that work toward healing the human/ nature divide and cultivating new cultural stories that include humans as constructive members within ecological communities.