Garden/Nutrition Educator
We're looking for an experienced educator to lead weekly garden and nutrition classes for either elementary or secondary students.
Growing Together is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a direct, personal connection between children and the natural world. Our innovative experiential education programs are deeply integrated into local school communities, reflecting the diversity of our partners and team members. From garden-based science classes to neighborhood fruit tree distributions, we offer a range of programs that enrich the lives of children and communities.
How you'll contribute
As a Garden & Nutrition Educator, you'll be responsible for planning and delivering hands-on garden and nutrition classes in collaboration with classroom teachers and/or after school agencies at one or more elementary or secondary school partners. You will build relationships with students, staff, and teachers to deliver excellent garden/nutrition lessons, and the scope of your work will include developing some garden/nutrition curriculum as well. You will also maintain and steward a small school-based garden. At secondary schools, you may lead a small cohort of high schoolers in a job-training internship. This role will touch all parts of the organization, and will require both high level strategy and pride in execution.
- Plan and prepare materials for seasonally appropriate garden and nutrition lessons
- Modify and accommodate lessons for different grade levels, as well as English Learners and students with IEPs/504 plans
- Maintain, organize, (and possibly expand) a small or mid-sized school-based garden
- Collaborate with classroom teachers to meet their instructional needs
- Coordinate and meet with site stakeholders like PTA, after school service agencies, and principals to troubleshoot any issues and report on successes
- Coordinate with District Maintenance/Buildings & Grounds staff for support with infrastructure and maintenance
- Conduct evaluation surveys and contribute to organizational reporting at end of the year
- Some positions include, or are exclusively, delivering after-school enrichment programming
What you'll need to succeed
- At least 3 years experience working with youth in outdoor learning environments
- Experience stewarding and maintaining a small to mid-size edible garden (planting, crop rotation, harvesting, weeding, pruning, soil amendment, irrigation infrastructure, seasonal plant needs, etc.)
- Familiarity with California instructional standards like NGSS, Common Core, and SEL competencies
- A can-do attitude
- Ability to research, assess, and modify curriculum for various grade levels and learning outcomes
- Ability to problem solve with limited supervision
- Ability to collaborate with multiple levels of staff and community members (parents, custodial, volunteers, principals, district leadership, other community-based organizations, etc.)
- Bilingual in Spanish may be preferred or necessary, depending on the school
Life at Growing Together
We're a team of do-ers. Almost every member of our team is a program director responsible for the planning, management, and execution of their own program. This means that our team is very flat, and that every person is accountable for delivering a piece of our organization's work.
We don't believe that one size fits all. We place a lot of agency and trust in each person to steward our programs in ways that are relevant to & informed by the different schools, communities, and needs of their context.
Our work is integrated within school communities. Most of our time and attention is spent working with people outside of our organization. Whether that be students, teachers, school administrators, parents, or farmers, a majority of our day to day time is spent building relationships with the communities that we are cultivating & participating in.
We're a network of community members, connected by values & mission. Given the varying schedules of our programs, our team relies on monthly in-person team meetings, as well as informal weekly check-ins with other team members to stay in sync and collaborate on cross team projects.
How to apply
Please send your resume, a concise cover letter, and two professional references to jobs@growingtogetherprojects.org. Include any relevant notes about your capacity or availability given other work or life commitments.
jobs@growingtogetherprojects.org