We create exceptional, nurturing educational experiences for our children, their families, and our community. WG connects students to the greater world around them – through the classroom and curriculum, through community and service programs, through international cultures languages representing our community, and through hands-on learning both in the classroom and in nature.

Our Elementary Lead Teacher is a dynamic, energetic and forward thinking team player with proven experience in inquiry and student-directed learning to facilitate a nature-based education. The lead teacher will be responsible for all aspects of the students’ experience and for developing strong partnerships with parents. This teacher must be eager to spend their days teaching children outdoors and indoors, without hesitation to get a little dirty and a little wet at times in our gardens or by our creek, and the objective to co-create with a wholesome team of Educators who is excited to teach our young learners about healthy lifestyles and the empowerment of creative thinking.

Wholesome Generation’s campus is nestled at a 5.5-Acre space in North Austin with a creek bed, educational gardens, a pollinator ecolab, food forest and small (Tonkawa) homesteading farm, with a mobile culinary classroom on site, serving as the only (Austin) youth program that offers food security, nature-conservation focused education, and community wellness, year-round, for youth and their families.

Our Wholesome Generation model includes a unique eco-community fostering research, education, food farming, pollination ecology & conservation lab, and healing therapies. A big focus is holistic, social emotional and entrepreneurial learning, and a strong focus to stay away from systems that are not supporting our communities’ health and well-being. From unique TreeWeave structures, to our Entrepreneurial classes and a strong focus on ecology and science, our space is the perfect place for active and self-motivated learners to expand and flourish. We are in our 15th year of providing high quality education and in our 8th year on this amazing campus.

Our team is looking for a passionate change-maker, who understands the importance of nature connect, and whose values align closely with our goals and our diverse community; we are also looking for individuals who have international work/life experiences and contribute a unique perspective and skill to our school (bilingual Spanish is a plus).

Wholesome Generation is a state-licensed school and partner of United Way/AISD’s Pre-K partnership program. Furthermore, we are part of the international forest school association and a 4-star Texas Rising Start (TRS) program. Our schedule follows AISD for the most part, however, we offer a full summer program (both June and July months), with hours from 8:30a - 4:30pm.

Our Elementary Teacher has a love and knowledge of Alternative Elementary Education and a love for the outdoors and empowering youth ages 7 - 12 in a mixed group learning community (for this current position we are looking for a Grade 2 lead-teacher). Additionally, the candidate will: embrace the mission of the school; possess excellent written and verbal communication skills; function very effectively as a member of a collaborative teaching team; engage enthusiastically with families and other members of the school community; and embrace the opportunities and challenges of teaching in an innovative, women-owned and local Austin start-up school. Organization, reliability, flexibility, and a love of being in nature creating within a wholesome team are key to the role.

Planning-

Develop nature-based activities that reflect the needs of the children, the standards of elementaryeducation, and the mission of our Wholesome Generation School.

Implement policies and procedures as required by our licensing and regulation..

Design and set up the classroom space to inspire youth and community.

Obtain necessary supplies and materials in collaboration with our admin team..

Work with parents and our staff to promote the schoolhouse.

Work toward growing and expanding the scope of Elementary grade offerings.

Teaching & Evaluating-

Serve as a valued Lead Teacher for Wholesome Generation.

Generate weekly lesson plans that focus on students’ interests and share about our philosophy and goals.

Assess and evaluate the effectiveness and success of our WG program.

Teach elementary students, and work with parents to feel connected and aligned to our WG programs.

Help plan and teach summer camps (one month, either June or July, on rotation, unless candidate wishes for year-round employment).

Reporting-

This position reports to the Director of Education and works with the Executive Director on the growth of our upper Elementary program.

Provide weekly feedback and co-create with the Director of Education.

Supervising-

Supervise, and evaluate Interns, or Volunteers as needed to infuse programs with extra curricular lessons (unless taught by the teacher). Supervise a wholesome classroom daily.

Creating Community-

Plan and facilitate parent and volunteer involvement in programs and keep a wonderful relationship with all parents via weekly newsletters, and on-going in-person communication (at end of day).

Participate in Wholesome Generation staff meetings and special events to ensure connection with the rest of the staff and members.

Education/Experience-

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent preferred, related to Education or similar field.

Working knowledge of basic natural history/ecology/science concepts.

Experience teaching children ages between ages 7 - 9, preferably using Reggio Emilia, or play-based learning philosophy and alternative education tools and resources. Experienced and comfortable taking children into nature.

Strong planning, organizing, and management skills.

Experience supervising youth and volunteers.

Demonstrated verbal and written skills.

Other Skills & Abilities-

Provide a physically and emotionally safe environment for children in both indoor and outdoor settings (classes sometimes overlap; core studies: Grade 2-3):

Able to identify local natural hazards such as poison ivy, wasps, fire ants, snakes, etc.

Positive and proactive communication and interpersonal skills.

Spend three or more hours outdoors with students each day during all seasons, except in extreme/dangerous weather- such as high winds, extreme cold, etc.

Successful candidates will need to pass a background check and remain current on First Aid/CPR certifications and food handler license.

We require that the candidate live a healthy lifestyle and is excited about our offerings of healthy foods, balanced work-hours and in-house training offerings.

Compensation: Competitive salary based on experience and credentials. Benefits for employees include health and dental coverage, 6 weeks paid time off (1 week in the Fall, 2 weeks for Winter, 1 week in the Spring, 2 weeks in the Summer), sick-leave, and full dependent credit (if needed). We also offer two organic/healthy snacks and full lunches, every day. Our meals are made freshly on site, every-day, and are gluten-free, locally sourced/organic, refined sugar free, vegan, vegetarian or meat-based.

Start Date: Training begins in July, 2023, our new school year starts on August 16, 2023.

How to Apply: If you are a well rounded and beautifully skilled early childhood educator, ready to apply, please send your resume, with a cover letter and three professional references to our Executive Director, Lene Saint-Orens, at lene@wholesomegeneration.org. You can also call 512.368.3885.