UPPER SCHOOL HUMANITIES TEACHER / SPEECH & DEBATE COACH

At Hawken School’s Upper School, we are looking for skilled and collaborative educators with the passion, commitment, and ability to help each of our students learn deeply and feel seen, heard, and valued.

The ideal candidate for any teaching position at Hawken’s Upper School:

● Believes in Hawken’s purpose, promise and principles

● Builds strong, supportive relationships with students and colleagues

● Thrives on a team

● Leans into all opportunities to collaborate with colleagues (and with students)

● Is reflective and thoughtful about their practice, seeks feedback, and is excited to grow as a teacher and curriculum designer

● Designs and facilitates learning in a way that supports students with learning deeply and sharing their learning through high-quality work

● Has experience working in a diverse community and is committed to the ideals of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

● Creates learning experiences for and with students that matter and that students remember

● Cares deeply about students, people, and education

THE POSITION

Hawken School is seeking an enthusiastic educator to join our team as a Humanities teacher and Speech and Debate coach for the 2024-2025 school year. The Hawken Humanities department emphasizes the importance of diverse perspectives, encourages inquiry, and prioritizes the development of high-quality research, storytelling, analysis, argument, and communication.

The ideal candidate will be adept at facilitating inquiry- and discussion-based learning as well as project-based learning in the Humanities classroom. They will be committed to fostering a caring and inclusive community in their classroom and will be passionate about creating engaging and relevant learning opportunities that center student voice, choice, and agency. An ideal candidate will be enthusiastic about teaching all grade levels and will be equally confident teaching core courses in the Humanities, in English-Language Arts, and/or in U.S. or world history. This teacher will be eager to collaborate with students and colleagues to co-create diverse interdisciplinary learning experiences within and beyond the Humanities in our Intensive program.

Coaching Speech and Debate, including travel to tournaments, will be a critical component of this position. We have two outstanding speech and debate coaches who will provide mentoring for any new teacher-coach, so while experience coaching Speech and Debate would be ideal, having an eagerness to learn about and support our state-champion speech and debate team is essential. You would be one of several speech and debate coaches sharing the workload of coaching and running the team. Tournaments are a mix of local and national events. Each weekend during the Speech and Debate season, some coaches stay local while other coaches travel out of state.

The ideal candidate is passionate about the Humanities, including Humanities co-curriculars like Speech and Debate, about developing their craft, and about all aspects of collaborating with high school students and colleagues. We are seeking teachers who bring with them a healthy combination of flexibility, energy, teamwork, humility, and creativity.

PRIMARY DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

● Teach multiple sections of Humanities, History, and/or English seminars according to school needs

● Create Humanities Intensives – all-day, 3-week classes in December and/or May focused on one topic or challenge

● Collaborate with colleagues to design and refine curricula to make learning more purposeful, project-based, connected to students’ interests and aspirations, and connected to the world beyond the classroom

● Serve as a coach on our Speech and Debate team with responsibilities that include:

○ Assisting in running practices in one or more categories of speech and/or debate

○ Chaperoning and judging at Speech and Debate competitions, including traveling to out of state tournaments

○ Providing weekly office hours to help prepare students for upcoming competitions

○ Providing detailed feedback and suggestions for improvement during practice sessions

○ Assisting the Director with tasks that may include registering for tournaments, managing the schedule, making travel arrangements, lining up judges, etc.

● Serve as an advisor to a group of 8-12 students within our advisory system

Because Hawken believes in supporting teachers’ passions, in deepening their expertise, and in fueling their spirit of innovation, we provide substantive professional development opportunities that lead to the kinds of excellence that are a hallmark of our community.

QUALIFICATIONS

● An undergraduate degree in a humanities-related field with experience teaching high school is required; an advanced degree and three years of high school teaching experience is preferred

● Familiarity with diverse ways of engaging students over a range of learning styles enhanced by a desire to try new approaches

● A passion for creative and collaborative design of unique learning experiences that include diverse and inclusive perspectives and experiential opportunities in and out of the classroom

● A continuous commitment to improve teaching proficiency, particularly with technology (including AI) as applied to best practices in education

● A deep understanding of adolescence and a passion for working with teenagers as they engage the complex issues of today’s world

HAWKEN CANDIDATE COMPETENCIES:

Mission, Culture, and Philosophy Alignment: Successful candidates show they can thrive at Hawken and are highly motivated by the school’s mission.

Fair Play: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice: Successful candidates indicate a commitment to and have experience with serving students and communities equitably.

Relationship Building and Cultivation: Successful candidates show they can build relationships throughout the Hawken community.

Content Knowledge: Successful candidates demonstrate depth in content area knowledge as well as an ability to inspire students to a high level of excellence and challenge and take a student-centered approach to all aspects of their work.

Humility and Growth Mindset: Successful candidates are eager to learn new approaches and methods and be able to team effectively with others.

Approach to Work: Successful candidates show initiative and agency with a commitment toward feedback and flexible problem-solving.

THE SCHOOL: Founded on the ideal that “the better self shall prevail and each generation introduce its successor to a higher plane of life,” Hawken School is a coeducational independent day school with 1,600 students in toddler through grade 12. Our four campuses are located within 25 minutes of downtown Cleveland, and an urban extension center in the city’s museum district provides a demanding and integrated course of study in a diverse and dynamic environment.
To learn more about us, visit www.hawken.edu.

HOW TO APPLY: Please send a resume, references, and a cover letter to Matt Simon, at upperschoolemployment@hawken.edu.

Hawken School is an equal-opportunity employer dedicated to promoting all forms of diversity in the workplace and in our student body. We strongly urge all qualified individuals to apply.