ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE TEACHER
The Oxbow School is a one-semester visual arts program for high school juniors and seniors from public and independent schools nationwide. The School offers 40-48 students a unique educational experience focused on the in-depth study and practice of the visual arts. This semester program encourages motivated students to pursue a serious interest in art. Through work in the studio/classroom, trips to art venues, and lectures/projects with Visiting Artists, Oxbow provides students with direct exposure to the richness and diversity of contemporary art. Our goal is not to produce career artists, but to empower students to see with clarity and become active participants in the world. The Oxbow School is founded on the belief that engagement with the arts fosters and supports flexible thinking skills that are particularly valuable in today's increasingly complex global community.
POSITION
The Environmental Science Teacher at Oxbow is a full-time teaching and residential position. This position focuses on co-teaching an inquiry-based project with a studio art teacher. The course integrates topics in environmental science (including pertinent subjects like food justice, climate change, and place-based research/observations) with printmaking skills and tools taught by the art teacher. The course emphasizes the process of inquiry over the end product. Using essential questions as an entry-point for creative inquiry, the Oxbow pedagogy is student centered and project based. The residential nature of The Oxbow School also requires that faculty participate as full members of the Oxbow community. This includes participating in community-building activities, acting as an important liaison between students and parents, participating in co-curricular programming and elective opportunities, and assuming a supervisory role for students in a variety of settings. All teachers at Oxbow engage and model Oxbow’s learner expectations: creative inquiry, effective communication, self-empowered learning, a collaborative mindset, and responsible citizenship. The ideal candidate for this position will have wilderness expedition experience as well as farming/gardening experience. * See a more detailed description of the current course below.
Start date: September 1, 2021
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Actively participate in all components of the community and residential life of the program
- Actively collaborate with faculty peers in ongoing integrated curriculum design and instruction
- Manage the campus gardens; maintain tools and equipment and supplies
- Lead students on outdoor nature expeditions in Northern California
- Differentiate curriculum for different types of learners
- Supervise students during evening studio/dorm duty
- Lead a student advisory group
- Provide social-emotional support for students
- Facilitate conflict mediation and resolution
- Plan and participate in co-curricular programming and enrichment activities
- Lead an elective activity
- Support student trajectory post Oxbow
- Serve on faculty and staff committees dedicated to school improvement
- Engage in professional development to support evolving student needs
- Provide opportunities for students to practice leadership in the community
- Participate in weekly meetings (staff, department, committee, etc.)
- Engage in student behavioral redirection and disciplinary proceedings
- Respond effectively and immediately to emergencies and high stress situations
- Communicate regularly with parents and, when pertinent, sending schools
- Serve as a role model to students
- Provide leadership on faculty
- Participate in and/or facilitate professional conferences
CORE QUALITIES
- Demonstrate a passion for working with adolescents to improve their lives
- Dedication to a residential boarding program
- Promote responsible citizenship and respect for diversity, inclusion, equity, and differences
- Possess a positive outlook on the world and opportunities for young people
- Desire to contribute to something larger than oneself and have a deep-seated belief in the power of teamwork
- Interest in staying abreast of trends in progressive education and familiarity with student-centered and project-based pedagogies
- Committed to life-long learning and modeling growth mindsets
- Comfortable with ambiguity and flexible thinking
- Sensitive and responsive to student needs, concerns, and passions
- Devoted to making oneself available for the safety and security of students
- Skilled in conflict resolution and mediation
- Ability to address student socio-emotional needs and mental health concerns
- Thrives on creative problem-solving and collaboration
- Interest in building a dynamic and innovative school culture
- Strong work ethic
- Desire to provide thought leadership and incorporate best practices in education
- An understanding that this is a 24/7 commitment while school is in session
COMPENSATION
This is a full-time position. Compensation includes salary (as determined by a faculty step scale and experience) and a benefits package that includes: health insurance, dental, vision, and housing with utilities paid by the school.
Interested candidates should submit a CV and cover letter to Jennifer Jordan, Head of School, at: jjordan@oxbowschool.org
* Core Course: Environmental Science/Printmaking. Who is responsible for climate change? In what ways can artists respond to the climate crisis and positively engage in the conversation? How can we adopt resilient climate responses? How does the practice of printmaking support modes of critical thinking? This interdisciplinary course, “Field Guide,” situates students at the crossroads of environmental literacy and impactful, responsible artmaking. The academic content explores climate justice and environmental citizenship while posing questions about the ecological effects of traditional art materials. Students consider the importance of artmaking in the age of the climate crisis while gaining knowledge on global realities and potentialities. Throughout the course, students read and write about scholarly articles, pose philosophical questions, and debate strategies about climate impacts and solutions. Students utilize art practices to synthesize, comprehend, and shed light on the psychic weight of global ecological catastrophes. Camping trips to scenic natural spaces in the Bay Area provide students an opportunity to build landscape literacy which, in turn, is translated into maps and visual representations of nature. As students analyze both contemporary artwork and traditional craft, they hone their ideas and experiment with materials to produce a print series inspired by the natural world. Available printmaking techniques include: ink and watercolor monotypes, ink and watercolor relief printing, and experimental etching processes. Students consult with experts in the field -- from environmentalists to naturalists and artists -- who work in radical practices as a way to inform their own ideology and environmental stewardship. Core texts written by international environmental organizations, and Black and Indigenous peoples include: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Tending The Wild by Kat Anderson, Decolonize Your Diet by Luz Calve and Catrióna Rueda Esquibel, This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein, Farming While Black by Leah Penniman, and assorted essays by Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Linda Hogan, and Robert Macfarlane.
Enduring Understandings:
- Extractive and exploitative colonial economic models have driven, and benefitted from, climate change.
- There is no singular solution to the problem of climate change. The fundamental changes required to solve climate change range from individual to systemic action.
- Indigenous knowledge presents a variety of responsible and sensible models of resource management and should be prioritized information for young climate workers.
- Printmaking helps students to work fluidly and quickly through creative risks, build confidence in decision-making, and develop the skills for a considered and comprehensive artistic process.
- Making art involves the whole person. Artists translate their emotions, experiences, interests and knowledge into works of art; therefore each person’s artwork is as unique as they are.
*This course earns credits towards Environmental Science and Studio Art.
