Position: English / Humanities Instructor

Reports to: Nicole Sintetos, English Chair, and Ivan Barry, Humanities Chair

Date Written: January 2025

Status: Part-Time

Pay Scale: $30,500-$52,500 base salary determined by years of experience

Contact: Troy Shapiro, Dean for Faculty, troy_shapiro@cate.org

805-684-4127 ext. 260

School Overview

Cate School is committed to attracting and retaining a highly talented and diverse community.  We seek applications from candidates who are eager to live among and teach young people from all over the world. A small co-educational boarding school on the Central Coast of California, Cate School offers a career opportunity for educators whose priorities and purposes mirror the four pillars of our mission statement–commitment, scholarship, companionship, and service.

Cate School is committed to a policy of Equal Opportunity Employment and nondiscrimination in the treatment of employees or applicants for employment without consideration of race, color, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, gender or gender identity. Research suggests that qualified women, Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) may self-select out of opportunities if they don’t meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role.

Cate’s hiring process seeks to minimize bias by focusing on candidates’ core competencies for each role. Candidates are encouraged to target application materials (cover letters, interview responses) on experiences that illuminate their experience demonstrating and/or aptitude for acquiring these core competencies.

The Role

Job Description for Part-Time English / Humanities Instructor

Cate School is currently seeking highly qualified English teaching candidates to teach two 9th grade interdisciplinary Humanities courses. Humanities is Cate School’s team-taught English-History course that introduces students to foundational inquiry and interdisciplinary thinking. We are particularly interested in candidates who have experience teaching interdisciplinary or humanities-based curricula. The position will formally begin August 2025.  In addition to classroom instruction, teachers participate in course-team meetings, department meetings, and faculty meetings, as well as all-school events such as move-in weekend, family weekends, and commencement. Teachers motivate the greatest growth possible for all students by planning and running engaging classes, by assigning meaningful homework, and by offering office hours both during the academic day and during the evening (which can be remote).

In order to foster deep and multifaceted relationships with students, all Cate faculty members are involved in programming outside of the classroom, such as coaching or serving as a dorm parent and advisor. These responsibilities are either associated with housing for residential faculty, or come with a stipend for those not housed by Cate. Although this part-time role does not come with housing, ideally, this part-time teacher will still choose to participate in some area of campus life outside the classroom.

All Cate Employees live up to the following Essential Expectations: 

Overtly support and act according to the school’s mission and values.
Foster a safe, predictable, and supportive environment for employees and students.
Interact with colleagues in a respectful and collegial manner that fosters a healthy culture for living, learning, and working together.
Demonstrate commitment and courage in service of building our school culture where diversity is affirmed and supported.
Demonstrate appropriate planning and preparation to meet the complex and evolving needs of your role.
Uphold professional standards of predictable presence, reliable responses, and relational trust.
Appropriately steward strategic and special projects associated with role or team.
Honor the confidentiality of School, student, and family information.
Comply with policies and procedures as articulated in the School’s Employee Handbook.
Authentically engage in self-reflection in service to professional growth and adapting to the evolving needs of the school.

In the role of Humanities Instructor, these essential expectations manifest as:

Collaborate

work closely with course team teachers to deliver consistent, high-quality instruction and collaborate frequently on assessment measures
contribute to school-wide curricular priorities and initiatives
participate in course team, department, school, and parent meetings
communicate necessary information regularly to students, colleagues, and parents regarding student progress and student needs

Teach

prepare and facilitate learning experiences that help students master content and develop skills as active readers and writers, especially through active inquiry (English Department Inquiry Model)
practice inclusive teaching by creating lessons and instructional moves that accommodate a wide range of students’ learning needs (Inclusive Teaching Model)
guide and monitor student learning and growth through formative assessment and appropriate feedback
assign and grade class work, homework, tests, essays, and other assignments in a timely, fair, and consistent manner
maintain accurate and complete records of students progress and development via the school’s learning management systems (Schoology and Veracross)

Continue to Learn

maintain a commitment to continuous professional growth through reflective practice, evaluative feedback, professional development opportunities, and evolving school needs
stay up-to-date with current literature, including  texts by LGBTQ authors and authors of color as we continue to diversify our curriculum
Stay up-to-date in developments in education, teaching resources and methods, and incorporate new pedagogical and curricular design practices

Demonstrate Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) 

foster a sense of belonging for each student
help advance the department’s objectives with regard to anti-racist teaching pedagogies, curriculum, and DEI-based student learning objectives
recognize, interrupt, and address incidents of bias among students and colleagues if they arise
Engage in continuous learning about our own identities, privilege, bias, and contribute to an anti-racist learning environment
The Candidate

Successful candidates will demonstrate their ability to meet these expectations through the following core competencies: 

Proficiency in and/or aptitude towards inquiry-based pedagogy.
Proficiency in inclusive teaching pedagogy including cultural competency, and the ability to communicate with, understand, and foster a sense of belonging for students of various different cultural backgrounds, values, world views and behaviors.
Ability and commitment to build multifaceted relationships with students, to maintain appropriate boundaries, and to leverage these relationships to support student development across all aspects of student learning and development.
Ability and commitment to collaborate with colleagues both within the department and as a part of the faculty as a whole.
Ability to develop, review, and refine curriculum to maximize student learning and sustain alignment, both horizontally and vertically within the department.

In terms of education and experience, applicants for this position will have:

minimally a BA in English (or related field of study); MA or PhD preferred
experience teaching secondary-level courses in english literature, and humanities or, if a mid-career change, comparable work experience where similar skills are demonstrated
demonstrated facility with or ability to learn LMS (Schoology, Veracross, etc.)
demonstrated commitment to / love for working with teenagers as a role model, mentor, advisor
demonstrated commitment to professionalism, collaboration, and growth

Interested candidates should send a CV and two letters of reference to Ivan Barry ivan_barry@cate.org, Nicole Sintetos nicole_sintetos@cate.org, and Troy Shapiro troy_shapiro@cate.org.