Teach for the Corps

Facilitate the creative journey.

"A teaching artist is a practicing artist whose teaching is part of that practice. Teaching artists don't necessarily have education degrees, but they might. Teaching artists are role models for lifestyle, discipline and skill. They pass on an oral and experiential tradition in ways of thinking, seeing and being. They are educators in the truest sense of the word. The root of the word 'educate' is to draw out. They 'draw out' rather than 'put in.' They are guides/facilitators/bridges to creativity. Teaching artists are social activists."

- Arts Corps education director Tina LaPadula, Teaching Artist Journal

Our faculty is a dedicated corps of teaching artists who foster creative habits of mind in young people to help them reach their full potential.

Representing a broad range of artistic and cultural backgrounds, Arts Corps' teaching artists are as diverse as the students we serve.

In addition to hiring for expertise and talent, Arts Corps looks for teaching artists with a lack of ego and the generosity of spirit to share their creative journey and talents with young people.

To apply to be a teaching artist and view a full job description, please click here.

Assist in the Classroom

As part of our faculty development and mentoring initiative, Arts Corps also nurtures those who are interested in building their teaching artist skill set by offering paid classroom assistant positions. These positions require prior experience working with young people and a commitment of one to four hours weekly through a full academic year. Arts Corps alumni and current teen students nominated by their teaching artists are strongly encouraged to apply. Paid classroom assistants are often promoted from our pool of volunteer classroom assistants (link to volunteer page).

To apply to be a classroom assistant and view a full job description, please click here.

Teaching artist job description and application

Arts Corps balances a respect for the autonomy of our teaching artists, our core education goals and the organization's mission. We believe in "emergent curriculum" - a curriculum that grows out of an interaction between students' interests and questions, the expertise of the teaching artist and the art form being studied. Our teaching artists create comprehensive outlines for their courses but are not afraid to deviate from them based on the interests and dynamic of the class.

Our faculty and staff have worked together to identify our teaching goals - criteria that we believe we teach across artistic discipline and age range. In addition to teaching skills and techniques inherent in art, we aspire to have our classes foster the following creative habits of mind, practices we believe all powerful learners need in life, and that the arts can hone and strengthen better than anything else.

Imagining Possibilities - to conceive of new possibilities, pursue a vision, generate ideas and respond to new possibilities as they arise

Critical Thinking - to generate and apply criteria for what makes good work (process); to solve problems creatively; to examine ideas; to make connections between unlike thing

Courage & Risk-taking - to work outside of comfort zones; to tolerate ambiguity

Reflection - to recognize what is personal and distinctive about oneself and one's work; to reflect on success of final solution

Persistence & Discipline - to develop mental and physical discipline; how to attend, concentrate and persist

Structure

Arts Corps generally looks to hire new teaching artists in the summer. This is the time we develop our budget for the upcoming year and add to our roster accordingly, placing new faculty for the entire academic year. We have three, roughly eight-week quarters: fall, winter and spring. Our classes typically meet after school twice a week - Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays - for hour-and a-half sessions. We also do in-the-school-day residencies and workshops. We occasionally do special classes and projects during summer quarter, depending on specific grants and partner collaborations.

Benefits

A supportive cadre of your peers
Competitive hourly rate for teaching time, paid prep and enrichment time, as well as a mileage stipend and materials budget
Paid professional development workshops ranging in topics from classroom management strategies, basic childhood development, undoing racism, curriculum planning and more
Performance and exhibition opportunities

If you are interested in teaching for Arts Corps, please tell us more about yourself by completing this online form.

Classroom assistant job description and application

Arts Corps needs classroom assistants who have experience working with children and/or adolescents and hold the belief that the arts play a vital role in the development of our young people. These adult role models must practice and model active listening, compassionate action and value collaboration and reciprocity. In addition, we look for dedicated, reliable and flexible individuals who are great communicators and committed to social justice and equality.

Recent Arts Corps alumni and current teen students nominated by their Arts Corps teaching artists are encouraged to apply. In the classroom, assistants are expected to support the teaching artist's daily lesson plan and paperwork requirements, in addition to assisting with classroom management. Out of the classroom, assistants would ideally feel comfortable being an ambassador/spokesperson for Arts Corps' vision and mission.

Structure

Placements for positions occur before the beginning of the school year in September, and are updated quarterly as needed. Classroom assistants are expected to commit to a school year, or roughly three eight-week classes that meet twice a week for one and a half to two-hour class sessions. Positions are paid or on a volunteer basis (see "Benefits" below).

Benefits

We offer service-learning hours for our volunteer assistants. These volunteers should have a demonstrated commitment to community service.
Paid classroom assistants are part-time contractors who receive small, quarterly stipends. These are available for assistants with relevant artistic and classroom experience interested in building their skills as teaching artists. Prior experience as a volunteer classroom assistant is often required to be eligible for a paid position.
Classroom assistants receive mentorship from master-level teaching artists and participate in faculty training and development.

If you are interested in being a classroom assistant for Arts Corps, please tell us more about yourself by completing this online form.