Teaching Artist (on-call)

SFJAZZ•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

SFJAZZ is seeking an on-call Teaching Artist with education experience and an emphasis on written and performance poetry to teach in its Jazz in the Middle (JIM) School Program. JIM sends poets and musicians into middle school humanities classrooms to help students explore storytelling through poetry, drawing on jazz history from social, historical, and artistic perspectives. Students create original poetry connected to program themes and prepare for a final performance during the 9-to-15-week residency. The program explores connections to the African Diaspora and shared histories, while helping students develop leadership, critical analysis, communication, reading comprehension, and public speaking skills. Teaching Artists facilitate writing and performance activities, support student expression, and help students use their voices to speak truth to power. Each residency concludes with a showcase, open mic, reading, or collective share-out of students’ writing.

Requirements

Experience teaching creative content to middle school students in Black and Brown, low-income, and otherwise marginalized neighborhoods.
Demonstrated ability to teach poetry, creative writing, or spoken word in a classroom or after-school setting.
Knowledge and understanding of the African Diaspora and jazz history.
Willingness and ability to interact with children and adults from varying racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.
Ability to design and facilitate curricula, lesson plans, and workshops about Black history for middle school students using a variety of mediums.
Knowledge of age-appropriate teaching methods and best practices for collaborating with classroom teachers.
Openness to receiving detailed feedback on teaching and classroom practices in relation to SFJAZZ’s methodology.
Ability to teach at least two sites at a time, comprising at least four residencies in one full day, two mornings, two afternoons, or a combination.
Excellent verbal, written, and oral communication skills.
Reliability, punctuality, and flexibility.
Experience developing unit plans and lesson plans.
Familiarity with reporting to a manager remotely.
Must pass a background check, fingerprinting, and TB test or assessment before hire.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual in English and Spanish.
One to two years of demonstrated teaching experience.
Experience working with student populations such as English language learners, students with disabilities, or students with learning differences.
Programming experience and experience collaborating with classroom teachers.

Responsibilities

Lead Jazz in the Middle residencies at public and charter middle schools in San Francisco and Oakland, using positive classroom management techniques.
Uphold rules of conduct at program sites.
Adapt to individual classroom needs and cultures while working with diverse school and site partners.
Maintain timely communication with SFJAZZ Education staff and program sites by email, phone, and in person.
Attend monthly meetings, training, and professional development sessions throughout the school year.
Facilitate generative writing workshops and support students in conceptualizing, writing, and performing at least one poem at the end of each residency.
Participate in program evaluation through surveys and other feedback processes.
Identify, recruit, and coach middle school students for the annual poetry showcase.
Develop process-based, sequential curricula that reflect SFJAZZ’s mission and values.
Perform in the annual Youth Poetry Showcase.
Commit to teaching assigned residencies lasting 9 to 15 weeks.
Communicate absences to SFJAZZ School Programs staff as soon as possible, participate in mandatory make-up sessions coordinated with SFJAZZ Education staff and the school site, and share a makeup lesson with teachers for the date of absence.
Honor confirmed residency assignments; cancellations are permitted only under extraordinary circumstances approved by SFJAZZ.