Posted: 11-May-26
Location: Gates Mills, Ohio
Type: Full Time
Categories:
Required Education:
At Hawken, we believe in learning that matters in a community where each individual matters. We hire skilled and collaborative educators with the passion and commitment to help each student learn deeply and feel seen, heard and valued.
The ideal candidate for any teaching position at Hawken School:
- Believes in Hawken’s purpose, promise and principles
- Builds strong, positive, and supportive relationships with students and colleagues
- Thrives on a team; leans into opportunities to collaborate with colleagues, students, and community partners
- Is reflective and thoughtful about their practice. Seeks feedback and is excited to learn and grow as a teacher, curriculum designer, community member, and connector with students
- Designs and facilitates student-centered learning experiences that result in deeper learning and high-quality student work
- Has experience working in a diverse community and is committed to the ideals of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and joy
- Holds high expectations for students and provides high levels of support, as needed, to ensure each student meets or exceeds those high expectations
THE POSITION
Hawken Upper School is seeking a full-time DIGITAL MEDIA ARTS TEACHER. Digital Media Arts focuses primarily on photography but also includes filmmaking, graphic design, etc.
We are looking for a colleague who is both an artist and an art educator.
? In your application, please share a link to your portfolio or website with at least two examples of your own work and at least two examples of work that has been produced by your students.
We are looking for a colleague who is capable of leading our Digital Media Lab. This means the candidate we welcome to our team must be proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud, comfortable working with Macs, organized and capable of checking in and out digital media equipment, and also comfortable supervising students as they work on a variety of digital media projects.
Candidates should also be eager to work in a collaborative team-based environment with thoughtful individuals committed to doing school differently—moving away from factory model schooling towards learning without walls/limits; centering student voice/choice over standardization; centering real learning for a real purpose over learning because it is in the standards or on the test; and prioritizing the acquisition of durable/transferrable skills over content coverage.
The ideal candidate is passionate about photography and filmmaking, about continuing to strengthen their teaching craft and craft as an artist, and about working with high school students and colleagues.
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 1,550 students
from toddler through grade 12. Our four campuses within 25 minutes of downtown Cleveland provide a demanding and integrated course of study in a diverse and dynamic environment.
This position is for our Upper School, located in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland and situated on over 300 acres featuring sprawling lawns, wooded trails, and both modern and historic buildings. To execute the school’s forward-focused missions, Stirn Hall - Hawken’s state-of-the-art academic building - offers expansive classroom space and common spaces, fabrication and media labs, a science wing, a learning commons, a writing center, and more. The adjacent building known as the White House serves as the primary dining facility at Hawken’s Gates Mills campus and is a stunning reminder of Hawken’s historic charm.
The Gates Mills campus also features an expansive athletic complex that includes two gymnasiums, one of the best competitive swimming pools in Ohio, a weight room, and a wrestling room. Surrounding grounds include eight tennis courts, a stadium, a track, artificial turf fields, and a high and low ropes course with 15 separate challenges.
To learn more about us, visit www.hawken.edu.
INTERESTED?
Submit an employment application through this link. Address your cover letter to Matt Simon, Director of the Upper School.
? In addition, please share a link to your portfolio or website with at least two examples of your own work and at least two examples of work that has been produced by your students.
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.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES
- Primary Teaching Responsibility
- Teach four classes during the fall and spring terms, and
- Teach one Intensive. Intensives are all-day, 3-week classes in December and/or May focused on one topic or challenge: e.g;. “So You Want To Make an Indie Film?” where students learn filmmaking and produce a short film.
- Fifth-Dimension Responsibilities
- All Hawken educators participate in what we call “Fifth-Dimensions.” Fifth-Dimensions give Hawken educators opportunities to contribute meaningfully to key aspects of Student Life.
- For this position, the Fifth-Dimension work includes –
- Leading YEARBOOK by teaching or co-teaching a “Yearbook class” that focuses solely on ensuring we produce a high-quality yearbook on deadline
- Serving as a resource and coach for colleagues seeking support with integrating digital media arts into their core courses
- Wayfinding Responsibility
- Serve as a “Wayfinding Mentor” to a group of about 10 students within our Wayfinding system – a combination of homeroom, where each Wayfinding group meets for 10 minutes four times per week and mentoring where each Wayfinding Mentee checks in 1:1 for about ten minutes with their Wayfinding Mentor about once every two weeks.
- Occasional Other Duties
- We operate as a team, and occasionally there will be other duties to support student learning, belonging, and well-being at Hawken as assigned by the Upper School Director. For example, our Digital Media Arts Teacher may be asked to help curate student work for an art show or support a film project for Hawken Halloween.
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 innovation and excellence that are a hallmark of our community.
QUALIFICATIONS
Candidates must have experience teaching (3+ years preferred), plus either an undergraduate or graduate degree in an arts-related field or experience working as a professional artist.
