First Grade Teacher

About the role

This position opened suddenly just a few weeks into the start of the year. These children have had a disruption, and what they need first is a calm, warm adult who is glad to be there.

What you would give them

• The sounds of the language, taught explicitly and in order, until decoding becomes fluency.
• Numbers — counting, place value, the first facts of addition and subtraction — practiced until automatic.
• A hand that forms print letters carefully. A child taught that his work should be beautiful is learning something true about reality. They will learn cursive in second grade.
• Prayers by heart — the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, our Academy's daily prayers — with poems and chant. Students will still have them at age sixty.
• The habits of school itself: attention, obedience, orderliness, finishing what you begin. At six this is most of the work, and every teacher after you either inherits it or has to build it.

Who we are looking for

No one transmits what he does not possess. We care less about your years of experience than about whether you are the sort of person we want in front of our children. Someone who:

• Loves Christ and His Church, and prays. Children can tell the difference between an adult who says true things and one who has been changed by them.
• Delights in six-year-olds. They are loud, affectionate, and without guile. These kids are primed to love their new teacher, and they want to know that their teacher loves them enough to help them.
• Can teach a child to read, and wants to — explicitly, patiently, sound by sound. If you find that work fascinating rather than menial, we should talk.
• Is unhurried and precise. You will say the same thing four hundred times. It must be right, and still kind, the four hundredth time.
• Understands discipline as the ordering of a child's will toward the good, rather than the mere management of behavior.
• Can steady a room.

Requirements

• A practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church.
• A bachelor's degree.
• Archdiocesan safe environment training and a background check.
• State teaching certification is not required, and prior experience at mission-aligned schools is welcome and preferred.

What we offer

• A school where the day is ordered around the Mass, with two priest chaplains in the building.
• Colleagues who will help you carry the first weeks and administrators that pride themselves on supporting teachers without micromanaging.
• Families who chose this school on purpose and are excited to have you.
• NAPC*IS accreditation and Newman Guide recommendation.
• Children whose parents entrusted them to us — the reason we hire carefully even when we hire fast.

To apply

Send a résumé and a letter to Administration@HolyAngelsLouisville.com telling us why this work is worth your life — and one book that formed you in your own education. We are reading applications as they arrive.