Employment Opportunities

Why Teach at LA?

What attracts many teachers to Lawrence Academy-and keeps them here-is a working environment that invites teacher innovation. If you are considering teaching here, we encourage you to read this page carefully before taking the next step in contacting us about any job openings for the upcoming year. If what you read in "Good Fit"-as well as elsewhere on our Web site-encourages you to consider a position at Lawrence Academy, then please take that step by following the procedure outlined later on this page.

Before you consider teaching at any boarding school, however, be sure you are prepared for an intense, all-consuming endeavor of teaching, coaching, and living with adolescents who, by their very nature, will keep you on your toes. It is a terrifically rewarding and creative line of work-but go in with your eyes wide open!

The Students...

At Lawrence Academy, students are not along for the ride. They know-immersed in the skills-based, integrated Ninth Grade Program or following a passion as juniors or seniors enrolled in the Independent Immersion Program (IIP) or other independent study or semester exchange programs-that we expect them to participate more in their own education than ever have before. All students in our student-centered curriculum are challenged to break some old habits in learning how to run their own seminar discussions, design their own experiments, and discover and exercise their own voice in original works of art or in drawing their own conclusions about literature, history, or sciences. With each passing trimester, students at Lawrence Academy take on ever more responsibility for their own education as they learn how to learn.

Their Teachers...

At Lawrence Academy, teachers are called on to model independent thinking, problem-solving, and creative collaboration. To thrive at Lawrence Academy, you should be prepared to live school with other teachers who are well grounded in their subject matter, typically coach two seasons, and serve in loco parentis while supervising students in dormitories. In facilitating discussions, teachers here are more eager to help students formulate their own conclusions than to lead students to uncover the teacher's conclusion. Teachers here invite students to take initiative in group work or projects by creating an atmosphere stimulating enough to inspire them and supportive enough for them to practice seeing the opportunities in their own mistakes. Teachers at LA write comment cards on each student nearly every week; they meet with their group of seven or eight advisees three times a week. Given how much they also earnestly care about their students, one by one, it is no surprise that remarkable partnerships are formed between adults and adolescents who already share many goals in common.

A Good Fit:

Teachers who will most likely be excited, feel supported, and grow at LA are people who...

• are well grounded in their subject area and understand that an interdisciplinary approach to learning helps them to see the connections between what have traditionally been seen as separate, discrete disciplines;
• really value teaching kids how to think like scientists or historians because they believe, fundamentally, that the student, not the teacher, belongs at the center of all learning and must do the hard intellectual work to discover meaning in developing their own thoughts;
• believe that teaching intellectual skills is at least as important as getting students to learn factual content;
• are eager to participate in the on-going dialogue focused on building a better school;
• want to embrace the active, intense life of a boarding school by being involved in the residential aspects of the school.

If you see yourself described in these bullets, click here for a list of current job openings.

For information about the 2010 Summer Institute at Lawrence Academy for classroom teachers, visit Learning and the Brain Conference.  

Lawrence Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, gender, national origin or ancestry, veteran's status, sexual orientation, or any non-job related physical or mental disability. We welcome candidates who will increase our diversity; we encourage candidates of color to apply.