Work With Us

Heartseed is a forest school for kindergarten through fifth grade in Louisville, Colorado, held outdoors all year, and we are also a Colorado-approved Teacher Induction Provider.

 

Teacher Induction

Initial License to Professional License

If you hold an Initial License and need your induction year, we can do that with you. It runs one academic year while you stay in your own teaching position, and at the end we verify your completion to CDE and give you the certificate you need to apply for your Professional License. You are paired with an experienced mentor who meets with you regularly, observes you teaching, and gives you feedback. Meetings can be virtual, so you can do this from anywhere in Colorado, including places where there is no good local option.

The program covers the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards and includes observations, written feedback, and reflection and growth planning, and we handle the CDE documentation so it does not become another thing on your desk. It fits first-year teachers, people finishing an alternative licensure pathway, teachers arriving from out of state, and educators in charter, private, and microschool settings. Tuition is $1,800 for the year, and enrollment is rolling, so you can start at any point.

Get in touch with your license information and what you are teaching.​

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Substitutes

We need people who can hold a day outside when a teacher is out. There is a rhythm to step into rather than a lesson to deliver: the walk down to the creek, circle, a long stretch of open play, small group work, and keeping track of everyone the whole time. Experience with kids helps, in schools or camps or childcare, and so does being comfortable outdoors when the weather turns and being able to hold a clear line while staying warm about it.

The work is hourly and comes up as needed on weekdays. Send us a short introduction and a resume.

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Teaching

We are open to making a place for the right person. If you want to spend your days outdoors with children, if you are drawn to place-based and experiential teaching, and if you would rather know a small group of kids well than move a large one through a year, write to us and tell us what interests you about it. The right fit matters more to us than an opening on a schedule, and we hold onto those letters.

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Interns and Volunteers

Interns come for full days, see how a morning actually goes, and take on more as they are ready. There is real mentorship in it, and by the end of a season you will understand a good deal about how children work outdoors and how a group holds together. Good fit if you are curious about nature-based education, happy outside in every season, and heading toward teaching, child development, environmental education, or therapy.

Interns join us Monday through Thursday from 9 to 2 at our Coal Creek site in Louisville, and we require a background check and clearance to work with children. Send us a brief introduction and a resume.

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