Private Educator: Elementary (4th Grade)

Job Description

Job Description

We’re looking for a warm, steady, and highly responsive private educator to support a 9 year-old rising 4th grade student in a personalized, one-on-one learning environment. This role is about much more than covering academic material. The right educator will help this student build confidence, persistence, trust, and a more joyful relationship with learning.

You’ll work in a dedicated learning space on the family’s property in San Antonio, with Thrive providing curriculum support, progress monitoring, and instructional coaching. The family is looking for someone who can bring both gentleness and structure: a calm presence who does not yell, but who can still hold clear boundaries, build routines, and help the student feel safe enough to do hard things.

This is a meaningful part-time role for an educator who loves individualized instruction, values movement and creativity, and wants to make a deep impact with one student in a thoughtfully supported setting.

Student Profile

You’ll be working with a 9-year-old rising 4th grade student who is expressive, creative, active, and full of personality. She loves art, music, gymnastics, hip hop, animals, drawing, and imaginative projects. She is social, energetic, and motivated by encouragement, novelty, and positive reinforcement. She enjoys earning points or “gold stars,” likes to win, and responds well when expectations are clear and the task feels achievable.

Academically, she benefits from patient support with writing, spelling, math facts, and memorization. She can be quick to guess when something feels hard, especially with multiple choice work, and she may shut down if she feels stuck or worried about being wrong. She has shown possible dyslexic tendencies and some ADHD-like learning patterns, though the family is not seeking a diagnosis-first approach. Instead, they are focused on practical, compassionate strategies that help her access learning well.

Movement is essential for her focus. She does best when her day includes physical activity, short work intervals, and built-in breaks. A rhythm such as 15 minutes of focused work followed by a short movement or reset break has worked well. She also benefits from hands-on learning, visual supports, paper-based work, low-screen instruction, and an educator who can help her slow down, pause, think, and build confidence through practice.

The family values inclusion, diversity, broad-worldview science instruction, and exposure to people and perspectives beyond the student’s prior experiences. They are looking for an educator who can be a healthy, values-aligned, adult presence in her life while helping her grow academically, socially, and emotionally.

What You'll Do

• Provide engaging, personalized one-on-one instruction across core 4th grade subject areas, with particular attention to math, writing, spelling, reading, and foundational skill development.
• Implement and adapt curriculum with support from Thrive, using progress monitoring data and instructional coaching to guide pacing and next steps.
• Build a school rhythm that includes movement, short work intervals, hands-on learning, and appropriate breaks to support focus and stamina.
• Help the student build persistence when work feels hard, using calm coaching, positive reinforcement, and clear expectations rather than pressure or shame.
• Support math growth through concrete strategies, visuals, skip counting, fact fluency practice, and tools such as charts when appropriate.
• Strengthen writing and spelling by helping the student slow down, think through sounds and word patterns, and gain confidence expressing her ideas on paper.
• Create a warm, structured school environment in the family’s dedicated learning space, including routines, materials, displays, and systems that help the student feel ownership and pride.
• Coordinate with the family and Thrive around curriculum, progress, schedule, and learning goals.
• Plan around the student’s Wednesday morning co-op from 9:00 AM–12:00 PM, using that time for planning, preparation, instructional coaching, or adjusted instruction depending on the final schedule.
• Keep instruction largely paper-based and low-screen, while supporting healthy digital literacy when needed.

What Makes Someone Successful in This Role

• You are calm, warm, and steady. You can connect easily with a child while still holding firm, loving boundaries.
• You bring an active, engaging presence and enjoy working with a student who benefits from movement, creativity, and relational connection.
• You understand that confidence and academic growth are deeply connected, especially for a student who may shut down when something feels difficult.
• You are flexible and responsive, but not permissive. You can keep the day moving without becoming rigid or harsh.
• You are comfortable teaching foundational elementary skills and adapting your approach when memorization, spelling, writing, or math facts do not come easily.
• You value diversity, inclusion, curiosity, travel, full science instruction, and a broad view of the world.
• You communicate clearly and professionally with both parents and Thrive, and you are open to curriculum support, coaching, and progress monitoring.
• You enjoy bringing energy, creativity, and variety into instruction while maintaining a consistent, predictable structure.
• Spanish or bilingual ability is a plus, especially in the San Antonio context, but is not required.

Requirements

Credentials

• Bachelor's degree required in Education or a related education field required, Master's degree preferred

• Texas teaching license preferred
• Candidates with equivalent demonstrated experience will be considered

Experience

• Minimum 5 years classroom teaching, private tutoring, or homeschool instruction experience
• Proven ability to teach across multiple subjects and grade levels (all K-12 subjects considered
• Experience with ADHD-like learning patterns, dyslexia-informed strategies, executive functioning support, or trauma-informed/adoption-sensitive teaching preferred
• Bilingual Spanish/English preferred
• Experience teaching middle school learners strongly preferred
• Comfort designing, adapting, and implementing curriculum in a 1:1 setting
• Willingness to collaborate with Thrive’s educational management team

Skills

• Curriculum design: ability to select, adapt, or build lesson plans from a variety of frameworks (classical, Charlotte Mason, project-based, or traditional)
• Differentiated instruction: comfortable adjusting pace, depth, and method to match the student
• Assessment and progress tracking: ability to set measurable academic goals and report progress clearly to parents
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency with digital learning tools, educational platforms, and standard productivity software

Professional Standards

• Current background check (required; Thrive facilitates)
• Verifiable references from prior teaching or tutoring roles
• Professionalism, discretion, and adaptability -- you are working inside someone's home

Benefits

Compensation

• $40,000 - $50,000/yr, commensurate with experience, credentials, and placement scope
• Compensation is negotiated directly with the family; Thrive advocates for fair market rates on your behalf

Logistics

• Location: San Antonio, TX, In-person instruction in a separate, dedicated learning space on the property
• Schedule: Likely around 9:00 AM–1:00 PM or 9:00 AM–2:00 PM (M-Th), with the final schedule to be determined
• Wednesday Co-op: Student will attend a co-op on Wednesday mornings from 9:00 AM–12:00 PM . The teacher’s Wednesday schedule may include planning, preparation, instructional coaching, or adjusted afternoon instruction.
• Start Date: Targeting Late August
• School Year: Family is interested in a more year-round rhythm, with longer breaks around traditional school holidays when possible
• Travel: Family travels periodically, including short domestic trips and possible international travel. Teacher may prepare work for travel periods or provide occasional virtual support. Extended travel with the family is not currently expected.

Work Environment

• One-on-one or small-group instruction -- no classroom management overhead
• Deep, ongoing relationships with students and families rather than high-volume throughput
• Schedule flexibility that mirrors the academic calendar you design together
• Opportunity to teach the way you believe learning actually works

Support

• Personalized matching -- Thrive vets families thoroughly before introductions, so your time is spent with qualified, serious clients
• Dedicated placement coordinator throughout the process
• Access to Thrive's educator network, resources, and ongoing placement opportunities
• Long-term career development: many of our educators build lasting careers across successive placements
  Thrive Education Partners is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and make hiring decisions based on experience, skills, and business needs, without regard to
  any status protected by applicable law.