Thank you for your interest in teaching with the Center for Transforming Engagement!
This application has 3 pages. Please fill out the course information as completely as possible. If you have any questions, contact us at transforming@theseattleschool.edu.
If you haven’t taught with us before, we recommend familiarizing yourself with our mission and previous course offerings, as well as reading all selection criteria and logistical information, before submitting. Be sure to attach your resume/CV and teaching philosophy. We will not accept proposals with incomplete applications.
Note that short offerings such as one-day workshops can be valuable tools for growing an audience, developing your content, and testing the market before developing a full curriculum.
Fall 2026 Application Schedule
- Fall Term 2026: September 12 - December 19
- Sunday, January 25: Priority deadline for Fall 2026 proposals
- Monday, January 26: Course selection begins
- Sunday, February 22: Hard deadline for Fall 2026 proposals
- Week of Monday, April 6: Instructors notified about status of their course proposal
Selection Criteria
Most adult learners seek out courses for instruction, accountability, and community connection. We encourage all instructors to foster community and ongoing growth (such as independent reading and external resources) in and beyond their classroom time. Class proposals are reviewed and selected by a team of staff from the Center for Transforming Engagement.
When selecting courses, we look for the following:
- Overall strength of the proposal. Do course outcomes drive towards practical, applicable, actionable steps for ministry in Cascadia? Do course conversations respect the experience of adult learners and practitioners; is the course focused and reflective of learner outcomes and experiences? Do class readings reflect a variety of authors and experiences?
- Fit with current curricular needs in terms of topic, format and location, student skill level, and class type.
When reviewing instructors, we consider:
- Relevant industry experience.
- Prior teaching experience.
- Teaching philosophy that aligns with our values and best practices for adult education.
- Strength of teaching evaluation from the Center, The Seattle School, or other institutions.
Logistical Information
Technologies
Although there are numerous teaching platforms available, they often have high subscription fees. We have prioritized keeping costs low to keep courses accessible to the greatest number of participants. We will send automated reminder emails to you and your registered participants and for online courses will provide a Zoom link. Beyond that, you are invited to introduce additional technologies to your students in class or via email. Below we offer some common no-cost solutions:
- To share documents and PDFs, create a Google Drive folder and share that with participants via email. To share a set of links to articles, create a Doc with those links in it and add that to your Drive folder (or email it on its own).
- For ongoing communication or class discussion (like a discussion board): email, WhatsApp, or Slack.
- If you invite students to submit their work for your feedback, we suggest using email.
Enrollment minimum and maximum
When filling out your class proposal, you will be asked to provide your own minimum and maximum registration size.
- Note that a higher minimum enrollment increases the likelihood that a class proposal will be rejected or that the class will not run (ex: a minimum of 15 participants will be cancelled if 14 people enroll).
- Note that a higher maximum may require creative class management and student-led breakout rooms, especially if there is discussion time.
Format & Location
There are nearly infinite ways to structure offerings, especially in online courses or moving between onsite and online. It’s tempting to get creative, but we have learned that participants can feel overwhelmed with variations. Our course formats are minimal so that we provide clear, consistent options. This lets participants know what to expect and make informed decisions for their learning experiences.
We offer sessions onsite or online.
Onsite offerings can be held at The Seattle School (1130 Rainier Avenue South), though are confined to availability of other graduate school courses and events. Alternatively, you may secure a location at a public space (not a home) such as your work offices or church; that negotiation (and any payments) are your responsibility. Note that onsite offerings may limit the number of participants, due to travel needs.
For onsite offerings, we offer classes with 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 sessions. We recommend that onsite offerings be just 1 or 2 sessions and on a weekend.
These are the different session lengths we offer onsite:
- 2 or 3 hours per session.
- 4, 6, or 8 hours per session (1-day intensives only)
Online offerings are held via zoom. We will provide you with a zoom room, in which you have full zoom features: screen sharing, breakout rooms, chat, etc.
For online offerings, we offer classes with 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, or 15 sessions. Session lengths are 2, 2.5, or 3 hours per session (and we suggest you take a short break in the middle of longer sessions). We strongly recommend that sessions be weekly in consecutive weeks, breaking only for major holidays such as Thanksgiving and Labor Day. Sessions that span longer than the term can only begin in Fall Term.
Alternate schedules may be possible. Please ask.
Level of Participant
Not sure where to place your class? Here are a couple aspects to consider when choosing your level:
- What is the topic-specific level of your target participant? Someone may be a masterful preacher but has never managed a budget before, their level may be “introductory” for all finance-related classes and “advanced” in preaching classes.
- What levels are you comfortable teaching? There is no right or wrong answer to this! It is about your educational style.
Levels
- Introductory: These are your shiny-eyed leaders who have never darkened the door of a seminary and never taken a course on leadership before. The aim of these classes is to give leaders a solid foundation in leadership and organizational fundamentals and encourage their love of ministry practice and their service of God and neighbor. Because this is their first foray into theological education, these leaders may not know the “conventions” of higher education or of discourse across theological traditions and may require some concrete classroom guidelines and/or modeling in order to succeed.
- Intermediate: These leaders have an understanding of the fundamentals via experience and perhaps previous courses (in this or a related field). Intermediate leaders know the lay of the land and are now learning to push themselves in their leadership identity and/or push the development of their ministry. Many intermediate leaders benefit from workshops about highly specific elements or processes and workshops in which they can receive feedback on their actual work.
- Advanced: These leaders have an established leadership reflection practice and are eager to advance their career. They are getting ready to expand their ministry or organization, or perhaps expand their career to the next role (for example, growing their consulting business, or moving from congregational to regional leadership). Advanced leaders put a lot of work into their classes and expect their classmates and teachers to do the same. They gravitated toward discussion-driven workshops that are responsive to their needs and the application of ideas (more so than lecture-based classes).
- All Levels: Select this option if you are comfortable wrangling students from all three levels. Consider not only your interactions with them, but their interactions with one another during class discussions.
Pay Rates
Starting pay rate for classes is $10.50 per teaching hour multiplied by the number of registered students in your class. Pay increases to $11.00 per teaching hour after teaching at the Center for 30 course hours over at least 4 courses.
- Example: a 1-day, 3-hour class with 15 students at the $10.50 rate will be 4 x 15 x $10.50 = $630.
- Example: a class that meets for 2 hours/week for 6 weeks totals 12 class hours. With 8 students at the $10.50 rate will be 12 x 8 x $10.50 = $1,008.
For questions on expected compensation, we suggest using the above formula with your particular class format, and your enrollment minimum and maximums. That will give you a range of possible payments.
For co-teaching a class, the pay will be split equally between the instructors.
If you are an employee or contractor of The Seattle School (including faculty, adjunct, listening lab staff, facilitators for the Allender Center, administrators), the above may not apply to you. Please contact transforming@theseattleschool.edu to begin a conversation on whether teaching with us is included in your current role or a separate payment.