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Brooklyn Free School Assistant Teacher  

The Brooklyn Free School is currently accepting applications for assistant teachers for the 2016-17 school year.

The Brooklyn Free School assistant teacher supports the work of the teacher, including managing daily activities, outdoor play and lunch routines.

Responsibilities:

•Supporting the mission and daily practice of a free school with joy and creativity.

•Daily classroom set up, preparing materials for projects and clean up as directed by the teachers.

•Communicating with teachers about their needs. following their direction, and anticipating where help is needed in order to support the needs of the whole group.  This may include managing a variety of activities while the teacher works with a small group or working with individual children.

•Taking children to the playground every day or planning for indoor play in inclement weather.

•Supervising children’s lunch time.

•Supporting and facilitating conflict resolution mediation when needed.

•Occasionally longer days may be required to support group trips or special school activities.

Qualifications:

•Experience working with groups of children preferred.

•Experience working with children between the ages of 4 and 8 preferred.

•Bachelor’s degree preferred.

Compensation:

Hourly rate commensurate with experience.

The Brooklyn Free School follows the NYC public school calendar.  The assistant teachers will have all school holidays off and the summer months, unpaid.

 

Brooklyn Free School engages students and staff in democratic decision-making and problem solving. We honor student choice and facilitate student centered learning through play and exploration, constructivist teaching, collaborative course work and self-directed student initiatives. We support social and emotional development through conflict mediation, personal reflection, diversity awareness and community responsibility.  For more information visit our website: www.brooklynfreeschool.org

 

To Apply:

Submit a cover letter describing why you want to work at BFS, current resume, two references, including one from an educational supervisor, and any additional information you think we should consider in evaluating you as a candidate.

All materials and inquiries need to be submitted electronically as an attachment or in the body of an email to:hiring@brooklynfreeschool.org

The deadline to receive full consideration is Friday, March 4, 2016, early applications will be reviewed starting February 22.

All candidates will be informed if they were selected for a first-round interview on a rolling basis through March 11, with an anticipated hiring decision made by April, 2016.

Brooklyn Free School is an equal opportunity employer.  We seek a staff which reflects the diversity of our community.

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GREENFIELDS ACADEMY IN CHICAGO SEEKING CLASSROOM GUIDE

Are you convinced that the way we are educating children has to fundamentally change?

Do you have the patience needed to allow students to experience and learn from failure?

Are you prepared to inspire a generation to tackle the challenges that lie ahead?


Greenfields blends state-of-the-art learning software, real-world projects, Socratic discussions and a Hero’s Journey dialogue in a student-driven, multi-age learning studio. Our approach to learning does not include tests, grades, or teachers leading lectures. Our classroom structure is unique. It ensures that the Guides create and facilitate the learning environment, but empowers students to take ownership of their individual learning path and collective classroom governance.

For the 2016-17 school year, Greenfields will host Early Learners (ages 4-6), Elementary (ages 6-10) and Middle School (ages 11-14) programs. Guide candidates are being considered for all three programs.

Position Description
Each program is led by two Guides working in close partnership to oversee a mixed-age class of 20 to 40 students. Guides help each student find their calling and reach their full potential by:

  • supporting individual students in setting and achieving their learning goals
  • assisting students in identifying and pursuing their passions
  • facilitating Socratic group discussions
  • evaluating and refining the existing curriculum
  • designing and experimenting with new projects, tools, and approaches
  • organizing speakers and field trips to inspire students
  • creating and maintaining a studio environment that supports and motivates students
  • acting as a role model as an independent learner on a Hero’s Journey
  • documenting learning through student projects, achievements, and everyday activity
  • communicating actively with parents
  • guiding students through the creation of their learning portfolios

Qualifications
We are looking for Guides with a deep curiosity about life, a lifelong love of learning, endless patience, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Candidates should have proven excellence in guiding others, whether in or out of a school environment. Montessori, project-based and/or experiential learning experience is a plus.

We seek Guides who love to experiment, evaluate, and improve on everything they do. Candidates should have proven excellence in written and oral communication skills, and be comfortable using and learning a variety of technology tools. And most importantly, candidates should have a deep respect for all children.

Salary
Greenfields Academy offers a salary commensurate with experience plus a bonus structure based on performance.

Next Steps
Candidates should email a resume and thoughtful cover letter that outlines how their skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position, how the position is part of their Hero’s Journey, and how they heard about this opportunity to hiring@greenfieldsacademy.com. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

 

More info at: GreenfieldsAcademy.com  

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Make a Difference with Camp Augusta

Summer Camp work with community living, progressive behavior management styles, the craziest games you'll ever play and children that will remember you forever…

Camp Augusta is different than most camps because we operate on a structure of flat hierarchy, consensus and intention with every action. We don’t believe in punishment, reward or guilt – we choose instead to see the hearts of our campers and connect with their needs. We also have many activities that you are unlikely to find at other camps, like: aerial silks, sword fighting, whips, fire spinning, high and low ropes, archery and horseback riding to name a few.

People can have a job, a career, or a calling. Camp Augusta is looking for folks who have a calling. Work, play, learn, struggle and grow in a vibrant community this summer facilitating the growth of children, yourself and others in the community.

We are a residential summer camp located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California. We have six sessions during our season, 3 one week and 3 two week, with 90 campers (aged 8-16) each session. Our staff training begins on May 17th, and the main season runs through August 13th.

We aim to give children the experience of living without many of the modern conveniences that are present in their everyday lives. They get the chance to experience living in an open-air cabin without electricity. There are no televisions or stereos so they make their own music. There is a great deal of information on our website regarding the philosophy of camp and the activities we offer. If you are interested in Camp Augusta, please look those over carefully.

All of our staff must be at least 19 years of age.

Our website, CampAugusta.org, has descriptions of all available positions under the "staff" heading. We have openings for counselors, kitchen, and a number of leadership positions. When you are ready, go to the "Staff Application" page and follow the instructions for submitting an application.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Namaste

applications@campaugusta.org

530-265-3702 (give us a call and say hello!)

 

 

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Memorable Teaching

Memorable Teaching, By Lynn Stoddard

“People cannot learn by having information pressed into their brains. Knowledge has to be (pulled) into the brain, not pushed in. First, one must create a state of mind that craves knowledge, interest and wonder. You can teach only by creating an urge to know.”

The author of these words, Victor Weisskopf, was a world renowned Jewish scientist who escaped from Nazi Germany and helped develop the atomic bomb. He was known as a “memorable teacher.” He encouraged his physics students to ask questions by saying, “There is no such thing as a stupid question.” Weisskopf taught that it is by the use of questions that students pull information into their brains. He taught by creating an “urge to know.”

What is the difference between information that is pressed into a student’s brain and information that is pulled in? Is there a difference between required learning and self-chosen learning? Plato said, “Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”

Memorable teaching, in its purist form, may be the act of stimulating and enlarging something we were all born with — curiosity. This is reinforced by Christ’s words in the Bible, “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” We can interpret “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” as ascending levels of the “urge to know.”

What happens if students are taught math and reading, before they have a desire to know?  According to research done by Peter Gray of Boston College and others, too early academic training results in long term intellectual and psychological damage.

Early failure experiences result in young children hating school and losing confidence in their ability to learn, a precursor for many to later drop out and become burdens to society — in and out of prison. Schools that are based on pressing a standardized curriculum into student’s minds may also be the root cause of becoming a loner, bullying and violence to others.

In later school years, required, assigned learning becomes shallow and temporary as students learn information to pass tests and discard it soon thereafter. It is becoming more and more evident that self-chosen knowledge, the kind that is “pulled in,” is the only kind that is deep and enduring.

Ever since the federal government started to take over public education and impose a curriculum to be pressed into student’s heads, it has become increasingly difficult for teachers to cultivate an “urge to know” and encourage students to ask questions. Memorable teaching, the kind that makes a positive difference in people’s lives, is rare.

If you are a concerned parent, legislator, school board member, teacher, administrator or student, ask for your freedom, as specified by the 10th Amendment, to develop a local school system that encourages and supports teachers to be the great, memorable people they want to be. You can also work at transforming yourself into a great teacher, holding up examples like Weisskopf, Einstein or Christ, the most memorable of them all. In so doing, you will make a difference in the lives of others and become memorable to them.