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Democratic High School Seeking Full-Time Math Teacher (Job Listing)

Harriet Tubman Democratic High School is located in Albany, NY. We are currently looking to fill a full-time math teacher position starting January 13, 2014. For more information about our school, please visit our website at www.tubmanschool.org.

 

Full-Time Teacher Position Description: Our school serves students ages 14-19 (grades 9-12) from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Staff members at our school act as teachers, advisors, mentors and administrators. General responsibilities include: attendance for all school hours, attendance at school functions, teaching classes and workshops, advisory of students to help them meet their personal and academic goals, administrative meetings, and parent conferences. Staff members also share daily responsibilities such as mediation, spontaneous activity involvement, and cleaning.

 

Qualifications: Previous experience working with teens from diverse backgrounds preferred. Must be self-directed and posses strong communication skills. Must be qualified to teach high school level math subjects. Previous work references requested. Harriet Tubman Democratic High School is a cooperative and during the school calendar year this full-time staff member receives a stipend of $156.25 a week plus a room with utilities and internet included.

 

Apply by sending a resume to director@tubmanschool.org or to:

          Harriet Tubman Democratic High School

          59 Elizabeth Street

          Albany, NY 12202

 

Harriet Tubman Democratic High School strives to create a diverse educational community and encourages people from varied backgrounds and experiences to apply. Harriet Tubman Democratic High School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identification.

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The Common Core is not an upgrade!

by Jerry Mintz  |  
 
First lets make one thing clear: The Common Core is not an educational upgrade. It does not make education more rigorous except in the sense of rigor mortis. The only reason I think that the Common Core is great is because it is so negative and destructive that it has finally done what we in our organization have been unable to do in the last 20 years: galvanize students,  parents and teachers into a formidable force to resist top-down disempowering education. This is what I said yesterday to a large group of protesters who had gathered in bitterly cold weather outside Mineola High School, where New York State Education Commissioner John B. King was delivering his defense of the state’s regime of testing and the imposition of the, possibly unconstitutional, Common Core Curriculum.
 
I went down there just to try to interview some of the protesting parents and teachers, for our online magazine,  knowing it would be practically impossible to get inside to see the carefully scripted session with Commissioner King. I was surprised to see a makeshift stage, the back of a pickup truck, with a sound system. It was a brilliant idea! One by one the teachers and parents spoke of their misery under the new system. The said their children were in tears after the tests. The teachers said they couldn’t really teach any more and that the fun and excitement of learning had disappeared.  The crowd cheered each speaker and carried signs saying “Common Core, High stakes Testing, Data mining, Experimenting with our kids!” “Hey! Ho! Common Core has got to go!” “King resign NOW!”
 
But it is not King’s fault. It is much larger than that. This whole approach that has been imposed on the hapless children is based on a faulty and long-discredited theory: That children are naturally lazy and have to be forced to learn. Modern brain research has shown that the opposite is true, that children are natural learners. Unfortunately the people responsible for this debacle were raised with the old approach, which over the years becomes self-fulfilling, and have forgotten that they were once natural learners. This approach is based on distrust: Children are not to be trusted to learn on their own. Teachers are not to be trusted to teach according to their instincts. Parents do not know how to raise their own children.
 
Speaking of research, not only is the Common Core not based on research about its effectiveness, but even the most basic students of sociology know that any research must consider the Hawthorne Effect, that you effect what you are measuring by the way that you measure it. This apparently was never considered by the bureaucrats.
 
A small percentage of parents, teachers and children have decided to abandon the system to participate in learner-centered schools and homeschooling. They are almost universally happy with their decision. Even when the old system’s standardized test are given, homeschoolers as a group score near the top! This is why colleges and universities love to take in homeschoolers and students from innovative, learner-centered schools.
 
But what of the rest? It appears that, thanks to the Common Core and high stakes testing, we now have their attention. But how do we approach the daunting task of convincing the bureaucrats of the system that they have been barking up the wrong tree? How can we help those parents who instinctively know that these Draconian measures are wrong-headed to turn their system into one that really nurtures their children? I don’t know the answer to these questions but I do know that we need to answer them quickly before we lose a whole generation of children.
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Community Director for Innovative Education Program

Be an Entrepreneur of Fun

Want to trade in your cubicle for neighborhood parks, carnivals, and coffee shops? Eager to replace exchanges with automated telephone agents for meaningful, face-to-face interactions with parents, children, and vendors in your community? We have your get out of jail free card! Take a chance and contribute to the community chest by setting up and implementing a phenomenal, self-directed education program at a location near you.

Who Are You?
A motivated go-getter who believes in our philosophy and has the skills and determination to develop and manage a phenomenal site – one that is meticulously organized and staffed with extraordinary educators who play alongside thriving campers. You are exhilarated by the challenge of bringing Steve & Kate’s to a new community or amplifying our presence in an already established location. You jump at the chance to meet new people, flex your creative muscles, and find order in chaos. And as you build up buzz for Steve & Kate’s around town, hire and build a superstar team, foster relationships with customers (parents and campers), live and breathe our philosophy, and turn our program design into reality, you are buoyed by the knowledge that summer will allow you to rock your esteemed sneakers and shorts collection while thinking, “I actually get paid to do this?”


The Fine Print
The position is year-round with a 3-month break (full-time from January through September plus a few months to travel, pursue a passion, or potentially join one of our Fall Teams) and includes health benefits, vacation and sick time, paid holidays, and the option to participate in a 401k plan after a year of work with us. To enable you to connect with families, staff, and community members, hours in the spring are likely to include some evening and weekend time. Once your site is up and running smoothly for the summer, you should expect a Monday through Friday workweek of around 50 hours. We have locations through the SF Bay Area, LA, Seattle, Chicagoland, and are expanding to Portland (the west coast variety), Boston, NY/NJ, and DC in 2014.
Next Steps

Learn about us:  www.steveandkate.com

And allow us to learn a bit about you:  please email alyse@steveandkate.com

We look forward to hearing from you!