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The Highland School Has Internships Available

Intern Position for Spring Semester 2018 (January 8-May 23, 2018) – Must apply by December 1, 2017.

Intern Position for the 2017-2018 school year (September – May)- Must apply by March 1, 2018.

 

For specific details, please contact the school at thshighland@gmail.com or 304-869-3250.

Position Description: Interns participate as members of The Highland School’s democratic community.  Interns must support the school’s democratic process and be capable of functioning in the democratic community.  They should be respectful of students’ activities and function as resources to enable students to explore their interests as needed.  Interns should act as responsible members of the school community on a consistent basis.

Qualifications: Interns need to be interested in learning about democratic education.  They also should enjoy working with children.  An outgoing, open-minded person with a variety of academic and extracurricular interests is preferred.  However, respecting and valuing each student’s unique interests and being willing to learn along with students is critical.  A cleared background check including no offenses against children must be supplied prior to the first day of employment.  Must have driver’s license and clean driving record.

Conditions of Employment: Interns are hired and fired at the pleasure of the General School Meeting. Interns must abide by the Constitution and school rules. Unless there is an emergency (sickness or death in the immediate family), all personal leave must be prearranged with the General School Meeting.  Room and board ($250 per month) are provided in the school dormitory.  The Highland School does not provide health insurance for interns.

No H1B1 work visas available for staff or intern positions.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.thehighlandschool.org/employment

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Full-Time Instructor/Program Director Opening At Liberated Learners

Bay State Learning Center in Dedham, MA (near Boston) is looking for an Instructor/Program Director to join their alternative self-directed learning community.
BSLC is looking for a forward-thinking educator with enthusiasm and creativity to not only teach, but serve as program director. BSLC is in it’s fourth year of operation and has a stable, thriving program on the cusp of growing much larger. Do the kind of creative teaching you have always wanted to do, without the power struggles and unnecessary difficulties of traditional school. In a small setting like BSLC the potential for developing new ideas is limitless.
Instructional Responsibilities:
  • Work as part of a small team running a self-directed learning community of about 27 kids ages 10-19.
  • Flexibly teach a small variety of subjects in once-a-week classes; topics include the instructor’s training areas and personal interests as well as the student’s interests and needs.
  • Guide students to an excited, open-minded and active interest in learning.
  • Advise students in one-on-one advising sessions with an assigned selection of students, assisting students to define their goals, pursue class work, develop general/life organizational strategies, begin college planning, etc.
  • Maintain good documentation of class sessions as well as all advising sessions in the dedicated online databases for each.
  • Work with parents and families to help with the ongoing learning and development of the students.
  • Be available for students if they need assistance with any self-directed activity from getting started and organized to completion.
Organizational Responsibilities:
  • Help organize the weekly class schedule, as well as the yearly calendar.
  • Manage/Work with volunteer teachers to find, schedule and maintain a diverse selection of classes.
  • Help to run fundraising and outreach events to promote our program and keep it vital.
  • Help maintain a social media presence and assist with mass emails/newsletters.
  • Bonus if able to help with website updates and marketing graphic design.
To apply, send resume and cover letter explaining your interest in the BSLC program to both george@baystatelearning.org and marjorie@baystatelearning.org.
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holistic learning community in Bogotá seeks help with dual language program

Two years ago we started a holistic learning community in Bogotá Colombia.  We are currently trying to implement a dual language program and looking for some guidance.  We are looking for other alternative programs that have implemented unique self-directed ELL programs?  We really want it to be unique in that it’s effective, student directed, and impactful.  We are having trouble finding any schools who have done it a different way!  Any guidance or direction would be greatly appreciated.
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The Difference Between Personalized Learning and Learner-Centered Education

This week I was reading about Personalized Education in one of the newsletters we receive. We’ve heard a lot about this lately and the term seems to be used more and more. You might ask, does this mean that our concept of learner-centered education is being widely adopted?

Well, not necessarily. When we talk about learner-centered education in our schools we include the concept that what students learn should be based upon and built from their interests. And in the case of democratic schools, students are specifically empowered to make significant decisions about themselves, their education and their schools.

It could be argued that learner-centered education is a form of personalized education. But is personalized education learner-centered education? When you look carefully at what some schools and educators mean by this you discover that they are talking about an education DESIGNED BY TEACHERS to fit what they believe each student needs. It seems to me that this is quite different from learner-centered education. What do you think? We’d like to hear. Write to us. We’ll print some of your comments.