Description:

About Living Classrooms:
Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region (LC-NCR) is an affiliate non-profit of the Living Classrooms Foundation located in Baltimore, Maryland. LC-NCR is responsible for the operation of educational and workforce development programs in the D.C. Metropolitan area.

LC-NCR is operated for the benefit of the community at-large, providing hands-on education and job training programs for students from diverse backgrounds, with a special emphasis on at-risk youth.

Utilizing challenging settings, community revitalization and a small staff to student ratio, LC-NCR provides experience-based educational programs emphasizing the applied learning of math, science, language arts, history, economics and ecology. Key objectives of all Living Classrooms programs are career development, cooperative learning, elevating self-esteem and fostering multicultural exchange.

Our history and future focus on hands-on experiential education programs that motivate student learning by doing. LC-NCR has the goal of offering hands-on experience based education programs that are of the highest quality and excellence.
Position Overview:
The Site Based Educator is an integral part of Living Classrooms’ educational programming. This paid position is ideal for candidates who enjoy working outdoors and with children. The Educator will instruct programs offered at The Children’s Museum in Glen Echo Park, The Historic Schoolhouse, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, and Kingman and Heritage Island. These sites provide year round “hands-on” activities that engage participants from ages 18 months – 18 years of age. This involves providing exceptional service while working with schools, scouts, individual families and other groups that work with children from Maryland, DC, and Virginia.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide excellent customer service. Know and adhere to Site Based policies and procedures. Interact positively with visitors and respond to questions and concerns.
• Greet participants as they arrive to the site. Maintain participant attendance records and all other relevant forms.
• Work at all Living Classrooms educational sites (including but not limited to the Children’s Museum, Historic School House and Kingman and Heritage Island). Must have general knowledge of all educational spaces and in-depth knowledge of interpretation programs for educational programming. 

• Present prescribed programs and interact directly with participants. Set up and take down materials used during programming. Lead hands on activities, interpretive hikes in the woods, conduct meet and greet sessions with live animals, and occasionally lead other scheduled activities such as birthday parties.

• Prepare for the presentation of specifically designated educational programs by researching subject matter, learning speeches, and honing presentation techniques and skills.

• Interact with participants to help them understand the program concepts and content. Implement educational interpretive experiences in all assigned spaces to achieve the goals and objectives of the department, and to help explain the main concepts to participants.
• Maintain cleanliness of educational spaces and grounds, and notify Lead Educator of larger needs.
Prepare educational spaces daily for visitors. Maintain a safe and inviting atmosphere. Provide daily care and cleaning of exhibit (including animal enclosures) and activities. Complete checklists and reports all maintenance and safety concerns.

• Lead 2 hour long nature themed birthday parties by following structured lesson plans (which includes a hands on activity, meet the animal session and a hike in the woods) when scheduled.
• Attends all trainings and staff meetings that are assigned.
• Other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

Primary Qualifications/Skills:

• Excellent communication and public speaking skills
• A passion for nature and working with children in an informal setting
• A friendly and engaging personality
• Ability to work with large groups that may consist of a variety of age ranges
• Good time management skills
• Basic knowledge of science and natural history
• Comfortable handling a variety of educational animals (including but not limited to snakes, tarantulas and insects)

Other:

• Part-time position, Monday through Friday, up to 25 hours each week. Hours vary depending on programs scheduled. Occasional weekends and evenings required.
• Travel between locations, sites and meetings required; car recommended.
• Will be expected to lift moderately heavy objects and participate in low-impact outdoor exercise (such as hiking, biking, climbing, etc.)
• Must be prepared to work outside in a variety of weather conditions

About the Site:

Living Classrooms Children’s Museum-
Located within Glen Echo Park: 7300 MacArthur Boulevard, Glen Echo, MD 20812. This site offers weekend family programming, birthday parties, school field trips and a summer day camp. Content of these programs vary depending on subject, age, and the length of the program, but all programs feature hands-on science activities, an outdoor component, and most programs include meeting animals that relate to the subject being taught. Glen Echo has a number of resident animals including reptiles, amphibians, mammals, fish, insects and birds. There currently is an indoor forest for play, an outdoor herb garden, a sand-pit, and a hiking trail.

The Historic School House-
Located at 4954 MacArthur Boulevard NW, Washington, DC 20007. This site offers family programming, birthday parties, school field trips and a summer day camp. Content of these programs vary depending on subject, age, and the length of the program, but all programs feature hands-on science activities, an outdoor component, and most programs include meeting animals that relate to the subject being taught. Adjacent to Battery Kimble Park, has access to extensive hiking trails and a creek.
Kingman and Heritage Island-
Located in the Anacostia River across from the RFK Stadium, the approximate address is 575 Oklahoma Avenue NE, Washington DC, 20002. This site is a recreational area utilized by the public. Educational programming is taught on and around the islands about the environment and how visitors actions have a lasting impact on it. Clean-up events are scheduled throughout the year as well as a bluegrass festival held every July.

Hours:

part-time hours

Length/Availability:

ongoing

Start Date:

march 19th 2012

End Date:

03/25/12, ongoing

Deadline:

03/25/12

Tags:

education  youth  program  families  nature  science  children's  museum  outdoors  recreation 

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