We received the information below from Barb Trainor, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Exploration Summer Programs. I thought I would share in case anyone is interested in some extra work. This activity could be included in Entry 4: Documented Accomplishments since this is a leadership role within the learning community (other professionals).
Pre-season Curriculum Advisors Needed
Overview
Exploration Summer Programs is seeking creative and experienced educators to serve as
Pre-Season Curriculum Advisors (PCAs) during the winter and spring for our summer
enrichment courses. Over the course of a six-week development cycle, PCAs communicate
with course instructors via phone and email to help them transform their ideas into creative
lesson plans for a three-week enrichment course that will be taught during the summer.
Each summer, Exploration offers more than 150 unique courses and more than 90 unique
workshops in a wide array of academic disciplines. (See our website, www.explo.org, for a
sample of the kinds of courses we offer.) These enrichment courses are hands-on, not-forcredit,
and ungraded. They are taught by summer instructors who are passionate about the
fields in which they are teaching, but who are primarily undergraduate and graduate
students with little or no teaching experience. The primary responsibility of the PCA is to
mentor these young teachers in the development of student-centered, activity-based
curriculum that will encourage our summer students to challenge themselves, discover the
world of people and ideas, and experience the joy of learning.
Position Details
A brief online training for PCAs takes place in early winter. Curriculum advising takes place
between January and May 15. Most PCAs advise between one and six courses. PCAs
coordinate an advising schedule with instructors, such that the advising process for a single
course or workshop is completed in a six-week period (of your choosing). A full course takes
about 15 hours to advise; a workshop takes takes approximately 7 hours to advise
depending on the course and teacher.
Monetary Compensation + Graduate Credit
PCAs may elect to receive either monetary compensation or graduate credit (or a mixture of
the two) for their work as PCAs. PCAs are compensated $200 per full-course and $100 per
workshop advised to completion. Exploration is a Professional Development Provider and,
as such, can award recertification points for this work.
Application Process
Please apply online at http://www.explo.org/faculty/curriculum_advisors. For questions,
please contact Barb Trainor, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at btrainor@explo.org.
About Exploration
Exploration Summer Programs is an international leader in summer academic enrichment.
Each year, Exploration runs programs for more than 3000 boarding and day students who
hail from more than 40 states and countries. The Program was founded in 1977. Explo at
Wheaton enrolls rising 4th through 7th graders at Wheaton College in Norton, MA. Explo at
Wellesley enrolls rising 8th and 9th graders at Wellesley College. Explo at Yale enrolls rising
10th through 12th graders at Yale University. Students attend either one or two three-week
sessions and enroll in academic enrichment courses (and one or two workshops) per
session. Thirty-one people work 10.5 months a year in Exploration’s
main office located in Norwood, MA. During the summer, the staff/faculty increases to more
than 350 and operations move to the summer sites.
Additional Summer Curriculum Opportunities
In addition to hiring PCAs, Exploration also hires several Curriculum Advisors (CAs) who live
and work on the campuses of our Programs during the summer. Summer CAs help coach
new teachers in the development of their teaching skills through formal and informal
observations, oral and written feedback, goal-setting, reflection, and one-on-one problemsolving
sessions. Additional information and the online application is available at
http://www.explo.org/faculty/curriculum_advisors.
Exploration Summer Programs as part of Exploration School , Inc. does not discriminate on
the basis of physical handicap, sex, race, creed, color, sexual orientation, or national or
ethnic origin.
