So, You Want to Be an Earth Educator…
Since 1995, T.R.E.E., Teaching Responsible Earth Education, has been teaching 4th, 5th, and 7th graders about the Earth in a place where they can touch it, at an age where they get it, and in a way that they remember it.
As an Earth Educator, you won't be assigned to just one program — you'll teach across all three:
• Earthkeepers (4th grade) — a three-day program with no overnights. A group of 20 to 60 students comes with their classroom teacher and parent chaperones to our Outdoor Classroom.
• Sunship Earth (5th grade) — a five-day, four-night residential experience. A class of 35 or fewer students comes from the New Orleans area with their teacher and several parent chaperones to our Outdoor Classroom in Covington, LA.
• Sunship III (7th grade) — a three-day, two-night residential experience, similar in structure to Sunship Earth but with an entirely different curriculum.
Your Role as Earth Educator
This is not summer camp. Your job as a staff educator, across all three programs, is to teach solid life science concepts to students from diverse backgrounds and school settings. Our curriculum is rigorous and engaging, and it's aligned with Louisiana state curriculum standards in science.
Primarily, you are a teacher. The curriculum has already been written (hooray, no lesson planning!). You're responsible for learning the ‘script’ — that's the product into which these lessons have been tweaked and perfected over decades. You must know your part and then teach it, so that the students get it! You're also responsible for managing behavior and guiding the adults accompanying the students so that they're most effective. Our scripts and management techniques allow you to provide effective teaching.
You will be very well trained and incredibly well supported. The nature of this demanding work requires that all of the staff work very closely and cohesively together. We depend on each other and support one another. And it works. To work at T.R.E.E. you must be a team player — giving your best, expecting the best of others, and being willing to do what it takes to make both of those realities happen.
A Typical Day — Earthkeepers
There will be 3 of these days, typically in a row, with one day reserved as a rain date. Usually, it will be Tuesday-Thursday, with Friday as the rain date. When you arrive each morning, you'll be busy setting up stations (which includes physical work on and off a trail), prepping for the students, and understanding the day's schedule. Then the students arrive! You'll be ‘on’ as a teacher from the moment you greet the bus in the morning until you wave goodbye as they leave each day. A typical day may involve:
• Helping students feel comfortable participating in fun yet structured lessons in the woods
• Teaching a 60–75 minute activity through creative acting while following a well-structured script
• Constant monitoring of students for behavior and discipline
• Exploring the woods off the trail, and teaching a song
• Setting up stations and taking them down, sometimes independently — may involve lifting, hammering, wheelbarrowing, and other physical tasks
• Helping students enjoy sitting quietly in the woods, alone, when this may be their first time in nature
• Guiding students as they make discoveries and helping them answer their own questions, so that they creatively solve problems for themselves
• Leading by example for all we teach and ask them to do
A Typical Day — Sunship Earth & Sunship III
On residential days, you're ‘on’ from when you rise early in the morning until you go to bed (later than you'd like). At meals you may help serve food and wipe tables, in addition to eating with the kids — then you'll enthusiastically jump up to lead a post-meal activity. At night, T.R.E.E. staff help students feel comfortable getting ready for bed, and in the morning we wake them again to start another day. A typical day may involve:
• Helping students feel comfortable touching the earth — crawling, lying down, and participating in fun yet structured lessons
• Teaching a 30–60 minute activity through creative acting while following a well-structured script
• Setting up and taking down your station independently, in an expeditious manner — may involve lifting, hammering, wheelbarrowing, and other physical tasks
• Walking with kids at night in the woods, and being on duty starting around 7am
• Leading an assigned post-meal activity
• Sitting at a campfire and roasting marshmallows with kids while monitoring for safety
• Putting kids to bed — making sure they're comfortable, have enough blankets, and feel safe
• Maintaining a pleasant disposition even after several days of little rest and lots of work
And, of course, smiling (genuinely) while completing all of these activities in the rain, heat, cold, mosquitoes, and unexpected turns of events! Note that you will always get at least 2 days off in between program or training sessions.
Is It Worth It?
If all of this sounds like a lot, it is. And the rewards of working so long and hard are incredible! For many of the students, this is their first time spending real time in the woods, their first time away from home for an extended stretch, and their first exposure to new teaching and learning methods. Introducing kids to new places, new ideas, new science, and new experiences is thrilling. Kids who have a hard time in a traditional classroom often thrive in this setting and discover the joy of learning. And the students, though they're demanding, give you energy right back with their boundless creativity, ingenuity, cleverness, silliness, and love of life. The demands and the rewards are both high.
To Apply
If you think you've got what it takes — if you love working with kids and would love teaching them about how the Earth works — we'd love to hear from you. Send a cover letter and resume to employment@treetalk.org. Learn more about our programs at www.treetalk.org.
T.R.E.E. does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in employment or in its programs or activities.