Outdoor Educator Job Opening for Joshua Tree Course

Come early October, more than 100 seventh and eighth graders — along with an experienced crew of outdoor educators from The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) — will be camping under the stars in Southern California’s Joshua Tree National Park.

The only thing missing from this scenario are the outdoor educators, and if you meet the requirements, you could be spending Oct. 7-9 with 120 youngsters, staring up into a full moon, which, by the way, we are also providing for this particular NCOAE course.

As you’re probably learning right now, NCOAE is a well-respected source for outdoor adventure and education for teens and adults who are interested in personal growth and professional and educational development. And the three-day excursion to Joshua Tree will feature one NCOAE staff member for each teacher and 10 students.

That’s where you come in. If hired for this course, you will be responsible for facilitating a meaningful and safe outdoor education experience for some of these young outdoor explorers. What this entails is teaching specific aspects of the NCOAE curriculum — and not to worry because we’ll be providing paid training for that.

In addition, you will guide such activities as day and night hikes, team-building games and initiatives, supervise group meals, and provide continuous guidance for your students throughout the course.

Sound good? Of course it does. Three days at a base camp with a separate kitchen staff to handle all meals — and cleanup? What’s not to like? But before you apply, we should tell you a little bit about our open-air operation.

At NCOAE, our programs expose students to a core curriculum built upon the concepts of Self, Community, Action and Impact. We factor in specific topics during what we call daily Educational Groups (known as “Ed Groups”), and these same topics are revisited for reflection during evening Process Groups (known as “The Summit”).

One of your tasks, should you be hired, is to teach two or three of these Ed Groups, which always begin with a didactic presentation and end with an experiential activity. Our goal is this: While students are learning the skills needed to adjust to the elements of Joshua Tree, they are also learning the skills needed to improve in the areas of Self, Community, Action and Impact.

As a result of this approach, our Joshua Tree course incorporates the very best practices from experiential education. That results in a hands-on, student-directed, project-based, and interdisciplinary program that provides students with the opportunity to apply academic concepts to the real world.

By teaching a core curriculum that emphasis teamwork, environmental stewardship and the acquisition of technical skills, this outdoor course improves the students’ self-confidence and interpersonal relationships.

Depending on your experience, education and certifications, we’ll pay you between $100 to $140 per day for the course. Keep in mind too that we’re looking for people with a minimum of three years current and continued professional outdoor education experience — preferably with multi-day expeditions. And we’ll need for you to have your Wilderness First Responder certification by the time the trip departs.

Ready to apply? Send a resume to HR@NCOAE.org with the subject line “J-Tree 2014.” We hope to hear from you soon!