BECOME A TEACHING SPECIALIST

Who is a Springboard & Young Audiences Teaching Specialist?

A residency teaching specialist develops a 5 to 14 session curriculum with hands-on materials for children to taste, wear, feel, see, smell, or hear EVERY time they come to school. They are sensitive to student learning levels and is careful to show and explain vocabulary (preferably experientially) and new ideas. They work in cooperation with classroom teachers applying lessons to the ongoing curriculum in a multi-disciplinary manner. Springboard & Young Audiences specialists use EVERYTHING in their teaching approach. Residency teaching specialists often create 45-90 minute workshops for schools interested in a shorter program.

A performing teaching specialist combines the excitement of a live presentation with audience participation for a large group of students. Performing artists and ensembles bring educational topics to life and introduce young minds to the artistry and talent of professional performers. All artists and ensembles are professionals in their respective disciplines. They are carefully chosen on the basis of educational effectiveness, artistic skill, and their ability to communicate with young people. Many of the artists work with other area arts organizations and/or teach at area universities. They are reaccredited by Springboard & Young Audiences each year.

A Springboard & Young Audiences Teaching Specialist is a guest in the school they serve. They are there to motivate children, stimulate ideas, and provide teachers with accurate and interesting information and activities. They listen carefully to the children and their questions, answering all inquiries and pursuing related lines of thinking as they appear. A Springboard & Young Audiences Teaching Specialist is flexible, adjusting teaching patterns to meet the curiosity and interest of those in the class. They are enthusiastic and excited about the topic, and are able to communicate in such a way that children are stimulated by the discussions, and prompted to discuss the learning at home with family or friends. Teaching Specialists often bring materials they have found outside class time to their classes.

Springboard & Young Audiences Teaching Specialists understand cooperation (versus competition) and apply those techniques to befriend all those in the school setting. They try to share their experience with all those in the school even those who are not in their classroom. This is done by sharing with the faculty in lunchroom conversations and in faculty lounges, on bulletin boards, during parent presentations, etc.

A Teaching Specialist is Springboard & Young Audiences-oriented. They are a Springboard & Young Audiences Teaching Specialist everywhere. They assist in finding new Teaching Specialist, bringing new ideas or programs to Springboard & Young Audiences, sharing teaching/learning techniques, attending staff meetings and knowing that each of them IS Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis. They are committed to children, sharing knowledge, and continuing and expanding the Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis approach.

The ideal Springboard & Young Audiences program:

• fosters critical thinking;
• calls for active involvement on the part of students;
• supports cooperative learning;
• seeks to tie students’ prior knowledge to new understandings; and motivates, stimulates and inspires students to learn more.

Since Springboard & Young Audiences lessons are interdisciplinary, Springboard & Young Audiences staff works with Teaching Specialists to identify ways in which new understandings match the Missouri Show-Me Standards and learning goals. Ideally, Springboard & Young Audiences Teaching Specialists work in cooperation with classroom teachers to relate presentations to the ongoing curriculum and to leave behind materials for children seeking even more curricular enrichment.

Teach and perform with Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis

To apply for a teaching specialist position, please contact Julie Johnson at 314.289.4127 or jjohnson@springboardtolearning.org.