Now Hiring

NOW HIRING: Acton Socratic Guide (Middle or High School)

 

Acton Academy El Salvador is seeking a full time Guide (similar to a mentor, storyteller, game-maker and coach!) for our Middle and High School classrooms for the 2021-2024 school year. Paid, on-the-job training starts as early as March 2023.

 

Responsibilities include: Oversee a class of up to 15 students in grades 6-8 or 9-12. The Guide will be responsible for facilitating the growth and development of a studio culture of hard work, high standards, warmth and joy.

 

The Apprentice Guide will work with our Directors and Lead Guides to:

• Create meaningful exhibitions, ceremonies and celebrations that reinforce the rules of engagement, personal and group covenants to provide and strengthen a safe learning community.
• Affirm students, holding them accountable to their promises and to their commitment to deliver “the best work they can do” as they discover and pursue a calling on a Hero’s Journey.
• Act as a role model as an independent learner on a Hero’s Journey.
• Launch and lead Socratic (question-driven) group discussions.
• Co-create and launch Quests (projects), including developing daily challenges and curating world class examples.
• Cultivate a positive, beautiful, orderly and inspiring classroom environment.
• Set up systems and guide students in setting goals, tracking their progress and creating portfolios of their work to show peers, parents and future employers what they can do.
• Observe and track each child’s progress via a cutting edge online dashboard.
• Pass along each of these responsibilities to students as quickly as possible, so as to develop and encourage students to lead themselves.
• Practice the Socratic method at all times (i.e., instead of answering questions, guide students to find the answers themselves).
• Communicate/meet with parents in person, via email, ClassDojo, Google Photos on a regular schedule and as needed.
• Research, find and schedule guest speakers, plan field trips, organize events and celebrations.

Though most of the curriculum will be set already, the guide will help set and create daily/weekly/yearly planning as well as evaluating and refining the existing curriculum and designing and experimenting with new projects, tools and approaches.

 

Basic Qualifications:

• Experience or education in education, child psychology, or a related field.
• Loves to work with adolescents.
• Has proven excellence and references in guiding children in or out of a school environment.
• Extra consideration and increased compensation for: international experience, entrepreneurial experience, previous Socratic or Montessori training, summer camp counselors or education or experience in STEM fields, Maker, Tinkerer or Design.
• Extra consideration if you are considering opening your own Acton affiliate within 3- 5 years, outside of El Salvador.

The Ideal Guide:

• loves to experiment, evaluate and improve in everything s/he does
• strikes a good balance between being tough-minded and warm-hearted
• learns quickly, works hard, shows up on time
• is emotionally self-regulating (can keep a poker face amidst a glitter explosion)
• fluent in English 
• proficient in Spanish
• is an autonomous and self-directed learner and an active reader 
• is fun, playful, has high energy and takes initiative
• asks way more questions than tells answers and is excited to learn how to be a Socratic guide
• has a growth mindset and fosters that in others
• can manage conflict well and facilitate conflict management (e.g., Non-Violent Communication principles)
• is orderly, organized and likes to keep their space orderly, clean and beautiful 
• likes to design scientific experiments, creative challenges and team-building activities
• can tell a story, make up a game and design a fun project

Salary: Acton offers a competitive local salary of $750 - $1500 per month, depending on experience, education and leadership ability, plus a bonus structure based on performance and written, quantitative feedback. We also offer a health plan, a healthy meal plan and we will assist with relocation and work permits for the exceptional candidate.The position offers opportunities for professional development, growth and advancement.

 

Timing: Our school year runs from mid-August to mid-June. We run on 4-6 week sessions with 1-3 week breaks in between, during which Guides are expected to balance time off with planning and preparing for the next session. Paid training starts immediately.

 

The training period is directed by the Director of K-12 programs. The Guide mist be willing to complete these learning activities and remove all ego that s/he already knows best. S/he must be excited to understand the Acton and Montessori philosophies on a deep, transformative level.