Eagle Rock, Author at Eagle Rock Blog

We’re Now Focused on Filling Post for Experienced Science Instructor

If you, or someone you know, is an experienced high school science teacher who believes in the potential of young people, would enjoy being part of a social justice-focused instructional team, and is excited about experiential education and project-based learning — then we would like to hear from you or your acquaintance.

At the minimum, our new Science Instructional Specialist should possess a bachelor’s degree in science, or a related STEM degree. A master’s degree is preferred. As for the position itself, it commands the delivery of innovative curriculum that encourages students to invest in a healthy curiosity as well as scientific thinking. The science instructor we’ll hire should also have experience in Big Picture, Expeditionary Learning, or similar progressive school models.

Most important is experience working with diverse populations, including students from differing racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds — specifically LGBTQ students and those from lower-income backgrounds. This includes keeping priorities of diversity, equity, and inclusion top of mind.

Among the attributes we seek from our new science instructional specialist: Continue reading…

Eagle Rock School Seeks a Full-time Music & Performance Instructional Specialist

If music and theater are your passions and teaching specialties, and you have a deep desire to work with a diverse group of high school students from across the nation who fancy themselves musicians and actors among other things, you or someone you know may be interested in one of our latest job openings — Music & Performance Instructional Specialist.

In addition to leading a schoolwide music and performance program and overseeing our school’s theatrical performances, the winning candidate for this job will put together and deliver a curriculum that is both innovative and creative.

Other requirements for this position include skills in vocal technique and piano, including the ability to play contemporary and popular music; as well as the ability to teach voice, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. A basic understanding of technical theater, lighting design, sound design, set construction, props, and costumes is also a must.

At a minimum, our Music & Performance Instructional Specialist position requires a bachelor or master’s degree (preferred) in music, performance or a related degree. And to be even more specific, below is a short list of the expertise you should already have in your teaching tool kit before arriving for your first day of work:

Experience teaching high school music with a wide variety of course designs and program models.
Experience in Big Picture, Expeditionary Learning, or similar progressive school models.
A commitment to experiential education, project-based learning, and the creative process.
Experience working with diverse populations including students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, LGBTQ students, and students from low-income families.
A demonstrated commitment to engage wholeheartedly in our organizational priority of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

In addition to real-world experience, you will need to demonstrate success in Continue reading…

We’re Looking for a Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist

Once again, we’re searching for a qualified candidate to join our instructional team — this time as a Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist. The winning applicant will serve as part of our anti-racist, social justice-focused instructional team, and will be charged with leading our school’s efforts to deliver literacy to all students with our own brand of competency-based curriculum.

But before we get to the requirements for the job, we should advise anyone who is interested in working at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center that our preference is for instructors who consider their positions as more of a calling than just a job. To that end, we will be asking you to consider working as a residential Houseparent for student housing. Further, we will ask that you mentor students one night a week. And we’d like our new instructor to be an active member of the Eagle Rock community by attending community meetings, helping with on- and off-campus service projects, and sharing your unique skills, ranging from sports to poetry to any other talents.

Now for the requirements of the job. Candidates for the Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist position must possess: Continue reading…

Highlighting 4 More Classes Offered in the Second Half of ER-82

This week, we’d like to give you a glimpse at some of the class offerings available to students during this, the second half of the 82nd trimester. You might notice references in these class descriptions below that talk about Individual Learning Plans (ILP), Power Standards, Distribution Requirements, and Required Experiences.

If you’re new to Eagle Rock, we feel compelled to fill you in on these terms and what exactly is required from each member of our student body before graduation. First off, a student’s Individual Learning Plan (ILP) is just that — individual and personal. It is made up of three sections, including Power Standards, Distribution Requirements, and Required Experiences.

When we talk about Power Standards, these are proficiency requirements in each of our Five Expectations — Healthy Life Choices, Effective Communication, Engaged Global Citizen, Leadership for Justice, and Expanding Knowledge Base. These standardized graduation “musts” can be attained via successfully completing a select class offering, or independent study projects.

For Distribution Requirements, students must meet proficiency standards for at least 24 credits. Those include two credits for each of the Five Expectations, with the remaining 14 earned in other classes. Work performed outside the classroom can garner another two credits. All Eagle Rock classes offer distribution credits, so students have the opportunity to participate in many such experiences.

For more details about Power Standards, please consider reading The Role of Power Standards in this Trimester’s Class Offerings. And for Distribution Requirements, check out Distribution Requirements Play a Big Role in This Trimester’s Latest Class Offerings.

Here then are the four classes we’d like to tell you about: Continue reading…

Job Announcement — Professional Development Associate

Even in the midst of a pandemic, life within the Eagle Rock community continues, as does the occasional opportunity for new staff members to join our team. With that in mind, we are currently seeking candidates for the position of Professional Development Associate, and we would like to have that new staff member onboard by March 1, 2021.

As with all of our positions at Eagle Rock, we’re looking for a person who believes in the potential of young people and is eager to join educators and communities in being a part of enacting major changes in schools across the country. Our winning candidate should be completely comfortable with working at a diverse, tuition-free boarding school that has at its core a belief system that is based on antiracism, relationships, and beloved community.

Before we get to the responsibilities required for the position, we need to outline the qualifications.

First, you must possess a bachelor’s or master’s degree, excellent facilitation and organizational skills, extensive public school experience, and connections to organizations and supporters of antiracist educational change.
In addition, you should be skillful at collaborating with young people, fellow colleagues, educators, administrators, and networks of school partners. You should have experience in working with individuals from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural background, as well as those who identify as LGBTQ+.
Finally, we are looking to hire someone who considers working at Eagle Rock as more of a calling than a 9 to 5 job. This means possessing boundless energy, a team mentality, visionary thinking, seasoned judgment, and a sense of humor.

Among the responsibilities of the professional development associate are these specific requirements: Continue reading…

Eagle Rock Community Puts a “Stamp” on Social Justice

This week, we wrap up our synopses of a number of classes currently underway at Eagle Rock School with It’s Lit! Circles — a gathering of students and community members in what’s known as a Literature Circle for the purpose of discussing literature in depth.

(Source: Schlick Noe, K.L. & Johnson, N.J. (1999). Getting Started with Literature Circles. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.)

Literature circles such as ours provide a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to works of literature. In this case, the Eagle Rock community has dedicated this trimester to reading the book STAMPED, Racism, Antiracism, and You, which was written by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.

STAMPED is a “remix” of Kendi’s 2016 National Book Award Winner, Stamped From The Beginning. And as the author explains, it’s not a history book. Rather, it is a “book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race.”

That falls in step with one of Eagle Rock’s founding principles, which calls for a commitment to Continue reading…

Getting into ‘Good Trouble’ at Eagle Rock School

As has been the case over the past four weeks here on our blog, this week we’re highlighting another class that focuses much of its attention on presenting Eagle Rock School students with important issues surrounding social justice and nonviolence. Fittingly called Good Trouble, this class is exploring the history of peaceful opposition and social justice through the lives and works of Nobel Peace Laureates from around the world.

The title of the class, Good Trouble, comes from John Lewis, an American statesman and civil rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020, who said, “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

In Good Trouble, students are looking at ways to peacefully engage with those who might hold opposing views to their own — always in a constructive manner. In addition to learning how to correspond civilly across lines of difference, students are exploring the intersections of identity, history, current events, and social change and action.

The class is being taught by Josán Perales, our World Languages instructional specialist; Lucia Sicius and Matisyn Darby, two of our 2020/2021 Public Allies fellows; Courthney Russell, Jr., our Residential Life Program coordinator; and Annie Kelston, a student services program specialist and Explore Week coordinator.

And for the first time in Eagle Rock history, we’re using a curriculum that was designed by a Public Allies fellow! Second-year fellow Lucia Sicius spent this past summer preparing six chapters of action-oriented curricula for and by youth, in collaboration with interns at the Peace Jam Foundation —an international organization working through the inspiration of past Nobel Laureates. As an alum of the program, Lucia saw an opportunity for Eagle Rock to model a class that explores identity, storytelling, and deliberate action among students.

The Good Trouble afternoon block is a direct response to current events in the world. Lucia said that, with the inspiration of Continue reading…

Class Focus: Tending to Mind, Body and Soul Creates a Champion

Much more than just a scheduled workout program, In the Mind of a Champion is a new class offering at Eagle Rock School that asks participating students to reflect on their own mind, body, and spirit, and to also consider how the world currently aligns with their personal values.

With intent on developing a personalized physical fitness program, students are also being asked to contemplate on how the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and COVID-19 have had an impact on professional athletes.

Led by Jocelyn Rodriguez, Eagle Rock’s athletics coordinator, and Dan Marigny, a 2020/2021 Public Allies Fellow, students enrolled in this class are listening, researching, and speaking up about how the coronavirus has changed the way sports are viewed, and how athletes are now standing in solidarity on issues put forth by social justice movements like Black Lives Matter. Specifically, each student is asked how they may be able to adopt these athletes’ platform practices into their own lives.

In addition to highlighting aspects of their physical workout with Jocelyn and Don each week, students are asked to reflect on their mind, body, and spirit and how each aspect contributes to their personal views on the world around them and what it means to be a “champion.” Specifically, they are asked for their take on why athletes in various sports have opted out of participating in their current season, dedicating time to activism, and walked off of fields and courts to make a statement about the importance of justice.

What is each student expected to take away from this class? Simply put, the primary objective is to Continue reading…

Ballot Box Stats Prove Voting MATHers

Hilary Clinton wasn’t the first presidential candidate to win the popular vote yet lose the election. Truth is, statistics and demographics have affected several elections over the centuries. And that’s important stuff to know, according to Stephany Subdiaz, Math Instructional Specialist, who is teaching a class this trimester called Voting MATHers.

So, was it entirely unfair that Clinton received more popular votes in the 2016 campaign than Donald Trump? Perhaps. But maybe not. Students enrolled in Subdiaz’s class are exploring the mathematics behind our nation’s elections. How do all those individual ballots get counted? Is the count generally accurate?

In Voting MATHers, students are also taking a close view of the Electoral College — a complex system that some folks believe should be disbanded. They’re also looking at alternative voting systems and methods of tallying votes, with an eye on the advantages and disadvantages of some of these vote-counting options.

So far students have discovered that depending on what state someone lives in, their vote can count more than others and vice versa. For example, a candidate could potentially win the electoral college vote while winning only 22 percent of the popular vote in certain states.

This week, for example, students are Continue reading…

Our 82nd Trimester Offers Life-Changing Classes for Students

As we began our 82nd trimester here at Eagle Rock School & Professional Development Center, we again found our student body proactively participating — albeit online and at home for now — in a half-dozen classes that are likely to have real-life impacts on our committed and engaged students.

Nearly all of this trimester’s class offerings are explored with an informed lens on what’s occurring across the United States at the present moment. From the Black Likes Matter movement and the upcoming Presidential election, to the health pandemic, students are exploring and learning about the important issues behind peace, social justice, nonviolence, the current and future state of the nation, and one’s own health and wellbeing.

As you’ll read below, this time around, students are looking at nonviolent protests through the works of Nobel Peace winners, as well as the determination of athletes who have opted out of participating in their current season, instead dedicating their efforts to activism.

Finally, below, we introduce three personal growth experiences in which all students are participating. These cover stress, resilience, and staying connected during these most unprecedented and changing times.

Over the next five weeks or so here on the blog, we plan to shine an additional spotlight on five of the classes mentioned below. In the meantime, here’s a short synopsis of what our students are studying and experiencing this trimester at Eagle Rock School:

Voting MATHers: Granted, it’s a clever name for a math class, but Eagle Rock Math Instructional Specialist Stephany Subdiaz is showing students how mathematics plays an important part in our nation’s complex voting system. Stephany’s students are exploring the math behind the ballot box. How are the ballots counted? Why does it matter? How do statistics and demographics affect the outcomes? There’s plenty of math in Voting MATHers.

You Are What You Eat: In this class, students are taking a close look at how Continue reading…