Overview
Community Adventure Program (CAP) Instructor Position Description
Cottonwood Institute is looking for an inspired and passionate educator to teach our CAP Class, an innovative elective that blends service learning, community building, and environmental and outdoor education. During CAP, students develop outdoor skills and connect with themselves, each other, and the natural world on field days and overnight camping trips. Students also explore solutions to local environmental issues, choose a challenge to address as a class, and collaborate with local organizations to design and implement a student-directed Action Project in their community. As a CAP Instructor, you will:
Design and lead engaging, hands-on lessons on environmental issues, outdoor skills, and community action.
Create a positive space for teenage students to learn from and connect with one another.
Facilitate student-led service projects focused on positively addressing local environmental issues.
Provide individualized support to ensure students and families are well prepared for their trip experiences.
Collaborate with a co-instructor to facilitate positive field day and overnight camping expeditions.
We are currently hiring a CAP instructor for our AXL Academy partnership. In addition to the program times listed below, CAP Instructors will have approximately two paid hours of planning time for each paid hour of class time.
Grade level: We currently offer one 7th grade class and one 8th grade class per trimester.
Program Days: 2 classes per day, 5 days per week, Monday-Friday, with 2 field days & 2 overnights per trimester
Class Times:
Trimester 1 and 2: 10:25-11:25 and 1:10-2:10
Trimester 3: 1:10-2:10 and 2:10-3:10
Contract Length: August 19, 2024 – June 4, 2025
Anticipated hours per week: ~30-40 hours per week, with additional paid hours for trips, trainings & other duties
About Aurora Expeditionary Learning (AXL) Academy
Aurora Expeditionary Learning (AXL) Academy is a PK-8 Expeditionary Learning school and serves 400 students from Aurora. Cottonwood has partnered with AXL for the past 8 years and has a long history of successfully offering CAP Class. AXL student demographics include 78% free and reduced lunch rates, 41% Hispanic, 29% Black/African American, 20% white, and 3% Asian, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander.
Qualifications:
See full job description at https://www.cottonwoodinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CAP-Instructor-AXL-Job-Description-2024-1.pdf
About Cottonwood Institute
Cottonwood Institute (CI) is a 501(c)3 non-profit on a mission to connect middle and high school students to nature and inspire them to protect it. CI partners with local schools and youth organizations to engage students in the outdoors through environmental education programs and service learning projects. We lead classes and programs in Boulder, Denver, and Aurora and overnight trips throughout the Colorado Front Range.
