FAQs

1. What would I be doing as an instructor?
2. What opportunities are available with working consecutive seasons?
3. What will I be teaching?
4. What does a typical day look like?
5. What kind of training will I receive?

1. What would I be doing as an instructor?

• You will be learning and teaching pre-approved academic and adventure classes (these are described more on our website).
• You will be facilitating both Teambuilding and High Ropes Course.
• You will be teaching Astronomy.
• You will be potentially taking groups on field trips to surrounding natural areas.
• You will be leading fun, enthusiastic and crazy evening activities.
• You will rise early in the morning and go to bed late at night.

2. What opportunities are available with working consecutive seasons?

After a successful season as an instructor at The Outdoor School, instructors have the opportunity to return for consecutive seasons. Returning instructors are expected to take up more responsibilities, learn to facilitate more academic and adventure courses, provide leadership to incoming instructors, and help facilitate training. Additional responsibilities of these positions include:

• Holding a leadership role throughout the season (training, off site excursions, evening activities, etc.).
• Becoming a lead instructor and serving as The Outdoor School’s representative for visiting schools.

3. What will I be teaching?

TOS has a selection of over 20 classes and activities that schools may choose from. These include both academic and adventure activities.

Don’t worry, we don’t ask each instructor to learn all of our courses; that would be impossible to accomplish in our three-week training period. Most instructors learn between 8 and 10 classes, enough to keep you excited about teaching, but not so many that you are overwhelmed!

There are, however, several classes that ALL instructors will teach: Astronomy, Water Quality, Teambuilding, and the Belaying on the Ropes Course. Almost every school chooses these activities; because of their popularity, all instructors must learn and be proficient in these classes. A list of the classes and their descriptions can be found in the “Teacher” section of the website. Take a look at the classes and their descriptions to get a sneak peek!

4. What does a typical day look like?

We have schools arriving and leaving periodically during the week, so this question is a bit tricky to answer. Check out under the “Teachers Section: Field Trip Options” on our website to get a general idea of what a typical schedule will look like for any given school. An important point to keep in mind is that an instructor’s schedule may vary a little in terms of the start of the day (setup before breakfast), breaks (work duty) and other various times during the day.

5. What kind of training will I receive?

When you first arrive at The Outdoor School, we have three weeks of orientation and training.

During training, we will spend time on academic training. You’ll watch as we model many of our classes, and then you decide which classes are the ones that you are most interested in teaching. We’ll demonstrate and provide you with teaching techniques as well as tips for teaching in the outdoors. You’ll get the chance to “mock teach” as well, so that if you’ve never taught before, you can see what works best for you and what areas you can improve upon.

We’ll also spend plenty of time on ropes course training. All instructors will learn how to safely belay participants. Those on the Ropes Crew will learn how to set up, take down and care for our equipment, as well as the technical mechanics of how a ropes course and the equipment work. All instructors will also spend considerable time on teambuilding: how to organize, lead and process a session.

The remaining few days are spent on all those little details that can get “lost” in the bigger picture: What happens once a school arrives; how to plan for students of different ages and socio-economic backgrounds; and certification in CPR and First Aid.

So, never fear! If you don’t know anything about geology, we will teach you! If you don’t know anything about teambuilding, we will teach you! If you’ve never worked with fifth graders, we will teach you!