DESCRIPTION
The Greenhouse is a newly launched social impact design lab for NYC Jewish teens and their peers. Our experiences will expose teens to soft and hard skills, including: critical thinking, creative problem solving, storytelling, design thinking and social entrepreneurship. The Greenhouse is a platform for Jewish teens and their peers to connect with inspiring educators, activists, artists, authors, and entrepreneurs to learn about themselves and their Jewish identity and community, to wrestle with life’s big questions, and to take action in the world through a range of hands-on program offerings.
We will offer experiences through three distinct program pillars:
● The Greenhouse Series: The Greenhouse Series is our most accessible way to attend programming at The Greenhouse. Programming is curated by a teen leadership committee alongside mentors and includes inspirational one-off or mini series workshops, panels, events, parties, fun partnerships, and classes on a range of interesting topics including: future careers, design and creativity, Jewish history and culture, food, current trends, life at college, and so much more.
● Immersive Design Lab: The Immersive Design Lab is the core offering of The Greenhouse – a semester long, 4-month creative problem solving lab that focuses on a specific challenge where teens learn about design, research, prototyping and creative methods. Each year, the Labs will focus on 2-3 themes. For 2018 we have chosen: The Brain, Citizenship and Survival.
● Travel Experiences: The Experiential Travel Program is our travel series that will bring teens to different places and incorporate aspects like history & culture, and also design and problem solving in local context in places like Mexico City, Israel, and Argentina, etc. The travel experiences can be an important part of the Immersive Design Lab experience, or as separate stand-alone programming.
What We’re Looking For
We are looking for incredible educators, facilitators, creative thinkers, community organizers, trip leaders, curriculum developers, entrepreneurs, and inspiring professionals to join us in designing and leading a program experience(s) for a cohort of teens between 13-18 years old (8th grade through 12th grade) for Fall 2017 and/or Winter/Spring/Summer 2018.
We encourage diverse applicants to apply. Being Jewish is not required. Prior teaching experience and/or working with teens is also not required. We will train all faculty on working with teens, how to incorporate Jewish knowledge and wisdom, and the fundamentals of design thinking and social impact.
The Role
You will help develop, design, and/or lead a program experience(s) for The Greenhouse – anything from a one-time event, to a short workshop series, to a longer semester-long design lab or 3 day, 1 week, or month long trip. We imagine the Founding Faculty role to be equal parts entrepreneurial in helping us create a new program, while also tapping into your expertise in a certain subject matter area. We welcome applicants who have an idea for a program that you’ve always wanted to run.
You will join a vibrant Founding Faculty team and community of practice who will meet regularly to workshop curriculum, learn from one another, and share best practices when it comes to working with teens. We will offer professional development trainings on best practices in working with a teen population, the fundamentals of Jewish knowledge and wisdom as it relates to curriculum design, and the design thinking process that will inspire the design lab format.
We encourage individuals, duos, and small teams to apply together if you would like to co-lead a program or sessions. If you don’t have a fully baked idea, that is ok too! We are focused on getting the best people in the room to teach and lead teens, and will work with you on content.
HOW TO APPLY
rschumer@swfs.org