On-Campus Information
RESPONSIBILITIES OF A VISITING TEACHER
Your most intense work of coordinating adults and students and buses is finished once you have arrived to Sly Park. Congratulations. You deserve a week in the woods. RESPONSIBILITIES OF A VISITING TEACHER
Your most intense work of coordinating adults and students and buses is finished once you have arrived to Sly Park. Congratulations. You deserve a week in the woods.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF A VISITING TEACHER
Know where your students are at all times. The first afternoon our Office Staff will provide you with a list of your students including their cabin and hiking group assignments.
Monitor the health and safety of your students. By being present at meals, stone circle gatherings, attending classes, and hosting your class meetings, you should have a gauge as to how your students are faring.
Design behavior interventions and consequences for students acting out of line. Cabin Leaders are asked not to disclipline students, but rather, report the behaviors to the teachers.
basic needs of a visiting teacher
basic needs of a visiting teacher
basic needs of a visiting teacher
- Visting Teachers will sleep in Mountain Misery Cabin attached to the Office and Med Bay. If the nubmers permit, single occupancy accomodation is possible. However, some weeks require teachers to double-up in a room. Mountain Misery has individual bathrooms/showers. While our single bunk bed mattresses are comfortable, if you generally sleep in something more luxurious, we have heard talk of a mattress topper helping increase the sleeping experience.
- Visiting Teachers will eat in the dining hall at a Teacher Table. If there is room, you may eat with at the student tables. Please notify the dining hall if you have special dietary needs. Mountain Misery has a full refrigerator, coffee maker, and micrwave if you choose to bring your own food/snacks.
- The water at Sly Park is cold and delicious! We offer water, coffee, tea, and milk in abundance and occaisionally iced tea. If you prefer to consume other non-alcoholic beverages please pack them.
ON-CAMPUS DUTIES OF A VISITING TEACHER
ON-CAMPUS DUTIES OF A VISITING TEACHER
Morning Wake-Up Call
7:00 am Daily
The Visiting Teachers have the fun responsibility to announce to all of campus that it is time to get out of bed and start the day! Have fun with this responsibilty!
Our campus-wide announcement system is functional from the phone in Mountain Misery, the Visiting Teacher dorm. Instructions are by the phone.
Morning and Afternoon Rec Time
Rec Time follows each class session with a Sly Park Teacher.
11:45 am - 12:10 pm Morning
4:30 pm - 4:55 pm Afternoon (except Thursday)
This is a time for students who choose to attend to socialize, hang out, be outside and play. Students who opt to have a quiet and calm space head to their cabins during these times.
Please release students to CABINS on time so they may wash hands before the meal.
Visiting Teachers are required to monitor the Basketball Courts [inside the gym in rain/snowy conditions] where we hold rec time. The first Rec Time is not optional, and ALL TEACHERS SHOULD BE ON THE COURTS. However, not all teachers are needed for the remaining Rec Times. A schedule is provided for Visiting Teachers to sign up on the first day.
Mealtime
Our Dining Hall provides great, hearty meals and a phenomenol salad bar. Your duties at meals do not include the meal service side of the Dining Hall. Rather this is a time for Cabin Leaders, students and Sly Park Teachers to easily find and connect with you regarding any number of things that happen on campus. This is also a time for students to recieve medications and mail.
Please have at least ONE teacher per school at each meal.
Song Night
Gulp. On Tuesday night of a 5-day program, each class will get on stage at our amphitheater and perform a song. Practice before you arrive if you have time. Remember-this is more about the experience of getting up in front of a crowd. Have FUN! You can find your own song, create a song on chatGPT, or you will be sent a link in registration process with some ideas.
Cookie Distribuition
After dropping off students from the class meeting to the courts/gym, Visiting Teachers gather in the Dining Hall to distribute the evening cookie to students and Cabin Leaders.
The cookies are in the Dining Hall on a wheeled cart. No cookies contain nuts or traces of nuts. Any cookies for those with special dietary needs will be in separate bags individually marked for each person. Everybody deserves to finish their day with a big cookie!
Extra cookies will be placed in a new container by the Sly Park Teacher.
Cabin Check
After Cookie Distribuition Visiting Teachers are to wait in the Dining Hall while cabins prepare for lights out. Students should be out of showers by 9:15 pm, so Visiting Teachers may begin to make their rounds as early as 9:20 pm. Remember, we are prepping the students to settle down to sleep!
After 9:30 pm, Visiting Teachers wait while Sly Park Teachers do their rounds.
All head to Mountain Misery once the campus seems settled.
Astronomy Night
Weather and Night Sky conditions permitting, Sly Park hosts Astronomy Night as an optional activity for students who with to forgo an evening shower. A Sly Park Teacher, along with the assistance of ONE or more Visiting Teachers will set our telescopes on the moon, planets, or other celestial objects.
Visiting Teachers are helpful in getting students TO the Observatory and monitoring one telescope as students cycle through.
NIGHTLY CLASS MEETING TIPS FOR A VISITING TEACHER
NIGHTLY CLASS MEETING TIPS FOR A VISITING TEACHER
NIGHTLY CLASS MEETING TIPS FOR A VISITING TEACHER
You will be assigned an inside meeting location to meet nightly from 6:15 - 7:15 pm with your students. This is a way to check-in with how things are going in the cabins and on the trail. It is also a way to monitor students' levels of homesickness, health, and general well-being. This one-hour time slot includes transition time from the prior activity and to the Evening Wrap-Up Assembly, which generally translates to about 45 minutes of time with your class.
There is room for flexibility in how you meet your students. If you have more than one class from your school, you may choose to personalize the structure of your class meeting.
- Some teachers prefer to meet as an entire school in one location.
- Some teachers prefer to offer different experiences for their students and let them choose: a calm, quiet spot for reading, cards, checkers, etc., a more lively spot for games, a purely social hang out and talk spot, the gym for active games.
- some teachers prefer to meet with only their students.
- basic supplies [paper, pencils, crayons, colored pencils & coliring pages]
- basic games [checkers, jenga, keva planks]
- stories
If you would like students to journal about their Sly Park Experience, here are 2 Evening Journal Options you may print before arriving. These are different from the Sly Park Journals each student will get in their hiking group.
- SEL Journal Before & During Sly Park Visit
- SEL journal Campus Only This is the same as the previous journal WITHOUT the pages included for the at-school activities.
