A commitment of a full academic year is required. For those unable to visit the site in person, arrangements can be made for a phone interview and the submission of a videotape of demonstration teaching. One person coordinates hiring, supervision, evaluation, and training. Training Before taking on a group of their own students, interns spend three weeks in preparation. The first week is spent in staff training.
Interns then spend one week observing a permanent, experienced naturalist.
The third week is spent team teaching with another experienced naturalist. This training period helps interns to be more successful in their first few weeks of independent teaching. A standard curriculum is modeled by permanent staff during the training period. Interns follow this model during their first few weeks of teaching and then are free to develop lessons that teach to our curricular objectives. Formal observation occurs four times throughout the ten month internship.