Education Outreach

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Education Outreach:

Education Assistants at Preston’s Smithfield are volunteers who assist Preston’s Smithfield staff in:

• Educational site tasks including but not limited to:
• assisting the Operations Manager in delivering educational content and programs to visiting groups, assisting with Summer Camp programming, assisting with the development and delivery of educational programming and activities for special events, assisting with the creation of educational programs and activities, etc.

• Volunteers interested in working in education outreach will assist the Visitor Experiences Manager in teaching visiting school groups about Historic Smithfield and Colonial history and will help bring history into the classroom by participating in history-based educational activities at area schools.

Minimum Requirements

• Must be 18 years of age or older.
• Must have weekday, weekend, holiday, and evening availability.
• High school diploma or equivalent (unless enrolled in high school or GED coursework)
• Must have strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Must successfully complete all institutional and departmental training; must pass all Administrative/Education Assistant training and evaluation assessments.
• Must feel comfortable working with groups of children of varying ages and backgrounds - up to 20 - 30 at once at times.
• Must be able to observe and keep to a timed schedule when working with groups and must possess the ability to alter educational information on the fly depending on the needs of the group/time limit.

Historic Smithfield receives about 1,000 school children on field trips each year. The museum prides itself on the level of quality that its education specialists provide for these groups. Volunteers present on historic topics - usually related to civilian and military topics of the Colonial Period - for these field trip groups. Students are living history interpreters or who have or who plan to work in a public history setting are encouraged to apply. This position would also be a perfect fit for teachers in training, re-enactors, or retired educators.