JOB DESCRIPTION: PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SPECIALIST
Location: Big Thought Headquarters
Reports to: Director of Professional Learning
Division: Big Thought Institute (BTI)
Position Type: Full time/Exempt
Supervision: No
About the Role:
This position will assist and take ownership for the preparation and execution of professional learning activities in the areas of content, development, training, coaching, and assessment of support services for both in school time (IST) and out of school time (OST)
About Big Thought:
Big Thought equips youth in marginalized communities to imagine and create their best lives and world. The secret that makes our work uniquely effective is the powerful combination of our social and emotional focus, experiential learning, community-centered partnerships, inclusion/equity lens and future focus.
Throughout our 30+ year history of innovation, Big Thought has become a national model in arts education, out of school time systems, summer learning and juvenile justice intervention. Now, were one of six community partnerships in the U.S helping scale national best practices in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). We take direct-to-youth programs and resources to communities with the greatest needs and share our evidence-based best practices with other nonprofits and organizations through a suite of consultation services including professional development, curriculum design and technical assistance.
#Big Thought Way:
Big Thought brings relentless optimism, innovation and imagination to everything we do. Our kids come first, and we use a collaborative, all hands-on deck approach to ensure that they are served well.
About the Ideal Candidate:
The ideal candidate is a team collaborator, knowing both his/her strengths as well as areas of growth, and conveys a strong skill in being open to growth. This person demonstrates an ability to lead, and more importantly follow the direction of leadership as set forth in Big Thoughts strategic plan and in the strategic expansion of the professional learning division. This person can rise to challenges, persevere through adversity, and demonstrate empathy with internal BT staff as well as external partners and clients.
What the Role Entails:
- Demonstrate a strong understanding of professional development practices
- Open to continued education and competency development in the areas of diversity, inclusion and equity and other educational systems and methodologies
- Clear cultural awareness in execution of duties
- Support ongoing documentation, cataloging and maintenance of training materials
- Research/benchmark other methods of advancing professional development
- Facilitate learning sessions (both asynchronous and synchronous)
- Implement design and delivery of Adult Coaching Models
- Establish a Continuous Improvement model within Professional Development
- Collaborate with the Youth Advisory Council to translate and best facilitate adult relationships, interactions, and learning
- Demonstrate the ability to learn, understand, and lead training on the Six Dimensions of Quality (Revised) 6DQ-R to measure and assess high quality instruction through observation
- Open to applying Big Thoughts coaching model that includes observation and self-reflection. Video/audio recordings of client coaching sessions may be required to accomplish self-reflection
- Develop and sustain strong relationships with both internal/external clients
- Develop Customer Service centered processes & procedures
- Work with Design function in the development and implementation of curriculum, training and assessment
- Clear understand of Emotional Intelligence (EQ)