ANNOUNCING……
Great Books Academy seeks bilingual (Spanish-English) Moderators
Over the years, we have had many requests for a Spanish version of the Great Books Academy home education curriculum. We are pleased to announce that we anticipate offering the first year of the Great Books Program – the Greek Year – in Spanish starting in Fall 2022. We will add the next Great Books Program year each subsequent year, and additional Spanish-language programs over time.
To that end, we are seeking bilingual teachers (English and Spanish) familiar with the Great Books of Western civilization to serve as moderators and/or graders. Anyone interested in this opportunity should fill out an application and attach an updated resume. Students interested in more information about our Spanish-language programs should email info@greatbooksacademy.org, in either English or Spanish.
Our online enrollment form will be updated to add this Spanish-language Great Books Program, on or before April 1, 2022. However, we accept phone-in enrollments year round (719-373-6876) – please leave a return call number. Thank you!
Q & A for New Applicants
Q. Can you tell me more about the role of a moderator?
A. Great Books Academy moderators will co-moderate from 1 to 5 weekly classes that are 2-hours in length; a maximum of one class per day; the program director makes these assignments based on moderator availability. Many of our moderators are fully employed elsewhere or serve as university faculty, so you may consider this an adjunct position, given that we hire moderators as independent contract tutors. There are always two moderators assigned to each 2-hour class session.
Q. How much preparation is involved?
A. That depends on how familiar moderators are with the assigned readings. They are, of course, required to have read the work under discusión, and if they did not do so recently, to at least review it carefully before class to refresh their memory about it. We use the Socratic method, meaning that there are no lectures to prepare, but rather, moderators prepare questions in advance to initiate and guide the conversation as it unfolds. There is also no grading involved, as we have separate graders for that.
Q. What do the students read?
You can find a full list of readings by year here: https://greatbooksacademy.org/great-books-program/great-books-readings/
Q. Where do Great Books Academy students live?
A. Though many of our students live in North America, we do have many international students. During any given session, a moderator might have students logging in from a number of countries. With our Spanish-language Great Books program, we anticipate drawing in Spanish-speaking students from the U.S. as well as from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries.
Q. Can you tell me more about the role of a grader?
A. Great Books Academy graders in the Spanish-language program will need to be able to read and write both Spanish and English, and would grade weekly brief-answer papers, and two lengthier essays per student, per semester. Graders focus on grammar, syntax, style, content, and logic.
Q. Can the same person serve as a moderator and a grader?
A. Yes. Please indicate on the application that you would like to be considered for both roles.
