Professional Learning

Last Updated

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The New York City Writing Project provides several modes of professional learning for teachers in NYC and the surrounding areas. In addition to our In-Service Programs and our teacher Fellowships, we also offer several stand-alone opportunities for P-16 educators and administrators to learn more about the NYCWP’s student-centered approaches to teaching literacy. Some such options are listed below; for more information about specific upcoming professional learning offerings, please visit our Upcoming Events page.

 

  • Stand-Alone Professional Learning Workshops: The NYCWP offers several single-day, stand-alone professional learning workshops at Lehman College throughout the school year. Most, but not all, of these workshops are aligned with NYC DOE Chancellor’s Days for Professional Learning. These workshops are hands-on and experiential; we engage teachers (as the adult learners they are) in a variety of classroom-appropriate activities, then facilitate conversations about the pedagogy and educational theory that support those practices. These workshops are open to individual registration or registration of a school group; administrators may pay for teachers to attend using a purchase order if they are so inclined. In some cases, we are able to bring these workshops to a school site if you would like to engage a larger group. Past topics for stand-alone professional learning workshops have included using writing to create classroom community; strategies for engaging ENL and NLL students in high-quality literacy experiences; development of student voice in writing; writing argument in the content areas; and other topics.

 

  • Annual Teacher-to-Teacher Conference: Each spring, the NYCWP hosts its annual Teacher-to-Teacher Conference, which brings together more than 200 educators from NYC and the surrounding areas for a full day of professional learning. The Conference includes choice from multiple teacher-created and -facilitated workshops and panels on a variety of topics appropriate for teachers of varying grades and content areas, as well as exciting keynote addresses from high-profile speakers in the fields of education, literature, and community action. Past keynote speakers have included Kylene Beers; Marlon Peterson; Taylor Mali; Peter Elbow; Walter Dean Meyers; Jacqueline Woodson; Justin Torres; and others. The Conference is always the highlight of our year.

 

  • Writing Marathons: The NYCWP hosts several writing marathons per year, typically one per season. These events happen at a variety of locations around New York City, and investigate the way that the world can be used to inspire writing. Marathons serve to engage the teacher-as-writer, but also provide opportunities for teachers to consider the way writing-in-the-world can be useful for students. In the past, we have hosted marathons at cultural institutions (AMNH, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York, the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian); public spaces (the Coney Island Boardwalk, the Highline, the New York Botanical Garden, the MTA subway system); coffee shops; parks; and other locations.

 

  • Book Clubs: Periodically, the NYCWP will host single- or multi-session book clubs during which participants read and engage with full-length professional texts that can inform practice. Typically, participants discuss the content of the texts and plan for practical application together; then, at later sessions, they share the outcomes of the use of this book in their classroom with teachers from other schools. In some instances, teams from the same school have participated in our book clubs, which influenced the school-wide PL model and resulted in the whole staff adopting principles learned in the book clubs. We run our book clubs free of charge, but ask participants to purchase their own texts.

 

  • Summer Professional Learning Programs: The NYCWP offers a wide range of summer professional learning opportunities that meet a variety of teacher needs and interests. In addition to our Fellowship Programs, we offer Open Institutes for new teachers and those new to Writing Project work; Institutes with special focuses such as teaching NLLs and Connected Learning, and programs that foster the teacher-as-writer.