“I think every teacher should take this class, and classes about this type of content should be more readily available. It was fabulous!”
— Edible Schoolyard NYC Professional Development Participant
See below for our upcoming Professional Development opportunities:
April 5: Virtual Family Programming in the Age of Covid
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
Gardening and cooking are great ways to engage your parent community, but family events are challenging in the current public health climate. Join the garden teachers of PS 216, Cecilia Galarraga and Emily Rehberger, as they talk through some of the strategies that have worked for them in this most unusual of school years. Come prepared to share your ideas and ask questions.
April 8: Planning your Spring Garden in the Age of Covid
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
Mirem Villamil, Edible Schoolyard NYC’s Head Garden Manager, guides you in creating a reliable Spring planting plan and covid-safe protocols for your school garden, as we start a growing season with unusual and unpredictable challenges. Come prepared to ask questions and share your own expertise!
April 12: Teaching about Water in the School Garden
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
Growing plants gives students an immediate connection to the importance of water. Join PS 7 garden teacher, Anthony Jones, as he shares lessons and activities that teach students about the watershed, the water cycle and other aspects of water in their lives. Come prepared to share your own ideas and to ask questions.
April 14: Simple Virtual Cooking Activities for Students
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
Join PS 7 cooking teacher Jo Quiocho as she shares recipes and activities she has brought to her students virtually this year. Jo will also share strategies for making virtual cooking with kids as engaging and accessible as possible. Come prepared to share your own ideas and to ask questions.
April 22: Bringing Black History Perspectives into the Garden and Kitchen Classroom
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
Join PS 7 garden teacher, Anthony Jones, as he shares lessons that incorporate black voices and perspectives into our cooking and gardening classes. Come with questions and ideas about recentering the narrative around food and the environment to make it more accurate and inclusive.
April 26: Teaching Elementary Students about the Environment and Sustainability
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
Join PS 216 garden teachers, Cecilia Galarraga and Emily Rehberger as they share lessons and activities they have used to engage their students in learning about sustainability and the environment. Come with your own ideas and questions about teaching these crucial and challenging topics in a developmentally appropriate manner.
May 5: Fun Food Activities to Teach about the Environment
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
PS 7 cooking teacher Jo Quiocho knows that her students love to cook and eat with her, so she has been creating simple recipes to supplement her lessons on the environment and sustainability. Past recipes include winter fruit salad to emphasize the importance of trees and bean and cheese burritos to accompany a lesson on how cattle contribute to climate change. Come with your own ideas, recipes and questions.
May 13: Promoting Engagement for Middle School Students in the Garden and Kitchen Classroom
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
Evergreen Middle School educator Paloma Jones makes student engagement her central priority, for both in-person and virtual instruction. Come hear what strategies, activities and lessons have worked for her middle school students, and bring your own ideas to share.
What you’ll do
As a participant in our Professional Development workshops, you’ll learn the tools and curriculum to incorporate gardening and cooking lessons and activities into your own classrooms.
- Learn how to set up a teaching garden and kitchen with the resources available to you
- Dig into our curriculum and learn techniques for managing cooking and gardening with your students
- Learn strategies for increasing parent and community engagement in your gardens and kitchen classrooms
- Network with other educators in NYC to exchange ideas and strategies for kitchen- and garden-based education
- Get P Credit (for NYCDOE teachers and certain courses only)
Who is eligible
Most workshops are open to all types of educators, including public and private school teachers, nonprofit workers, volunteers, community educators — anyone who wants to learn how to bring elements of edible education back to their own sites. We also offer occasional workshops for NYC Department of Education teachers through the After School Professional Development Program (ASPDP).
Ways to learn
Demonstration Site Visits
Observe our classes in action! The Demonstration Schools serve as centers of excellence where we model best practices and methods for a seed-to-table education. To set up a site visit, please contact our Director of Education Liza Engelberg.
Workshops
Workshops can be full-day or just a couple of hours after school. The focus is on specific topics, such as teaching science in the garden or using a seasonal recipe to augment a unit on culture, language, or history. Workshops are a great way to hone your skills or concentrate on making garden and kitchen connections in a particular academic area.
Intensives
We offer two intensives per year: one in the summer and another in spring. The summer intensive is our immersive introduction to edible education in a one-week, 36-hour class for P Credit. The session covers the basics of starting and maintaining a garden and kitchen classroom, teaching techniques, and connections to academic learning. The spring intensive takes place in six two-hour sessions over ten weeks, and offers a more comprehensive overview of edible education. Participants in the spring intensive receive free supplies, site visits, and follow-up support from our staff.
Showcase School Visits
In the fall of 2015, P.S. 216 was named one of twenty-six official Showcase Schools by the NYC Department of Education on the basis of our edible education program. That’s out of 1,800 NYC public schools total! At three official visitations each year — all-day, intensive professional development workshops — large groups of New York City educators can be inspired by our kids, our teachers, and our classes.