“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
For our current Professional Development opportunities,
please visit our Events page.
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.