“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:
October 19: Remote Garden Instruction
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
We’ll share some of our lessons and strategies for bringing the garden to our students who are studying at home.
October 27: Remote Cooking Lessons
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
It’s been a challenge to bring our cooking instruction into our students’ homes, but we are excited to share some of our successes and hear about yours.
October 28: School Gardening in the Age of Covid
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
We will talk about our safety protocols and the administrative hurdles we have navigated and look forward to hearing about your successes and challenges.
November 5: Outdoor Games for Students
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
We have begun live instruction in our garden at PS 7! Now more than ever, it is vital for kids to get outside and have fun. We’ll talk about a few ways we try to make that happen.
November 12: Creating Interactive Remote Lessons
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
There is no substitute for hands-on, in-person instruction, but we are always working on making our remote lessons as engaging as possible. We’ll talk about some of the things we’ve tried and see what’s worked for you.
November 18: Social-Emotional Learning and Social Justice
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
We are expanding our idea of what it means to teach students about their health and well-being. Join us to talk about supporting students’ social-emotional needs, using a lens of social justice.
December 1: Teaching Remotely with Read-Alouds, Songs, Movement, and Mindfulness
4:30-5:30 pm EST
Interactive Zoom Meeting
We can’t always get our students’ hands in the dirt while they are learning at home, but we can still teach them about the garden in playful and engaging ways.
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.