Continuing Professional Studies

Our courses explore an array of topics in Early Childhood, Elementary & Middle School Education, Special Education, Career Development and Leadership.

• Selecting and Evaluating Recently Published Children's Books (Grades Pre-K - 4)

  Course number: TEED505N

  
  This course offers the opportunity to examine a wide selection of recently published children's books in order to develop and refine your selection criteria. We will identify key developmental themes and discuss how to incorporate them into the language arts class and interdisciplinary studies. New books from the Bank Street Bookstore will be available for review. This course is aimed at librarians, teachers, and reading specialises.

  Prior to earning her MLIS, Lisa Von Drasek was a children's book buyer and worked at publishing houses in Sales and Marketing, in addition her work as our librarian she has been a children's book reviewer contributing to Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Barnes and Noble Review, Nick Jr and The Bark. Her essays have appeared in Knowledge Quest, Library Journal, Teaching K-8 and Library Sparks. Ms. Von Dresek earned an MLIS from Pratt Institute, her BS is from Skidmore College. In addition, she has taken post-graduate courses at Bank Street College.

  
  March 9 and 10
  Friday, 5:15 - 9 pm
  Saturday, 9:30 am – 5 pm
  1 CEU $395/ 1 credit $1,240
  Materials fee $10
  Registration Deadline 3/2

  
  Register

• Teaching Through Technology: Using Hip-Hop and Poetics Engage to Students (Grades 4 – 11)

  Course number: TEWS705N   Online Format

  
  

  The 21st Century student lives in a constantly changing and evolving demographic, communicates with unprecedented velocity, and engages language in some of the most dynamic ways imaginable. Examining, validating and championing these innovations by our young people is the beginning to promoting literacy, critical thinking and creative writing. This course will focus on theories around language acquisition and language privilege, while exploring exercises that foster student-centered learning spaces where hip-hop, spoken word and twitter-age linguistics can equalize the playing field in the 21st Century classroom.

  Michael Cirelli, MFA, is the Executive Director of Urban Word NYC, a grassroots non-profit organization that provides free, safe, uncensored and ongoing writing and performance opportunities for NYC teens. He is also the director of the Annual Spoken Word & Hip-Hop Teacher & Community Leader Training Institute at the University of Wisconsin that won the 2007 North American Association of Summer Sessions "Creative and Innovative Program Award." He is the author of the award-winning teaching guide, Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics (Milk Mug, 2004), a standards-based curriculum that explores the relationship between hip-hop lyrics and "classic" poems. His most recent curriculum, Poetry Jam (Recorded Books, 2010) engages 21st century literacies through the exploration of poetic devices, forms and new technologies. He is also the author of two collections of poetry, and has a third collection forthcoming.

  Online Course timetable: February 28 – March 16
  1 CEU: $395 (not offered for credit)
  Registration deadline: 2/21

  This workshop is asynchronous, that is, participants work at times that suit them best; however, there will be firm weekly due dates for assignments. The course instructors will act both as a leaders and mentors by offering regular support, suggestions, and direction.

  
  Register

• Creative Movement in the Early Childhood Curriculum (Preschool-Grade 3)

  Course number: TEED561N

   

  Children love to move! This participatory course demonstrates engaging strategies that can integrate movement— children’s natural language — into the early childhood curriculum in schools and other settings. Using scarves, songs, music, and children’s literature, we will explore how kinesthetic teaching techniques provide a springboard for the development of body and group awareness, spatial and numerical concepts, language and pre-reading skills. Creative movement activities can ease transitions and classroom management issues as they heighten self esteem, nurture creativity, and build community in the classroom.

   

  Susan Griss, MA a dancer, educator, and curriculum consultant, is the author of Minds in Motion: A Kinesthetic Approach to Teaching Elementary Curriculum. She is on the faculty of Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, and she is co-director of the Arts and Curriculum Institute, part of Concerted Effort which works in the NY State capital region. Susan has been teaching creative movement to children in public schools for over 20 years. Ms. Griss has an MA in dance and choreography from New York University and a BA from Smith College.

   

  February 10 and 11
  Friday, 5:15 - 9 pm
  Saturday, 9:30 am - 5 pm
  1 CEU $395 / 1 credit $1,240
  Materials fee $5
  Registration Deadline 2/3

  Register

• Spring 2012 brochure- PDF

  Click here to view a PDF of our Spring 2012 brochure.

• Dynamic Leadership: Inspiring and Supporting Your Teaching Faculty (Ages 3-10 years)

  Course Number: LEAD528N

   

  This course is designed for leaders in all stages of their professional careers. We will explore ways to create a positive school culture that promotes collaboration and community and addresses the needs of staff development for programs targeted for children from birth through age five. We will identify opportunities and challenges inherent in the leadership role and find ways to nurture the needs of our self as we look to address the needs of our respective staff. We will discuss concrete ways to motivate staff both individually and collectively, identify and implement consultants and everyday training tools, hold effective meetings and promote family partnership as well as consider the potential of physical space in an educational setting.

   

  Elizabeth McKenna, MSEd, is Head of Early Childhood at the New Canaan Country School, where she designed a comprehensive innovative pedagogy of early childhood education. She has over twenty year experience in pedagogical innovation in independent schools and has studied the translation of pedagogy into international education. Her expertise includes teacher training, development of educational space, and humanizing the experience of educators and students, on which she has lectured and published. Ms. McKenna received her MSEd from Bank Street College in Supervision and Administration and has a BS in Elementary Education from the University of Vermont, Burlington.

   

  February 3 and 4
  Friday, 5:15 – 9:30 pm
  Saturday, 9:30 am – 5 pm
  1CEU $395 / 1 credit $1,240
  Materials fee $10
  Registration Deadline 1/27

   

  
  Register