Using different materials, you will experiment with process, color, texture, and light to create books, paintings and photographs. Day one will be spent in a bookmaking workshop. Day two will use landscapes/mindscapes as inspiration for work in pastels and acrylic. Day three we will experiment with the camera obscura and take pictures with a camera you construct. The final day we will bring all elements together, reflect on your creative process, and help structure your final assignment.

Professional artist, Pearl Rosen Golden, is currently a consult for schools and museums in developing art programs for children with special needs. In addition, she is an adjunct professor at Queens College, CUNY. Previously she was the Arts and Culture Coordinator for the National Center for Disability Services in Albertson, NY., and Director of the Long Term and New Initiative Programs for Studio in a School in Manhattan. In addition, she was the Special Education Coordinator at the Queens Museum of Art for 13 years.

Photographer Ig Mata has been working with the camera obscura and the pinhole camera since 1988. She has taught Pinhole and the Basics of Photography at the Museum of Natural History and the Bank Street School for Children. Mata has had exhibits in New York State and cities throughout Brazil.

Susan Seitner taught at The Dalton School, where making different kinds of books was an important part of her first grade classroom. As the school librarian, she brings bookmaking experiences to teachers through faculty workshops and to children through after school classes and special projects.

June 29, 30 and July 1 and 2
Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
Wednesday, 10 am - 5 pm
2 CEU $790 / 2 credits* $2240
*Fulfils the requirement for 2 credits in studio art.

Ever wondered how a children's book gets published? Bank Street College Children's Librarian Lisa Von Drasek will provide an overview of children's book publishing. What does an editor do? Do I need an agent? Is there a market for my idea? How do I submit my manuscript? What is a book proposal? What is the deal with self-publishing? We will follow the process of children's book publishing from manuscript to bound book in the bookstore.
Please note: This is an introduction only. Manuscripts will not be reviewed.

Prior to earning her MLS, 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.

June 30
  Tuesday, 5 pm - 8 pm
  .3 CEU $125 (not offered for credit)
  Registration Deadline: 6/22

As more school systems in the nation embrace a Balanced Literacy approach to reading and writing instruction, it is more important than ever that educators obtain clarity around its components and the best practices that make this approach so valuable in the elementary classroom. This course will provide an overview of the conceptual framework of Balanced Literacy as well the instructional methodologies that support it.

Marcela Moncloa is a literacy coach for Grades K - 4 in the Hackensack Public Schools (NJ). She also serves as a Bilingual and Second Language Education Consultant to the district.

August 4
Tuesday, 9:30 am - 4 pm
.6 CEU $265 (not offered for credit)
Materials fee $10
Registration Deadline 6/28

This intensive, one-day course will provide you with an overview of the major laws and regulations that apply to special education, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. We will use case studies and your experiences to explore students' rights and the school system's responsibilities. For example, what do you do when:

• A child is falling behind academically, but the parent refuses to consent to evaluation or to special education services? 
• A parent at your school demands services for her special needs child that are currently unavailable?
  
• A parent asks that his child be given extra time to take state and citywide exams? 
• A parent alleges that the school is not meeting the child?s needs, and is called to testify about the issue at an impartial hearing? 
• A student with special needs violates the discipline code?

This course will explore key components of the relevant laws, including the =least restrictive environment? mandate; parental involvement and consent; referrals, evaluations, and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs); timelines for evaluations and services; due process rights; dispute resolution mechanisms; discipline of students with special needs; and special education services for children who attend private school or are home-schooled. You will learn about recent changes to IDEA, including new standards for determining if a child has a learning disability and new regulations that permit parents to revoke their consent for special education. You will also be asked to think critically about whether the current legal framework, which has been in place since 1975, is still sufficient to protect students' rights. This course is appropriate for teachers, principals, and administrators in public and private schools.   

Cara Chambers is the Supervising Attorney for The Kathryn A. McDonald Education Advocacy Project (EAP) at The Legal Aid Society. Prior to joining EAP, Cara was an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, where she worked on commercial litigation and provided pro bono representation on a number of child welfare and special education matters. Before attending law school, Cara worked for five years as a bilingual teacher in the New York City public school system. She   earned her law degree at Georgetown University, and   holds a Master's Degree in Bilingual Education from FordhamUniversity.

July 22
    Wednesday, 5 - 9 pm
    .4 CEU  $160 (not offered for credit)
  Registration Deadline 7/15

Streamline your approach to your classroom. Make sure the lessons learned from each year of teaching inform and inspire the years that follow. Whether you are new to teaching or are an experienced teacher trying to get more organized, this workshop will guide you in creating flexible, clutter-free systems that make your job less overwhelming--while helping to build classroom community. Among the topics explored in this workshop.

• Designing classroom systems that encourage student responsibility and independence;
• Creating a classroom space that suits your style, goals, and values;
• Creating planning and record-keeping systems that are flexible and adaptable;
• Balancing long-term and short-term goals.

Teachers will be provided with materials for preparing customized binder systems described in the workshop.

Shoshana Wolfe is the author of Your Best Year Yet: Purposeful Planning and Effective Classroom Organization (Scholastic, Inc. 2006). An experienced classroom teacher, she now works as a staff developer and private tutor in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

June 29
Monday, 9:30 am - 4 pm
.6 CEU $265 (not offered for credit)
Materials fee $10
Registration Deadline 6/22

In recent years, divergent educational policies and pedagogies have created a rift between children?s social-emotional development and academic learning. Using current research and innovative teaching strategies, you will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to finally bridge the gap between research and practice, and social development and academic outcomes. Among the issues that will be addressed are:

• How a child's self concept affects classroom performance and accessibility to learning;
• The impact of good and bad stress on learning;
• The need for children to develop an area of expertise;
• How you can develop a "Growth" rather than a "Fixed" mindset in your students;
• The importance of exercise in the classroom 
• How to foster optimism and a hopeful attitude in your students.

Karen Brody is a school psychologist at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She is also a psychologist in private practice, a psycho-educational consultant, an instructor at Brooklyn College and a workshop facilitator.

July 8
  Wednesday, 9:30 am - 4 pm
  .6 CEU $265 (not offered for credit)
  Materials fee $10
  Registration Deadline 7/01

Oral reading has a long tradition in the classroom, but it has often been used in the service of memorization or indoctrination. In fact, reading aloud can be a powerful tool for helping students engage in an unpredictable, transformative dialogue with literature. In this workshop, we will borrow techniques used to coach actors in performance in order to explore how literature comes to life when it's read aloud. Using poetry, speeches, short excerpts of prose in a variety of genres, we'll decide what words mean to each of us and learn how to communicate that meaning to others. Teachers can expect to leave the workshop with plenty of strategies and resources to use in their classrooms. Choral reading, unconventional read-aloud choices, sophisticated approaches to rhythm and rhyme, and the use of music to underscore readings will all be explored as tools for building fluency and encouraging personal connections with literature.

Shoshana Wolfe is the author of Your Best Year Yet: Purposeful Planning and Effective Classroom Organization. An experienced classroom teacher, she now works as a staff developer and private tutor in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

July 27
Monday, 9:30 am - 4 pm
.6 CEU $265 (not offered for credit)
Materials fee $10
Registration Deadline 7/20

Improv (such as you see on TV or at a comedy club) is a wonderful tool for bringing play, development, and creativity back into learning. Because improvisation requires careful listening, attentiveness to others, and acceptance of all "offers," it is the foundation for building effective learning groups of any size. Learning to improvise helps teachers creatively incorporate anything going on in the classroom (even such challenges as behavior problems or a range of reading levels) in the service of building a dynamic and productive learning environment. Join us for a playful experience that will change the way you think about learning and play. In this workshop teachers will learn by playing together. We will start with the basic skills of improv and will go on to play some more complex and challenging games that can be used in any subject area and with children of any age.

Carrie Lobman is Assistant Professor of education at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, and the director of teacher training at the East Side Institute. Ms. Lobman has been an educator in the New York metropolitan area for over twenty years. She is the co-author, along with Matthew Lundquist, of Unscripted Learning: Using Improv Activities Across the K-8 Curriculum (Teachers College Press, 2007). She was a founding member of the improv ensemble, Laughing Matters, and has written many articles on the relationship between performance, improvisation, play, and learning.

July 16
Thursday, 9:30 am - 4 pm
.6 CEU $265 (not offered for credit)
Materials fee $10
Registration Deadline 7/9

In recent years, our understanding of the value of music in education has changed. Music education is now widely recognized for its impact on learning in other areas of the curriculum as well as for its contribution to a higher-quality school or community-learning environment. Through hands-on use of music technology, you will learn how to teach your students to write, record and produce an original song. This class will show you how to engage your students in collaboration, creativity, interpersonal skill development, and self expression using technology you may already have in your school and with which your students are already fully engaged.

Joe Carroll and Wade Tonken are the co-founders of the Manhattan Producers Alliance and SoundBites. The Manhattan Producers Alliance provides support and career resources for its award-winning members, creates professional development trainings for the music industry and develops educational music and music technology initiatives for kids K-12. SoundBites is a music and recording technology education initiative, which provides intensive instruction and total immersion in music production and songwriting. Both are award-winning composers for children/family film and television (Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, Disney, PBS).

August 5
Wednesday, 9:30 am - 4 pm
.6 CEU $265 (not offered for credit)
Materials fee $10
Registration Deadline 6/29

How does a teacher, parent, or caregiver create developmentally appropriate activities for infants, toddlers, and two-year-olds? How do you implement activities such as painting, water play, cooking, music, or field trips with groups of young children? Through discussion, videotapes, a slide show, and hands-on experience with materials, this course explores methods for planning and implementing meaningful, age-appropriate activities. Child development, relationship-based care, learning environments, and play will be examined to provide you with a framework to use in creating developmentally appropriate activities.

Elaine Weems is an early childhood literacy specialist with Children's Literacy Initiative in Philadelphia, PA. She is also a staff developer with Bank Street's Project New Beginnings in Newark, working with Pre-K through second grade teachers. She has worked as a classroom teacher, early childhood consultant, and early intervention specialist.

July 29 and 30
Wednesday and Thursday, 9:30 am - 4 pm
1 CEU $395/ 1 credit $1120
Materials fee $10
Registration Deadline 7/22