I used to do educational consulting in NYC so I have a fair amount of
experience in this area. See my responses below.
Becky Fitzgerald
_____
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Sheryl Woodruff
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 10:21 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: sponsoring teacher workshops in NYC
I am with a small historic preservation organization in New York City.
Recently my education committee brought up the idea of having a teacher's
workshop in teaching historic preservation. The committee sees a workshop as
a way to involve teachers more in our formal education program as well as a
way to provide teachers the tools to teach about historic preservation.
So, any advice from those of you who have organized teacher workshops,
especially in New York City, would be appreciated.
More specifically, I am wondering:
Does an organization need to have any special credentials to do this? We do
have a charter by the New York State Department of Education. We are not a
vendor for New York City schools. You MUST be a vendor for NYC Schools if
you're seeking payment for the PD, or want it to be a mandated training. If
you are looking for either of these.good luck! Your workshop must fill a
need identified in the district's professional development plan. Frankly,
unless you can find a way to tie your workshop to strategies for raising
student achievement on mandated tests you can forget any cooperation by the
school system.
Do most organizations offer credit for thier workshops, or not? Does not
offering credit lower the numbers of teachers who get involved? What kind of
credit are you considering? Unless it is district approved professional
development credit or university credit it is of no worth to the teachers.
Not offering credit will severely limit the number of participants
What fee do you normally charge? I would think that $50 is the most you
could charge, and that would imply that you provide each participant with
ready to use materials.
What types of materials are most teachers looking to bring home with them
from workshops? Ready to use lessons and activities that are a good fit with
existing curriculum.
Where do your participants come from? Advertising? Previous relationship
through formal education program? My participants were identified by the
district.
Please feel free to offer advice on anything I haven't brought up. I am
rather new to this and would like to hear from those a bit more seasoned.
Although the above sounds pretty pessimistic I hate to get your hopes up
when the situation is so difficult. School districts nationwide are focused
on "No Child Left Behind" - for better or worse. All museums should be
aligning their educational programs with the local and state curriculums.
You can usually find the individual state curriculum standards online and
readily downloadable. Now.here's the rub.it's not enough to align your
programs with the standards.you have to ferret out the "tested standards"
and really focus on them. Example: in a particular state, multiplication of
fractions is ALWAYS tested, every year in 8th grade, but measurement is
seldom tested, although there are several standards written around it.
So.consequently teachers spend very little time teaching measurement, but
focus their time on teaching multiplication of fractions. Is this teaching
to the test? Absolutely! I don't agree with it at all, but folks, this is
the current situation in education. Knowing this, we can work the system. If
you can create an educational program that addresses a tested standard in an
innovative way that will reinforce classroom teaching you stand a much
better chance of getting real buy in by the district.
Good luck!
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