offerings

for New York City Public Schools

Professional Development Offerings for New York City Public Schools

We are pleased to offer professional development services for public schools focused on wellness and personal-interpersonal development. The offerings aim to cultivate in participants advanced self-awareness, self-knowledge, and interpersonal skills, as well as foster a sense of collective well-being, all of which are essential qualities for personal and professional competency.

“Sawabona”: Centering Staff Wellness

Description:

This workshop series was designed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to center staff wellness. The pandemic not only exacerbated the on-the job challenges educators faced but rendered an enormous toll on their mental health and wellness. Although most pandemic protocols have been lifted, post-pandemic, schools are still tasked with re-envisioning staff wellness as a tenet of effective schooling. This workshop series continues to center the voices, experiences, humanity, and resilience of staff and to engage them in envisioning and planning for a sustainable culture of staff wellness. As we centralize staff’s wellness, we embody the essence of the South African Zulu concept of “Sawabona”—seeing, accepting, and valuing their humanity.

Themes:

  • Theme #1: “Sawabona”: Seeing, Embracing, and Valuing our Humanity
  • Theme #2: Towards Our Resilience & a Sustainable Culture of Wellness

Key Indicators:

  • Community bonding—sharing stories of hardships, compassion, and resilience towards valuing each other’s humanity
  • Acknowledging, supporting, and expressing gratitude to colleagues in the team- building activity, “Appreciation & Gratitude Wall”
  • Articulating self-care/wellness needs within the school context and envisioning a sustainable culture of staff wellness

Time Block Options:

  • 45 minutes (4-6 sessions)
  • 1 hour (3-4 sessions)

Team Building

Description:

Strong teams and positive relations among staff are key indicators of effective, proactive communities. In many of our public schools, teachers and staff continue to operate in silos. Leverage team building to break down silos and work across all levels of the school community to improve communication, build trust, and harness the collective wisdom of the group all while having fun!

Team building activities are facilitated on site or offsite as part of a staff retreat. They are conducted indoors, outdoors, or a combination of both. Foster positive relationships among and between staff members. Activities range from simple icebreakers to learn basic information such as first names, birthdays, and favorite colors to more structured, time-based activities that require self-awareness, meta-cognition, and problem solving.

Key Indicators:

  • Teams creating norms to guide group interactions and relations within team
  • Working together to understand team assignments and to organize team to achieve tasks within time allotted
  • Actively communicating to engage all members and problem solve
  • Considering group norms, needs, and goals when decision making
  • Holding group accountable for enforcing group norms (e.g., reminding members of norms,
    reflecting on impact of norms on group performance) and completing tasks
  • Debriefing insights gained about self and team and planning for how to leverage going forward

Leading with Character Strengths

Description:

This workshop series is predicated on a strengths-based model developed by the VIA Institute on Character™ and designed to bring to participants’ awareness the role that character strengths can play in transforming the quality of their lives and work performance.

Character strengths are the positive aspects of our personality that make us feel authentic and engaged, and impact how we think, feel, and behave. When we understand and mindfully strive to apply our greatest strengths, we can use them to face life’s challenges, work towards goals, and feel more fulfilled both personally and professionally.

Themes:

  • Theme #1: Introduction to Character Strengths
  • Theme #2: Signature Strengths & Their Optimal Use
  • Theme #3: Introduction to Character Strengths
  • Theme #4: Signature Strengths & Their Optimal Use

Key Indicators:

  • Awareness of character strengths and their benefits for improving life quality and work performance
  • Familiarity with signature strengths and consideration of their optimal use
  • Application of strengths in personal and professional settings to enhance thinking, behavior, and overall well-being

Pre-requisite: Completion of the VIA Survey of Character Strengths

The VIA Survey of Character Strengths is a free, psychometrically validated personality self-assessment developed by the VIA Institute on Character™. It measures an individual’s character strengths and takes less than 15 minutes to complete. Once completed, a free, personalized report is automatically generated that offers information to help users understand their best qualities. (There’s also a fee-based option that offers a more thorough, detailed report.) Prior to the series, a link will be provided to registrants for survey completion.

Time Block Options:

  • 45 minutes (8 sessions)
  • 1 hour (6 sessions)
  • 2 hours (3 sessions)

How Do You See?: The Role of Mindset in Shaping Experiences

Description:

“…[T]he view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.”
– Dr. Carol S. Dweck
Mindset is causative—how we observe, explain, or create stories are all mediated by our mindset, and our responses are a function of mindset. This workshop series explores mindset from the lenses of professional coaching and neuroscience, with the latter drawing heavily from Dr. Carol S. Dweck’s groundbreaking scientific research. Participants will investigate their own mindset orientations, consider the implications, and explore teacher practices that promote a growth mindset in students.

Themes:

  • Theme #1: Coaching and Neuroscience Lenses for Understanding Mindset
  • Theme #2: Your Mindset Orientation & its Personal Implications
  • Theme #3: Your Mindset Orientation & its Professional Implications
  • Theme #4: Teacher Practices that Promote a Growth Mindset in Students

Key Indicators:

  • Developing a foundational understanding of the scientific research on mindset
  • Awareness and investigation of participants’ mindset orientations
  • Consideration of the personal and professional implications of mindset orientation
  • Exploration of teacher practices that promote a growth mindset in students

Time Block Options:

  • 45 minutes (6 sessions)
  • 1 hour (4 sessions)

Virtual Power Sips™: Group Coaching

Description:

An inspiring blend of group coaching and empowerment, the Power Sip is one of AIW’s beloved signature programs. The facilitated discussions attune participants to their unique ways of being and core values, surface underlying beliefs, and offer tools to better equip them to operate from the strength of who they are. The Sip experience sparks keen self-awareness and insights that lead to breakthroughs and new possibilities for the journey ahead. Don’t forget your beverage! Cheers! 🥂

Themes:

In group coaching, participants typically shape the agenda for what they’ll like to explore throughout the series. To honor that principle, a brief survey will be sent to interested candidates to determine needs and interests. In addition, listed below for consideration are a few popular past Sip and workshop topics.
  • Prioritizing Self-Care & Wellness Needs
  • Emotional Self-Care: Managing Triggers & Setting Boundaries
  • Strengths Spotting and Cultivating Your Character Strengths
  • Self-Esteem, Confidence, & Authenticity
  • Overcoming Obstacles

Key Indicators:

  • To Be Determined by Group

Time Block Options:

  • Four (4), 45-Minute Sessions
  • 1 hour (3-4 sessions)