Professional Development Opportunities

The Middle Grades Initiative (MGI) is committed to working with the classroom teachers and guidance counselors in our partner schools. Whenever possible, we offer professional development opportunities to school staff in our partner schools.

Creative Arts Team Workshop Residency

We believe that all students should have regular opportunities to see and engage in the arts. The Creative Arts Team (CAT) residency, which is offered to our partner teachers, is an essential part of our arts programming. Using theater as a medium, CAT promotes social emotional and educational growth. CAT provides theater-in-education programs for students in grades K–12 and an array of graduate classes and professional development workshops for teachers and theater artists interested in working in classroom settings. Here is a snapshot of what CAT looks like in the MGI program:

• The CAT workshop residency consists of a series of in-class workshops led by a team of professional actor-teachers. Workshops take place during regularly scheduled core subject classes in usual classroom settings (no gyms, theaters, or auditoriums).
• The CAT actor-teachers works with the same groups of students for the entire residency.
• CAT actor teachers use drama approaches to explore the workshop focus. Workshops generally involve whole-group theater games, presented scenarios (by CAT actors), discussion, and writing exercises.
• Participating teachers receive a full set of lesson plans from CAT actor-teachers prior to the start of the first workshop.

For more information, please visit the CAT website.

The College Board's CollegeEd

An integral component of CUNY's MGI program is college awareness and college preparation. We have strategically partnered with the College Board to offer our staff and the staff at our partner schools bi-yearly training in implementing CollegeEd. The CollegeEd curriculum is specifically designed to introduce middle school students to academic planning, college awareness and career exploration. The CollegeEd curriculum fits the needs of our program because it can be specifically tailored to address the curiosities and concerns of our students. We use it in conjunction with college visits, in-class and out-of-class tutoring, and career exploration activities.

Click here for more information on the College Board's College Ed curriculum.

Baruch College Student Academic Consulting Center

Baruch's award-winning Student Academic Consulting Center (SACC) provides our tutors with comprehensive, bi-yearly training. Through the workshops, tutors:

• Develop active instructional strategies;
• Learn how to recognize and teach to students' varied learning styles,
• Develop ways to communicate and listen effectively in order to command the tutoring session
• Discuss professionalism and effective ways of collaborating with teachers.

The training consists of role plays, hands-on learning activities, class discussions, brief presentations, and small group work. Click here for more information on SACC.