Professional Development

Workshop Details

Length: We can accommodate requests for workshops ranging from 1 hour to a full day 

Cost: We will work with you to determine a price based on budget, availability, workshop length, and number of participants 

Number of participants: We offer workshops for anywhere from 5-100 educators! 

Location: At this time we are mostly offering virtual workshops. In some cases we may be able to accommodate in-person workshops in NYC. 

Available Workshop Topics

  1. Making Argumentative Writing Engaging in History and English Classrooms: Engage students’ analytical thinking skills, as well as their imagination, by incorporating argumentative writing into history and literature courses. At U4SC, we have two projects called Readers 4 Social Change and Historians 4 Social Change that allow students to place themselves inside historical moments and fictional stories and write editorial-style articles from the perspective of someone living in that context. This workshop will focus on the basics of a strong op-ed and connecting the skill to history and literature curricula. When teachers use these projects in their classroom, we will post their articles on our site.
  2. Using Simulations to Teach Leadership and Critical Thinking: Today’s students are the next generation of leaders. Simulations are a great way for students to think critically about the decisions that they would make as leaders in different fields. In this workshop, you will participate in a simulation, design one to use in your classes, and receive feedback from peers and facilitators. We will also walk you through our library of over 100 task forces. 
  3. Teaching Controversial Issues: Teaching about issues that are considered socially or politically controversial can be essential learning opportunities for students, but often feels risky for teachers. This workshop will cover how to teach controversial issues in a non-political way and how to foster the skills students need to develop well-informed opinions on the issues facing our world.
  4. Teaching about Supreme Court Cases: The decisions that the Supreme Court has made have shaped the United States throughout its history. This workshop will discuss how to critically analyze supreme court decisions, some key vocabulary for understanding cases and decisions, and give activity ideas for how to engage students more deeply in the workings of the Supreme Court.
  5. Approaching College-Level Texts with Middle School Students: Young students are capable of grasping complex concepts. At U4SC, we create lessons and guided readings that help break down complex texts. This workshop will walk educators through making a complex, academic text approachable for middle-school aged students.
  6. Incorporating Interdisciplinary Topics/Current Events Into Core Curricula: We firmly believe that teaching about current events does not mean neglecting the core curriculum. From reading, writing, history, math, and science, current events are an interdisciplinary project. This worksop will cover approaches, activities, and projects that will help incorporate current events into core curricular requirements.
  7. Civics Beyond Voting: At U4SC, we believe that civic participation and leadership are available to everyone. This workshop will cover the varied ways that students can learn how to be active civic participation.
  8. Contextualizing Current Events with Humanities: Teaching about current events is made richer when connections are made to broader concepts and ideas. This workshop will cover how to create important context by connecting current events to history, philosophy, psychology, economics, and other key areas of study.
  9. Using Academy 4SC in Your Classroom: This workshop will go over the ins and outs of using our animated videos to create lessons and teach a variety of topics.

Facilitators

Priten CEO/Founder

NinaChief Programs Officer

Testimonials

Ed4SC is a FANTASTIC resource. They have put together some great topics, projects, resources that I am excited to explore and use with my students.
The presenters, Priten and Nina, were obviously passionate about their work and this project. I was very happy to learn from them today!
I loved this one and found it interesting to look at how to engage argumentative writing more in my classroom and make it engaging for my students.
Excellent resources for simulations that I will certainly use next school year.
I will definitely incorporate these activities into my lessons and yearly curriculum to integrate history and persuasive writing into social studies classes
I think the website is fabulous and I love the idea of using short argumentative writing repeatedly, not just for bigger projects/essays. I will definitely use the current events tab to look at events from different stances. I also really appreciated the "How to talk about..." resource page. Good resource for sure.
This work has been useful and having the resource ready will be very helpful.

Request a workshop for your school or conference

Complete the interest form below and we will reach out via email to plan the details of your workshop

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Priten Soundar-Shah

CEO/Founder

Priten is an educator, philosopher, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology and education. As the founder of Pedagogy Ventures, an educational technology company helping teachers navigate the AI age, and Academy 4 Social Civics, a nonprofit focused on civics education to prepare students for future problems, he develops innovative solutions to help educators and students navigate changes and challenges, especially technological development.

Priten is the author of “AI & The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Wiley, 2023).” He also teaches social science courses at College Unbound, a bachelor’s college focused on adult learners. He has an academic background in Philosophy (B.A., Harvard College) and Education Policy (M.Ed., Harvard Graduate School of Education).

Nina Bamberg

Chief Programs Officer
Nina Bamberg has an MA in International Educational Development from Teachers College at Columbia University with a concentration in Peace and Human Rights Education. Her professional background includes teaching English as a second and foreign language, non-profit program management, and adult education. As the the CPO at Academy 4 Social Civics, she leads the initiatives to develop curriculum resources, teacher professional development, and student leadership workshops. Nina also serves as the Director of Curriculum & Instruction at Pedagogy.Cloud where she develops and leads professional development workshops and courses designed to help educators navigate the changes and challenges posed by artificial intelligence. She also serves as a course associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and as a Citizenship Educator at The New York Historical. Nina is also a member of several professional coalitions working to improve access to quality civics and AI literacy education, including Democracy Ready NY and CivxNow, where she’s an active member of the AI Work Group.