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

Educators Conference
Who will attend this workshop (select all that apply)
Grade Levels *
Subject Areas *

Priten Soundar-Shah

CEO/Founder

Priten founded Academy 4 Social Civics because he believes middle schoolers are ready to tackle the questions adults are afraid to ask. He has helped design curricula that throw students into philosophy, history, behavioural economics, and cognitive biases—not because these topics look good on a transcript, but because they’re actually fun when you stop treating kids like they can’t handle them.

A Harvard philosophy grad who can code, debate, and teach everyone from 5th graders to graduate students, Priten has taught over 7,500 students worldwide and created educational content that’s racked up over 2 million views. He’s written books on AI and education ethics (translated into five languages!), runs three nonprofits dedicated to better thinking and civic leadership, and somehow still makes time to teach college courses and hang out with middle schoolers every summer.

When he’s not asking “but why?” for a living, Priten is probably building the next educational tool, debating whether hot dogs are sandwiches with students, or convincing another group of middle schoolers that reading ancient philosophy is actually cooler than TikTok.
Why Academy 4 SC? Because young people deserve to wrestle with real ideas, develop their own voices, and learn that changing the world starts with changing how you think.

Nina Bamberg

Chief Programs Officer

Nina has served as a lead educator and curriculum developer at Leaders 4SC for 5 years now (starting with the all-virtual workshop in 2020) and is so excited that it’s returning in 2026!

Nina has worked with learners of all ages teaching English as a foreign language to middle and high schoolers in Thailand, facilitating human rights workshops for 4th and 5th graders in NYC, and teaching U.S. history and government to adult learners preparing to become citizens…just to name a few!

Nina studied Peace and Human Rights Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and now spends most of her time helping teachers explore artificial intelligence and its impacts on learning, civic engagement, and society.

She loves Leaders 4SC because of its philosophy that young people are capable of asking and answering the big questions facing the world!