Professional Development Offerings for NYC Public Schools

Glenda M. Francis and Audacious Inner Works Institute are pleased to launch their professional development offerings for the 2021-2022 school year focused on wellness, personal development, and social-emotional literacy. The offerings aim to cultivate in participants advanced self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-assuredness, and interpersonal skills, as well as foster a sense of well-being, all of which are essential qualities for personal and professional competency. This school year, schools can request and schedule the offerings at their convenience. A minimum group size of 5 participants per selected offering is required.

Presentation Format:

• • ✓ Hybrid Series, In-Person & Virtual Meetings

Description:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has not only exacerbated the on-the job challenges educators face but has also taken an enormous toll on their mental health and wellness. As the pandemic endures, schools will be tasked with re-envisioning staff wellness as a tenet of effective schooling. This workshop series is intended 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)

Rates:

• • ✓ Standard Rate: $175 per person
  • ✓ Group Rate for 5+: $160 per person

Presentation Format:

• • ✓ Zoom Virtual Meeting

Description:

This workshop series is predicated on a strengths-based model developed by the VIA Institute on CharacterTM 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)

Rates:

• • ✓ Standard Rate: $170 per person
  • ✓ Group Rate for 5+: $155 per person

Presentation Format:

• • ✓ Zoom Virtual Meeting

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)

Rates:

• • • ✓ Standard Rate: $150 per person
    • ✓ Group Rate for 5+: $135 per person

Presentation Format:

• • ✓ Zoom Virtual Meeting

Description:

An inspiring blend of group coaching and empowerment, the Virtual 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 Your 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)

Rates:

• • ✓ Standard Rate: $125 per person
  • ✓ Group Rate for 4+: $115 per person