Deeper Learning New York

Prince Johnson, 2026 NYS Teacher of the Year — advancing CTE, sustainability, and cross-disciplinary innovation.

Luis Eladio Torres (The Bronx Principal) — community school leader championing equity and student voice.

Dr. Ogechi Iwuoha Njoku, leading systems-level coherence, literacy advancement, and equity in PreK–12 education.

Dr. Joseph A. Henderson, anthropologist and national voice in climate and environmental education policy.

This immersive session invites school and district leaders to experience place-based learning in action through an off-site field experience in Kingston, NY. Led by the O Positive Festival and Newburgh Enlarged City School District, participants will travel by bus to explore Kingston’s renowned murals while learning how public art reflects local history, culture, and community voice.


Using provided iPad devices, leaders will engage in the same type of learning students would experience—mapping a field trip, studying the meaning behind murals, and creating original music, images, and video inspired by what they see. Participants will use tools such as Apple Maps, GarageBand, and iMovie to understand how creative technology can support New York’s Deeper Learning competencies, including authentic learning, student agency, collaboration, and communication.


The session models how districts can design meaningful, standards-aligned field experiences that connect learning to place, elevate creativity, and strengthen community connections.

In response to the vision set forth by NY Inspires and the Portrait of a Graduate, this interactive three-hour workshop invites educational leaders to reimagine learning through a whole-brain, whole-child deeper learning framework. Participants will engage with a scalable Process-Based Learning (PBL) model designed for K–12 systems, with intentional alignment across leadership, educator, and student levels.
Through a hands-on activity inspired by a children’s text, attendees will collect, analyze, and present data using manipulatives and 3D models - demonstrating how play, curiosity, and creativity can deepen understanding for both students and adult learners. The session will also showcase an AI tool incorporating Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (CRSE), the Portrait of a Graduate, and our whole brain/whole child model.
Leaders will leave equipped with practical strategies to scope, support, and sustain deeper learning initiatives that align with NY Inspires priorities and contemporary educational goals.

How do we create schools where innovation isn’t a one-time initiative but a daily mindset? A space where every teacher feels empowered to experiment, reflect, and refine their practice in ways that truly benefit students? This 3-hour interactive workshop invites K–12 school and district leaders to explore the Pedagogical Innovation Framework, a practical, relationship-centered model for fostering authentic, student-driven instructional change.
Drawing from the research, reflective tools, and real classroom stories featured in the upcoming book on pedagogical innovation, this session will challenge leaders to reimagine their role not just as implementers of change, but as cultivators of conditions where innovation can thrive.
Participants will explore:

• The six stages of the Pedagogical Innovation Framework, with concrete examples from diverse school contexts
• What it means to lead for innovation, including trust-building, risk-taking, and a shift from compliance to curiosity
• How to recognize and respond to small opportunities for change, using classroom data, teacher reflection, and student voice
• How to foster collective efficacy through shared language, aligned purpose, and professional learning grounded in relationships

Through a blend of mini-lessons, reflection, planning prompts, and case-based discussion, participants will leave with:

• A deeper understanding of how pedagogical innovation grows from the inside out
• Tools to support reflective practice, instructional visioning, and collaborative goal setting
• A personalized action plan for initiating or deepening a culture of innovation in their schools

This is not a workshop about the latest tool or trend. It’s about empowering educators to teach with more intention, joy, and impact by putting students, not systems, at the center of instructional change.

In the landscape of special education, school leaders often face two parallel and seemingly distinct challenges. First, there is a chronic scarcity of adaptive equipment, such as the custom footrests, writing easels, and sensory tools that allow students with disabilities to physically access their learning environments. Second, there is a persistent lack of rigorous, creative, and authentic STEM pathways for these same students, who are frequently underestimated. This deep dive session proposes that these two challenges are not separate problems to be managed, but complementary opportunities to be seized. By positioning students with disabilities as the designers and fabricators of their own adaptive equipment, we can solve for immediate physical needs while simultaneously constructing a robust learning experience for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). 
This session invites participants to explore the Made to Learn (M2L) model, a transformative initiative developed by the Adaptive Design Association (ADA) in partnership with a New York City District 75 school. We will examine how M2L shifts the educational paradigm from remediation to innovation through teaching students with IDD to build adaptive equipment made from tri-wall cardboard. When a student builds a custom desk organizer or a specialized chair for a peer, the work gains immediate, real-world implications by raising the bar through showing how these students can learn complex fabrication skills, engage in human-centered design, and function as engineers within their communities.
In the second part of the session, we will introduce the Exposure Lab, a new initiative supported by the New York Community Trust designed to bring STEM equity to classrooms without the requirement of a traditional workshop facility. Participants will learn how the Exposure Lab utilizes a mobile cart system and standardized materials to lower the barrier of entry for teachers. We will engage educator-participants in an immersive "Make and Take" professional development workshop designed to demystify the fabrication process and give educators a tangible understanding of the skills required to launch a similar program. Guided by the same lesson plans used in our Exposure Lab, participants will learn the fundamentals of cardboard carpentry and how to set up a safe and functional "pop-up" shop in a standard classroom. This will provide leaders with the technical confidence to advocate for maker-centered learning in special education while also creating a space for empathy and pedagogical reflection. As participants navigate the fabrication process, we will facilitate a dialogue on the instructional scaffolds necessary to support diverse learners and explore how to differentiate instruction for students with varying motor and cognitive profiles. By the end of this deep dive session, participants will understand that adaptive design is not merely a craft project; it is a rigorous academic intervention that redefines meaningful community contribution for students with disabilities. 

In the age of generative and agentic AI, traditional assignments are increasingly indistinguishable from automation. This workshop invites leaders to rethink what counts as evidence, create a schema for more authentic learning (spoiler: capture the process!), and build cultures where trust is earned through visible thinking, reflection, and real-world application. Participants will leave with a clear framework to audit the AI-resilience of their current assessment systems, concrete leadership strategies to move staff from policing AI to designing for integrity, and practical tools they can implement immediately in cabinet, principal, and faculty meetings.

  Have you ever considered bringing in a group of students to lead professional learning for you, your leadership team, or your faculty?  We hadn’t either … until last summer!  In this session, you’ll meet our student ambassadors and learn how we worked together with them, and one another, to create an unforgettable opportunity for the faculty and staff in our Alternative High School.  We will dive into the successes, struggles, schedule, and share some tips, tricks and even some words of advice to bring student leaders to the top of your professional learning team!   Our students will share with you what they learned as facilitators and leaders – and will share the impact that this experience had for them.  You’ll leave with ideas for using this type of learning in your school … and what Time Travel Cards can do for your school – academically & culturally.  We look forward to learning & leading with you!
 

In an era shaped by artificial intelligence and rapid automation, durable, human-centered competencies, critical thinking, reasoning, collaboration, communication, are rising in importance. The question for school and district leaders is no longer whether students are talking, but whether their talk is producing thinking.

Education is changing—not gradually, but fundamentally. The role of the educator must not only evolve amidst this shift but take agency in shaping it by grounding innovation in human connection, purpose, and the lived experience of learning.
This professional learning activity develops the participants' capacity for reflective practice as a lever for more effective instruction and stronger classroom management. Participants examine how self-awareness — awareness of one's own stress response, attentional patterns, and instructional habits — directly shape classroom climate, teacher-student interactions, and students' readiness to learn.
The session introduces research-based frameworks connecting the teacher's nervous system regulation to classroom decision-making, then moves participants through structured reflection and applied activities that translate these frameworks into concrete instructional moves.
 
Participants leave with a customized implementation plan rooted in personal insight and classroom-ready strategies to enhance their practice and transform their school communities.

What if play were not an “extra,” but a powerful design lens for bringing a district’s Portrait of a Graduate to life—through any learning objective, at any grade level?
In this interactive session, participants will explore how play can be intentionally used to translate learning objectives aligned to Portrait of a Graduate competencies—such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, agency, and empathy—into learning experiences that strengthen understanding, transfer, and student engagement, without sacrificing rigor, standards, or accountability.
Drawing from research, classroom practice, and large-scale system implementation, the session demystifies what “learning through play” really means—and what it does not mean. Superintendents and system leaders will engage in a hands-on design experience that demonstrates how the same core learning objective can be activated through different types of play, making learning more relevant, motivating, and durable for students.
The session will also address common leadership questions, including alignment to standards, assessment of Portrait competencies, teacher readiness, time constraints, and scalability across schools and contexts.
Participants will leave with a clear, practical framework they can use to guide instructional conversations, professional learning, and classroom design—so the Portrait becomes not just a vision statement, but a lived student experience.

This immersive session invites school and district leaders to experience place-based learning in action through an off-site field experience in Kingston, NY. Led by the O Positive Festival and Newburgh Enlarged City School District, participants will travel by bus to explore Kingston’s renowned murals while learning how public art reflects local history, culture, and community voice.


Using provided iPad devices, leaders will engage in the same type of learning students would experience—mapping a field trip, studying the meaning behind murals, and creating original music, images, and video inspired by what they see. Participants will use tools such as Apple Maps, GarageBand, and iMovie to understand how creative technology can support New York’s Deeper Learning competencies, including authentic learning, student agency, collaboration, and communication.


The session models how districts can design meaningful, standards-aligned field experiences that connect learning to place, elevate creativity, and strengthen community connections.

In response to the vision set forth by NY Inspires and the Portrait of a Graduate, this interactive three-hour workshop engages educational leaders in reimagining learning through a whole-brain, whole-child deeper learning framework. Participants will experience a scalable Process-Based Learning (PBL) model designed for implementation across K–12 systems, with intentional alignment across leadership, educator, and student levels. 
Through an immersive, hands-on activity grounded in the children’s text, attendees will explore how to redefine learning experiences by engaging in the collection, analysis, and presentation of data using manipulatives and 3D models. Along the way, participants will witness the power of play and application in driving meaningful engagement not only for children, but for adult learners as well; highlighting how joy, curiosity and creativity can deepen understanding.  You will also be exposed to an AI tool that has incorporated the CRSE framework, portrait of a graduate and  our whole brain whole child model.  Leaders will leave with practical strategies and tools to scope, support, and sustain deeper learning initiatives that align with contemporary educational priorities.  

How do we create schools where innovation isn’t a one-time initiative but a daily mindset? A space where every teacher feels empowered to experiment, reflect, and refine their practice in ways that truly benefit students? This 3-hour interactive workshop invites K–12 school and district leaders to explore the Pedagogical Innovation Framework, a practical, relationship-centered model for fostering authentic, student-driven instructional change.
Drawing from the research, reflective tools, and real classroom stories featured in the upcoming book on pedagogical innovation, this session will challenge leaders to reimagine their role not just as implementers of change, but as cultivators of conditions where innovation can thrive.
Participants will explore:

• The six stages of the Pedagogical Innovation Framework, with concrete examples from diverse school contexts
• What it means to lead for innovation, including trust-building, risk-taking, and a shift from compliance to curiosity
• How to recognize and respond to small opportunities for change, using classroom data, teacher reflection, and student voice
• How to foster collective efficacy through shared language, aligned purpose, and professional learning grounded in relationships

Through a blend of mini-lessons, reflection, planning prompts, and case-based discussion, participants will leave with:

• A deeper understanding of how pedagogical innovation grows from the inside out
• Tools to support reflective practice, instructional visioning, and collaborative goal setting
• A personalized action plan for initiating or deepening a culture of innovation in their schools

This is not a workshop about the latest tool or trend. It’s about empowering educators to teach with more intention, joy, and impact by putting students, not systems, at the center of instructional change.

In the landscape of special education, school leaders often face two parallel and seemingly distinct challenges. First, there is a chronic scarcity of adaptive equipment, such as the custom footrests, writing easels, and sensory tools that allow students with disabilities to physically access their learning environments. Second, there is a persistent lack of rigorous, creative, and authentic STEM pathways for these same students, who are frequently underestimated. This deep dive session proposes that these two challenges are not separate problems to be managed, but complementary opportunities to be seized. By positioning students with disabilities as the designers and fabricators of their own adaptive equipment, we can solve for immediate physical needs while simultaneously constructing a robust learning experience for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). 
This session invites participants to explore the Made to Learn (M2L) model, a transformative initiative developed by the Adaptive Design Association (ADA) in partnership with a New York City District 75 school. We will examine how M2L shifts the educational paradigm from remediation to innovation through teaching students with IDD to build adaptive equipment made from tri-wall cardboard. When a student builds a custom desk organizer or a specialized chair for a peer, the work gains immediate, real-world implications by raising the bar through showing how these students can learn complex fabrication skills, engage in human-centered design, and function as engineers within their communities.
In the second part of the session, we will introduce the Exposure Lab, a new initiative supported by the New York Community Trust designed to bring STEM equity to classrooms without the requirement of a traditional workshop facility. Participants will learn how the Exposure Lab utilizes a mobile cart system and standardized materials to lower the barrier of entry for teachers. We will engage educator-participants in an immersive "Make and Take" professional development workshop designed to demystify the fabrication process and give educators a tangible understanding of the skills required to launch a similar program. Guided by the same lesson plans used in our Exposure Lab, participants will learn the fundamentals of cardboard carpentry and how to set up a safe and functional "pop-up" shop in a standard classroom. This will provide leaders with the technical confidence to advocate for maker-centered learning in special education while also creating a space for empathy and pedagogical reflection. As participants navigate the fabrication process, we will facilitate a dialogue on the instructional scaffolds necessary to support diverse learners and explore how to differentiate instruction for students with varying motor and cognitive profiles. By the end of this deep dive session, participants will understand that adaptive design is not merely a craft project; it is a rigorous academic intervention that redefines meaningful community contribution for students with disabilities. 

In the age of generative and agentic AI, traditional assignments are increasingly indistinguishable from automation. This workshop invites leaders to rethink what counts as evidence, create a schema for more authentic learning (spoiler: capture the process!), and build cultures where trust is earned through visible thinking, reflection, and real-world application. Participants will leave with a clear framework to audit the AI-resilience of their current assessment systems, concrete leadership strategies to move staff from policing AI to designing for integrity, and practical tools they can implement immediately in cabinet, principal, and faculty meetings.

  Have you ever considered bringing in a group of students to lead professional learning for you, your leadership team, or your faculty?  We hadn’t either … until last summer!  In this session, you’ll meet our student ambassadors and learn how we worked together with them, and one another, to create an unforgettable opportunity for the faculty and staff in our Alternative High School.  We will dive into the successes, struggles, schedule, and share some tips, tricks and even some words of advice to bring student leaders to the top of your professional learning team!   Our students will share with you what they learned as facilitators and leaders – and will share the impact that this experience had for them.  You’ll leave with ideas for using this type of learning in your school … and what Time Travel Cards can do for your school – academically & culturally.  We look forward to learning & leading with you!
 

In an era shaped by artificial intelligence and rapid automation, durable, human-centered competencies, critical thinking, reasoning, collaboration, communication, are rising in importance. The question for school and district leaders is no longer whether students are talking, but whether their talk is producing thinking.

Education is changing—not gradually, but fundamentally. The role of the educator must not only evolve amidst this shift but take agency in shaping it by grounding innovation in human connection, purpose, and the lived experience of learning.
This professional learning activity develops the participants' capacity for reflective practice as a lever for more effective instruction and stronger classroom management. Participants examine how self-awareness — awareness of one's own stress response, attentional patterns, and instructional habits — directly shape classroom climate, teacher-student interactions, and students' readiness to learn.
The session introduces research-based frameworks connecting the teacher's nervous system regulation to classroom decision-making, then moves participants through structured reflection and applied activities that translate these frameworks into concrete instructional moves.
 
Participants leave with a customized implementation plan rooted in personal insight and classroom-ready strategies to enhance their practice and transform their school communities.

What if play were not an “extra,” but a powerful design lens for bringing a district’s Portrait of a Graduate to life—through any learning objective, at any grade level?
In this interactive session, participants will explore how play can be intentionally used to translate learning objectives aligned to Portrait of a Graduate competencies—such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, agency, and empathy—into learning experiences that strengthen understanding, transfer, and student engagement, without sacrificing rigor, standards, or accountability.
Drawing from research, classroom practice, and large-scale system implementation, the session demystifies what “learning through play” really means—and what it does not mean. Superintendents and system leaders will engage in a hands-on design experience that demonstrates how the same core learning objective can be activated through different types of play, making learning more relevant, motivating, and durable for students.
The session will also address common leadership questions, including alignment to standards, assessment of Portrait competencies, teacher readiness, time constraints, and scalability across schools and contexts.
Participants will leave with a clear, practical framework they can use to guide instructional conversations, professional learning, and classroom design—so the Portrait becomes not just a vision statement, but a lived student experience.