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by Arvin Temkar, Common Cents Fellow
More than 300 coaches attended the October 5th professional development hosted by Trinity Wall Street in lower Manhattan, and 200 more attended the alternate sessions, also held at the church. Coaches were welcomed by Teddy Gross, founder and executive director of Common Cents, Diahann Billings-Burford, the first Chief Service Officer for New York City and Reverand Matt Heyd, director of Faith in Action Ministries at Trinity Church. The format was a little different from what most coaches who have done the Penny Harvest before are used to. Instead of holding several small conferences in each borough, this year Common Cents decided to bring the entire city together— to stir the pot and see what new relationships and ideas would come from a large gathering of vastly diverse coaches. “It was so exciting to see coaches from across the city unite and share their best Penny Harvest practices,” said Monique Achu, Common Cents’ education manager, who along with Adam Seidel, program director, have done about 40 borough trainings in the past 2 years. “Transitioning from small trainings to one large one took some adjusting, but I believe it was well worth it.” One new aspect of this year’s professional development was specialized workshops for experienced coaches. Coaches participated in two workshops they selected from four options: Student Leadership, Community Wide Involvement, Curriculum Integration, and Whole School Involvement. “Training isn’t just for new coaches,” said Achu. “Experienced coaches can gain new ideas and a fresh perspective on the Penny Harvest.” Liz Schneider, coach for P.S. 144 in Queens, who also facilitated a Whole School Involvement workshop said “there’s something really nice about seeing all the coaches in one place and realizing you’re part of a larger community.” For the Common Cents staff it was an excellent opportunity to speak face to face with the many people we communicate with daily by e-mail, fax, and telephone. Meeting the coaches who some of us have only spoken to briefly on the phone during their lunch breaks or in the rush between classes was a treat, and was a nice way to put a face… or hundreds of faces… on some of the people that make the Penny Harvest possible. |
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About Us
This October was the first time in several years Common Cents held a city-wide Penny Harvest professional development session. Common Cents periodically holds these sessions to bring together educators from across the city. The conference brought together new and experienced coaches from New York’s 5 boroughs to sit together and learn about the program, discuss Penny Harvest plans for the upcoming year, and share stories and lessons from their schools.