Educating after Violence

Wednesday, May 22

6:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: Greenfield Intercultural Center, 3708 Chestnut Street

RSVP here.

Do you teach or facilitate in a setting where many of your students/participants have experienced trauma and violence?  Do you want to learn more about the impact of violence on learning?  This gathering will explore both the impact of violence on learning as well as provide educators with skills to use in these settings.  
 
Facilitator:  Susanna Gilbertson, MSW, is an adjunct professor at Community College of Philadelphia and Harcum College.  She also facilitates parenting groups for Educating Communities for Parenting. Susanna has created and facilitated interactive workshops on intimate partner violence, sexual health, and suicide prevention for youth, professional and community groups for over 13 years.

Using Participatory Education in Organizing

Wednesday, April 24 
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: PhilaPosh, 3001 Walnut St., 5th Floor (AFSCME DC 33 building)

RSVP here.

We are interested in how PTC can be a resource for organizing efforts happening in and around Philadelphia!

Are you using participatory and/or popular education approaches in your organizing and movement-building work?  Would you like to be?  Bring your examples, questions, ideas, and best practices.  Share, discuss, and network with other organizers, community workers, and trainers.  If you have a short activity that you use in your organizing work that you want to share at the gathering, please let us know on the RSVP form.

We will use Open Space Technology - a discussion / sharing format that allows for the participants to focus on topics that they are most interested in - to explore the use of participatory and popular education in organizing work. 

Facilitators:  PTC members Susanna Gilbertson & Hillary Blecker will be facilitating introductions and setting up the Open Space.

March 27: Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle

6:30-8:30 p.m.

Facilitator:  Sarvelia Peralta-Duran

Location: South America Room, International House Philadelphia, 3701 Chestnut St.

RSVP by clicking here.

Experienced trainers and educators know that using participants' experiences as a departure point for learning is useful, powerful, and an essential part of teaching as a participatory process. However, many trainers have not had the opportunity to formally study some of the theories that form the basis of experiential education methods. During this gathering, we will explore David Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle as a useful framework for designing and delivering trainings to a wide range of audiences.

The gathering will involve an experiential activities and small group work to facilitate learning about Kolb's theory as it relates to different learning styles. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss activities that fit within each part of the cycle, as well as questions that help to facilitate learning.

Sarvelia has 10 years of experience designing and delivering workshops in a variety of academic settings. She specializes in facilitation techniques, diversity and intercultural trainings. She is passionate about student development and intercultural work as a means to advance social justice and equity. She holds a B.A. from UPenn and an M.A. from the School for International Training Graduate Institute. Sarvelia is currently the Alumni Relations Director at the International House of Philadelphia, a non-profit that houses domestic and international students.

PTC gatherings are open to the public.

We accept donations from $5-10 (sliding scale). No one will be turned away for inability to contribute.

Note: This month's donations will go toward International House Philadelphia.

Light refreshments are provided.

Feb. 27 - Training Techniques Lab

6:30-8:30 p.m.
Facilitators:  Laura Flippin, Xu Li, Alison Stolow, Ronggui Su, and Colleen Daley

Location: Europe Room, International House Philadelphia, 3701 Chestnut Street

RSVP by clicking here.

Students currently enrolled in the Experiential Learning Design class at UPenn's Graduate School of Education will be demonstrating 2-3 experiential learning training techniques that other trainers can employ to meet their own goals and objectives. This will be an opportunity for trainers to learn new techniques or brush up on ones they already know. It will also be an opportunity to support young professionals who are new to the field by providing a safe space for them to practice their skills and receive constructive feedback.

Laura has two years of training experience and over ten years of teaching experience.  She is in the first year of a two-year graduate program in Intercultural Communication at UPenn and is a graduate intern at the Penn Greenfield Intercultural Center, where she is involved with workshop design and implementation. 

Xu Li runs and designs workshops for the Chinese Student Support Network at UPenn to increase Chinese international students’ cultural awareness, mental wellness and social networking in intercultural settings. She is a first-year graduate student in Intercultural Communication and has been a staff intern at the UPenn Greenfield Intercultural Center since 2012. 

Alison is in her last semester studying Intercultural Communication UPenn. Alison previously lived and worked in Houston, TX teaching ESL Pre-K as a Teach For America corps member. Through that experience, Alison became passionate about early childhood, learners of second languages, and the field of education in general.

Ronggui has served as the president of a student-run English club, started two study groups focusing on English vocabulary and pronunciation, and helped primary school students improve their English listening and speaking skills by training and sending university students to participate in their school activities.

Colleen is a former Peace Corps volunteer with a passion for social justice, youth, languages, and religious and cross-cultural dialogue. She is about to graduate with a Master’s in Intercultural Communication (ICC) at UPenn, where she has collaborated on   designing a new core course for the ICC program focused on training design and experiential learning.

Using Your Stories to Move People to Action

Wednesday, January 23

6:30-8:30 p.m.
Facilitator:  Rose White

Location: PhilaPOSH, 3001 Walnut Street, 5th Floor (AFSCME Building)

RSVP by clicking here.

Storytelling is a powerful organizing tool to communicate values, victories, and hopes for the future.  This workshop will outline techniques that are effective in using personal stories to communicate and build common ground.  Workshop participants will outline their own story using these techniques, and will practice using their story as a way to invite people to join their campaign.

Rose White has been an organizer and trainer at the Service Employees International Union since 2002.  She started at the union organizing nursing home workers into the union, and since then has worked on the political staff of local unions, worked on leadership development programs, and led member internship programs.  Her favorite part of her work is encouraging healthcare worker union members to understand and harness their collective political power to increase public funding for healthcare, resulting in better quality care for their patients, and also a living wage for themselves.

Gatherings are open to the public and cost $5-10 (sliding scale). No one will be turned away for inability to pay.

Light refreshments are provided.

And mark your calendars for the rest of the PTC Winter Line-up:

PTC Lab - Topic TBD - February 27
Presented by students from the Experiential Learning Design Class for Intercultural Communication at the UPenn Graduate School of Education

David Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle - A Model for Training Design - March 27

Facilitator:  Sarvelia Peralta-Duran

Location: International House Philadelphia

Nov 28: Building Trust and Engaging Conflict

6:30-8:30 p.m.
Facilitators: Hillary Blecker & Amadee Braxton

Location: Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, 237 S. Broad, 3rd floor (ARIA A), Philadelphia, PA
Presented in conjunction with the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) conference: http://nameorg.org/

Please RSVP here

Often in our work as educators and facilitators, we try and avoid topics that could create conflict. Perhaps this means not discussing our social identities – such as our race, gender, class – or our political opinions. But without having conflict, we are never pushed to question our own assumptions or fully express our opinions. This often has the effect of leaving people feeling less trusting of others. During this gathering, we will explore ways to introduce yourself as a facilitator that will build trust and engage differing opinions and potential conflict.

Amadee Braxton is a trainer and facilitator with over 20 years experience in social change work specializing in organizational development, conflict resolution, and fundraising. Amadee’s work in conflict resolution began with her training as a student and family mediator in high school and deepened with her training as a facilitator in Temple University’s Transformational Social Therapy program. She has been Director of Development for Iraq Veterans Against the War since 2004 and is the President of the Leeway Foundation, which funds social change through art.

Hillary Blecker has a decade of experience designing and facilitating health trainings in a variety of community and workplace settings. Hillary is currently the training coordinator at the Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health (PhilaPOSH) and previously worked with unions and day labor centers on safety and health education. Last year, she was trained in Temple's Transformational Social Therapy program, which teaches skills to engage conflict. Hillary is a very proud co-founder of PTC!

Note: There will be no public PTC gathering in December. Look for us again in the new year!

Oct. 24: Perception Trumps Intention: Communication and Presence Skills to Engage and Connect

6:30-8:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Bobbi Block

Location: PhilaPosh, 3001 Walnut St., 5th Floor (AFSCME DC 33 building)

Please RSVP here

Participants will heighten their awareness of body language, vocal variety, facial expression and mental focus (being 'present') in order to authentically connect with audiences of one or one hundred. Participants will discover how trusting relationships are built by learning how to match the content of the training with the delivery. Participants will explore ways to emote signals of confidence and credibility during a training.  A highly experiential session, participants will learn and apply skills, and receive peer feedback.

Bobbi Block is an experiential Coach and Facilitator with a unique background in both training and the performing arts (specifically Improvisational Theater). She specializes in Leadership, Collaboration, Listening, Creativity, and Presentation Skills development. Bobbi teaches and performs Improvisational Theatre in Philadelphia and is an Adjunct Professor in the Theatre Department at Drexel University and Temple University. Through interactive, creative learning approaches, Bobbi fosters personal and professional transformation in her participants.

The next gathering in November will follow up on some of the themes from this October gathering.

Building Trust and Engaging Conflict

Wednesday, November 28th, 6:30-8:30pm
Facilitators: Amadee Braxton and Hillary Blecker