PJI Teachers Academy 2024

The PJI Teachers Academy, a week-long intensive program is designed for educators by educators. This immersive cohort-based program supports teachers in reflecting on their lives and current practices with an eye to deepening equity in their hearts, minds, and classrooms. Based on the latest neuroscience and teaching literature, participants will explore topics such as privilege, race, gender, LGBTQ, trauma, resilience, empathy, mindfulness, and missing histories while also building relationships and community with others. Connect back with your love for teaching and share your experience and expertise with others as you move beyond compliance to connection in your vocation and with your students.

Session I - June 10-14, 2024

Session II - June 24-28, 2024

The PJI Teachers Academy is a week-long intensive program designed for educators by educators. This immersive cohort-based program supports teachers in reflecting on their lives and current practices with an eye to deepening equity in their hearts, minds, and classrooms. Based on the latest neuroscience and teaching literature, participants will explore topics such as trauma, resilience, empathy, mindfulness, and missing histories while also building relationships and community with others. Connect back with your love for teaching and share your experience and expertise with others as you move beyond compliance to connection in your vocation and with your students.

• Participants in the summer Teachers Academy will:
• Employ pedagogical tools and theoretical frameworks to create peaceful, safe, trauma-sensitive, and inclusive classrooms.
• Explore identity, hidden bias, and life experiences to discover the impact these determiners have on curriculum, student behavior, and engagement.
• Support authentic dialogue, transform conflict, and develop positive interdependence through the use of PJI’s Principles for How We Treat Each Other: Our Practice of Respect and Community Building.

Teachers Academy is a weeklong, five-day professional development program. The daily schedule is from 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and includes:

• Expert facilitation from a diverse team of PJI facilitators and educators.
• Access to PJI-created activities and curriculum.
• Printed and online resources and materials, including four foundational texts.
• Use of active and experiential learning including mindfulness, reflective practice, and scholarship of the self and shelf.
• Lunch daily with snacks, coffee, and tea available throughout the day.

Summer 2024 Teachers Academy will be hosted at the beautiful Canterbury Retreat Center in Oviedo, Florida, a smal town on the outskirts of Orlando, Florida. To see images of the Center, follow this link: https://canterburyretreat.org/photos-and-video-tour/

Out-of-town particpants have the opportunity to stay at the Canterbury Retreat Center during the weeklong program.

Participants will be awarded a certificate of completion through their:

• Attendance and participation at the week-long session.
• Completion of all reading and reflection assignments.
• Open-minded and respectful approach toward participants and activities.
• In-depth self-reflection and application.
• Implementation of the PJI Principles for How We Treat Each Other, use of Windows and Mirrors for curriculum development, and the integration of Serial Testimony into your professional practice with students and beyond.

Many school districts award professional development and/or Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to participants who complete the PJI Academy. PJI will issue each participant who completes the PJI Academy a certificate and letter of professional development certification for 40 PD hours.

Once participants have completed the Teachers Academy, the learning continues. Participants will be provided with:

• PJI Academy Alumni support and mentorship
• PJI practices and tools to use in your classroom
• Further offerings of Development Days and retreats after the summer experience to dive deeper into resilience, self-care, and equity topics.

Full and partial scholarships are available. Please complete the scholarship application by April 15, 2024. If you have questions about a scholarship, email Lianna McGowan at [email protected].

Lianna McGowan, Teachers Academy Director, at [email protected]

Host or Publisher Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College