Hi Ms. Castro,

My name is Izzy Lapidus and I was given your contact information by someone in your office. I'm writing to share some details about paid professional development program for teachers called STEAM in the City; we would love to have teachers from P.S. 57 participate in the coming year!

The initiative is hosted by the Barnard College Office of Community Engagement and Inclusion and connects local teachers with resources and pedagogical training from Barnard scholars on experiential practices for educating students in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (aka “STEAM”). Teachers participating in this program are equipped with ideas and resources to implement STEAM-related curriculum that focuses on Harlem's parks and other local sites as environmental and design learning spaces, and use them to create educational opportunities for their students that explore STEAM subjects through community engagement.

Teacher participants receive:

• Unique, hands-on professional development experience: a mandatory one week Institute in July (comes with $1250 participation stipend and materials and meals) and 2 hour opt-in, follow-up workshops throughout the academic year (comes with $150 participation stipend and materials and meals)
• $5000 budget for purchasing supplies of their choice for STEAM projects or building STEAM learning makerspaces in their classroom
• Free materials for enacting STEAM projects they practice at the workshops in their classroom
• Access to staffing support from Barnard TAs for STEAM projects or field trips
• Community of teachers in Harlem and Upper Manhattan schools!

Any teacher who works with students in Upper Manhattan on STEAM-related coursework is eligible to join. More information about the opportunity is available on this website and in the brochure attached, and the teacher interest form can be accessed here. Please contact me at i[email protected] if you have any questions or want to find a time to speak further about this program (I can also coordinate an in-person or virtual info session if that’s something you’re interested in); I hope we will be able to collaborate in the coming year!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Izzy Lapidus