Paideia Conferences

Past Conferences & Institutes

Summer Institutes in Asheville, NC

July 24-25, 2023

Are you looking for ways to enhance the quality of instruction in your school or classroom this year? Consider coming to beautiful Asheville, NC, for one of the following professional learning institutes. An investment of your time and energy now will pay dividends in student learning both this year and in years to come. If you are already using the Paideia Program in your school, consider taking advantage of the Implementation Institute as a planning retreat so that you can achieve your certification or accreditation goals.

Introduction to Paideia Seminar:
Learn the key components for facilitating Paideia Seminar, which helps advance students' ability to think conceptually and communicate collaboratively. This two-day course is designed for new practitioners and focuses on an integrated literacy cycle of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking. Participants will study each component of the seminar cycle, develop plans for implementation, and practice facilitating Paideia Seminar.

Leading Paideia Implementation:
This training is best for school-based Paideia leadership teams (teachers, administrators, coaches & facilitators) and is designed to take your school's Paideia implementation to the next level. We will work collaboratively with you to candidly assess your current program status and plan an ambitious but realistic set of goals for the 2023-2024 school year.

Introduction to the Paideia Classroom Institute and Coordinators’ Institute
April 19-20, 2023, in Asheville, NC

The Paideia Classroom
Join us for an in-depth introduction to the Paideia Classroom, where you will learn how to support the skills of creative and critical thinking on a daily basis to activate your students’ development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The Paideia Classroom is a simple, direct, and powerful set of practices that build upon the ideas and values, and the features, of the Paideia Seminar and the Paideia Project. The Paideia Classroom fully integrates the skill-building of dialogue into the life of the classroom, while inspiring students to practice speaking with clarity and listening mindfully to improve the two-way communication of shared understanding. During this Institute, participants will have the opportunity to explore the elements of the Paideia Classroom and begin to design and adapt activities ideally suited to their classroom, school, and community.

The Paideia Coordinators’ Institute
If you serve, officially or unofficially, in the role of a Paideia Coordinator, this Institute is for you. Whether you have held the position for years or have just started, join us for a collaborative learning experience and networking opportunity. Participants will be introduced to or advance their thinking around the many aspects of leading and supporting a successful Paideia implementation and/or renewal certification/accreditation. The Paideia Coordinators’ Institute will focus on supporting classroom, school-wide, faculty, and parent/community seminars, along with scheduling, archiving, marketing, hosting learning visits, and recruiting, growing, and retaining strong Paideia practitioners. During our time together, we will discuss potential problems in coordination and possible solutions to the challenges and opportunities that come with being a Paideia Coordinator.