Interest Groups

Getting Started With Grant Writing and DonorsChoose

Facilitators: Andy Yung, and MƒA Master Teachers Steve Oszust and Jordan Wolf

THURSDAY, FEB 9

ONLINE

 COMMUNITY

Are you interested in acquiring resources for your classroom but don’t have the budget to do so? Then look no further than DonorsChoose. Our team of grant writing experts will help you create a DonorsChoose account, teach you the craft of grant writing, and support you in writing and submitting DonorsChoose projects. We have over 600 completed projects among us. The skills learned in this session are easily transferable to many other grant applications as well.

Andy Yung is a pre-K teacher at P.S. 244Q The Active Learning Elementary School. He has used DonorsChoose.org to raise over $35,000 for his classroom, school, and community and is always willing to help those who wish to start their own crowdfunding journey.

Happy Teachers Change the World: A Book Club for Cultivating Mindfulness

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Amanda Bollati and Aoife Walsh

THURSDAYS, FEB 9, MAR 2, APR 27, MAY 25

ONLINE

 INQUIRY, PRACTICE, AND LEADERSHIP

+ PLEASE NOTE: YOU MAY SIGN UP FOR EACH MEETING SEPARATELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR AVAILABILITY.

Are you interested in being a happier teacher? Then join us in this interest group as we explore the book Happy Teachers Change the sWorld, by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare. We’ll use the book to cultivate our own mindfulness practice and discuss how to take these techniques back to our students. Open dialogue about our own mindfulness journey will be shared throughout. Everyone is welcome!

International Teaching

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Elisabetta La Tanza and Leslyn Morris

THURSDAY, MAR 30 ONLINE

 COMMUNITY

Are you interested in connecting with other teachers who have taught abroad? Whether you are an international teacher originally from another country or you have taught abroad for some time, join us to share experiences, compare and contrast the different education systems and curricula, and discuss successes and struggles throughout our teaching career transitions. Teachers are encouraged to bring examples of topics or curricula taught in a different country. This group is for those who have taught internationally but all are welcome.

The Intersection of Coaching and Teaching Facilitator: MƒA Master Teacher Mario Simonelli

TUESDAY, MAY 9 ONLINE  MATHEMATICS

Are you interested in learning how coaching sports or leading other extracurricular activities overlaps with teaching STEM? Join us as we discuss coaching and teaching, including relationship building, the impact a coach has on a school community, switching between our teacher and coach hats, and navigating the PSAL.

Learn Spanish to Support Your Multilingual Students p

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Laura Antunez Rodriguez and Francisco J. Perez Martinez

WEDNESDAYS, FEB 15, MAR 29, APR 26, MAY 24, JUN 14 MƒA & OFFSITE  COMMUNITY

+PLEASE NOTE: YOU MAY SIGN UP FOR EACH MEETING SEPARATELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR AVAILABILITY.

Are you interested in practicing Spanish as a way to support your multilingual students? Then join this fun and interactive Spanish conversation group! Improve your fluency, confidence, and culturally relevant teaching practices. This group will help you connect with your students and with other educators.

Let’s Do...Calculus!

Facilitator: MƒA Master Teacher Stephanie Bohbot

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 MƒA  MATHEMATICS

Are you interested in working through calculus problems with a group of teachers? Whether you want a refresher on the content before you teach calculus in the future, or want to engage with calculus problems for fun, this is the place for you! Join us to do some mathematics, learn from each other’s techniques and reasoning, and engage with the prerequisite skills you may be teaching

Interest Groups

in your current or future courses. We will work through the 2008 and 2012 AP Calculus AB exam questions together. Self-checking Desmos Activities covering all eight AP Calculus AB Units will be provided as an additional resource.

Math and Science Teachers Can Cook Too!

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Stephen Jackson and Andrea Steele

TUESDAYS, FEB 28, APR 18

M ƒA & ONLINE

 COMMUNITY

+ PLEASE NOTE: YOU MAY SIGN UP FOR EACH MEETING SEPARATELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR AVAILABILITY AND PREFERENCE FOR IN-PERSON OR VIRTUAL MEETINGS.

Are you interested in learning more about the cultural diversity of your students through the culinary talents of your MƒA colleagues? MƒA teachers reflect NYC, and in this interest group we will explore this through the foods we enjoy cooking and eating. We will share our cultures, culinary expertise, recipes, and final products, all while having fun!

MƒA Game Night

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Deborah Reich and Matt Steiniger

WEDNESDAY, MAR 22

M ƒA

 COMMUNITY

Are you interested in strategy and diplomacy or backstabbing and intrigue? How about learning and sharing new games while socializing with your colleagues in an informal in-person setting? If so, join us for the MƒA Game Night! Board games will be provided, but feel free to bring your favorites along as well!

MƒA Magic: The Gathering Meet Up

Facilitator: MƒA Emeritus Teacher Sherri Shaarbafan

WEDNESDAY, FEB 8 M ƒA

 COMMUNITY a mindful yoga flow, and conclude with a guided yoga nidra meditation. Sessions are open to all yoga practitioners—from first-timers to seasoned yogis.

Are you interested in playing Magic: The Gathering? This is a tabletop card game played by two or more players. Defeat your opponent by casting spells and attacking with creatures to deal damage! Anyone interested in learning how to play or interested in playing casually is welcome.

MƒA Teacher Poker

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Diane Pflug and Peter Sell

THURSDAY, MAR 2 M ƒA  COMMUNITY

+ PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A COMPETITIVE GAME UNSUITABLE FOR BEGINNERS, SO PLEASE ONLY REGISTER IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH TEXAS HOLD’EM.

Shuffle up and deal! Show off your poker skills at our annual MƒA Teacher Poker Tournament! Join us to compete against other MƒA teachers for the chance to play at our big poker event this spring. The top four winners of the March teacher tournament will attend and compete alongside MƒA Founder Jim Simons and others at the 2023 MƒA Poker Night Tournament, a fundraising event for MƒA on Thursday, April 20.

Mindful Yoga Practice

Facilitator: Roque Rodriguez

WEDNESDAYS, FEB 8, APR 19 ONLINE

 COMMUNITY

+ PLEASE NOTE: YOU MAY SIGN UP FOR EACH MEETING SEPARATELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR AVAILABILITY.

Are you interested in an hour of mindfulness and selfcare? Join us for a yoga experience in which we turn our attention inward and link our movement and breath. We’ll begin by warming our bodies, then move through

Roque (pronounced: ROW-Keh), the son of Dominican-American immigrants, is a 500-hour trained Yoga teacher. In addition to his 500 hours of training, Roque has studied Anatomy with Jason Brown, Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra with Mona Anand, and is a certified Hosh Kids Yoga Teacher. Roque is a proud founder of Suryaside Yoga and Wellness in Queens, NY. When he’s not teaching the Suryaside community and mentoring his new teacher trainees, he is dedicated to spreading love and yoga to underserved and under-resourced communities through programs and partnerships such as Liberation Prison Yoga, which provides yoga and meditation to incarcerated people, and his “I Can Breathe” Yoga program, which offers teacher training scholarships to BIPOC who want to bring yoga to their community.

Netrunner: A Competitive Card Game for Teachers and Students

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Dave Richardson and Erika Richardson

THURSDAY, MAY 11 M ƒA  COMMUNITY

Are you interested in learning how to play Netrunner? Netrunner is an award-winning, two-player, asymmetrical strategy card game played worldwide. Both within and around the game, the Netrunner community supports diversity with an ongoing commitment to a transmedia universe. It features a wide array of playable character identities in terms of race, sexuality, gender, and even fictional forms of transhuman and artificial intelligence. Join us to learn how to play and bring the game back to your students and school community. No prior experience is necessary.