After a 3 year pause, summer training is returning to ALC-NYC!
Does the idea of finding yourself between chess club, tag games, and portrait painting on a Thursday afternoon bring you joy? How about the idea of seeding or supporting a space where a community of learners intentionally co-creates their experience? Yes? Yes. Us, too.
Will you come learn and play with us?
We’ll be ready! July 6th – 14th, 2023
* And if that timing doesn’t work for you, Abby is hosting a few other events this summer. Info at the bottom of the page. *
For the past ten years, Agile Learning Facilitators have been changing conversations about education. ALC started in East Harlem and rapidly grew into a global network, with our flagship staff explicitly dedicated to sharing our learning and support wherever we’re invited to around the world, nurturing new facilitators and partnerships between projects as best we can.
This ALC-NYC Summer program is held in our East Harlem school. The experience will include workshops, practice, and reflection time, hosted by Ryan Shollenberger, Abby Oulton, Nahla Simone, and B. English.
Foundations: July 6th – 8th
After introductions, we’ll jump into a three-day introduction to facilitation and Agile Learning! We’ll follow the rhythm ALC-NYC keeps during school days: morning intention-setting, daily exploring, then regrouping in the afternoon to reflect. Experienced facilitators will make offerings to share the theory and practices supporting Agile Learning Centers. Participants will be invited to make and request offerings based on personal interests and passions.
Explore the City (or rest): July 9th
Practice: July 10th – 14th
After foundation-setting among ourselves, we’ll be joined by kids from the ALC-NYC community! We’ll spend the week together co-creating our experience, as happens in ALCs around the world, with space to build on themes from the first three days and to explore related topics. We’ll share resources, have adventures, hear from experts, and get our hands dirty.
**If you’re interested in deeper practice, reach out to facilitators about attending their Bonus School the following week or volunteering in the fall!**
Wrap Up and Reflection: July 14th
As we conclude our time together, we’ll check back in with our original questions and goals. We’ll wrap up loose ends, explore outstanding questions, and share our learning.
Details
When? Doors will be open by 9 am. We’ll begin on time at 9:30 am. Afternoons will vary, but we’ll aim to close by 4:00 pm.
Where? 115 E. 105 St. Floor 2, New York, NY 10029
How Much? Full program is sliding scale from $400 – $950, with additional tax deductible donations to the school itself always welcome. The 3 day program is $225 per person.
Meals: At ALC-NYC, people eat when they’re hungry. They pack lunches, buy delicious tacos from down the street, store groceries for making meals at school, or coordinate with friends to order bigger meals to share. This summer, we’ll do the same, with facilitators providing snacks, neighborhood recommendations, and coordination if the group decides to all order in one of the days.
Transportation: Our location on East 106th Street is accessible by the 6 train and M106 bus most easily. Folks also arrive on the Q, 2/3, M98, M101, M4 and several other buses. Finding street parking in the neighborhood is doable but not easy.
Childcare: Young people are welcome in the space, both in sessions and hanging out while the adults do what we’re doing. The space is set up for kids 6+ to self-direct in, so there’s plenty to explore. If you would like to bring a kid or kids and need a dedicated childcare person available on site for that to feel good, please let the facilitators know.
Accessibility Notes: We’re on the 2nd floor of a building with a basement entrance. There is an elevator from the basement to our floor, but there is a short and fairly steep staircase from the street to that elevator. Bathrooms are gender inclusive. We have a few window air conditioning units but no central air. Fidgets and a rest room will be available. Facilitators plan to maintain air filtration and good ventilation, with masking being optional. Should the transmission rates in the city change by program time in such a way that we feel the program can’t proceed without a change to procedures, we will give as much notice as we can.
Facilitators:
Ryan Shollenberger (he/him) has been a central figure at ALC-NYC since day one. Ryan’s background in education includes several degrees and time teaching in a variety of environments. He hosts Math, Sports Chat, Minecraft, Geoguesser, and kickball. He loves sharing about German, philosophy, fitness, archetypes, and history. He’s been a co-director since 2016 and admissions coordinator since 2018.
Abby Oulton (she/her) started facilitating when the school first officially opened as the flagship ALC in the fall of 2013. Starting in 2015, she took on a bunch of administration and community building work. In 2016, she assumed co-directorship of the school and started organizing trainings. Since 2017, she has served as Vice President of the ALC Network, doing work that very much echoes what she does locally in NYC. She loves developing new skills and collaborating with practicing facilitators (especially teens)!
Nahla Simone (she/her) is a grown unschooler who spent time at ALC-NYC as a student, co-facilitated trainings with Abby before the pandemic, and now is returning to the community in a staff facilitator role. She also has experience as a dancer, painter, and make-up artist. She enjoys working on creative projects with kids, and she delights in helping younger teens plan adventures as they learn to navigate the city more independently.
B. English (he/him) is a facilitator at Heartwood ALC in Atlanta, Georgia. He homeschooled his 2 (awesome) daughters, and has personally been a self-directed learner as he’s pursued many different kinds of interests and projects, from instructing flight school to brewing kombucha. He can make or fix anything, and he loves guiding young people in realizing they can develop the skills to do so, too.
We’re excited to be returning to hosting trainings in our 10th year! Hope to see you there!
Do those dates not work for you? Abby is also hosting a learning lab in Atlanta, Georgia June 22-24 and co-hosting a Microsolidarity Summer Camp in Skamokawa, Washington July 15-21!
