KEY INFORMATION

• LOCATION: Virtual on Zoom
• DATE & TIME: Thursday, August 27 – Friday, August 28, 2026, 9am – 1pm daily.
• LED BY: Juliette Guarino Berg
• CTLE AVAILABLE: 8hrs
• THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR: Any STEM teacher, especially early career and brand new teachers, looking to jumpstart their prep for the new school year!

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

What is the first day and week of school like for your students? Often it’s stressful and confusing, with information coming at them from many different angles. But would you like to make those first few hours something to remember? Do you want to energize and captivate them in your STEM classroom? A great year together begins with a great first day together, and the first few weeks of a new school year can set the stage for a year full of collaborative learning, laying the groundwork for a supportive community to grow in your classroom. And we have a workshop to help you prepare for just that!

Create a STEM classroom for any age (K-12) which is as welcoming and structured as possible. Thinking about those first encounters and experiences, this workshop will have you participate in and learn techniques such as:

• Designing ways so you get to know your students, which help them also form bonds and connections amongst each other.
• Introducing protocols, big ideas, and structures for your classroom, including assessments, the “Game of Science,” and techniques like CER (Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning).
• Implementing simple, community-building activities centered on an engineer/design challenge.
• And setting a positive tone, a welcoming environment, and a classroom where safety is a priority.

Help you and your students build supportive relationships in a healthy social-emotional learning environment that will last the entire year. Develop your toolkit for creating and deepening connections with each of your students and classes as you all learn together. And you will leave this workshop with strategies ready to be used this September to make your classroom a rich, student-centered place of learning!

WORKSHOP LEADER

Juliette Guarino Berg is an elementary science specialist who has served as a STEM educator, curriculum developer, coach, and professional development leader in New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area for almost two decades. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Science Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Juliette received her B.A. in Biological Sciences and Comparative Literature from Binghamton University in 2008 and her M.S. in Childhood Education from Hunter College in 2012. She holds New York State Professional Certificates in both Childhood Education (Grades 1-6) and Adolescent Biology Education (Grades 7-12). Juliette is currently the Director of K-12 STEM Consulting and School Support with the nonprofit organization STEMteachersNYC.

ABOUT STEMteachersNYC

STEMteachersNYC is celebrating 15 years! Since 2011, we have delivered professional development workshops for teachers, by teachers, about teaching. We are an approved CTLE and NYCPS MTAC vendor. All workshops over 2hrs offer CTLE. Below is some important information, but please see our official Registration FAQ on our website for full details and policies.

Pricing: workshop/event pricing reflects a desire to offer affordable professional learning experiences. Some workshops are subsidized and offered at a discount or for free. Some workshops include extra materials costs. Often, there is both a “Full Price” ticket for people who can pay full price and for schools/organizations paying for their staff to attend, and a “Teacher Price” ticket for teachers/educators paying out of pocket. If price is a barrier to your participation, please keep reading for several options.

CUNY & other partner campus pre-service students: If you are training to be a teacher, we want to welcome you to attend our workshops for free! Please email registration@stemteachersnyc.org for details and to see if you qualify.

Want to pay by invoice or purchase order? We encourage you to ask your school or organization if this is a possibility. Please see the Registration FAQ for the process, which includes a template letter with messaging geared towards administrators.

Are there discounts available? Often, yes!

• Discounted Early Bird and “Teacher Price” tickets are often available.
• Each summer, the Wanninkhof Excellence in Teaching Scholarship provides up to 2 free workshops per teacher in TItle 1 or similar schools.
• Specials and discounts are announced on our social media (@STEMteachersNYC on Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Facebook), and in our Weekly Newsletter – sign up here.
• We partner with several organizations and CUNY to offer free tickets to teachers and pre-service teachers involved.
• If at any time price is a barrier to you purchasing a ticket, please contact us at registration@STEMteachersNYC.org

Refunds, cancellations, and other registration/ticketing policies or changes: Please see the full Registration FAQ for details and policies.

Please note: We take screenshots, photographs and record video of our workshops in order to publicize a positive image of science teaching, and of STEMteachersNYC – a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization – and to support future teacher leaders. If you register, you are agreeing to be photographed and to have your voice and image video-recorded. You are also agreeing to relinquish all your rights to the photographs and video recordings.

If you do not wish to be photographed or video-recorded – you must inform us before the workshop starts. For in-person workshops, we may take one photograph of your face so that we can erase your image if we happen to catch it by chance during the workshop, and we will do our best to avoid you.

Have more questions? Please see the full Registration FAQ for further details and policies, or contact us directly:

• Registration or ticketing questions – registration@STEMteachersNYC.org
• Questions about invoice/PO issues – bookkeeper@STEMteachersNYC.org
• Any other questions – info@STEMteachersNYC.org