Kid Talk Teacher Talk: Elevating Student Discourse in Elementary STEM

• LOCATION: Some days are virtual on Zoom, and others in person at PS/MS 95X, 3961 Hillman Ave, Bronx, NY 10463
• DATE & TIME: Two weeks (weekdays only), Tuesday, July 7 - Friday, July 17, 2026. Times vary, see below for details. Must be able to make all dates.
• LED BY: Jason Sullivan, Michelle Velho, and Joan Christou (bios below)
• CTLE AVAILABLE: 42hrs
• THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR: Elementary-age teachers and educators who want to help their students gain confidence and skills in asking questions.

Kid Talk Teacher Talk (KT3) assists elementary teachers in asking effective launch questions for hands-on STEM investigations. As teachers experience ways to engage students in talking about scientific phenomena in a summer lab-school setting, they gain confidence and expertise to bring new strategies into their regular classroom setting. The powerful opportunity to listen closely to student conversations around science during a 2-week summer experience, coupled with support from teacher mentors, and program leaders has not only demonstrated changes and growth in student classroom discourse, but created an active, growing professional network and expanded STEMteachersNYC’s outreach to primary-grades.

Key components of the KT3 approach, which continues to be offered as part of the annual STEMteachersNYC Summer STEM Institute:

• Alignment with individual participants’ existing approaches and curriculum.
• A focus on facilitating the use of existing pedagogical expertise to transfer instructional strategies used to teach reading and writing to grade-appropriate science discussions.
• Strategies for teaching teachers to build increasingly student-led discourse.
• Two-week summer Lab School Model + coaching and school year reunions.

The KT3 project also aims to extend discussion practices from YOUR high confidence subjects into all classroom subjects discussed & leveraging it as common thread/cross curricular glue in ELA & NGSS classrooms.

This summer, the workshop will run over a two-week period, some days virtual on Zoom, some days in person at PS/MS 95 in the Bronx. Please plan to be available all 10 days of the workshop. The tentative daily schedule is:

WEEK 1:

• Tuesday - Thursday, virtual on Zoom to learn techniques and collaborate on planning, 1 - 4pm each day (with lunch and other breaks included)
• Friday, in person at PS/MS 95X to finalize and set up for Week 2 classes, 9am - 3pm

WEEK 2:

• Monday - Thursday, in person at PS/MS 95X, working with students in the mornings, with discussion/planning time in the afternoon, 9am - 3pm daily.
• Friday, virtual on Zoom a wrap up of the two weeks, 9am - 12pm.

Scholarships are available that will cover the entire cost! Please see the Wanninkhof Excellence in Teaching Scholarship for details and application.

Jason Sullivan has been teaching for 30 years, the past 23 at Montgomery HS in Skillman, NJ, where he is also science department supervisor. Jason has been involved with STEMteachersNYC since its inception, leading the KT3 workshops since 2017, and the collaborations with colleagues has been some of his most meaningful and enriching professional experiences. He is very excited to help lead this collaboration again this year!

Michelle Velho is a STEAM educator and curriculum designer who believes that meaningful questions spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and empower young learners to think like scientists.

Joan Cristou - a 2025 KT3 alum, full bio coming soon!

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 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 [email protected] 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 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 [email protected]

Refunds, cancellations, and other registration/ticketing policies or changes: Please see the full 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 for further details and policies, or contact us directly:

• Registration or ticketing questions - [email protected]
• Questions about invoice/PO issues - [email protected]
• Any other questions - [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

PS/MS 95 Sheila Mencher, 3961 Hillman Avenue, The Bronx, United States

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