Overview
Joining the Educators' Cooperative begins with a non-member submitting an Application to attend our Summer Workshop.
Having completed Summer Workshop, members gain access to all EdCo programming and resources.
EdCo's Workshop programming is cyclical and self-amending in nature. While the Educators' Cooperative is an independent 501(c)3
EdCo Members have both direct access to all EdCo Workshops and inform their continued generation. This is truly support, resources, and professional development for teachers, by teachers.
Applications to join The Educators' Cooperative are accepted on a rolling basis. Click here to apply for the next available cohort.
If you have any difficulty with the application, please email amy@educatorscooperative.org.
Summer Workshop
Apply for the 2024 Summer Workshop Today!
June 10 - June 14, 12:00 - 5:30
Opening dinner on June 9th
What Do We Do In The Summer?
Whether we’re meeting virtually or in person, we always center on the whole teacher:
- Small group collaboration
- Panels
- Book studies
- Processing salons
- Social events, and more!
Check out the information below for a look at just some of the things we do in the EdCo Summer Workshop.
Unconference
With so many amazing teachers in one place, there must be things they want to share and learn from one another. How can we do that in a constructive manner without chaos or reliance on a power structure? It’s called an unconference.
It’s fun, engaging and often leads to the best conversations of our Summer Workshop.
In the past, we have covered such wide-ranging topics as:
- “Providing Effective Feedback to Our Students”
- “Education Policy: Vouchers, Charters, Independents, and Zoned-Schools: What do we think, what do we do?”
- “Generating Meaningful Conversations in our Classrooms”
- “Equity, Social Justice, Multicultural Teaching”
- “Creating Family Connections and Relationships”
- And more!
Critical Friends Tuning Protocol
Seeking constructive feedback from your peers can be daunting. Without assurances that feedback will be constructive, it can be easier to keep ongoing, instructional dilemmas to yourself.
The National School Reform Center’s Tuning Protocol provides the structure for a generative, problem-solving conversation. This Protocol supports the teacher presenting and asks participants to examine their own instructional practice.
Each year, EdCo Alumni volunteer to revisit the Summer Workshop and demonstrate the Tuning Protocol. Then, Cohort teachers spend the week practicing the protocol in small groups, giving every teacher an opportunity to both present and facilitate.
Beyond the Buzzwords – SEL, ACEs, Trauma-Informed, Mindfulness & our Classrooms
We have been hosting conversations about the power of mindfulness practices in classrooms for many years and learn something new every time! These topics have expanded to include Adverse Childhood Experiences, Trauma Informed Practices, and Social Emotional Learning to help bring the bigger picture into focus.
Students are whole beings who bring their entire selves—and circumstances—into the classroom, and teachers are eager to understand how to help them develop as emotional human beings.
Beyond the Buzzwords is a Workshop where experienced practitioners discuss their insights into powerful perspectives for viewing students as whole children rather than solely learners of a content area. Using a democratizing "19 Questions Protocol" to shape our time together, panelists and teachers engage in conversation about why these concepts are important for teaching the whole child, and how to begin its instruction in all public, private, and charter sector classroom settings.
Collective Conference
Collective Conference Workshop
The Educator's Cooperative believes when teachers collaborate, the outcome of education is greater than the sum of its parts. That's why we spotlight collaboration between public, private, and charter sector classrooms at the EdCo Collective Conference.
Our annual Collective Conference is an opportunity for Members to present the new solutions, lessons-learned, and benefits born of cross-sector collaboration. At this one-day Workshop, EdCo facilitates:
- Keynote Panels
- Special Sessions
- New connections between educators, and more!
These presentations showcase the brilliance of teachers working together between sectors to navigate topics emergent from their classroom.
While Collective Conference attendees are primarily educators, all are welcome to share this day of teacher ingenuity and interaction with vital community members.
We hope to see you there!
"What EdCo is doing right now is the model - these cross sector opportunities to really grow equity minded educators - this is essential."
Ashford Hughes – Executive Officer for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at MNPS
Culture Corner
Where teaching, creativity, and art come together!
Teaching can be creative, artistic, and liberating for teachers and students alike. The richer the network of collaborators, the better the outcomes for all.
Every first Thursday, EdCo hosts a virtual Workshop where local artists join teachers in conversation about how to both connect real-world, creative work to the classroom and find new ways to support learning, expression, and development.
Originally part of EdCo Collaborates' supplemental collaboration practices and platforms, EdCo Culture Corner is now a standalone virtual Workshop Call series.
Antiracist Teaching Workshop
Antiracist Teaching, Learning, & Leading
Antiracist Teaching, Learning, & Leading in the Classroom is a panel Workshop series where teachers work with local and national thought-leaders to co-create culturally responsive classrooms that support ALL learners.
The work of undoing the harm of both systemic racism and white supremacy is challenging. It can be a life-long journey. This work requires engagement beyond a single lesson plan or newscycle, and EdCo’s Antiracist Teaching Panels help make that commitment possible.
Our panels provide teachers with the vocabulary, history, and perspectives of experienced leaders who have been doing the work. These panels—and their subsequent partnerships—help ensure this work can grow into better practices for all school settings – public, private, and charter.
Due to the ongoing nature of this work, we host virtual followup Workshops that continue conversations or topics discussed at each panel throughout the year. Recordings of small group work and workshops are available to EdCo Members and workshop participants.
We are a growing teacher community. Join us in this essential work!
Black Lives Matter – A Message from The Educators’ Cooperative
EdCo Cultivates
EdCo Cultivates
After Summer Workshop, Member teachers enter their second phase of EdCo membership: EdCo Cultivates.
EdCo Cultivates encapsulates all ongoing collaboration between Members, and consists of:
- An online forum
- Monthly meetings
- Book studies
- Non-evaluative observation and feedback
- Social events and even field trips!
It is EdCo’s programmatic infrastructure for teachers to access the main benefits of our community and network.
We meet year round in a moderated online workspace, as well as monthly meetings hosted by schools all over Nashville. These meetings are a mix of sharing classroom updates, following up on online conversations, and requesting professional support.
Each meeting provides an unique opportunity to tour schools all over Nashville – their classrooms, libraries, labs, and facilities all offer information and new ideas when seen firsthand.
EdCo Cultivates also includes field trips. Over the last few years, we’ve attended relevant lectures at area colleges and visited classrooms all over the city to observe SEL and mindfulness in action, as well as best practices in teaching and learning.
Add to these meetings an occasional social event, and the cohort develops into a professional collaborative network unlike anything else in Nashville!
EdCampNash
EdCampNash
EdCampNash is an annual, city-wide gathering of educators from Middle Tennessee and beyond. One day a year, teachers come together in Nashville, TN to share, learn, and connect at this participant-driven conference. It's the largest of its kind in the Southeast—and a fun way to network with other teachers who are excited to engage with classroom-facing topics!