CREATIVE INTERVENTIONS

Rising Youth Theatre and the Demand to Learn Campaign of ACLU of Arizona are seeking teachers in the greater Phoenix area for “Creative Interventions,” a new program supporting students through strong relationships. We are seeking an initial cohort of 10-12 teachers with a commitment to justice and equity in their classrooms, looking to actively build stronger relationships with their students. Facilitators from RYT and D2L will work with teachers in the cohort to provide new strategies for classroom culture and to support teachers in the classroom as they try out new tools and take action to build restorative relationships with their students. 

Watch a video or review a powerpoint with details here: 

This is a paid professional development opportunity for all K-12 educators in the Phoenix metro valley area. Below is a timeline of activities and program outline: 

History:

We believe that young people & teachers are the main stakeholders of education policies that come to life in the classroom.  

Rising Youth Theatre & the Demand to Learn campaign of the ACLU of Arizona have been working to shift the way we approach the alarming issue of student push-out by building power with young people and strengthening teacher & student relationships. Since  2017, the two organizations have created a summer organizing and learning training series for youth on understanding and ending biased disciplinary practices in schools called The Trouble Series and developed and premiered a full length play called The 100th Day based on stories of young people who experience pushout in the Arizona education system. Learn more about The 100th Day by listening to this interview on KJZZ.

Through a collaboration between Rising Youth Theatre, the ACLU of Arizona's Demand to Learn Campaign, and Black Mothers Forum with support from the Vitalyst Health Foundation, we brought together a team made up of young people, educators, organizers, researchers and artists to co-create a teacher learning series to engage directly with teachers in learning strategies for ending student push out through the strengthening of teacher/student relationships. 

Creative Interventions will support 10-12 teachers who work in K-12 classrooms through monthly learning sessions over the course of the 2019-2020 school year. Teachers in the Learning Cohort will work together with the support of youth and adult facilitators to learn, unlearn, and shift their teaching practices at the classroom level can reduce rates of student push out. Each month in our learning series we will cover topics like  conflict & restorative justice, trust building, power & accountability and more and will give teachers tools and creative interventions that they can implement in the classroom immediately.