Community Classes
Alma Partners offers a variety of community classes for people interested in joining us for professional development. Content varies throughout the year and ranges from short webinar-style workshops to cohorted programs that span months.
Note: Our sliding-scale pricing is intended to make our courses accessible to as many people as possible. Please pay the most you are able to afford, in order to keep lower-price spots open for those who need them. If you are in a double-income family or household, have savings or inherited wealth, own your home, and/or can afford vacations, please consider contributing at a higher tier.
Informed Adolescence: Supporting Teen Resiliency and Wellness
Middle School Curriculum on Teen Resilience, Sexual Health, and Boundary Setting with Heidi Sproull, LMSW, CST
Facilitated by Masumi Hayashi-Smith and Aiyana Masla
Wednesday, April 30th, 2025
4:30-6pm PT / 7:30-9pm ET
Sliding scale: $25-100/person
Link will be shared after you register.
Deep Breath: An Hour of Restoration with Alma Partners
Alma Partners is offering an hour to fill your cup. This session with Masumi Hayashi-Smith is a space to breathe amidst the ongoing challenges of our world, and to gently connect with community through, music, reflection, art, and poetry. There is no pre-work required and participation is by donation.
Thursday, May 8th, 2025
4-5pm PT / 7-8pm ET on Zoom
Sliding scale: $0-25/person
Link will be shared after you register.
Fulfilling Our Promise: Individual Cohort for Alma Partners’ Online Course
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
Runs September 2024 - June 2025 on Zoom
Be part of a cross-school community invested in mutual learning, support, and dialogue. Our 8-module online course (plus intro session and closing gathering, for 10 meetings total) is designed to acquaint you with the inclusion and belonging landscape and deepen the potential for transformation in your community.
Past courses and webinars we have offered
Pedagogical Storytelling for Early Childhood: Responding to the moment with story
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
Runs from September 2024 - February 2025 on Zoom
This series will meet monthly as a cohort, over six Sunday afternoons. Together, participants will explore inclusive pedagogical storytelling theory, principles, and tools, and receive mentorship from experienced Early Childhood educators. Each session will feature a guest presenter who will share wisdom, knowledge, and experience. This highly interactive course involves practice in small groups, working from both case studies and personal experience. Developing relationships across schools, we hope for participants to be nourished and inspired by growing connections. Participants will also receive an Alma Partners Toolkit for continued Pedagogical Storytelling practice.
Inclusive Student Assessment: Supporting Diverse Learning
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
Sunday, October 27th, 2024
1-2:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm ET on Zoom
Join Randolph Carter, Joan Ingle, and Heather Scott as we explore multiple ways to assess and support students from a broad spectrum of cultural, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and other backgrounds. Using the lenses of inclusive assessment, diversity responsive pedagogy, and differentiated learning, we will provide guiding questions and practical tools to help teachers meet students where they are, scaffold learning, and recognize and communicate our limits. We will also discuss how to build collaborative partnerships with parents that are based on a shared framework and trust.
Cultivating Teachers who Thrive: Faculty Onboarding and Mentoring Strategies
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
Sunday, September 29th, 2024
4-5:30pm PT / 7-8:30pm ET on Zoom
It’s common for enthusiastic teachers to join schools, but then quickly burn out because of avoidable problems. Join Elizabeth Denevi and Joan Ingle, both experienced teacher mentors and school leaders, to learn proven strategies for setting up onboarding and mentoring systems that prioritize clarity and accountability, rooted in strong relationships. You’ll leave with practical tools that you can implement immediately in your school.
Cultural Appreciation: Interrupting & Transforming Cultural Appropriation
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
September 29th, October 20th, November 3rd, 2024
12-1:30pm PT / 3-4:30pm ET on Zoom
As educators and administrators in schools, it can be challenging to discern what respectful cultural representation is. Questions about how to diversify and contextualize curriculum, about how to offer representation in school communities respectfully, without culturally appropriating, are many layered. This series of three sessions is an opportunity to ask questions and listen deeply to experienced educators who will share their knowledge, insight, and expertise. Build skill and confidence to apply new frameworks and practices around replacing the harm caused by cultural appropriation with the respect of cultural appreciation.
Navigating Election Season Together: Preparing in Our Communities
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
Sunday, September 15th, 2024
1-2:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm ET on Zoom
What kinds of questions should we be considering as we approach the November elections? How do we navigate different perspectives in our school communities? How much of our personal opinion do we share in the workplace or classroom? How do we respect students’ freedom, individuality, and privacy while fulfilling our role of guiding them as teachers and school leaders?
Emphasizing empathy, deep listening, and setting the tone for the approaching election season, Renita LiVolsi will offer a 90-minute presentation on the legal, ethical, and pedagogical questions involved in supporting our communities when politics dominate the news.
This session will help you:
Prepare to set expectations as a community
Develop and communicate your school’s approach to what is and what isn’t appropriate speech/behavior related to elections and the political process
Proceed intentionally as your community navigates election season
Solidarity Series #2: Cross-Movement and Interpersonal Black and Queer Solidarity
Masumi Hayashi-Smith and Heather Scott in Conversation
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
Sunday, June 2nd, 2024
4-5pm PT / 7-8pm ET on Zoom
Join Masumi Hayashi-Smith and Heather Scott as they share personal stories and historical examples of connection and solidarity, uplifting our collective capacity to unite our struggles and work from the heart.
Solidarity Series: Session 1
Healing and Hope across Differences: Uplifting Connection and Affirming Solidarity
REGISTRATION CLOSED.
Monday, December 11th, 2023
4-5pm PT / 7-8pm ET on Zoom
For current, former, and prospective clients only.
Join Aiyana Masla and Randolph Carter as they share personal stories and historical examples of connection and solidarity, uplifting our collective capacity to unite our struggles and work from the heart.
Aiyana will share about her ancestral Jewish values and the practice of Tikkun Olam (“repairing the world”) as they intersect with her identity as a White Ashkenazi Jew in the US. Reflecting on his experiences with activism and work in the Black Panther Party, Randolph Carter will share stories of solidarity and collaboration in healing and liberation work.
In this time when division and violence fill the news cycle, we hope to provide educators another picture of what can be possible when we choose to turn towards, rather than away. Participants will leave with concrete historical examples and stories of working together, adaptable for the classroom.
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We use a sliding scale price range so that we can cover costs for our course while also being more accessible for those who want to participate but need extra support in affording tuition.
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Yes! We’ve scheduled our Pedagogical Storytelling course and the Fulfilling Our Promise online course for individuals specifically so that they are on the same day, but do not overlap, in case people want to take both.
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Yes we do! If you are a returning student to any of our courses, contact us, and we will provide you with discount links and codes. If you are a school sending more than 3 people, we also offer a group discount.