Summer Summit

3rd Annual

Growing Together Summer Summit 2025

A Virtual Professional Learning Experience for Early Childhood Educators

Promoting Joyful Literacy, Equity and Play in PreK through 2nd Grade Classrooms

July 22, 23, 24

1:00-3:30pm ET/10:00am-12:30pm PT on Zoom

Join us for presentations, workshops and gathering spaces focused on creating emotionally, culturally, and developmentally responsive teaching and learning experiences for young children.

We welcome new and returning Summer Summit participants.

There will be a variety of topics offered with new session titles for 2025!

School-based educators, including classroom teachers, leaders, specialists, authors, and consultants from a range of settings, will share current and powerful scholarship, strategies, and structures.

Gift yourself the opportunity to connect with other colleagues, learn together, recommit to your passion for teaching, and work to protect and promote your beliefs and practices as a joyful, creative, and responsive educator.

Registration Opens Spring 2025. Please complete this form to be updated about this and other events.

A Sampling of Summit Topics

Cultivating Powerful Family-School Partnerships through Creative and Authentic Interactive Experiences

Nurturing Identities, Emotional Health, and Relationships through Curriculum and Community

Crafting Emotionally and Culturally Responsive Lessons - Read Aloud, Storytelling, Writing, and More

Embracing Nature-Based Experiences as Pathways to Academic Growth, Emotional Health, and Environment Awareness

Practical and Powerful Ways to Incorporate Playful and Joyful Learning into Your Daily Schedule

Leveraging the Benefits of Play and Experiential Learning to Support Pro-Social Learning and Curriculum-Specific Outcomes

Leading School-Wide Initiatives to Foster a More Inclusive, Emotionally-Centered Community

Advocacy at the Classroom, School, and Community Level for Emotionally, Developmentally, and Culturally Responsive Practices

Reviews from Past Summit Participants

"A powerful injection of playful inspiration. Being surrounded by thoughtful educators committed to playful learning, within an easy-to-navigate and welcoming online space was a treat. Thank you for organizing this learning opportunity!" -Megina Baker, Project Zero at Harvard University and Boston Public Schools

"The workshops were very insightful. I walked away from this 3 day summit eager to share my learning with colleagues and begin to implement these practices in my own classroom." -Ashley, NYC educator

"Truly an inspirational experience!" Colleen Flaherty, First Grade Teacher, Red Bank, NJ

"I am thankful to have these workshops to teach into literacy, play, and family engagement which I can use immediately in September to enhance my classroom for myself, students, and their families! As a first time Kindergarten teacher, I collected so many strategies that will be useful to take with me in this new experience!" -Kelvin Sage, NYC educator

"The Growing Together Summit was a phenomenal learning experience from start to finish. The summit was thoughtfully prepared and leveraged ECE expert voices as well as participant knowledge. It was a pleasure to learn from and with the summit participants!" -Maura Shetty, Assistant Professor

The Growing Together 2024 Summit filled me with inspiration, knowledge, and joy to kickstart the new school year! I can't wait for the next gathering of this collaborative group! -Cynthia Williams, educational coach/consultant

"The Growing Together Summer Summit is the perfect mix of inspiration, practical ideas, and collaboration. The presenters offer inspiring but still practical ideas. It feels like a true community of like-minded educators, which is so needed today."

"A wonderful experience with knowledgable presenters! An experience that all educators should participate in."

Meet Some of Our Past Presenters

Arlène Elizabeth Casimir

Founder of Reveye, an educational consultancy and awakening collaborative

Arlène's is a teacher, herbalist, healer, and writer.

Her wisdom and light shines in her publications, Trauma-Responsive Pedagogy and her new picture book, Back Home: Story Time with My Father.

Haeny Yoon

Associate Professor and Program Director of Early Childhood at Teachers College, Columbia University

Haeny's work explores the ways teachers and children negotiate spaces of play as pedagogical, curricular, and intellectual practice. She is co-author of Rethinking Early Literacies: Reading and Rewriting Worlds and editor of the Literacy and Play volume of Literacy Today.

She is co-host of a Digital Futures produced podcast, Pop and Play, holding serious and playful conversations with researchers, educators, designers, children, and media-makers about the role of play and creativity in their personal and professional lives.