Chandler Advisory Inc. · Professional Development

Cultivating Classrooms

Professional Development for Educators

This is not a sit-and-get training. Cultivating Classrooms is Chandler Advisory's professional development experience, where educators participate, reflect, create, and talk with each other about the students in front of them.

About Cultivating Classrooms

Classrooms grow when the people in them are seen.

Cultivating Classrooms centers culturally responsive education, classroom community, identity, and the humanity of both students and educators. It grows out of the same belief behind all of Chan Clan's work: young people already bring intelligence, culture, and creativity into the room. Our job is to build a room that makes space for it.

Sessions move. Educators try the activities their students would try, discuss what came up, reflect on their own practice, and leave with strategies they can use the next day. The goal is not a binder. The goal is a different kind of classroom.

Students in Chan Clan hoodies in a math classroom

What we explore

The questions under the lesson plan.

  • Identity
  • Classroom culture
  • Belonging
  • Student engagement
  • Culturally responsive instruction
  • Purposeful questioning
  • Creativity
  • Educator reflection
  • Social emotional learning
  • Connecting academics to students' lived experiences

What the experience can include

You will do more than listen.

Interactive activities

Hands-on experiences built to be felt first, then unpacked.

Collaborative discussion

Real conversation with colleagues about real students.

Reflection

Time to look at your own story, assumptions, and practice.

Creative exercises

Music, writing, design, and play as ways into serious learning.

Classroom-ready strategies

Practical moves you can use with students the next day.

Books + resources

Texts and tools to keep the work going after the session.

Culturally responsive practice

Instruction that connects content to who students are.

Customized sessions

Designed around your school, your team, and your goals.

Who it's for

Anyone who shapes a young person's day.

  • Teachers
  • School leadership
  • Instructional coaches
  • Paraprofessionals
  • Youth development professionals
  • School teams
  • Education organizations

Approvals + credentials

Recognized professional learning.

ISBE Approved Professional Development Provider

Want to put an educator in the room who couldn't otherwise attend? Sponsor an educator. A $100 gift helps.

Professional development inquiry

Bring Cultivating Classrooms to your school.

Tell us about your team and what you are hoping for. We will follow up to design a session that fits.

Community Chronicles · Cultivating Classrooms

Share your Cultivating Classrooms experience.

You experienced the room. Tell us what you carried out of it. Your reflection goes privately to our team first, and nothing is shared publicly without your permission.

Educators and students dressed up together at a showcase

The CC Collection from Chandler Advisory Inc.

Three ways into the work.