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Why Choose Close Up for Professional Development?
“I now have new ideas on how to approach controversial topics and how to do it via Zoom for online learning!” –Teacher, Katy, TX
As experts in both virtual and in-class instruction with almost 50 years of experience in nonpartisan, issue-centered education, Close Up offers professional development trainings and resources for teachers, both online and on-site, that provide middle and high school educators with the strategies and resources needed to engage students in meaningful discourse about current controversial issues.
We provide interactive trainings for teachers, schools, and districts.
Our innovative PD sessions are relevant, impactful, and informed by Close Up’s decades of expertise, helping teachers navigate challenging conversations about social and political issues. Each PD includes ready-to-use lesson plans, activities, and digital resources designed to promote thoughtful discourse, critical thinking, and engagement with multiple perspectives on issues. All sessions below can be adapted on the basis of school curricula and grade levels.
Tutorial on Close Up’s Current Issues Resources
During this tutorial, teachers will receive direct instruction on using Close Up’s Current Issues resources and civic readiness curriculum. In this session, you will:
Navigating Challenging Conversations at School
This training is designed to help teachers and administrators across all disciplines frame and respond to discussions about complicated social and political issues. In this session, you will:
Facilitating Productive Civil Discourse in Your Classroom
Teachers will gain practical tools and explore resources and strategies for taking a multi-partisan approach to complicated issues such as criminal justice reform, immigration reform, climate change, and economic inequality. In this session, you will:
Media Literacy and Citizenship
Teachers will examine the concepts of media literacy and participate in activities that help students engage with a wide range of media sources, read critically, apply media literacy concepts to social and digital media, and identify efforts to mislead. In this session, you will:
Community-Engaged Classrooms
Using a proven framework for action from Close Up’s IMPACT and Empowering Girls’ Voices programs, teachers will learn to foster students’ civic and political efficacy and help them take real-world action on issues they care about. In this session, you will:
30-Minute On-Demand Workshops
For individual educators looking for self-paced training and PD recertification, we also offer 30-minute, on-demand sessions.