Workshop blocks
Three parallel blocks across the day, roughly fifteen workshops each. Pick by grade, by discipline, or by tag — AI in the classroom, assessment, literacy, arts, SEL.
A single day each year when teachers and school leaders from across New York's independent schools gather to teach each other — a working conference built on practice, not performance.
The Teaching & Learning Conference is the one time each year when the practitioners in NYSAIS schools set the calendar aside and teach each other.
The program is built from the inside: workshops are proposed and led by teachers, department chairs, and division heads across the member schools. Sessions are deliberately practical — the kind of hour you can come home from and use on Monday.
The conference convenes annually in the fall, hosted on the campus of a member school. Attendees move between three parallel workshop blocks across the day, with meals and plenary time built in for the harder-to-schedule conversation that happens between sessions.
Every workshop is led by a colleague who is doing the work in a classroom like yours. The point is specifics you can borrow on Monday.
Early Childhood through Upper School, in the same building, on the same day. Teachers meet counterparts they would otherwise never cross paths with.
A different NYSAIS school hosts each year. You are a guest in a working school, not a conference center.
A shape rather than a script — the detailed schedule is published each summer as proposals and registrations close.
Three parallel blocks across the day, roughly fifteen workshops each. Pick by grade, by discipline, or by tag — AI in the classroom, assessment, literacy, arts, SEL.
A single plenary at midday. A practitioner or scholar chosen for something worth saying to a room of a few hundred teachers.
Lunch and reception on site. The reason one-day conferences work at all: the ride home with a colleague you didn't know you shared something with.
Images and short clips from previous conferences.
Anonymous responses from the 2025 and 2026 post-conference surveys.
A great professional opportunity for practitioners to showcase what they do, learn from one another, and collaborate. The focus was on teaching and learning — this was a teacher-centered event.
Significantly better PD than I have had in the past.
So well organized. A great balance of lecture, workshop, and discussion.
The end of the day was the perfect way to process the information we shared with other local educators.
Great organization and layout over campus.
It was great to make connections with people from all schools.
Many of my colleagues that were not there wished they were.
The T&L Conference began in 2025 and has been held every fall since. Full workshop catalogs live as child pages here.
The call for workshop proposals opens each spring. Registration opens mid-summer and runs until the conference fills.
Friday, October 22, 2027. The Harley School · Rochester, NY.
The call for proposals opens each spring. NYSAIS teachers and leaders are invited to propose sessions in their area of practice.
Details and a proposal form go out through member heads of school and on the Professional Learning page.
Attendance is open to educators at NYSAIS member schools. Registration includes meals and all workshop blocks.
Review the NYSAIS Cancellation Policy before registering.
Closed captioning is available on personal devices at plenary sessions.
ASL interpretation and other accommodations can be arranged by contacting NYSAIS at least two weeks before the conference — see the contact page.
The NYSAIS Teaching & Learning Conference convenes each fall. We hope you'll bring a colleague.