The Violet Teacher Connection (VTC) Project provides a simple way for Steinhardt faculty, adjuncts, and doctoral students to discover and join classes for discreet observation. Each class showcases various teaching styles, such as
- creative classroom management,
- inclusive practices that embrace diversity,
- engaging activities to promote differentiated instruction,
- student presentation showcases,
- innovative technology usage, and more.
VTC seeks to help observers gain valuable connections and insights for integrating new practices into their own classes, while also fostering cross-departmental relationships between faculty.
How to get involved:
- Review the available courses from this year’s hosting faculty.
- Sign up for as many classes as you wish to observe.
- Once confirmed by Steinhardt's Office of Digital Innovation and Learning, attendees will be encouraged to attend the class session, and quietly observe the classroom experience. Attendees have the freedom to connect with the instructor after the class for further discussion and reflection.
- Each class is limited to 2 observers to respect the students' space. You will receive a calendar invite via your NYU email address if you're confirmed as an observer.
Spring 2025 Classes
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This is the graduate capstone class in vocal performance and requires students to write and present a 60 minute sung and spoken program demonstrating a synthesized skill set in the realization of materials. This class combines theory, research and praxis in performance and culminates in the public performance.
What you will observe by attending:
Having taught this class for many years I have become adept at facilitating growth by empowering students to take risks, self assess and ultimately, ownership of their process. Using prompts and adjustments rather than correction/instruction requires the students to reveal mastery of knowledge, self and application rather than reliance on authority. I have found that not only does this lead to better performers but applies to almost all of life's challenges. Several of the students in this class are dual degree performance/pedagogy so pedagogical practices in this field are discussed as well.
Dates/Time:
4:55–6:55 p.m.
Tuesdays or Wednesdays (pick a date you can attend)Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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Nutritional issues in communities include both food security and obesity. This course looks at these issues in communities ranging from the family unit to the world and examines the complex causes of poor nutrition involving economic, social, cultural, and policy issues. Students work collaboratively in groups through the development of community nutrition programs, exploring the design, implementation, and evaluation of a particular idea.
What you will observe by attending:
The course blends lecture with the facilitation of small and large group interaction and discussion - a particular feat in a very strange room setup. As the students work to construct their culminating proposal, they are encouraged to engage with AI technology to develop a sound, confident argument and we practice these techniques together. The environment is relaxed and, hopefully, entertaining as I enjoy fusing humor with discovery.
Dates/Time:
9:30–10:45 a.m.
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2/19–4/30 (pick a date you can attend)Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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In this course we will explore the changing landscape of technology in arts organizations, examining the opportunities, challenges, provocations, and pitfalls of digital tools. We will interrogate the ways technology transforms the function and experience of art organizations, from online viewing rooms to on-site interactives, from digital collections to blockchain-based marketplaces.
What you will observe by attending:
Join an active discussion about the ways technology shapes our experience of art, and how digital tools are impacting the function of art spaces. This class draws both on the history of technology as well as on contemporary examples. The seminar seeks to foster debate and conversation about innovative approaches in the arts.
Dates/Time:
4:30–6:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, 2/5 or 3/5Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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This course focuses on the foundational skills required for beginning to read, as well as on how to foster and assess the overall literacy development of diverse learners in the early elementary grades. A wide range of instructional strategies, texts, lesson formats, and digital resources are explored. Classroom field experiences provide opportunities for application of instructional practices in beginning reading.
What you will observe by attending:
I hope observers will take away interactive feedback strategies, inclusive practices that build on bilingualism, and ways to use case studies of student work as a way to build community.
Dates/Time:
2:00–4:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, 2/19, 2/26, 3/5, 3/19, 4/23Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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Through Kaleidoscope Dancers, the program’s academic service learning practical training course, students coordinate lesson goals, outcomes, and workshop focus with cooperating teachers from the NYC DOE. Students collaboratively teach interactive lesson plans to school groups, perform repertory for children, support and participate in classes, and facilitate choreographic groups of children and KD dancers to create original choreography and music scores with the KD Music Director.
What you will observe by attending:
I hope that observers will take away strategies for embodied learning, community building, and using guided discovery to problem solve through creative explorations. Also how to incorporate wonder, joy and humor in the classroom.
Dates/Time:
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, 2/5 and pick a date you can attendLocation:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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This course focuses on the nature and needs of students with low-incidence disabilities including significant intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, and sensory disabilities. We will address the history and marginalization of this population; focus on meaningful inclusion in academics, family, and community life; and explore assessment, planning, and instruction. Throughout the course we will be examining all facets of the question, How do perceptions of and attitudes toward disability influence decisions stakeholders make around educational placement and instruction of students identified as having low incidence disabilities? At the completion of the course, students will be able to provide a thorough and meaningful answer to this question.
What you will observe by attending:
facilitation techniques, innovative use of technology, inclusive practices
Dates/Time:
11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
Mondays, 2/24, 3/10, 3/17 or 3/31Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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Kristal Aliyas
Student teaching experiences will be used to support theoretical and practical applications of the planning and implementation of the curriculum.
What you will observe by attending:
To develop pedagogical and professional skills, Emerging Teachers will lead activities, give/receive feedback using accountable language, and reflect on their placement experience. I will also model teacher techniques used in an elementary classroom.
Dates/Time:
4:55–6:35 p.m.
Thursdays, 2/27, 4/3, 5/1Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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This course focuses on examining a research-driven approach to pedagogy utilizing the principles of adult learning theory and best practices related to teaching and learning in the health professions. The course will allow for the development and improvement of the students’ instructional skills from both a theoretical and practice-based understanding of excellence in teaching. All educational topics are considered through the lens of teaching as a scholarly practice as students develop a teaching portfolio that encompasses their teaching philosophy and practices.
What you will observe by attending:
This a class about teaching, so it's very meta. Observers will get to reflect on their own teaching practices, listen in on deep discussions and reflections from the students, and see a well-designed hybrid course in action -- students prepare based on videos, readings and discussion boards prior to each in person session. They can also share with the students about their own experiences.
2/10 Syllabus
2/18 Curricular design
3/17 Assessment of learning
3/31 Tech in the classroomDates/Time:
6:45–8:15 pm
Mondays, 2/10, 2/18, 3/17, or 3/31Location:
Online
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This course focuses on creating live and/or mediated verbatim performances using various source materials such as interview transcripts and recorded broadcasts. Through theoretical readings, performance viewings, source material selection and investigation, and performance creation, participants acquire analysis skills and ethnoacting techniques used to create verbatim performances. Participants gain insights into the aesthetics, ethics, opportunities, and challenges associated with the verbatim performance style, and an understanding of its value as a tool for research, education, and activism. Coursework is informed and inspired by the mission and work of the Verbatim Performance Lab (VPL), a project of the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU Steinhardt.
What you will observe by attending:
Teaching style, facilitation techniques, ways to work with textual data, embodied research techniques
Dates/Time:
6:45–8:25 p.m.
Tuesdays (pick a date you can attend)Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
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This course will introduce students to the foundation and evolution of social studies, the educational and historical context and circumstances that influenced the discipline, and the ways in which it changed over time. It will also introduce information about and give students opportunities to discuss and evaluate the current state of social studies, specifically, and education, in general, in the twenty-first century. This course will consider the impact of national and international events and population shifts and changes on the social studies classroom, exploring questions of opportunity, access, and responsibility, and discuss how all of these matters inform the design of a social studies curriculum.
What you will observe by attending:
Teaching style that includes small and large group work and models strategies that students can use with their students. Classroom community that welcomes everyone's perspective and makes the material accessible to all learners.
Dates/Time:
4:55–7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, 3/18Location:
In-person near Washington Square Park and will be sent via email if you're a confirmed observer.
Fall 2024 Courses
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This is the graduate capstone class in vocal performance and requires students to write and present a 60 minute sung and spoken program demonstrating a synthesized skill set in the realization of materials. This class combines theory, research and praxis in performance and culminates in the public performance.
What you will observe by attending:
Having taught this class for many years I have become adept at facilitating growth by empowering students to take risks, self assess and ultimately ownership of their process. Using prompts and adjustments rather than correction/instruction requires the students to reveal mastery of knowledge, self and application rather than reliance on authority. I have found that not only does this lead to better performers but applies to almost all of life's challenges. Several of the students in this class are dual degree performance/pedagogy so pedagogical practices in this field are discussed as well.
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Nutritional issues in communities include both food security and obesity. This course looks at these issues in communities ranging from the family unit to the world and examines the complex causes of poor nutrition involving economic, social, cultural, and policy issues. Students work collaboratively in groups through the development of community nutrition programs, exploring the design, implementation, and evaluation of a particular idea.
What you will observe by attending:
The course blends lecture with the facilitation of small and large group interaction and discussion - a particular feat in a very strange room setup. As the students work to construct their culminating proposal, they are encouraged to engage with AI technology to develop a sound, confident argument and we practice these techniques together. The environment is relaxed and, hopefully, entertaining as I enjoy fusing humor with discovery.
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The course focuses on techniques for creating ethnodrama using interview transcripts, field notes, and print and media artifacts. Through readings, literature reviews, data collection and analysis, the performance of data, and the construction of scripts, students gain skills to create ethnodrama in various styles, specifically in verbatim documentary theatre. Perspectives on the aesthetics, ethics, limitations, and challenges associated with the forms are also explored. Coursework is informed by the mission and work of NYU Steinhardt’s Verbatim Performance Lab.
What you will observe by attending:
Students will work in small groups to develop interview prompts to be used as part of the interviewing protocol for a larger class project on free speech and academic freedom.
Students will work in small groups to practice scripting techniques using interview excerpts.
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Strategies for general and special education teachers to meet the cognitive, emotional, and social needs of adolescents with disabilities in general education classes in middle and high schools. Methods for collaboration with teachers, parents and other professionals, including participation in IEP development. Examination of service delivery models at the middle and high school levels. Issues of transition planning, curriculum development, instructional planning, uses of technology, identifying strengths and differentiating instruction, with a special focus on the development of literacy skills and processes that promote social skill development and interpersonal communication.
What you will observe by attending:
Teaching style, facilitation, innovative technology, inclusive practices.
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This class is an introductory graduate class in song interpretation in Music Theatre repertoire. Based on William Wesbrooks' DRAMATIC CIRCUMSTANCES, LIVING INSIDE THE STORIES WE TELL, students learn to analyze text in terms of character driven objectives that are realized in singing. Theory and praxis are utilized in all sessions.
What you will observe by attending:
In my 30 years of teaching I have become adept at teaching the room while working with an individual in praxis. Rather than input information, I work to reveal and empower research, application and instinct in a performer. Reflective assessment on the students' part as well as group discussion are included and incorporated. The goal of this course is in establishing process rather than product for in process, the product reveals itself and evolves with the individual.
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This required course introduces major themes in world history, examines global patterns and processes over time, and connects local developments to global ones. We will analyze multiple perspectives of people in the past, major debates among historians about interpretations of the past, and the cause-and-effect relationships between historical events. We will explore how to organize and conceptualize world history by looking at demographic and technological change, the rise of urban locales, the impact of cross-cultural interaction, and significant religious and philosophical worldviews. We will reference the Global History themes enumerated in the New York State Social Studies Framework and consider the ways in which that structure does—and does not— provide students with an effective and engaging Global History curriculum.
What you will observe by attending
Use of small and full group discussion; connection between activities and class objectives; inclusive practices; connection between historical and current events.
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This courses focuses on principles and methods of evaluation, goal development, and intervention in pediatric practice in occupational therapy. Factors that influence pediatric practice, including intervention settings and selected frames of reference will be discussed. Assessment and intervention methods will be demonstrated, applied and discussed in laboratory sessions. The offered session will focus specifically on sensory processing and intervention
What you will observe by attending:
Inclusive practices, active learning, application to real life practice, self-assessment and reflection.
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This small seminar explores the social, historical, cultural, political, and economic contexts that shape and are shaped by STEME (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, environmental) education in the past, present, and future. We aim to make sense of the connections between broad societal trends, institutional factors, and local classroom environments and consider how these sociopolitical contexts affect who we are and what we do as educators, citizens, advocates, and community members.
What you will observe by attending:
Facilitation and community-building for a small class; integrating personal and ethical reflections with sociopolitical issues; integrating humanities in STEM.
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This course examines theories, methods & assessment tools in the teaching of creative movement to children in grades pre-K-5. Students explore developmentally appropriate activities, lesson planning, & skill in classroom instruction with a focus on interdisciplinary content and emergent curriculum design.
What you will observe by attending:
I hope that observers will take away strategies for embodied learning, community building, and using guided discovery to problem solve through creative explorations. Also how to incorporate wonder, joy and humor in the classroom.
Questions?
Please email the Office of Digital Innovation and Learning, steinhardtDIL@nyu.edu with any questions about VTC, how to become a host, or how to become an observer.