Professional Development Trainings & Resources

Teacher helps student with work on computer

Why Choose Close Up for Your Staff 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, both online and on-site, that provide middle and high school teachers with the strategies and resources needed to engage students in meaningful discourse about current controversial issues.

Close Up’s Professional Development Sessions

We provide 3-hour, 90-minute and 30-minute interactive trainings for individuals, schools, or 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.

Framing Issues for Debate and Deliberation

Teachers will gain insight on how to integrate productive issue discussions into their curricula, receive direct instruction on using Close Up’s Controversial Issues in the News digital resources, and learn how to improve students’ ability to engage with differing perspectives. In this session, you will:

Learn a values framework for examining political disagreements in the classroom.
Model and learn the key structural differences between discussion, debate, and deliberation.
Explore a set of scenarios on the topics of criminal justice, COVID-19, and protests, and learn actionable techniques to keep students on track when discourse breaks down.

LEARN MORE >

Navigating a Polarized Political Climate

Teachers will gain practical tools, lesson materials, and training for taking a multipartisan approach to contentious issues such as criminal justice reform, immigration reform, and the appropriate government response to COVID-19. In this session, you will:

Learn practical techniques to establish norms that foster empathy and civil dialogue amongst students.
Apply a values framework to multiple policy issues to engage in productive discourse.
Develop the skills needed to lead students in a critical analysis of political media coverage.

LEARN MORE >

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:

Examine the role that media plays in our interpretation of historical events.
Participate in model lessons that provide real-world applications of the eight major media literacy concepts.
Learn to use readily available online tools to enhance media literacy skills in class.

LEARN MORE >

Community-Engaged Classrooms

Using a proven framework for action from Close Up’s IMPACT 2020 and Empowering Female 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:

Examine a series of youth-led initiatives to learn how community projects enhance learning.
Use a community inventory to help students develop responsive community engagement projects.
Learn how to help students plan successful community engagement projects.

LEARN MORE >

30-Minute On-Demand Workshops

For individual educators looking for self-paced training and PD recertification, we also offer 30-minute, on-demand sessions.

Professional Development