Chapter: 
5
Edible Schoolyard Trainings
We seek to support communities developing sustainable programs that are rooted in standards of practice and justice.

We train educators and advocates from all over the world to create powerful edible education programs in their schools and communities. Come experience first-hand the core principles and practical tools for engaging students in academics, social and emotional learning, and justice in the kitchen, garden, and lunchroom.

As a capacity-building organization, our goal is not to prescribe a one-size-fits-all strategy or methodology. We support our training participants as they explore the particular cultural, climatic, human-resource, funding, policy, and infrastructure realities where they work.

1. Edible Schoolyard Academy

Our foundational training program is designed to strengthen your program and build your leadership in the field. All Academy participants spend one day each on school gardens, cooking with kids, and organizational development – learning about curriculum development and integration, inclusive classrooms, best practices for hands-on learning and student buy-in, and organizational culture. 

The Academy is best suited for programs (or practitioners) with 1-5 years of experience. 

We examine edible education through the critical lenses of social justice, equity, and inclusion. Academy participants should expect to engage in conversations about how race, gender, power, and privilege show up in classrooms, particularly around issues of food.

We strongly encourage applicants from a range of backgrounds, particularly from historically marginalized communities most impacted by the consequences of an unjust food system and underrepresented in the fields of education, health, and the environment. Teams who will contribute to the increased diversity of our training programs will be given preference during the review process.

PROGRAM TESTIMONIALS AND HIGHLIGHTS
What Edible Schoolyard Academy content will you implement in your school or organization?
  • Many of the processes that have been demonstrated around efficiently: designing and refining curriculum, contributing to and running staff meetings, making changes to job descriptions and hierarchies, responsibilities.
  • We will use your dedication to simplistic, beautiful, nourishing experiences to inspire a personal and program reflection on our current work, with the goal of revisiting our foundation and truth.
  • Structure and systems for garden and kitchen lessons. Garden content and we will be meeting as a team to determine which kitchen lessons to implement and perhaps adapt to the school culture and grade levels. Love the Edible Schoolyard content standards and philosophy.
  • Give our students more autonomy around gardening and cooking. More narrative-based lesson plans, handwritten recipes, more thoughtful and involved staff meetings, weaving our values into all that we do, slow down and ensure intentionality and purpose throughout.
  • Systems, systems, systems. The underlying structure for everything helps the focus remain on the kid-centered goals.
What one major lesson will you take away from your Edible Schoolyard Academy experience?
  • It is possible to lead people through a training on edible education in a way that honors what they already know, illuminate areas they discover they know less about and have them come out on the other side feeling good about their organization, optimistic and focused on tangible changes, additions or refinements that feel attainable.
  • Evaluation planning and implementation can be positive and not feel heavy and overwhelming.
  • That nourishment and deep organization allow people to feel safe and focused and it should often be my top priority with team collaboration.
  • The importance of designing experiences for students that promote their independence (e.g. knife skills in kitchen classroom) and the power of the garden, kitchen program to serve as a locus for developing and sustaining community among school families.
  • One lesson?! Best way to structure lessons, how to begin with an academic standard and an ESY standard and seasonal veggies or garden jobs and create a lesson that incorporates everything.
What did you like most about the Edible Schoolyard Academy?
  • Knowledge and enthusiasm of the staff! Real world application of the work being done at the Edible Schoolyard CAN be implemented anywhere!
  • Interactive, engaging and have very clear learning expectations.
  • That they were thoughtful and relevant, fast-paced and interesting and that the passion and professionalism of the staff was always in evidence.
  • Hands-on engagement, connection, mind, body and spirit to what we were doing. Teaching approach. Diversity in topics and people and honor/respect given to culture. Meeting incredible people! I loved the honesty and transparency – so helpful that you were willing to share challenges and details that many organizations protect and hold internally.
  • How well informed, professional and knowledgeable the staff are. It was really nice to be in a training where the staff REALLY model what they are teaching and give us the time and ability to practice.

2. Customized Training Sessions 

We offer specialized professional development days for organizations and businesses interested in hands-on edible education.

These private trainings are customized to the needs of your group and can include a tour, hands-on cooking or gardening, team building as well specialized training sessions on curriculum development, pedagogy, community outreach, administrative buy-in and more! Groups we have worked with include: Kaiser Permanente, Google, IDEO, Clif Bar, Oakland Unified School District, and Sacramento Unified School District.

Fees for private professional development days will be determined after a planning session with a member of our staff.  These sessions are based on our schedule and preference is given to educational organizations. We require a minimum of one month's lead time to plan your custom training.

REQUEST A TRAINING 

3. Community of Practice 

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, the Edible Schoolyard Project partnered with Growing Power to bring their Intensive Leadership and Facilitator Training to the Bay Area to create a local empowerment group. 34 colleagues and partners from 10 nearby schools and organizations joined with us to form a yearlong community of practice.

We are committed to ongoing training and dialogue focused on dismantling racism through our collective efforts on reforming the food system and education. The group is exploring how we heal from trauma, and how to support interpersonal and institutional change for racial justice.