Symposium Series and Educators' Symposium

The Fred Rogers Institute is thrilled to offer our Symposium Series and Educators' Symposium. These opportunities are open to the public and designed to be accessible and supportive to all adults who work with and care for children in their professional and personal lives. The Symposium Series is a series of free, virtual, open-to-the-public, 1-hour events hosted throughout the year. The Educators' Symposium is an annual 2-day conference hosted virtually in the summer for formal and informal educators. 

Educators' Symposium

Please click on the drop down below to view the full agenda for the 2023 and 2022 Educators' Symposium. Take a look to get a sense of the types of speakers and opportunities available to attendees.

Tuesday, July 18, 10:00 A.M. - 3:30 P.M. EST 

10:00-10:15 A.M. Opening Remarks
Dr. Dana Winters, Executive Director, Fred Rogers Institute

10:15-11:30 A.M. How Fred Rogers Can Inform Empathy and Well-Being for Individuals and Communities
Dr. Mark Brennan, UNESCO Chair for Community, Leadership, and Youth Development
Providing empathy, kindness, and compassion to others contributes to the well-being of individuals and communities. Fred Rogers extended these messages to children and grown-ups across his program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and through countless speeches and writings, especially when challenging us to “make goodness attractive.” How can we continue to advance these ideas into our own communities? We can start with Fred’s words: “Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person… Sometimes, all it takes is one kind word to nourish another person. Think of the ripple effect that can be created when we nourish someone. One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many.”

11:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. Break

12:30 P.M. - 1:30 P.M. Mental Health Panel
Moderated by Dr. Dana Winters, Executive Director, Fred Rogers Institute

Panelists

  • Dakota Becker, Psychotherapist and Advanced Clinical Social Work Fellow, Yale Child Study Center
  • Angel Kendall, Elementary School Counselor, Pittsburgh Public Schools
  • Johanna Rodriguez, Program Coordinator, ChristianaCare

Children bring their full selves to their classrooms and out-of-school activities, including their questions and worries about the world and their grief and anxiety when they experience loss or difficult change in their lives. Dr. Dana Winters, Executive Director at the Fred Rogers Institute, will lead a discussion with a panel of professionals working in spaces that support the mental health and well-being of children and youth. Hear from clinical therapists and school-based mental health professionals about tangible and practical ways to be a support to children facing difficult moments in your classrooms and programs. 

1:30 P.M. - 1:55 P.M. Meet Your Neighbors: A Session for Mingling OR Episode Watch
Join us for some interactive mingling to meet your neighbors at the Educators’ Symposium. This will be an opportunity to make some quick contacts with other like-minded educators in attendance. Or, perhaps you’d like to watch an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for some inspiration. The choice is yours!

Breakout Sessions

  • Empathy
  • Supporting Children and Youth through Difficult Topics
  • Family Engagement 
  • Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Episode Watch

1:55 P.M. - 2:15 P.M. Break

2:15 P.M. - 3:15 P.M. ParentChild+ Providing Equal Possibilities from the Start with Two-Models
Malkia Singleton, Pennsylvania State Director, Parent Child +
For over 50 years, ParentChild+’s intensive one-on-one home visiting model has been providing families in historically marginalized communities with knowledge, skills, and materials to build school readiness in their homes.  During this session ParentChild+’s best practices on engaging, supporting, and building school readiness through home visiting with very diverse families, including native born and immigrant, will be shared. Additionally, ParentChild+ has adapted their one-on-one model to extend similar supports to a diverse array of family child care settings. While family child care is a commonly accessed option for families in under-resourced communities, it also often lacks the resources to support early development and school readiness. During this session, participants will discuss challenges that the family child care sector is facing locally and nationally. Learn more about ParentChild+’s unique approach to professional development for home-based child care providers.

3:15 P.M. - 3:30 P.M. Closing Remarks
Dr. Dana Winters, Executive Director, Fred Rogers Institute
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Wednesday, July 19, 10:00 A.M. - 3:30 P.M. EST

10:00-10:15 A.M. Opening Remarks
Dr. Dana Winters, Executive Director, Fred Rogers Institute

10:15-11:30 A.M. Educators’ Neighborhood Inquiry Educators Discussion
Emily Uhrin, Archivist, Fred Rogers Institute
As part of this year’s Educators’ Neighborhood cohort, five Inquiry Educators have studied in the Fred Rogers Archive according to individual research questions related to their practice. Emily Uhrin will lead the Inquiry Educators in a discussion about the group’s collective understanding of how Fred Rogers' philosophies were consistent in his work and personal life. Symposium attendees will then have the opportunity to choose a breakout room with an Inquiry Educator who will present individually from his or her unique perspective and research. 

Inquiry Educators’ Breakout Sessions

  • Fred's Authenticity and Deep Understanding of Self: Jennifer Baumgartner, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Louisiana State University
  • Fred's Creative Process and Daily Practice: Elisa Garcia, Holistic Learning Specialist, At The Center Organization
  • Communities and Families as Learning Environments: Katie Hartman, Elementary Reading Specialist, Central York School District
  • Fred Embodying and Living His Spirituality: Rachel Hutson, Children and Family Pastor, Crossings Faith Community
  • Building Belonging, Reimagining Learning, and Disrupting Harmful Practices with Mister Rogers: Alex Peck, High School Social Studies Teacher, Webster Central School District

11:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. Break

12:30 P.M. - 1:30 P.M. It’s You I Like: Music and Disability in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
Amanda Draper, Assistant Professor of Music Education at Indiana University, Gretsch Fellow in Children’s Music
Amanda Draper is the 2022-2023 Gretsch Music Fellow in Children’s Music. She has been exploring the work and musical legacy of Fred Rogers to highlight the ways in which he celebrated competence and ability. In her own research and practice, she has observed how a focus on children’s strengths in their musical experiences can impact beliefs about ability more broadly. In this presentation, Amanda will share some of the emergent findings from her archival work examining the intentional ways Fred Rogers approached honoring disability and difference and how music played a role in that process. Through this work, she hopes to bring attention to ways educators and caregivers may utilize musical participation as a conduit in helping children to be accepting of one another and see each for their capabilities and contributions rather than deficits and disabilities.

1:30 P.M. - 1:55 P.M. Meet Your Neighbors: A Session for Mingling OR Episode Watch
Join us for some interactive mingling to meet your neighbors at the Educators’ Symposium. This will be an opportunity to make some quick contacts with other like-minded educators in attendance. Or, perhaps you’d like to watch an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for some inspiration. The choice is yours!

Breakout Sessions

  • Music and Inclusion
  • Mingling with Inquiry Educators 
  • Questions for the Archivist 
  • Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Episode Watch

1:55 P.M. - 2:15 P.M. Break

2:15 P.M. - 3:15 P.M. The ABCs of FRP (Fred Rogers Productions) 
Mallory Mbalia, Director of Learning and Education, Fred Rogers Productions
In this session, Mallory Mbalia, Director of Learning and Education at Fred Rogers Productions, will share how the production company’s series carry Fred Rogers’ legacy forward in new and innovative ways.  She will highlight each of FRP’s current shows, their learning goals, and their intentionality. Mallory will also showcase clips and the various resources that are available.  There will be interactive questions and lots of joy integration and music.  Enjoy learning about what is happening at Fred Rogers Productions and the new ways in which the organization continues to center its work around the needs of children and families. 

3:15 P.M. - 3:30 P.M. Closing Remarks
Dr. Dana Winters, Executive Director, Fred Rogers Institute 

The 2022 Educators' Symposium was held online July 19-20th. The full agenda for last summer is listed below! The Symposium Series is open to all educators (formal and informal), educational leaders, care providers, and others who work in the service of children, families, and educators. 

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Tuesday, July 19 (EST)

10–11:15am: Opening Keynote: Children, healthy development, and P.R.I.D.E. (Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education)
Dr. Aisha White, Program Director of P.R.I.D.E. at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development.
When children don’t feel good about themselves, particularly their race, that can harm their healthy development, and the same can be said about children who develop a misguided sense of racial superiority. Equitable childcare and racially supportive child rearing can counter the biased messages children may receive about race. Together they can ensure that children will have those ‘strong and good feelings’, not only about themselves, but about their race and culture, in essence, ensuring they will develop a positive racial identity. Dr. Aisha White will discuss the P.R.I.D.E. Program, the connections between race and social-emotional development, and the importance of helping children to better understand race and equity.

11:45–12:45pm: Play Statement from the Fred Rogers Institute
Dr. Dana Winters, Executive Director, Fred Rogers Institute
As Fred Rogers reminded us, “Play is the real work of childhood.” This is something that educators, caregivers, and children often know deeply, though it can sometimes be forgotten in our conventional approaches to formal education. We will think together about how we can foster environments that contribute to the healthy development of children, youth, and families through play. It is through the empathy, wonder, mental wellbeing, and relationships that occur naturally in play that we may find equity and relational care for all learners. 

1:30–2:30pm: Donkey Hodie: Supporting Social-Emotional Learning and Embracing Joy
Kristin DiQuollo, Supervising Producer of Donkey Hodie for Fred Rogers Productions
Inspired by the funny, quirky side of Fred Rogers, Donkey Hodie is a social-emotional learning series for children ages 3-5 that empowers viewers to dream big and overcome obstacles in their own lives. Join Kristin DiQuollo, Supervising Producer of Donkey Hodie for Fred Rogers Productions, as she discusses how the series has been influenced by the joy and humor often incorporated into Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and the ways in which the series inspires children to be resilient and persistent in the face of failure, to discover they can solve problems on their own, and to laugh themselves silly along the way.

2:30–2:55pm:  Meet Your Neighbors: A session for mingling OR an Episode Watch
Join us for some interactive mingling to meet your neighbors at the Symposium. This will be a fun opportunity to make some quick contacts with other like-minded educators in attendance. Or, perhaps you’d like to watch an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for some inspiration.  The choice is yours!

3:15–4:30pm: Percussive Storytelling
Cory Hills, Grammy winning percussionist, Gretsch Fellow in Children’s Music
Join Grammy award-winning percussionist Cory Hills as he presents parts of his program, Percussive Storytelling, a program that fuses elements of storytelling and classical music that is equal parts high-energy, educational, and entertaining. Come experience different ways of utilizing the arts to complement aspects of ELA in your classrooms and schools. 


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Wednesday, July 20 (EST)

10–10:50am: Inquiry Educators Panel
Emily Uhrin, Fred Rogers Institute’s Archivist, will lead a discussion with our special group of Inquiry Educators as they talk about the process of using the archive to research their independent projects.  Immediately following the panel, Symposium attendees can select a breakout room to learn more about the Inquiry Project of their choice.

10:50–11:30am: Inquiry Educators’ Breakout Sessions

  • Making Space for Play: Renata Capozzoli, Kindergarten Teacher, Pittsburgh, PA. This project looks at the ways prioritizing play has impacted relationships, student learning, and teacher practice in a kindergarten classroom over the past year.
  • The Psychology of Inner Childhood's Influence on the Making of Mister Rogers Neighborhood: Sierra Dinges, Pre-K Teacher, Doctor of Education Candidate, Kansas City, MO. This presentation examines the child psychology of inner childhood that influenced the creation of and was presented in Mister Rogers Neighborhood. 
  • The Puppet Project: Erin Dolan, Early Childhood Educator, Teaching Artist, Actor, Director, Playwright, Cleveland, OH. This presentation shares how the exploration of puppets with small groups of Pre-K students developed into a five lesson curriculum for social-emotional learning.
  • Give it a Listen: A Third Grader's Take on the Music of Fred Rogers: Molly Kankiewicz, Third Grade Teacher, Mountain Top, PA. Through this project, third graders provide their insight on the music and lyrics of Fred Rogers. 
  • Curiosity and Love of Self and Others: LeeAnne Kreuger, Kindergarten Teacher, Pittsburgh, PA. How research and time spent reading from the archives shaped the lessons in LeeAnne’s classroom and helped her students to look inward and love themselves all while learning how to love and appreciate their peers.

12:30–1:30pm: Building resilient neighborhoods: The powerful role of educators in serving children’s mental and behavioral health needs
Dr. Becky Zill, clinical neuropsychologist, Fred Rogers Institute Fellow in Mental Health and Wellbeing
Children’s mental and behavioral health concerns have increased in recent years, with effects of the COVID-19 pandemic further contributing to difficulties such as social isolation, emotional instability, and anxiety. As they are well positioned to play a variety of roles in children and young people’s lives, educators may play a powerful part in helping to better address these concerns by simply capturing and building on what they and other caring adults already do best.

1:30–1:55pm: Meet Your Neighbors: A session for mingling OR an Episode Watch
Join us for some interactive mingling to meet your neighbors at the Symposium. This will be a fun opportunity to make some quick contacts with other like-minded educators in attendance. Or, perhaps you’d like to watch an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for some inspiration.  The choice is yours!

2:15–3:30pm: Rediscovering Your Why and Remembering How to Fly
Brad Montague, New York Times bestselling author-illustrator and creator of the hit web series Kid President
How can our lives have more moments filled with wonder? Your school and classroom can become places where imaginations thrive!  This session, from New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, is designed to help educators of all ages (teachers and students) to see grander things in themselves and their future. Rediscover the heart behind your work and joyfully rebel against what is, to create the world that could be!

Symposium Series

The Symposium Series is free and open to all educators (formal and informal), educational leaders, care providers, and others who work in the service of children, families, and educators. Symposium Series events are hosted virtually throughout the year and cover a wide variety of topics. 

All scheduled upcoming Symposium Series dates and registration links are listed on our Events page.  

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