On-Site Schedule

Sparking Joy: Dance and Music in the Kindergarten Classroom

In this joyful dance and music gathering, Emily Meisner, along with National Dance Institute’s Teaching Artists will guide participants on how to enrich their classrooms with movement and music, focusing on imaginative storytelling, movement games, and musical explorations. Participants will leave with a new set of tools that inspire kindergarteners to express their creativity as well as practical ideas for making their classrooms inviting spaces for dance, movement and self expression.

Emily Meisner began teaching and choreographing with the National Dance Institute (NDI) in 2003 and has been the Director of the NDI Collaborative for Teaching & Learning since 2019. As Director of the Collaborative, Emily oversees NDI’s teacher training initiatives across the country and around the world. She worked alongside NDI’s founder, Jacques d’Amboise, to create the early-childhood music and dance program Arts Encounter, which was instrumental in  the development of NDI’s unique early childhood curriculum.  In addition, she has taught dance education in diverse school communities throughout New York City.  Prior to joining NDI, Emily danced professionally with Boston Ballet. She received her MA  in Education from Bank Street College.

Participants attending the conference on site will select one of the following Saturday morning Roundtables.

Reframing Kindergarten: Creating Boy-Friendly Early Learning Spaces

Research highlights a challenging dynamic in early education: boys, across racial and ethnic groups, are often perceived as less mature than their girl counterparts when entering kindergarten. This perception can lead to a lag in their academic and social performance. While some scholars suggest delayed entry for boys, this perspective often overlooks a critical issue-which is the structural feminization of kindergarten and early schooling spaces. This environment can inadvertently marginalize boys and contribute to their academic struggles. This Roundtable moves beyond surface-level solutions to explore how the design and pedagogy of early learning environments impact young boys. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the institutional structures at play and learn concrete strategies to make their classrooms more equitable and supportive for all boys, regardless of racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Dr. Nathaniel Bryan is an associate professor of early childhood education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas-Austin. Dr. Bryan is the author of Toward a BlackboyCrit Pedagogy: Black boys, Male Teachers, and Early Childhood Classroom Practices (Routledge Press, 2021). He is the recipient of the 2024 Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Division K Teaching and Teacher Education, and a recent recipient of the Foundation for Child Development grant focusing on the mathematical success of Black boys in early childhood education. He earned a BA in French from the University of South Carolina-Columbia, an MEd in Gifted Education and Early Childhood Education from Columbia College, and PhD in Early Childhood Education from the University of South Carolina-Columbia.

Creating Collaborations: Honoring Our Children and Their Families

Families are already doing the work of literacy—engaging with their children in powerful ways, often without realizing it, whether it’s through storytelling, cooking, or everyday conversations in multiple languages. By recognizing and honoring the diverse literacy practices happening at home, we can move away from school-centric, one-off events to create more inclusive and meaningful educational environments in the classroom. In this roundtable, we will explore how to create ongoing partnerships with families that can transform students’ learning experiences while celebrating the cultural richness that their families bring. 

Nawal Qarooni is a Jersey City-based educator, writer, and adjunct professor. Drawing on her work as an inquiry-based leader, mother, and proud daughter of immigrants, Nawal’s pedagogy is centered in the rich and authentic learning that all families gift to their children every day. She is the author of Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care (Stenhouse/ Routledge 2024). Qarooni has worked for the last two decades as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, staff developer, researcher, professor and currently teaches at New York University in the Teacher Residency program. She holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan, a MAT from Brooklyn College, and a MA in Journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.

Reclaiming Democracy and Humanity in the Kindergarten Classroom
Amidst a global rise in authoritarianism, conflict zones, and dehumanizing policies, what is the role of Kindergarten? In this roundtable, participants will explore how Kindergartners, their teachers, and their families can reclaim democracy and humanity through individual and collective acts of love and justice. Through case studies from Kindergarten classrooms, we will consider specific moves that educators make to transform their classrooms into sites of healing and joy. Participants will leave with a broader set of tools for how to resist the harms that children and families experience in our current socio-political context.

Dr. Soyoung Park is a faculty member and the Director of Online Programs in Early Childhood and Childhood Special Education at the Bank Street Graduate School of Education. A former special education and inclusion teacher, Dr. Park’s research focuses on transforming schools to be more accessible, inclusive, and socially just for children of color with disabilities and their families. She has published her work in numerous peer-reviewed journals and presented in conferences nationwide. Dr. Park’s new book (Re)Imagining Inclusion for Children of Color with Disabilities was released in 2025 by Harvard Education Press.

If you purchase a ticket to attend the conference on site, there is an optional add-on ticket to attend a pre-conference.

Join us at the pre-conference, where you will spend the morning observing Bank Street School for Children or Castle Bridge PS 513 classrooms and will then come together for a facilitated discussion and working lunch. Topics may include: questioning techniques, racial literacy, assessment, and the teacher’s role in the classroom. Using observations from the morning and your own experiences as a frame of reference, the group will discuss practical ways of inspiring Curiosity, Creativity & Courage into their own programs and classrooms.

Pre-Conference Details