Information and Registration

2025 Conference:

The 2025 Infancy Institute will be held in both on-site and online formats. Registration is available for both formats or you can choose the format that works best for you. You will attend the same keynote speaker and choose from interactive workshops focusing on curriculum, development, challenging behaviors, working with families, and emotionally responsive practice geared for professionals who work with infants and toddlers. Keynote sessions and online workshops will be recorded and available to participants who are registered for the online conference.

On Site or Online*
June 23, 24, and 25, 2025
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET
(Tuesday Networking Opportunity from 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM ET)

Registration: available Spring 2025

2024 Fees (2025 fees TBD)

• $250 Individual Early Bird Rate ($315 after May 31)
• $215 Group Early Bird Rate per person for a minimum of 5 ($250 per person after May 31)

Additional Information:

• One (1) graduate credit may be earned by:
  • Registering for EDUC 612 “Infancy Institute: Infants, Toddlers, Families: Supporting Their Growth” in the Summer 2 C 2024 term;
  • Paying the tuition fee ($1,814);
  • Attending the on-site, online, or both sessions of the conference; andCompleting online coursework after the conference
• Participants will receive 12 CTLE hours or 1 CEU if they meet attendance requirements.
• Certificates of participation will be emailed to registered participants who meet attendance criteria approximately 3 weeks after the conference closes.
• *For the online conference, Zoom translate
  -is available to provide live captions in over 25 languages.
  – 可提供超过 25 种语言的实时字幕。
  -está disponible para proporcionar subtítulos en vivo en más de 25 idiomas.

Questions? Contact Continuing Professional Studies at cps@bankstreet.edu or 212-875-4649.

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Schedule for On-Site Conference

Keynote Presentation

“Liberatory Pedagogy in the Early Years: Free to Develop, Free to Learn, Free to Teach”
by Dr. Denisha Jones

Concepts like liberatory, emancipatory, and decolonized pedagogies are often used in the context of working with older students, but rarely are these ideas applied to early childhood educators. In this keynote I outline the need for early childhood education to center liberation and freedom as necessary to foster whole child development. In misguided efforts to prepare children for school, early childhood practices have disrupted optimal development, severed our natural desires to learn, and led to teacher demoralization and demotivation. I offer early childhood liberatory pedagogy as a framework to ensure all children are free to develop and learn and teachers are free to teach.

About Dr. Denisha Jones

Dr. Denisha Jones is the executive director of Defending the Early Years. She is a former kindergarten teacher and preschool director who spent the past 20 years in teacher education. Denisha is an education justice advocate and activist working with various grassroots organizations to dismantle the neoliberal assault on public education. She is a part-time faculty member in the Art of Teaching program at Sarah Lawrence College and the School of Education at Howard University. Since 2017, she served on the steering committee for the national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Her first co-edited book, Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice, was published in December 2020 by Haymarket Books.

Schedule for Online Conference

Keynote Presentation

“Challenges as Catalysts: A Liberating Journey from Behavior Challenges to Profound Connection”
by Yasmin Dorrian

What if instead of focusing on changing or modifying children’s challenging behaviors we focused on our own internal and external response to these behaviors? What if we didn’t view these behaviors as challenging at all? What if we worked instead to understand why these behaviors were especially challenging for us. 

Rather than merely attempting to alter children’s behaviors, this conversation will challenge participants to introspectively examine their own responses and perceptions. Embrace the notion that these behaviors are not inherently challenging but opportunities for profound understanding.

We will engage in a collective reflection on our attitudes and biases surrounding children’s behavior, seeking to unravel the complexities that shape our responses. By cultivating a nuanced mindset, participants will discover the potential for a substantial shift in responses, empowering children to navigate the world with confidence, agency, and a profound sense of love.

About Yasmin Dorrian

Yasmin Dorrian, MSEd, is the co-director of the Infancy Institute and an advisor and course instructor at Bank Street Graduate School of Education, where she also obtained an MSEd in Infant and Family Development and Early Intervention. Yasmin also owns and operates a consulting company working with parents and early childhood centers in the tri-state area. Her work focuses on meeting her students and clients where they are and guiding them to find their own answers through self-reflection and authentic, candid dialogue. One of Yasmin’s favorite ways to share information and empower caregivers is through workshops using a mix of simple visuals, interactive questions, and curated resources. Yasmin draws on a wide range of experiences to inform her practice; she has worked as a teacher, director, and consultant in a number of early childhood settings across the United States and abroad. Her undergraduate degree is from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, where she focused on Child Development and cultivated her passion at the renowned Early Childhood Center.

Autism: It Makes Sense!

Friday, June 21
3:30 – 6:00 PM ET

Bonus On Site Workshop

Are you looking to gain a better understanding of children in your care who have been described as autistic or those waiting for a formal evaluation? You are invited to join us for an in-person session that will provide you with direct memories and accounts of personal experiences to help you better understand autism. Through this session, you will see how autistic ways of thinking and processing can naturally lead to specific classroom strategies that provide meaning, stability, and enjoyment in the busy and often confusing early childhood classroom. Developed in collaboration with Catherine Faherty, Autism Specialist, Teacher, Author (Autism…What does it mean to me? and other titles.)

Trainers:
Gabriel Guyton, Infant Mental Health and Child Development Specialist, Teacher
Skylar Belt, Child Development Specialist, Teacher

Free for Infancy Institute participants! Select this workshop in the Whova App- in the Agenda section under Friday, June 21
Can’t attend the Infancy Institute- Register here for $20.
Space is limited.