Professional Development Workshops

Umoja offers customized workshops with topics spanning the three pillars of Umoja’s work: Restorative Justice, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) principles, and postsecondary readiness. We work with schools to customize a series of workshops to meet specific needs and to cultivate participant’s abilities to build purposeful relationships with young people and adults.

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Umoja University Summer Institutes: Restorative Justice Foundations

Join us for Umoja’s foundational learning series in Restorative Justice, which lays the essential groundwork for the self-awareness and skills required of a restorative practitioner in educational settings! In a two-day institute, we'll engage in experiential activities in which we explore mindsets and cultivate self-awareness about relationships, community, and conflict. Building on this foundation, we'll learn proactive and responsive restorative practices to prevent and address harm, specifically community building circles and restorative conversations.

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Dates: July 24-25 OR Aug 13-14
Location: Robert Morris University

Umoja University Summer Institutes: Foundations of Umoja Seminar

Are you teaching the Umoja Seminar Curriculum next school year? Join us for Umoja’s foundational learning series in Seminar, which lays the essential groundwork for effective instruction of this curriculum. This two-day Institute serves as a pre-service orientation to Seminar and builds the capacity of teachers to effectively implement of the Seminar curriculum and support the social and emotional growth of students. Please note: This Institute is exclusively for new teachers of Umoja's Seminar Curriculum.

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Date: July 23-24 OR Aug 14-15
Location: Robert Morris University

Past Workshops

Restorative Classroom Management

When a conflict is brewing and sparks start to fly, our choices can fan the flames or put out the fire; we can get pulled into power struggles in which no one wins, or we can serve as powerful role models of social/emotional competence. This session will offer guidance for thinking about how small but significant changes can proactively tip the balance of classrooms and programs from conflict to collaboration.

Date: April 26, 2019
Location: National Louis University
Cost: $55-85

Community Building Circles: A Proactive Restorative Practice

Circle practices create space for all voices to hear and be heard. Community building circles are a foundational practice that may serve as a launchpad for other circle practices, such as Peace Circles. Through experiential means, participants learn foundational elements and protocols of circles and leave with the skills to facilitate community building circles of their own.

Date: January 25, 2019
Location: National Louis University
Cost: $55-85

Restorative Conversations: A Responsive Restorative Practice

In this workshop, we will learn and practice the skill of facilitating one-on-one restorative conversations as a responsive restorative practice for addressing harm. Through experiential means, we will...

- Explore how self-awareness and monitoring our internal reactions can make conflicts bigger or smaller in interactions with young people (or adults!)

- Discuss and apply listening and questioning techniques as a vehicle for relationship building and repair, reentry from crisis, and resolving personal and inner conflict

- Practice holding effective restorative conversations using Umoja's questioning tool to internalize skills.

Date: March 22, 2019
Location: National Louis University
Cost: $55-85

Foundations of Restorative Justice

This workshop is Umoja’s foundational course for basic knowledge of Restorative Justice as a philosophy and engages participants in a mindset shift. Through experiential activities and targeted discussions, participants interrogate personal and professional beliefs about relationships, community, and harm. Participants will leave the workshop with greater understanding of restorative justice, deeper self-awareness of their own mindsets, and an emerging ability to reframe punitive language with a restorative lens. All ‘sister practices,’ such as peace circles in schools, restorative conversations, repairing harm, etc. are supported by this foundation.

Date: November 30, 2018
Location: National Louis University
Cost: $55-85

11th Annual Umoja University: Summer Series

We warmly welcome you to attend our 11th annual professional learning institute, Umoja University! Umoja University is an opportunity to join other educators from across the Chicagoland area to learn skills and strategies that support students' success in schools and beyond. Workshops will be hosted throughout July & August at various locations. We offer specialized learning tracks that are customized to educators' interests, roles, and years of experience with Umoja and our core areas: Restorative Justice, Social-Emotional Learning, and Post-Secondary Readiness.

Click here to learn more about all the professional learning opportunities offered. CPDUs are available. We look forward to seeing you!

Date: July to mid-August 2018
Location: Varies
Cost: Individual workshops are $85 per person. Building an Effective ISS, a full-day training, is $170.

Facilitating Collaborative Learning

Humans are social creatures, so it is not too surprising that educational experiences that are interactive, collaborative, and engaging lead to deeper learning! In this workshop, we explore how to develop routines, procedures, structures, and spaces to create an environment of respect and rapport where collaborative learning thrives. Designed for teachers and facilitators of adult and youth groups, this workshop features a wide variety of cooperative learning strategies. From the establishment of norms to daily rituals and routines, you'll gather many tips and tricks to foster collaborative and interactive learning.

Date: May 21, 2018
Location: Chicago Literacy Alliance
Cost: $55-85

Restorative Conversations: A Responsive Restorative Practice

In this workshop, we will learn and practice the skill of facilitating 1-on-1 restorative conversations as a responsive tool for addressing harm. Through experiential means, we begin by will explore how self-awareness, empathy, and monitoring our internal reactions can make conflicts bigger or smaller in interactions with young people (or adults!) We'll then discuss and apply listening and questioning techniques as a vehicle for relationship building and repair, reentry from crisis, and resolving personal and inner conflict. Finally, we'll practice holding effective restorative conversations using Umoja's questioning tool to internalize skills. Restorative conversations are applicable in a wide variety of spaces with both adults and young people, but educators and youth development professionals will find this session particularly relevant and useful for resolving conflicts with young people.

Date: March 13, 2018
Location: Chicago Literacy Alliance
Cost: $55-85