Activites & Engagement

Teaching is a dynamic and evolving career that makes a difference in the lives of students. Elevate your members abilities through professional development filled with real-life knowledge and experience to succeed. Here are some of the tools and resources available to you to get started! Also check out some award-winning PD activities by chapters. 

• Teacher Panel: Work with the alumni chapter members or local teachers to discuss working with parents, pedagogy implementation, classroom management, career advice, and more. Tip: Consider having new teachers, seasoned educators, and teacher leaders on your panel. 
• Teaching Channel: Use KDP’s partner to address special topics, subjects, and grade levels to observe best practices in real-world situations. Come together as a group, ideally with questions and discussion topics, then after the learning experience, share thoughts on how to implement these techniques. 
• Guest Speaker: Invite an outside speaker or non-education faculty member to share their expertise on an area that has an impact on the field of education. You can include local government officials, youth and community centers, child protective services, or even psychology professors. Education is impacted by many other fields, so get creative! 
• Conference/Workshop: Host an event for teacher candidates, new teachers, and experienced educators to come together for a full-day conference. Choose a theme for the day and have breakout sessions to discuss the topics. Themes could be classroom management, prioritizing mental health, preparing for licensure, and more!
• Combine Community Service and Professional Development: Blend your professional development and service projects! Combine a clothing swap with discussing green classrooms or host a webinar with a local school district while adopting a classroom or teacher’s lounge at that school! The opportunities are endless.
• Utilize Popular Culture and Media: Watch a documentary or film relevant to education as a chapter and discuss following the film.
• Licensure Test Preparation: Help one another study for licensure by utilizing Praxis readiness strategies and KDP partners. Use these resources to guarantee success. Offer stress-relief stations during study for members to color, socialize, and snack together.

KDP Chapters make a difference in their communities. Giving generously of your time and talents is essential not only to growing as a professional, but as a human, too. When planning your chapter's community service event, use these to spark some ideas or see award-winning Service activities by chapters. 

• Local School Partnerships: Adopt a classroom or teacher’s lounge, volunteer to read books to students, do a book or school supply drive, conduct teacher appreciation days, host special events (parent’s day/night out, STEM/STEAM night, fall festival, carnival, etc.) or sponsor a club. 
• Campus Events: Children’s area at homecoming, faculty appreciation, Take Back The Night, alumni weekends, campus visits, or dress for success for graduating students.
• Environmental/Sustainable Service: Adopt-a-Highway, community garden, recycling drive, community clean-up, or even adopt “green” practices as a chapter by hosting a clothing swap, or an upcycle events.
• Value-based Events: Diversity Day, anti-bullying projects, student leadership development, diversity, equity, and inclusion, disaster relief projects, etc..
• Holiday Themed Events: Trick-or-treating/trunk-or-treat, mask making, pumpkin carving, winter cookie decorating, holiday baskets, gift or coat drives, Valentine’s Day card drives, adopt-a-family, etc.
• Collections and Drives: Blankets, canned food, winter items, money, shoes, books, toys, hygiene items, school supplies, clothing, backpacks, or cleaning products.

• Host a Social Event: Host a craft/canvas night, back-to-school ice cream social, pizza party, bowling, or another social event. Charge for attendees to join and have a good time!
• Raffle Baskets: Put together baskets (movie night, tea/cocoa/coffee basket, baked treats, fruit, popcorn, etc.) and sell raffle tickets to your members. Raffle these baskets off at the end of your event.
• Charge for Non-members to Attend Events: Hosting a special event night like a carnival, game night, or movie night? Invite as many learners as you would like. Charge for entry from those that are not members and have fun!
• Restaurant Fundraising Nights: Many restaurants will allow groups to schedule fundraising nights where a percentage of the night’s sales comes back to the chapter. Most will require diners to bring in a coupon or flyer, so be sure to create one and hand it out. 
• Bake Sale: Whether you work with a local bakery to donate baked goods for a chapter bake sale or gather as a chapter to bake items before the event, a bake sale is a tried-and-true winning fundraiser.