Professional Development Courses 2024-2025

We are excited to announce seven professional development courses in arts integration for fall 2024 and winter 2025. BYU or USBE credit or relicensure hours are available for each course. Availability is first-come, first-serve: sign up right away! Additional registrants will be added to a waiting list associated with each course as soon as a course is full. All registrants will be notified of their status in August via the email used to register.

The Arts and Nature

When was the last time you were in nature? What was your experience? What did you feel? What did you come away with? What effect did it have on you? There is mounting evidence from researchers about the positive effects of spending time in nature on human physical and psychological well-being. Come spend time outdoors led by guides with vast experience and a personal commitment to sharing the joy of nature with others. This course is created to help teachers better tap into the healing powers of the outdoors. We will meet on three Saturdays (Sept, Jan, and May) to hike, create art, connect, and bask in the restorative power of the outdoors.

Instructors: Chris Roberts and Brenda Beyal
Dates: September 28, January 11, May 3
Location: Meet at 8:30 a.m. at northeast corner of the Walmart parking lot in Springville (400 S. exit). We will carpool to Spanish Fork Canyon to begin class promptly at 9:00 a.m. We will finish by 3:00 p.m. and return to the WalMart parking lot by 3:30.
Materials: Please bring your own packed lunch and water.
1 BYU credit or 1 USBE credit or 18 relicensure hours
Maximum Enrollment: 15

Register Here

Amplify Native Voices: Creating a Culturally-Sustaining Classroom

Teachers have questions and concerns about what to teach and how to teach about Native Americans in the classroom. This course is a combined professional development course and research study focused on helping teachers to feel confident amplifying Native voices in their classrooms. The research study is focused on understanding teachers' experiences including Native values and Native perspectives in their teaching and course content will build on teachers' previous experiences including Native perspectives in the classroom. You can read more about the Amplify Native Voices: Creating a Culturally Sustaining Classroom course and its associated research study in this flyer describing the eligibility and participation requirements.

Instructors: Brenda Beyal, Stephanie West, Emily Soderborg, Yvette May
Locations and Dates:
- Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, 9 am-4 pm (lunch provided); BYU-Provo
- Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, 4:30-7:30 pm; Zoom
- Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, 4:30-7:30 pm; Zoom
- Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 5-8 pm (dinner provided); BYU-Provo
1 BYU Credit or 1 USBE credit or 16 relicensure hours
Maximum Enrollment: 12

Register Here

Amplify Native Voices in the Classroom Online Course

Amplify Native Voices in the Classroom is a 1-credit asynchronous, online course that includes 15 hours of instruction. This beginning-level course offers resources and experiences to help inspire, transform, and infuse teachers with personal and professional confidence in addressing cultural arts in their classroom.

Register Here

Stepping Beyond Arts Enhancement to Artful Learning: A Transdisciplinary Approach for All Educators of Elementary Students

This course aims to enhance teacher expertise and infuse joy and playful student learning experiences by emphasizing a transdisciplinary approach to arts integration. This start-with-arts approach increases student engagement in all content areas, i.e., science, mathematics, English language arts, and social studies. It will feature pre-existing and newly crafted arts-integrated strategies and lesson plans built around the Studio Habits of Mind (Hogan, Hetland, Jaquith & Winner, 2018). Teachers will engage in book studies, hands-on collaborative activities, collaborative planning, and reflection processes to deepen teachers' understanding and implementation of transdisciplinary arts integration. Out-of-class learning activities require approximately 6 hours per week, which includes classroom implementation of course content.

Instructors: Heather Leary, Tina McCulloch, Haylee Hammond
Location: Forbes Elementary, 281 N 200 E, American Fork
Dates: September 4, 11, 18, 25, and October 9 from 4:30 -- 7:30 pm
Materials: Participants will need to borrow or purchase the text book Studio Thinking from the Start: The K-8 Educatorâs Handbook, by Jillian Hogan, Lois Hetland, Diane B. Jaquith & Ellen Winner--2018 (approx. $38). The book is needed before the start of the first class.
1 BYU credit, or 2.5 USBE credits, or 15 relicensure hours
Maximum Enrollment: 24

Register Here

Cultures of Thinking: Making Learning Visible Through Mind Mapping

This professional development course equips teachers with innovative strategies to enhance student engagement and comprehension through mind mapping and drawing. Participants will explore the theory and practice of visible thinking strategies by Harvard Project Zero, learning to integrate them with various subjects and grade levels. Topics include leveraging visual techniques for brainstorming, problem-solving, literacy skills, and fostering creativity and critical thinking. Through hands-on activities, reading assignments, and collaborative discussions, educators will develop actionable plans for implementing visual learning strategies in their classrooms. They will also learn tools to assess student learning and growth using visual artifacts and evidence of thinking processes.

Instructors: Alyssa Escalante Dixon, Scott Flox
Location: Forbes Elementary, 281 N 200 E, American Fork
Dates: October 30, November 13, 20, December 4, 11 from 4:30 -- 7:30 p.m.
1 BYU credit, or 1 USBE credit, or 15 relicensure hours
Maximum Enrollment: 24

Register Here

Cultures of Thinking: Visible Thinking Routines in the Classroom

This course is an introduction to thinking routines, why visible thinking is essential, and a âhow toâ on building cultures of visible thinking in a classroom through arts integration.

Instructor: Charlotte Hawkins
Location: Forbes Elementary, 281 N 200 E, American Fork
Dates: January 8, 15, 22, 29, and February 12 from 4:30 -- 7:30 p.m.
Materials: participants will need to purchase or borrow a copy of the book Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church & Karin Morrison (approx. $17)
1 BYU credit, or 1 USBE credit, or 15 relicensure hours
Maximum Enrollment: 24

Register Here

Cultures of Thinking: Visible Thinking Routines Through the Performing Arts (drama, dance, music)

Discover strategies to create a classroom culture where deep thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted. Seamlessly weave these Visible Thinking Routines into the tapestry of your classroom. Routines will be integrated with the core curriculum and illuminated by drama, dance, and music.

Instructors: Melanie Skankey, Miriam Bowen, Jennifer Purdy
Location: Forbes Elementary, 281 N 200 E, American Fork
Dates: March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 9 from 4:30 -- 7:30 p.m.
1 BYU credit, or 1 USBE credit, or 15 relicensure hours
Maximum Enrollment: 24