Professional Development

Registration covers the cost of the entire program - June 11, 12, and 13. Early bird registration is available until May 1, 2024, with a cost of $155. Regular registration costs $170 and will be open until May 24, or until we reach capacity.

Yes, scholarships are available for Denver Public Schools teachers and teachers in rural areas. Please find the scholarship application HERE. Priority scholarship deadline is April 19, 2024, and the final scholarship deadline is May 10, 2024.

Meals will be on your own with the exception of morning coffee and lunch on June 11 (Day 1). Participants can bring their own food, purchase food on campus, or travel off campus to purchase food nearby.

Yes! UNC will be offering 1 graduate level credit for a small additional fee of $75. Participants interested in earning graduate credit should indicate it on their registration (513 Continuing Education), and UNC will provide more information on that process leading up to and during the Institute.  

Registration fees cover the cost of attending on all 3 days and we encourage attendees to take advantage of the variety of workshops and experiences that we’re offering as part of this year’s Institute. 

Free parking will be available on site during the Institute. Please indicate that you plan to park your car on campus when registering. We encourage people to carpool whenever possible.

Yes! You will have the option to select and pay for on-campus housing during the registration process. If you’d prefer to rent an Airbnb or hotel in the Greeley area, we can provide recommendations. 

Transforming Lesson Plans with Forum Theatre and Drawing: Participants will create a story (or many!) using Forum Theater (aka Theater of the Oppressed) and drawing to explore how this type of storytelling can transform a unit or lesson plan. Participants will experience incremental risk taking that can extend to practices in the classroom. How can this create stress for teachers and students, and how might we navigate this in the classroom? 

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Unlock the power of storytelling and worldbuilding in this fun, drama-based workshop. Participants will engage in a variety of theatre activities that will cultivate imaginative thinking and creativity for any teaching discipline. Focusing on a range of techniques including character, ensemble building, improv, and creating original content, this workshop is sure to inspire new ways of approaching curriculum in an interactive, theatrical way. 

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Kristina will provide context for the history of sequential storytelling and its importance as foundational to various indigenous modes of storytelling. Connecting this history to its relevance in contemporary indigenous culture, Kristina will additionally discuss “cultural futurisms,” the retelling of traditional stories through futuristic/sci-fi lenses. This session will create space for conversations on storytelling in the classroom - doodling will be available! 

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Looking Closely at Picturebooks: Fiction, Peritext and Power: Stories for young children are told through visual and verbal means. This is especially true as contemporary picturebooks have become quite sophisticated. In this workshop we will explore how analysis of the peritextual features (endpapers, covers, title pages, etc.) motifs, color, and symbolic images can enhance the reading experience and deepen interpretations of fictional elements. Participants will see how the artwork and overall design of children’s picturebooks work with the words to convey stories and create fictional worlds. Comment end 

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

In this session we will briefly talk through the development of choreographic thinking in relation to the creation of narrative arcs and dance dramaturgy. Moving away from Western’s traditional structure of beginning-middle and end, we will explore how to create meaning through a predominantly abstract art form, dance, through repetition, circularity, and other non-Western centric forms. We will also discuss how to apply some of these choreographic tools to a variety of art forms and subjects, making sure this session can be translated to as many educational contexts as possible. Special attention will be given to autobiography as a way to reclaim self-agency and to explore the complexity of our identities. No dance experience is required, only an open heart and willingness to have fun at the end of a stimulating day! 

Large group afternoon workshop

Digital Tools for Storytelling: This session will explore how teachers and instructors might promote greater creativity and inclusivity through imagining new summative outcomes. Instead of a “final paper,” what outcomes might be possible through utilizing the digital tools we have available to us? Attendees will have the opportunity to explore what new digital storytelling outcomes might look like through film and poetic lenses.

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Chelsea uses social justice, self-exploration, and process-oriented activities to build community in the classroom. Attendees will have the opportunity to work with various mixed media and writing prompts to create communally-built, small art books.

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

This session will be an active exploration of the important principles of Culturally Responsive Education and considerations for Trauma-Informed practices. Through discussion and engaging exercises around storytelling and worldbuilding, participants will examine different ways to cultivate an environment that is inclusive to a variety of cultures, consider additional behavioral factors, and be asked to reflect on their own beliefs and experiences that contribute to teaching style. By the end of the session, participants will have tools to re-energize the way that they approach opportunities to utilize the multifaceted cultures within their learning environments.

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Worldbuilding, Fiction, & Storytelling in Contemporary Art: What do artists do? This workshop will highlight contemporary artists who work with fictional stories. We will enter their worlds through our discussion and brainstorm ways that the artists can be introduced to K-12 students.

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Members from Meow Wolf’s creative team, Jeff Merkel and Jessica Austgen, will lead a session on “Immersive for Educators.” Through this session, attendees will be encouraged and empowered to utilize techniques for crafting immersive experiences in the classroom. Jeff and Jessica will provide brief overviews of immersive experience design and immersive tech before launching into a capstone experience where educators will be able to brainstorm and actualize ideas for incorporating immersive in the classroom.

Large group afternoon workshop

Science Fiction & Poetry: Storytelling is a versatile tool that can help us apply what we’re learning in a variety of non-literary subjects. Let’s take a look at how we can use fiction and poetry to deepen student engagement with math, social and physical sciences, current events, and other subjects. You’ll try your hand at writing an object poem, a found poem, and flash science fiction. 

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Storytelling through Memory & Sense: This workshop will explore the role of memory in storytelling, utilizing multisensory experiences to flesh out the memories we hold and share. Beyond our usual means of recalling memories through photos, how do smells, tastes, feelings, and more contribute to the fullness of our memories? Workshop attendees will have the opportunity to work with 2-D/mixed media materials to express the multifaceted nature of how we remember, and how these memories inform the stories we tell. 

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Participants will pull one-sentence story prompts from a hat and will have the opportunity to bring these stories to life through comic storytelling. Through this illustrative improv, attendees will exercise creative thinking and various means of communicating stories. 

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

This session engages teachers in interactive sound based activities with visual arts and tactile components. Participants will learn how non-verbal interactions using sound can be particularly effective in encouraging active participation, promoting inclusivity, and regulating our emotions. This session offers insights into integrative learning, sensory engagement and in adapting materials, tools and teaching methods to be accessible and inclusive for students of ages and abilities.

Morning and afternoon small group workshops

Fantasy as Inspiration for Understanding Ourselves: How can we tap into young people's imaginations to explore the unknown? How does fantasy help illuminate and reflect on our world? In this drama-based, creative workshop, participants will tap into imaginations to create characters that take us to new places that might reveal insights to our current reality. 

Large group afternoon workshop