Not being good at things can be hard for teachers. In this workshop, we’ll pull back the curtain on failure and all it’s useful glory. Participants will be tasked to design, cut, and stitch a stuffie. Easy for some, not so easy for others. We’ll use this activity to talk through modeling strategies, self-reflection, classroom culture, student experts, and more. Folks will leave with loads of new strategies to promote failure, reflection, and resiliency.

Hands-on work is incredibly beneficial for everyone but especially for those kiddos where auditory processing is still a work in progress. While we use scrapwood, loose parts, and hand tools to design and build simple machines or rolling toys, we’ll discuss how creative work can trigger the flow state, calm high sensory input kids, create buy-in, and serve a variety of hard-to-reach kiddos. Creative work is also fantastic for ELLs especially if done to front-load academic content. Participants will leave with a variety of strategies to serve ND and ELL kids with lesson plans and a strategy cheat sheet.