February - Your Invitation to Play: Loose Parts Hope in the Classroom

This course is designed to inspire and prepare you to create thoughtfully curated play prompts or invitations to play. Today, we will examine the elements of an invitation to play using open-ended materials. Then we will address methods for bringing loose parts into the learning environment. You will learn the difference between loose parts, and found objects for self-directed activities, as we explore their definitions and roles in invitations to play.

March - Hope and Teacher Identity

This course will address hope as it relates to emotional intelligence and teacher identity. Because teaching is so challenging, hopeful thought is vital to providers’ wellbeing and work satisfaction. We know that often when teachers lose hope it is not in children but in themselves. This course will further address factors that impact teacher and provider hope levels and provide strategies and interventions for increasing our capacity to hope and convey hope to others.