Innovative Teaching & Learning
Reimagine instruction through approaches that balance creativity and rigor. Learn how educators are designing experiences that elevate student thinking, deepen engagement, and integrate the arts across disciplines.
Recommended for: Elementary Educators, Middle School Educators, High School Educators, Art Instructors, Academic Instructor What if failure isn’t something to avoid—but something to design for? In many classrooms, especially with high-achieving students, the pressure to “get it right” can limit risk-taking, creativity, and authentic learning. Yet in design—and in life—failure is not the opposite of success; it is the pathway to it. This session invites participants to reframe failure as a powerful, necessary part of the learning process. Through a fast-paced, hands-on design challenge, participants will experience iteration in real time as they work in teams to build the longest self-supporting bridge using only folded paper. The constraints are simple. The outcomes are not. Expect ideas to collapse, strategies to shift, and insights to emerge through each round of testing and refinement. This is not just an activity—it is an exploration of mindset. Together, we will unpack what failure feels like in the moment, why students often resist it, and how educators can intentionally design learning environments that normalize productive struggle. Participants will leave with practical strategies to: 1. Reduce perfectionism and increase student risk-taking 2. Shift feedback and assessment toward process and growth 3. Build studio/classroom cultures grounded in trust, resilience, and iteration Grounded in design thinking and applicable across disciplines, this session offers both an immediate experience and a framework for lasting impact. If you are looking to move beyond compliance-driven learning and toward deeper engagement, creativity, and confidence, this session will provide both inspiration and actionable tools. Come ready to practice, test, fail, reflect, and try again.
Recommended for: Middle School Educators, High School Educators, College Educators, Art Instructors Technology is a bridge between ideas and art, and how we frame it – and teach it – has everything to do with how students adapt, create, and commercialize their craft. Using examples from their Music Technology, Recording, and Production curriculum, Professors Tilby and Buteyn share practical, cross-arts frameworks for teaching technology as a creative language: intent first, tools second. Participants will learn how to help students move away from “button pushing” to purposeful choices, future-proofing young artists and helping them integrate technology in ways that shorten the distance between a great idea and demonstrable art. In short, implementing technology as a framework – not a crutch. Topics discussed include creating a proper mindset for troubleshooting, the risks of presets/templates/social media advice, rubrics for measuring success in creative endeavors, defining intention, and how to know when a project is finished. Participants will see examples of games, assignments, and ways to promote iteration.
Recommended for: Elementary Educators, Middle School Educators, Art Instructors, Academic Instructor This session will explore an innovative approach to improving mathematics achievement through arts integration, by connecting mathematical concepts with creative expression in visual art, theatre, dance, movement, and design. As national math performance continues to decline, educators are seeking engaging, effective methods to reenergize student learning and deepen conceptual understanding. As we all know, arts integration offers a powerful solution by making abstract mathematical ideas more tangible, accessible, and meaningful. Through hands-on, interdisciplinary experiences, we will show you ways our students have explored patterns through theatre, dance, geometry through visual design, and problem-solving through creative collaboration. This approach not only strengthens mathematical comprehension but also increases student motivation, confidence, and retention. Participants in this session will gain practical strategies, lesson ideas, and research-based insights to bring arts-integrated math instruction into their classrooms. Whether you are an upper elementary teacher, secondary educator, or instructional leader, this session will provide tools to address learning gaps while fostering creativity and critical thinking. Join us to discover how blending math with the arts can transform student engagement and help reverse the trend of declining math achievement—making learning both rigorous and inspiring.
Recommended for: Middle School Educators, High School Educators, Art Instructors As working professionals in our field, we kept asking, why isn't "how to be in the ensemble" ever taught in the classroom? Why do we only teach students how to be the starring roles when we know from experience, that our students will most likely make a career in the ensemble? What if we taught these special skills in the classroom, versus expecting students to pick this all up in a rehearsal setting? We have written courses and are excited to share what we've learned, and what our best practices are for 6-8th grade theatre students. Join us for a special class/workshop in TEACHING AN ENSEMBLE CLASS
Recommended for: K-12 School Administrators, Middle School Educators, High School Educators, Academic Instructor “My administrators want me to integrate arts and academics into my classroom, but I don’t know where to start!” Many educators are asked to integrate the arts but lack confidence outside their primary discipline. This session introduces a practical, accessible framework for designing arts-integrated lessons without requiring formal training in another subject area. Participants will explore how AI tools like Inkwire AI can support lesson development by helping translate ideas across disciplines and incorporate diverse cultural perspectives. Through guided, hands-on activities, attendees will create a customized unit plan aligned to their classroom context. The session emphasizes culturally responsive instruction, interdisciplinary thinking, and social-emotional learning. Participants will leave with a ready-to-use unit plan, a replicable planning framework, and strategies to expand both disciplinary and cultural connections in their teaching practice.
Recommended for: K-12 School Administrators, Higher Ed Administrators (Deans, Recruiters, Enrollment, etc), Elementary Educators, Middle School Educators, High School Educators, College Educators, Art Instructors, Academic Instructor This interactive workshop will explore how governance between San Diego Unified School District and the SDSU School of Teacher Education strengthens teacher preparation by more intentionally connecting university coursework, systems, and classroom clinical experiences. Centered on preparing future educators to facilitate learning in rigorous settings, the session will examine how district-university governance can align shared expectations, coaching practices, and professional learning to better support candidates entering arts-rich and academically challenging environments. This work is timely as arts educators, school leaders, and higher education partners respond to changing workforce needs, shifting credential demands, and increasing pressure to prepare teachers who are adaptable, collaborative, and ready to serve diverse school communities. Arts schools, in particular, often seek educators who hold both arts credentials and content-area credentials so they can provide arts education during the traditional school day while also meeting broader instructional and staffing needs. This session will highlight how governance supported the development of systems that encourage credential candidates to add credential areas during the program, improving employability and increasing hiring flexibility in rapidly changing educational settings. Participants will be actively learning throughout the 75 minutes through structured reflection, collaborative discussion, guided problem-solving, and action planning. Rather than only hearing about the governance partnership, attendees will examine how governance, coaching, and credential pathways function in practice and how similar approaches could be adapted in their own schools, districts, or university partnerships. Participants will reflect on visible and invisible borders within their own systems, discuss common challenges and opportunities with colleagues, and identify practical strategies they can apply in their own contexts. Aligned with the conference theme, Borderless Creativity: Arts Bridging Cultures, this workshop demonstrates how teacher preparation can transcend borders between university and district systems, coursework and practice, disciplines, and communities while equipping participants with concrete strategies for building more connected, responsive educator preparation pathways.
Recommended for: Middle School Educators, High School Educators, Art Instructors, Academic Instructor Arts-integrated academic teachers know that art increases students’ engagement and learning. However, frequently, in designing assessments and projects, teachers may unintentionally center art skills and final products at the expense of higher-order thinking. Performing a play read in English class allows students to practice acting; singing a protest anthem deepens their connection to the history of the 1960s and 70s; beautifully illustrating a diagram of the water cycle helps cement their knowledge of environmental science. These common project examples have many merits. Still, they do not always push students’ thinking beyond surface-level understanding of the academic content being assessed. The result is that our students miss valuable opportunities for higher-order, critical thinking that are crucial to their cognitive development and future success as citizens and professionals. In this workshop, we will traverse the often-overlooked gap between engaging art projects and rigorous cognitive work. Educators will learn and apply strategies for turning great art projects into excellent arts-integrated academic assessments that require students to think critically about the course material. Participants’ learning will begin with a discussion of higher-order thinking theory and application in arts-integrated academic assessment. This includes an examination of common pitfalls teachers face as assessment designers through examples from a variety of academic subjects. The session’s main focus is workshop time in which participants will work together to reimagine a favorite project with more rigorous practice in critical thinking. Alternatively, participants can workshop a provided example. In the end, educators will leave with a stronger understanding of the value and practice of critical thinking across disciplines, a set of go-to strategies they can use to improve the rigor of their assessments, and a plan for an arts-integrated academic assessment that maintains higher-order thinking, which they can use in their own classroom!
Recommended for: K-12 School Administrators, Middle School Educators, High School Educators, Academic Instructor Everyone has a mathtitude - the way we think and feel about mathematics. Unfortunately, many of our students feel that they are not a “math person". As educators, we have the power to improve students’ mathtitudes by emphasizing creativity and incorporating the arts into math instruction. Formal education has created an invisible barrier separating art from math. Art is seen as creative, emotional, and joyful; math is seen as rigid, logical, and frustrating. This is a false divide. Both math and art are creative subjects that explore pattern and structure, while trying to make sense of the world. By connecting math and artistic elements, we create an environment where students experience joy and an increased sense of belonging. They begin to feel capable, their math identities strengthen, and their Mathtitudes improve. In this interactive session, participants will explore practical strategies for integrating movement, music, visual art, and storytelling into math instruction. As a participant, you’ll experience activities from a student perspective and learn about additional strategies. You’ll hear from students whose Mathtitudes improved when they experienced a math class that was infused with creativity and art. Additionally, you will have access to two ready-to-use math projects aligned to the standards for Integrated Mathematics 1: (1) Geometry Art Project – students create a unique piece of visual art that incorporates geometric constructions, rigid transformations, and congruence. (2) FUNctions – small groups invent an imaginative story that describes a function. They create a visually pleasing project board and themed function machine, and they present their projects to an authentic audience in an open-house, gallery format. You will leave this session inspired and ready to infuse creativity into your math instruction.
Recommended for: Elementary Educators, Middle School Educators, High School Educators, College Educators, Art Instructors, Academic Instructor Learn how to turn units into compelling learning journeys by using storytelling techniques that boost engagement, critical thinking, and retention. We’ll cover what makes a great story (hooks, arcs, relatable characters, and satisfying conclusions), review classroom examples, and give you time to map a narrative for one of your courses using a simple organizer. Participants will share ideas and leave with practical next steps to bring storytelling into their instruction. Perfect for educators seeking fresh, student-centered ways to deepen understanding across subjects.
Recommended for: Elementary Educators, Middle School Educators, School Counselors, Art Instructors, Academic Instructor Participants will examine the instructional benefits of integrating the arts into everyday classroom practice in this interactive session. The workshop highlights how purposeful connections among visual arts, music, theater, and dance can strengthen engagement, deepen conceptual understanding, and foster creative and critical thinking across core academic subjects. Participants will be introduced to the Language of Dance (LOD) framework as a tool for developing movement literacy, communication, and analytical skills, and will explore how technology can serve as a creative medium to extend and document arts-integrated learning. The session provides practical, classroom-tested strategies adaptable across grade levels and disciplines, including approaches such as using storytelling to support writing instruction, integrating music and dance into mathematical thinking, and leveraging visual art and digital media to enhance historical inquiry. Participants will analyze model lessons and apply the frameworks presented to design an arts-integrated lesson aligned to their own teaching context. Along with learning how our small school is structured for learning and the history of how we became an arts and humanities magnet school.
Recommended for: K-12 School Administrators, Higher Ed Administrators (Deans, Recruiters, Enrollment, etc), Middle School Educators, High School Educators, College Educators, Art Instructors, Academic Instructor This session examines how arts integration and STEAM approaches can deepen students’ understanding of academic content while increasing engagement and intellectual investment. Drawing on her work as a National Board Certified English teacher and adjunct professor, as well as a museum educator, Christina Stetler-Rodriguez will provide examples of classroom-based strategies that position the arts as a central mode of inquiry across disciplines. Using classroom ready examples from George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology and the Community College of Baltimore County, participants will explore the use of choice boards as a structured yet flexible tool for interdisciplinary learning. These frameworks allow students to approach core subject areas through multiple artistic modalities, including visual arts, acting and technical theatre, music, dance, and digital instrumental composition and performance. These project based learning tasks maintain academic integrity while expanding the ways students can demonstrate understanding, resulting in strong portfolios and assignments that cross disciplines and result in borderless classrooms. Participants leave the sessions with tools to support more inclusive, responsive, and intellectually dynamic classrooms.
Recommended for: High School Educators, Art Instructors, Theatre and Acting Instructors In his book The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt documents the cultural switch from social and physical play based childhood to a phone or screen based childhood beginning about 2010. According to Haidt and other experts, this change has led to an epidemic of anxiety, comparison, and depression in America’s children. They do not intrinsically engage in play with others. They are so uncomfortable with being uncomfortable, that a moment of discomfort causes one of two reactions: to shut down or to complain enough that someone else (usually a parent) eases their discomfort. Their sense of comparison is overdeveloped, often stifling their creativity and confidence. Their fear of being “cancelled” is so massive they cannot give constructive feedback to one another without fear. Critical thinking skills are dwindling. So, how do we combat this new set of parameters and teach students that discomfort causes growth, that play is essential, and that knowing yourself will lead to being not only a stronger artist, but also a stronger human being? It seems insurmountable. The last few years as the Anxious Generation moves into high school we’ve all had to adjust for more play and more work on energetic connection. This session introduces a new dynamic process for actors called The Push/Pull. This process has become integral in serving the Anxious Generation. It is now the cornerstone of the acting program at Booker T. Washington HSPVA. Originally designed to help young actors transition from performative child acting to the sustainable disciplined craft of acting, the process is overwhelmingly successful with students of the “iPad” generation. Over the last 26 years with the Dallas Theatre Center, SoulRep Theatre, Cry Havoc Theater, and BTWHSPVA, this process has been honed to guide young actors from any background to shift their focus from “how do I look?” to “what am I doing?”; to adjust from posture heavy physicality to grounded and responsive presence; to move on from external imitation to internal truth. The curriculum is a full semester of work for high school actors, but once students grasp it, the world of their artistry blossoms in an emotionally safe way. The steps that make up the process are: Action Categories: The Push/Pull, Physicalizing the Objective, Tactical Play and Exploration, No Blocking Process to Performance. The workshop will mostly focus on Step 1: The Push/Pull. Step 1: The Push/Pull exercise establishes a shared energy of presence (second circle) between two actors; shows physical places actors hold tension restricting the flow of energy, presses students to confront their own resistance to work, develops stamina mentally, vocally, and physically, establishes an emotionally safe approach to objective based acting, encourages play and experimentation with safe boundaries, levels the playing field between child performers and students who have not had the same privileges, requires both actors to listen and respond equally, develops the skill of playing tactical actions, explores physical engagement through self-designated and agreed upon boundaries, and sets the bar for future work by providing strong objective based methodology and vocabulary for actors, directors, and playwrights alike.