Webinars and Workshops
I am currently employed full time with a school district in British Columbia. I have VERY limited availability during the 2024-2025 school year. I primarily offer conference keynotes and sessions at this time.
As an independent consultant, I offer a variety of school garden and outdoor learning workshops, walkshops and professional learning series that are customized for your school or organization’s objectives. I bring over 25 years of practical and professional teaching experience to my work, anchored in current research and scholarly theories.
Workshops listed below are examples of topics that have been popular in the past. You can absolutely request a combination of themes or curricular topics. If you don’t see the workshop you are looking for, contact me to see what we can come up with together! Outdoor classroom professional learning workshops run from 2-5 hours each and are generally suitable for public and independent elementary school teachers, pre-service teachers, educational assistants, school councillors and other district personnel. Information sessions for parent associations and non school district staff are also available.
I prefer pedagogical and curricular workshops be booked as a series. This enhances opportunities to enact change at both the school and district level. Click here to discuss how we can build a custom series for your school district’s needs.
I currently am available to offer online webinars for school districts. Webinars tend to run shorter to maximize participation and participant enthusiasm for the workshop. Most webinars will be booked as a 120 minute block and offered as 90 minutes sessions, with time allocated for specific questions and discussions, in addition to the material presented.
Workshops
Outdoor Play With Loose Parts
Play isn’t just for primary! In this workshop, participants will be inspired by the use of loose parts for mathematical thinking, scientific inquiry and creative storytelling in the garden to engage learners from K-7 in meaningful, student directed inquiry.
The Garden Classroom
This full day workshop provides a clear plan forward for Westcoast school gardens. Practical tips and tricks are shared with inspirational stories of school garden transformations.
Art Outdoors
In this workshop we’ll explore how your school-yard can provide endless inspiration for creative and imaginative artistic representations that are eco-friendly and consume less ‘stuff’!
Pedagogies Of Play
This workshop is for experienced educators who are willing to consider the potential academic, social, and physical benefits of outdoor play as a pedagogical approach to teaching across the K-7 curriculum.
Outdoor Classroom Management
A common misconception, when taking students outdoors, is that they will be off task or challenging to manage. In this workshop we will consider how an outdoor classroom is just like any other classroom and completely different, at the same time!
Science Outdoors
Bring your long range plans and your curiosity to this action packed workshop! Learn how the big ideas of our BC curriculum can be effectively explored outdoors in a meaningful context for scientific inquiry.
Cross-Curricular Learning In Your School Garden/ Outdoor Classroom
In this workshop we will dig into the revised BC curriculum to explore the multiple opportunities for meaningful, hands on learning in your own school-yard.
School Gardening Basics
In this workshop teachers, educational assistants, school councillors and other district personnel are invited to broaden their understanding of how a school garden can be used like any other classroom.
Preparing Outdoor Spaces for Imaginative & Risky Play
In this workshop we will explore the research on why unstructured outdoor play with loose parts is critical for developing children’s social, emotional and cognitive strengths.
Literacy Outdoors
The outdoor classroom, school-yard, and garden are perfect spaces and places for inclusive and creative storytelling, vocabulary development, non-fiction writing, fine motor skill development and more!
How To Start A School Garden
School gardens are fraught with systemic barriers that can take the joy out of outdoor learning. In this workshop we will explore practical and simple solutions for getting your school growing and learning outdoors.
Pedagogies Of Place
This workshop is for experienced practitioners who are ready to think deeply as we complicate ways of engaging children intellectually in learning that is relevant, culturally responsive, and interconnected to the lands we learn with, from, and on.
Transition To Teaching Outdoors
These are strange and stressful days for educators heading back to school amidst a global pandemic. This 90 minute webinar is offered to districts or schools looking for inspiration, practical ideas, and capacity building for their school community who wish to take the learning outdoors as much as possible.
Math Outdoors
Math is everywhere in the garden! In this workshop, participants will be introduced to hands-on, interactive, and joyful ways of naturally engaging children in mathematical thinking in the garden. Read more!
Growing and Learning in Your School Garden
In this workshop, teachers and school staff, who have existing school gardens, will explore the multitude of ways we can expand and deepen meaningful academic learning in the garden classroom.
Got Dirt? Why Kids and Gardens Grow So Well Together
Got dirt? In this workshop we will explore the science behind why kids and dirt grow so well together. Read more!
The Garden Classroom Series
This ten part series is offered monthly to school districts or organizations who wish to host professional learning for teachers in garden-based education. Each session will unpack systemic barriers with practical and cost-effective solutions that are scaffolded for capacity building.
#nochildleftinside
In this transformative session we will explore the pedagogy of play and the global body of research that powerfully influences how decisions are made by adults supervising outdoor play.
Contact me for a customized quote with your preferred dates and times.
PRICING
Contact me to book your outdoor classroom professional learning session!
