Professional Development
Professional Development
Introducing Hocus Focus to Teachers
Hocus Focus™ offers Professional Development training programs for general and/or special educators on arts-integration in the classroom.
Arts Integration in the Classroom
This highly interactive workshop provides educators with the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary to increase student engagement and boost creativity in the classroom for children of all abilities. Content focuses on learning with and through arts integration with core content subjects. Information is applicable to general and special education students to meet a wide variety of mental, physical, social, emotional, and behavior challenges in multiple settings.
Workshop Objectives
Participants will:
- Explore current research on the neuroscience of arts-based learning.
- Discover and evaluate the benefits of a multi-arts curriculum to enhance learning in students with diverse learning needs.
- Demonstrate the knowledge to create setting-ready lesson plans using an arts-integrated teaching approach.
- Develop authentic learning experiences for students using the art of storytelling, movement, and theatre.
- Examine various methods of assessing student understanding and outcomes.
Teach Like A MAGICIAN
This professional training provides participants (elementary/middle school educators and all grade level special educators) with research-based, interactive, arts-based interventions that can be used immediately in their teaching practice. Participants are introduced to MAGICIAN as an acronym. Each letter corresponds to a concept that research has identified as being an important component of creating a classroom environment conducive to learning. Practical applications are made throughout the presentation.
Workshop Objectives
Participants will:
- Distinguish between arts-enhanced and arts-integrated teaching.
- Examine research-based practices that create an effective learning environment.
- Evaluate the impact of the arts in teaching academic and functional content.
- Examine various methods of assessing student understanding and outcomes.
Creating a Trauma Sensitive Classroom
In classrooms across the country, students are trying to make sense of the world while society makes ever increasing demands for greater academic performance regardless of the personal circumstances these children are facing. Teachers play an important role in recognizing the signs of trauma. The result is an urgent need for educators to be knowledgeable of effective classroom strategies that will assist them in creating a trauma-sensitive learning environment. This professional training provides participants with research-based, interactive, arts-based interventions that can be used immediately in their teaching practice.
Workshop Objectives
- Gain knowledge in how trauma is defined and its impact on student learning.
- Describe the leading Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) impacting our children.
- Explain four big ideas that help teachers create a trauma-sensitive learning environment.
- Identify strategies in each of the four big ideas that help teachers create a trauma-sensitive learning environment.
- Discover and evaluate the benefits of a multi-arts curriculum to enhance learning in students who have experienced adverse childhood experiences.
- Examine various methods of assessing student understanding and outcomes.
“Kevin was masterful with our area special education teachers. Through this educational outreach, teachers saw their students rise to the challenge of critical thinking and problem solving, maintain their focus to give attention to detail, and stay with a task long enough to see the solution. All teachers involved in this special workshop took valuable skills back to their classrooms. Kevin took the time to provide hands-on educational training — a unique resource that is a rich and meaningful learning tool to be embedded in daily routine of the classroom.”
