AIC Workshops 2025

These sessions represent innovative practices, meaningful connections, and transformative approaches to integrating the arts across all areas of learning.

Schedule and rooms are coming soon.

Workshops

Description

Fanfiction for the Literacy Classroom

This workshop offers teachers a crash course introduction to the use of fanfiction to support reading, writing, and language development in English, English as a second language, and other modern languages. Following an overview of fanfiction projects used in US and European classrooms, participants will engage in collaborative fanfiction writing to experience an example in-class activity. Participants will be given access to free fanfiction teaching and assessment materials developed by FanTALES, a team of teacher educators and secondary school language teachers.

Presented by: Shannon Sauro

Arts Integration for Doing Other Ways of Thinking in STEM

From challenges to objectivity to pushes for human centered design, STEM learning is calling on students to engage in new ways of thinking. But with the humanities traditionally siloed from STEM subjects, how can we support students in reaching these new ways of thinking in STEM courses? Integrating the arts into the STEM classroom can be extremely effective in provoking other ways of thinking, while also creating engaging, social, and active lessons. Together we will explore types of thinking and the activities associated with them, and discover how making learning in the arts explicit in the STEM classroom will support students in thinking differently.

Presented by: Christine Alexander

Peaceful, Positive Classroom Management

Peaceful, Positive Classroom Management creates an intentional safe space for creating and learning. Participants will experience the strategies for setting up a peaceful, positive learning and creating environment, strategies for handling potentially disruptive moments and unwanted behavior and strategies for helping ourselves and our students find our calm through guided whole-group discussion, games and art creation activities. Even classroom management can be arts integrated!

Presented by: Meredith Kaunitz

Building a Tiny Community in Mixed Media

It takes a village to integrate the arts and align with content standards! This workshop provides an introduction to Building Tiny Houses and includes a presentation of houses and interiors featured in students’ Tiny Home Tours. Participants will construct their own tiny houses or interiors in mixed media. We begin construction using cardboard and tape and will personalize the structures with acrylics and mixed media. Learn to support building and connecting in a community and increase confidence and problem solving skills while being inventive with materials and tools.

Presented by: Marcie Wolf-Hubbard

Visual Artist & Teaching Artist Member

Crankie Contraptions: Activating SEL with Storytelling Machines

Build a Crankie Contraption – an illustrated, scrolling “screen machine” – to confidently integrate tested playful engineering strategies that can measurably improve learners’ social and emotional development. Participants will receive research-backed digital assessment tools, a generous supply of Crankie materials for further classroom exploration. This is a visual arts workshop for PK-5 educators.

Presented by: Matt Barinholtz

Designing the Future: Integrating Arts and Engineering in Futuristic Footwear

We will engage participants in a hands-on 20-minute design activity, sharing best practices for fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in a creative, educational environment, including for dually enrolled learners. This presentation highlights an innovative arts integration collaboration between the Liberal Arts, Arts Integration Hub at Anne Arundel Community College, the founder of Girls in Space Club and a Senior Aerospace Engineer at NASA. Participants will learn strategies for integrating arts into STEAM education, including developing interdisciplinary collaboration, using project-based learning to design real-world products, and engaging with industry experts.

Presented by:  Sabrina Thompson, Amy Carattini, Laura Pasquini, Zoe Valladares, and Matt Bem

Honoring our Ancestors: Indigenous Arts Integration Strategies for Early Childhood

Indigenous storytellers were the first arts integration specialists and can inspire our journey to equity and culturally responsive pedagogy. Discover how decolonial arts integration techniques provide space for liberation, inclusion, and student voice. Explore steady beat, rhythmic movement, Afro-Indigenous call-and-response singing, and collaborative storytelling as you celebrate native species in your community environment.

Presented by: Caroline Ferrante

Math in the Rhythm of Life

Using Spoken Word Poetry and HipHop Lyricism as teaching tools, Arts for Learning teaching artist Femi the DriFish conveys math concepts in effective, fun, and unforgettable ways to students across Maryland. This session will inspire participants to bring math concepts to life by blending creativity, rhythm, rhyme, and poetry with academic terms and procedures. Explore mathematical learning through an engaging, memorable, and artistic experience, making complex ideas accessible and fun for learners of all ages.

Presented by: Arts For Learning Maryland – Femi The DriFish

The Benefits of Drawing and Design on Learning, Memory, and Assessment

This workshop will explore how drawing can be used to aid understanding and appreciation of core subjects and for formative assessments. After a slide discussion of the research and several short videos, we’ll experiment with sketchnotes, concept maps, and symbols to demonstrate the link between drawing and effective learning. Then we explore the design and storytelling concepts in the book Picture This, by Molly Bang and engage with those concepts to creatively illustrate different scenarios. We’ll conclude by discussing how this type of visual translation can expand students’ learning and interest in core subjects.

Presented by: Bernie Wilke

Artistic Responses With and To Picture Books

This workshop will introduce teachers to practical tools for engaging with diverse picture books in purposeful ways. Using current engaging picture books centering Asian American characters, facilitators will model how to engage students in meaningful text-based discussions. These approaches illustrate how levels of comprehension can linked with levels of culture. Participants will then be able to choose from different arts-based centers to try out response activities and share ideas for application to their own classrooms.

Presented by:  Amy Trondeau and Shuling Yang

Digital Canvas: Integrating Computational Thinking into the Arts for a Digital Future

In our digital world, computational thinking is a powerful tool for artistic innovation. This session explores how coding, algorithms, and digital tools enhance creativity across visual and performing arts. Participants will discover real-world applications, including generative art, creative coding with Processing, and interactive digital experiences.  Educators, artists, and technologists will gain practical strategies to integrate computational thinking into arts education, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.  Join us to bridge the gap between technology and creativity, shaping the future of holistic education through digital expression.

Presented by:  Deborah Kariuki

Page-to-Stage: A Scaffolded Approach to Dance-making

Participants will explore how writing can serve as a catalyst for choreography. In this hands-on session, participants will engage in a step-by-step process to generate ideas, translate them into movement, and assemble a finished piece of choreography. This accessible approach demystifies the creative process, empowering students of all skill levels to create with confidence and intentionality. Drawing on proven strategies and resources, this workshop equips educators with practical tools to inspire originality and deepen students’ understanding of movement choices. Participants will leave with ready-to-implement techniques for their classrooms or studios.

Presented by: Lacey Shephard

Art Infused Theatre: From Scene to Symbol

Participants discover how spoken words can translate into visual expression, using tone, imagery, and emotion to inspire their artwork.  Learn to analyze monologues beyond performance, breaking down themes, mood, and symbolism to guide artistic choices. The session fosters an understanding of how art can extend or deepen a narrative, conveying the monologue’s essence through color, texture, and composition. Each participant will be provided with various monologues and scenes from well known plays and will create masks based on these monologues.

Presented by Renee Charlow 

Foil Fantasia: Visual Arts Integration with a Shiny Twist

Learn to add some sparkle to your classroom with this engaging, hands-on session that explores unique ways to use a conventional product: tin foil!  Participants  will discover how this versatile material can deepen understanding in math, science, and literacy through creative expression. We will engage with tin foil in three unique ways to explore science & printmaking, 3D literacy, and mathematical relief sculpture.  Participants will walk away with fresh ideas, practical techniques, and shiny art!

Presented by: Casey Perkins

Interested In Attending?

Join us for an inspiring lineup of workshops designed to spark creativity and transform education! Whether you’re a teacher, administrator, or artist, these sessions offer hands-on strategies, innovative ideas, and practical tools to bring the arts into your classroom. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn, connect, and grow.

Registration Fee: $25

Free for UMBC students, alumni and PDS partners.

Register Here

Want to Present Your Own Workshop?

Share your expertise and passion for arts integration by leading a workshop! This is your chance to inspire educators, showcase innovative strategies, and contribute to a community dedicated to transforming education through the arts. Submit your proposal today and make an impact!

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