Project
Design
Lab 2024
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June 24-28
Burlington, Vermont
Making Things We Care About
Join us at Project Design Lab
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Refuel your creativity and strengthen your teaching practice.
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Design a creative project to improve the well-being of your classroom and school community.
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Learn alongside colleagues, master teaching artists, and acclaimed Guest Artists.
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Rejuvenate and have fun!
PDL projects use creative engagement – making things we care about – to improve your classroom's culture of empathy, respect and belonging, activate student creativity, and inspire deep engagement in learning.
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Five courses to choose from for PreK-12 educators that want to improve the well-being of their classroom and school.
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Attend solo or with a team from your school or district.
Earn three graduate credits or 40 hours of relicensing credits.
What Educators Say
This is energizing my curriculum for next year, and into the years to come!
– Dorcey Hogg, Georgia Elementary School
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2024 Courses
The Art Room INsideOUT
For PreK-12 Visual Art Teachers
Refuel your passion for art-making, collaborate with fellow art teachers, capitalize on and strengthen the ways the art room can be an oasis for regulation and well-being, delve into the importance of art exhibits, and create a project plan for ways to share student work with your wider community.
Embracing AI in the Classroom
How do we decide what counts as our own creativity?
For Middle and High School Educators
Create a project plan to use AI in your classroom to strengthen your students' personal voice and creative thinking skills, and develop ways to adapt to the new reality of AI in learning.
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A Culture of Creative & Deeper Learning
Arts-Infused Project-Based Learning
For Educators in all Grades & Content Areas
Explore how arts-infused PBL can strengthen student voice and agency, inspire deeper learning, and build a classroom culture of creativity and collaboration. ​Through hands-on workshops with expert PBL educators and master teaching artists you will leave with a project ready to launch.
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Building the Classroom Community
Where does "Me" end and "We" begin?
For PreK-5 and Middle/High School Educators
Create a project plan that incorprates theater- and/or puppetry-based techniques to strengthen each student's voice and your classroom's culture of collaboration, respect and empathy.
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The Bridges Project
Bridges connect. What bridges exist in our community? What bridges can we build to help our community thrive?
For Educators in all Grades & Content Areas
The Bridges Project brings your school and community together creatively – making things they care about – to celebrate and revitalize the bridges that connect us to each other, and to imagine and build new bridges that ensure our schools and communities are welcoming places where everyone can thrive.
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Joining The Bridges Project requires educator teams of three or more from a school or district and a teaching artist residency or a team that includes an arts teacher (visual, music, dance, theater).
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What Parents Say
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It ignited a spark in my son that I had not seen – an excitement to learn that I hope he can keep experiencing.
– PDL Project Evaluation
Guest Artists
FUTUREMAN | SILVERMAN
Roy Wooten & Tracy Silverman
No Strings Marionette Company
Barbara Paulson & Dan Baginski
Interactive workshops with these master artists will activate our creativity and inspire our project design work.
FUTUREMAN | SILVERMAN
Tracy Silverman, the world's pre-eminent electric violinist, and Roy (Futureman) Wooten, the five-time GRAMMY-winning percussionist from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, create genre-bending performances that synthesize classical, rock, jazz and world music.
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Roy and Tracy will join the PDL for a workshop exploring their creative process to inspire your project designs.
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LEARN MORE about Roy and Tracy's artistry, how we will work together at the PDL, and how they can visit your school next year to support your PDL project.
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“Inspiring. Silverman is in a class of his own.”
— LA TIMES
No Strings Marionette Company
Puppeteers Barbara Paulson and Dan Baginski invite us into a process of discovery that strengthens our personal voice and agency while building a culture of collaboration, empathy and respect.
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Barbara and Dan will join the PDL on Monday for a hands-on workshop to activate our creativity and imagination in preparation for begining your project design work.
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LEARN MORE about Barbara and Dan's artistry, how we will work together at the PDL, and how Barbara's in-school puppet residencies can support your PDL project.
What Students Say
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I found out I can be self-directed.
- 6th Grader / PDL Project Evaluation
The Details
2024 Project Design Lab
June 24-28 / 9:00am - 4:00pm
University of Vermont / Burlington
Tuition
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$2,000 - Three graduate credits
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$1,790 - Certificate of Participation for 40 hours relicensing credits
Tuition includes a private air-conditioned dorm room with a centrally located private bath at the University of Vermont, plus breakfast and lunch. Everyone is on their own for dinner in Burlington. Lodging is optional.
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Attend Solo or as a Team
You can attend solo or with a team from your school or district.
Teams can be composed of educators (classroom teachers, councilors, paras, special educators, staff, administrators) and can be from the same grades and content areas, or mixed.
Teams may include educators from different schools in the district if you want to design a multi-school project.
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Teaching Artist Residency
Teaching artist residencies are optional for Embracing AI in the Classroom, Building the Classroom Community, A Culture of Creative & Deeper Learning, and The Art Room INsideOUT. If you would like information on selecting and scheduling a teaching artist to co-lead with you the implementation of your project, please complete the PDL Questions Form and we'll be in touch.
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The Bridges Project and Thriving Communities Projects require a teaching artist residency.
FAQ
Visit the PDL FAQ page for answers to questions about team participation, tuition & fees, lodging & meals, daily schedule, teaching artist selection (optional), and more.
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Project Snapshots
See examples of previous projects created at the Project Design Lab here.
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Questions?
Complete the PDL Questions Form and we'll be back in touch soon.
We invite you to let us know about specific accommodations you may need to participate in the Project Design Lab when completing your Registration Form, and we will make every effort to honor your request.
Accrediting Institution
