Designing Inclusive Service-Learning Projects
In this workshop, secondary teachers and teachers-in-training explore inclusive service-learning as a way to connect English learning with authentic community action. Participants examine U.S. examples, distinguish service-learning from volunteering, and apply Universal Design for Learning to ensure that students with disabilities and other diverse learners participate as contributors. Through case analysis, discussion, and a collaborative planning task, participants design a service-learning curriculum-linked project that builds student voice, critical thinking, reflection, and civic engagement.
Core curriculum: 1.1 Human dignity; 1.6 Democracy and participation; 2.1 Social learning and development; 2.5 Interdisciplinary topics – 2.5.2 Democracy and citizenship
English curriculum: Communication; oral interaction; reflection; experimenting with language individually and with others
Social studies curriculum: Reflect on how people have fought and continue to fight for change in society while also having been and still being influenced by geographic conditions and historical contexts
Format: Active session. Participants will be working in collaborative pairs/groups for 90-120 minutes. This workshop requires at least 90 minutes, but can be adapted to a lecture-based format for a 45 or 60-minute presentation with a 15 minute Q/A about inclusive service-learning.
Photovoice: Amplifying Student Voice and Building on Strengths To Reach Goals
This workshop introduces teachers and teachers-in-training to photovoice, an inclusive participatory action research method, which uses photography as a tool for exploring community issues and civic engagement. Photovoice uses images that students take to share their ideas about how to build on the strengths of a community to reach goals. Teachers learn how students can document experiences ethically, discuss images using a structured format, and use visual narratives to inform advocacy for an issue of personal relevance. Photovoice aligns especially well with English, social studies, citizenship, and interdisciplinary projects.
Core curriculum: 1.1 Human dignity; 1.6 Democracy and participation; 2.1 Social learning and development; 2.5 Interdisciplinary topics – 2.5.2 Democracy and citizenship
English curriculum: Communication; oral interaction; reflection; experimenting with language individually and with others
Social studies curriculum: Reflect on how people have fought and continue to fight for change in society while also having been and still being influenced by geographic conditions and historical contexts
Format: Active session. Participants will be working in collaborative pairs/groups for 90-120 minutes. This workshop requires at least 90 minutes, but can be adapted to a lecture-based format for a 45 or 60-minute presentation with a 15 minute Q/A about photovoice methodology for teachers.
Supporting Behavior for Inclusive Education
This workshop reframes challenging behavior as communication shaped by environment, access, relationships, and unmet needs. Teachers will learn why challenging behavior occurs using functionally-based assessments. Using the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports framework, teachers and teachers-in-training will learn proactive approaches to support positive behavior. Participants will explore positive behavioral supports and interventions, explicitly teaching classroom expectations and routines, implementing choice-making strategies, communication supports, and proactive environmental design. In particular, teachers will examine classroom expectations through a cultural lens and consider the challenges that students from immigrant populations may experience without explicit instruction in the routines and expectations of the school and classroom community. Participants will also learn how implementing communication supports can align with desired outcomes for English language learning. Participants will analyze case examples and redesign classroom practices to prevent, teach, and respond to challenging behavior while supporting dignity, participation, and belonging.
Core curriculum: 1.1 Human dignity; 2.1 Social learning and development; 2.5.1 Health and life skills; 3.1 An inclusive learning environment
English curriculum: Communication; oral interaction; express oneself with fluency and coherence with a varied vocabulary and idiomatic expressions adapted to the purpose, recipient and situation; explore and describe ways of living, ways of thinking, communication patterns and diversity in the English-speaking world
Format: Active session. Participants will be working in collaborative pairs/groups for 90-120 minutes. This workshop requires at least 90 minutes, but can be adapted to a lecture-based format for a 45 or 60-minute presentation with a 15 minute Q/A about positive behavior interventions and supports.
Supporting Students with Intellectual Disability in Inclusive Classrooms
This workshop helps teachers and teachers-in-training design learning experiences that support meaningful participation for students with intellectual disability in inclusive classrooms. Participants will examine how instructional barriers often arise from the design of tasks, materials, communication, and assessment rather than from students’ abilities alone. Using principles from inclusive education, Universal Design for Learning, systematic instruction, and strengths-based practices, participants will learn strategies for making academic content more accessible, while maintaining students’ dignity and agency. The workshop includes practical tools for adapting texts, using visuals and graphic organizers, embedding choice, teaching vocabulary explicitly, and creating multiple ways for students to demonstrate understanding. Participants will analyze classroom examples and redesign a lesson so that students with intellectual disability can participate in shared learning alongside their peers. The session emphasizes high expectations, belonging, communication, and authentic inclusion.
Core curriculum: 1.1 Human dignity; 3.1 An inclusive learning environment; 3.2 Teaching and differentiated instruction; 3.5 Professional environment and school development
English curriculum: Express oneself with fluency and coherence with a varied vocabulary and idiomatic expressions adapted to the purpose, recipient and situation; use a variety of strategies for language learning, text creation and communication use different digital resources and other aids in language learning, text creation and interaction
Format: Active session. Participants will be working in collaborative pairs/groups for 90-120 minutes. This workshop requires at least 90 minutes, but can be adapted to a lecture-based format for a 45 or 60-minute presentation with a 15 minute Q/A about cognitive accessibility strategies.
Awe-Enhanced Learning: Using Wonder and Curiosity to Deepen Student Engagement
This workshop introduces teachers and teachers-in-training to awe-enhanced learning as a pedagogical approach for increasing curiosity, attention, emotional engagement, and deeper learning. Participants will explore how experiences of awe, such as encounters with nature, art, music, human achievement, scientific discovery, literature, or acts of courage, can help students connect personally with academic content. Drawing on examples from across academic disciplines, the workshop demonstrates how teachers can design lessons that invite wonder while remaining accessible to diverse learners. Participants will select and examine a potential strategy to enhance engagement, such as visual prompts, storytelling, outdoor observation, reflective writing, multimedia texts, and collaborative discussion. The session also addresses how awe can support belonging and empathy by helping students see themselves as part of larger human, cultural, and ecological communities.
Core curriculum: 1.4 The joy of creating, engagement and the urge to explore; 3.1 An inclusive learning environment; 3.2 Teaching and differentiated instruction
English curriculum: Use a variety of strategies for language learning, text creation and communication use different digital resources and other aids in language learning, text creation and interaction
Format: Active session. Participants will be working in collaborative pairs/groups for 90-120 minutes. This workshop requires at least 90 minutes, but can be adapted to a lecture-based format for a 45 or 60-minute presentation with a 15 minute Q/A about awe-enhanced learning.
Inclusive Outdoor and Community-Based Learning: Mapping and Breaking Down Barriers to Participation
In this workshop, secondary teachers and teachers-in-training explore inclusive outdoor and community-based learning through U.S. case studies and Norway’s tradition of friluftsliv. Participants identify barriers that can exclude students with disabilities, neurodivergent learners, and multilingual students, then apply Universal Design for Learning principles to design outdoor experiences. Through barrier mapping, case analysis, and collaborative planning, participants will create an inclusive lesson that strengthens student agency, communication, belonging, and community engagement.
Core curriculum: 1.1 Human dignity; 1.6 Democracy and participation; 2.1 Social learning and development; 2.5 Interdisciplinary topics – 2.5.1 Health and life skills
English curriculum: Communication; authentic interaction; oral reflection; experimenting with language individually and with others.
Format: Active session. Participants will be working in collaborative pairs/groups for 60-90 minutes. This workshop requires at least 90 minutes, but can be adapted to a lecture-based format for a 45 or 60-minute presentation with a 15 minute Q/A about inclusive outdoor and community-based learning.
Website: https://michelle-bonati.com