Early Career Teaching Institute: Full Schedule

Welcome to ECTI 2026! You will be able to register for individual workshop sessions on Monday during our intention setting session.

8:45am CDT

Roots of Curiosity and Imagination: Integrating Science, Stories, and Art

Tuesday July 28, 2026 8:45am - 10:15am CDT

Discovery Building: Room 1145

This session is designed for elementary classroom teachers and elementary art teachers interested in interdisciplinary learning and the engagement of the imagination -- both tapping into their own imaginations as educators while developing curriculum that sparks their students' curiosity and imagination. We’ll explore the intersections of science, art, and literacy in this hands-on workshop centered on the book, Diary of a Worm.

In this session, you will:

Identify key facets of interdisciplinary curriculum that connect real-world observation with creative expression, supporting students’ scientific understanding, imaginative thinking and literacy development.

Develop strategies for fostering student curiosity, imagination and perspective-taking.

Engage in and reflect on hands-on, arts-based processes as learners in order to better understand student experience and to inform their own instructional decisions.

Presenters

Mary Hoefferle, PhD

Teaching Faculty, Art Education, UW-Madison

I've taught art to people of all ages in community and school-based settings for 26 years, and I am a lifelong maker-of-things. I've been in my role at UW-Madison as a Teaching Faculty member for 10 years and serve as a one-stop-shop for art education majors, serving as their academic... Read More →

Meri Lau

Art teacher -retired, MMSD

I have taught art for 38 years in the public schools in Milwaukee and Madison with three additional years in Montessori Schools. My passion is to create art experiences with wonder and playfulness that will endure throughout the student's lifetime that will include the arts.The highlight... Read More →

Tuesday July 28, 2026 8:45am - 10:15am CDT
Discovery Building: Room 1145

Workshop

Learner Populations Elementary Education
Pedagogy & Learning Design Arts-Based Learning & Arts-Integration, Inquiry & Curiosity
Curriculum & Content Areas Arts

8:45am CDT

Ho-Chunk Indigenous Arts & Sciences curriculum: Deepening Our Cultural Knowledge

Wednesday July 29, 2026 8:45am - 10:15am CDT

Discovery Building: H.F. DeLuca Forum

Ho-Chunk Indigenous Arts and Sciences (IAS) is a long-standing Tribal–university partnership to develop and provide culturally sustaining environmental science education for youth, educators, and community. This session will share an overview of the Ho-Chunk lesson plans that we developed in the intersections of Ho-Chunk Ways of Knowing and language and culture. This session is targeted towards educators working in Tribal, school, or community settings - and anyone who works or is seeking to work in educational collaborations that bring together diverse partnership teams. The workshop will provide a framework for participants to actively engage with the lessons to deepen their cultural knowledge of the Ho-Chunk people.

Learning goals:

Acquire an understanding of the guiding principles of the Ho-Chunk lesson plans.

Create a respectful learning space to learn and use the lessons.

Provide guidance on how to appropriately lead the lessons.

Presenters

Michelle Cloud

Mattea Twinn

Wednesday July 29, 2026 8:45am - 10:15am CDT
Discovery Building: H.F. DeLuca Forum 330 N. Orchard St Madison, WI 53715

Workshop

Pedagogy & Learning Design Arts-Based Learning & Arts-Integration, Indigenous Education
Curriculum & Content Areas Science, Arts

Early Career Teaching Institute

8:45am CDT

Mary Hoefferle, PhD

Meri Lau

8:45am CDT

Michelle Cloud

Mattea Twinn

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