CATCA 2023

Have you ever ignored that little voice, or gut feeling, that tells you to grab an item on your way out the door, then wished you’d listened, because, “Darn! That would’ve been handy to have right now!” That inner guidance was your intuition. Intuition is like a muscle – exercising it makes it stronger. The practical exercises presented in this session build the ability to trust intuition to assess children’s situations, or best course of action, bring greater ease into life and the classroom.

Forest Bathing and Earthing may be the latest health trend, but they certainly are not new practices! In this session you’ll gain a clear understanding of what these practices are, what the benefits are, and how You can do them. Learn how the ancient wisdom of spending time in the forest and with your feet on the earth is not only good for your health, but good for your soul! (A great add-on for outdoor education classes and arts-related programs)

Can writing and words truly make a difference? Can the spoken word really make change? Through this session, explore multidisciplinary techniques for engaging your students in the writing process. Help them to find their ‘voice’ and explore the delights and possibilities of the human voice through performing their own words shaped by themes they are passionate about. Imagine Greek chorus, spoken word, rant, hip hop, plus a little movement/improv thrown in for fun. Encourage even the reluctant writer to believe in wordpower. Gail will take you from idea generation to creation to performance as a model for your own classroom. Join her as she guides you along a YouthWrite path to inspire youth to write and raise their voices for (a) change!

If you’re looking for a fun and creative way to engage your students in reading, you’ll love dancing a book. “Movement makes everything better.” It was this philosophy that lead to Christina getting curious about how reading a book could be a more active adventure. Kids sit so much and it’s exciting to have them experience the magic of reading on a more whole-bodied level. Dancing a Book is a wonderful opportunity for self-expression, creativity and outright joy. It’s the perfect exercise when you’ve got kids with lots of energy, or you want to build community through cooperation. The beauty of this activity is that it promotes literacy, both intellectual and physical, along with connecting movement to ideas, feelings and the written word. You’ll return to this activity over and over because your students will love it.

Come to this active workshop for a practical lesson that you can use with any book in any subject. Christina will be sharing her newly published book What Makes a Dancer? as a model for the session.