Professional Development

 - Helping teachers become great leaders

	“The Private Eye is fantastic for teachers and students alike. We choose The Private Eye Train-the-Trainers  as an exemplary staff development program—one that would also give our students the best tools for success.”     - Sandra Antalis, Manager, Elementary Science Houston ISD

The Private Eye Workshops —
Hands-on Inquiry Across the Curriculum K-16 through Life

This way to the Slideshows...

One-Day Workshop for 30 participants* (6 - 6.5 hour day, plus one hour for lunch)
A lively experience with the hands-on, interdisciplinary Private Eye: a journey into the drama and wonder of looking closely at the world, thinking by analogy, changing scale and theorizing. The Private Eye process develops higher order thinking skills, creativity, literacy, and scientific literacy for both students and teachers across subjects. It instills a deep connection to nature. Participants use tabletop specimens (live and preserved) and see many examples of student work throughout the workshop. They write, draw, theorize, and get a taste of outside fieldwork. Whether working in science, writing, math, art or social studies, with students elementary, middle, secondary, or college, participants learn — and experience first hand — how The Private Eye’s simple tools produce "gifted" results. The Private Eye is a natural way to meet the standards, providing one of the easiest and most complete means for blending inquiry with content.
Take a look at some scenes from workshops we did at Trussville, Alabama.

Two-Day Workshop for 30 participants* (12 hours)
Participants deepen their understanding and use of The Private Eye with: more teamwork theorizing; extended loupe-analogy writing; change of scale drawing; loupe-math and the mathematical mind; preserving a specimen; personal lesson plan design; and more.

Course materials: As part of the workshop each participant will receive:

The Private Eye Teacher Guide The Class Loupe Set (36 loupes in polygrid case) The Private Eye Deluxe World-in-a-Bag (two loupes and eight specimens) The Private Eye Notebook The Private Eye Poster Lesson Handouts Loupe Leash and Head Leash Pivotal overheads used during the workshop—makes it easy for teachers teaching The Private Eye in the classroom. One master set (paper) of 18 overheads given to district in advance. Districts typically duplicate these and hand out one set to each course participant. Download a pdf of our Workshop & Materials Portrait

Follow-up Workshop Options:

Writing Workshops (choose Science Research Writing or Literary Genres) Botanical Garden Workshop Connect-a-Kit Workshop (link to Gems, Insights, Foss) Art and Design Extravaganza Workshop Energy, Power and Conservation Workshop Customized Workshops One to Three Unit Courses can also be arranged

Time: The one-day training course (6.5 hours of contact) or the two-day course (varies from 5 hours per day to 6.5 hours the first day and 5-6 hours on the second day) — gets teachers started in using The Private Eye. Includes a prep day of on-site setup of model hands-on learning environment and displays. *(Longer/shorter training packages can be tailored to organizations' needs.)
Facility Requirements
Instructors

"I really can't remember the last time I came back from a training day so excited that I implemented what I'd learned within a day or two."

-Marie Lagos, Sonoma School, CA

"The best presentation in years.”

  -Rachel Delworth, teacher, Sheltered English Class, Franklin School, Modesto, CA