Professional Development Workshops
The Pima County School Superintendents' Office is offering Cognitive Coaching℠ Foundations Seminar in collaboration with the AZK12 Center. This seminar is designed for principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, teacher leaders and others who strive to support and guide a higher level of practice with their colleagues. In this seminar, participants learn ways to expand and refine knowledge and skills to promote more effective teaching and learning. The focus is on strategies that enhance teachers’ intellectual growth and strengthen instructional decision-making. During the workshop the maps and tools of Cognitive Coaching℠ are demonstrated and practiced. Specifically, participants learn to: establish rapport, create trust, and conduct planning, reflecting, and problem-resolving conversations. These maps and tools develop teacher self-efficacy and cognitive autonomy, while also developing a sense of community and professional culture within a school.
Facilitator: Mary Bouley is an experienced educator and consultant with expertise in coaching, mentoring, project management, and professional development. She is a Cognitive CoachingSM Training Associate and specializes in one-on-one coaching as well as group facilitation. Through AZK12, Mary has been providing Cognitive CoachingSM Foundation training for the past 8 years.
Training each day (8:30-4:00) will cover the following topics:
Location: Pima County School Superintendent's Office | 200 N. Stone Tucson, AZ 85701
Registration fee: $1,000
This online interactive professional development class equips educators with a deeper understanding of gifted identification, with a focus on equity, accuracy, and the diverse profiles of gifted learners. Using the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Standards as a guiding framework, we'll examine how to translate them to your classroom through the use of research-based strategies. Educators will explore the complexities of asynchronous development, how it impacts student behavior, performance, and emotional needs, and will also compare and evaluate a variety of gifted service models to determine what works best for meeting the unique academic and social-emotional needs of gifted students in both inclusive and specialized settings. Suggested pre-requisite class is No Cape Required: Tools and Truths About Gifted Learners.
Successful completion of the class will result in 12 hours of recertification credit. This class can contribute towards a gifted endorsement.
Dates: September 29 - November 10
Location: Virtual and self-paced
Cost: $40
Facilitator: Amanda Chavez
Amanda Chavez is currently a STEAM middle school teacher in the Santa Cruz County Unified School District. She has 20 years experience in education which includes eight years as an elementary general education teacher, four years as a special education teacher and for the past eight years, the Gifted Coordinator and teacher in Sahuarita Unified School District. As the Gifted Coordinator Amanda created the program design and curriculum to meet the needs of the 2-5th grade identified gifted population. Along with creating lessons and curriculum for the pull-out gifted classroom, she partnered with gifted cluster teachers to support the needs of these students in their general education classrooms. As a former gifted student in the S.U.N. Program in Sunnyside Unified School District, and a parent of two gifted sons, Amanda is well informed on the academic and social/emotional needs of gifted learners, and the support needed for them to to reach their potential. Amanda is a member of the Arizona Association of Gifted and Talented and the National Association of Gifted Children.
Planting SEEDs: Episodes for Thinking and Feeling is a Community of Practice that sets a different stage for learning, thinking, and talent identification. During each session, teachers will experience how to engage students in convergent, divergent, cooperative, and reflective thinking through episodes using the “power of puzzles and the significance of stories”.
Learning Outcomes are:
Educators will describe, recognize, and implement convergent and divergent thinking within their content and standards to support student thinking.
Educators will experience the activation of four types of thinking within story, creative activities and puzzles in order to understand how to enrich thinking and diagnose talent.
Educators will understand the role of collaborative and reflective thinking, and how they work alongside divergent and convergent thinking to complete the experience of both deep learning, critical thinking, and metacognition.
SEED: Silverquicken Episodes for Enrichment and Diagnosis, by Brian Housand, Leslie Kerner, and Chris Ryan is the basis for this engaging, exciting, and active Community of Practice. As co-author Brian Housand states, “SEED integrates cognitive challenges with emotional intelligence, creating immersive and meaningful learning experiences”. Action, adventure, beauty and wonder in stories offer an avenue to rich learning.
Teachers will leave each session with the skills and materials needed to implement SEED with their students. Teachers will also gain experience in activating and implementing thinking skills in their lessons. Each experience offers a glimpse into how students think and reason, which can help spot those hidden gifted gems in our classrooms and develop their talent to its fullest. Upon completion of the Community of Practice, participants will receive 14 hours of credit, which can be used towards a gifted endorsement.
Dates: September 29, October 27, November 17, 2025, January 5, February 2, March 2, April 13, 2026
Time: 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Location: Pima County School Superintendent's Office 200 N. Stone Avenue
Cost: $50 (includes book and materials)
Facilitators:
Marianne Landrith is the Program Director of GiftED, and CommunityShare, and is the Coordinator of the Southern Arizona Gifted Network at for the Pima County School Superintendent's Office. Prior to being with Pima County, Marianne taught for 35 years in regular and gifted education in Tucson, AZ. She also coordinated a Jacob K. Javits Grant, and served as a Teacher Trainer/Mentor, Peer Coach Trainer and Program Facilitator. Marianne currently serves on the Board Directors of the Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented (AAGT) and on several committees with the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).
Fall Book Fair 2025
This FREE self-paced professional development program on Nearpod will give K-5 educators an opportunity to explore two children's books accompanied by lesson plans that teach STEAM concepts. We will complete one book each week for two weeks.
The two children's books we will explore are:
Thingity-Jig written by Kathleen Doherty
There’s No Place Like Space! All About Our Solar System by Dr. Seuss
Registrants who complete all program requirements (2 self-paced 45-minute modules) will receive the two books utilized in the module. Participants will also receive a certificate of professional development (1.5 hours).
October 12-26, 2025-Online Book Fair
Please register: https://schoolspimagov.wildapricot.org/event-6375048
Please choose purchase order for payment option.
This course will equip teachers and school counselors to better understand and address perfectionism in their students. Participants will learn how to recognize signs and consequences of unhealthy perfectionism and implement strategies to support these students. By the end, teachers will be able to differentiate instruction for perfectionistic learners, teach coping strategies, create supportive classroom environments, and guide students in shifting unhealthy mindsets. The course emphasizes fostering a growth mindset, embracing mistakes as learning opportunities, and using approaches like mindfulness and bibliotherapy to promote student well-being and resilience.
This course includes independent applications of learned material in classroom situations. Upon successful completion of this class, participants will receive 4 hours of recertification credit.
Date: October 20, 2025 - December 1, 2025
Location: Virtual: Asynchronous and self-paced
Cost: $25
Facilitator: Paige Riffle
Paige Riffle is the Librarian at Tanque Verde High School. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona and is a certified teacher with an endorsement in gifted education. As the librarian, she collaborates with teachers to personalize student learning, help students develop critical thinking skills, and connect students with good books for research and personal enjoyment. As a gifted learner herself, she is passionate about helping her high school students understand the nuances of giftedness and equipping them to thrive in school and beyond. Paige is a PBS Certified Media Literacy Educator and a member of the Southern Arizona Gifted Network, the Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented, and the Arizona Library Association.
Cognitive giftedness is one type of neurodivergence. Twice exceptionality refers to cognitive giftedness layered with another type of neurodivergence, such as ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, or Dysgraphia. Participants will learn about the four key ingredients needed to create a neurodiversity affirming classroom and school as described by Emily Kircher-Morris, gifted educator and counselor. Participants will walk away with the skills they need to meet the needs of every gifted learner.
This course includes independent applications of learned material in classroom situations. Upon successful completion of this class, participants will receive 6 hours of recertification credit.
Date: January 12, 2026 - February 23, 2026
Facilitator: Vanessa Hill
Vanessa has been an educator for over twenty years. She is a gifted specialist who taught in Title 1 schools for a decade before becoming Amphitheater Public Schools Gifted Education Coordinator. Vanessa has two twice exceptional children of her own, so understands the unique needs of this population on a very personal level. She has presented at the AAGT Annual Conference, the NAGC Annual Convention, and the ADE Teacher's Institute and Leading Change Conference. Vanessa facilitates professional learning experiences for gifted and general classroom educators. Vanessa is the 2019 AAGT Gifted Educator of the Year, Raytheon Leaders in Education Award Finalist 2021, and the 2024 NAGC National Gifted Coordinator Award Recipient.
This virtual class is an introduction to the art of differentiation. We will be looking at the critical elements for success in today's classrooms by exploring evidence-based strategies and user-friendly tools to seamlessly integrate differentiation practices and optimize teaching, learning, and assessment for all students, every day. The course will involve synchronous and asynchronous content and assignments. The entire course will take 20 hours and these hours can count towards the Arizona Gifted Endorsement. We will be using the book, Making Differentiation a Habit by Diane Heacox. Please be sure to purchase this book prior to the start of the course.
Date: Tuesdays: February 17, 24, March 3, 24, 31, 2026
Time: 4:15 - 5:15 p.m.
Location: Virtual through the Pima County School Superintendent's Office
Cost: $45
Facilitator: Kari Sjursen, M.ED., NBCT
Kari Sjursen is the Gifted Education Specialist at Dove Mountain CSTEM K-8 in the Marana Unified School District. Utilizing a variety of programming models, including K-2 Talent Development, content acceleration, K-5 send-out, and Middle School Gifted Elective, Kari strives to provide students with gifted services that both stimulates and supports their developing brains. She is a 2021 Notre Dame Trustey STEM Fellow and a 2022 Arizona State University ASAP STEM Fellow. A Nationally Board Certified Teacher, Kari has presented both nationally and internationally on topics related to gifted education, problem based learning, computer science, and STEM Integration.
© 2017 Pima County School Superintendent's Office
