Planting SEEDS: Episodes for Thinking and Feeling

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:

1. Educators will describe, recognize, and implement convergent and divergent thinking within their content and standards to support student thinking.

2. 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.

3. 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: $125 (includes book and materials)

Facilitators:

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.

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).