Check Out Our CSEL Schedule!

Thursday, October 15, 2026 · 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM · 2 CPDUs 📍 Virtual Zoom

Join us to continue your creative coding journey by connecting with fellow educators to explore, create, and learn together. In this interactive virtual session, participants will take part in a Scratch Jr challenge, enjoy dedicated tinkering time, and learn from a fellow teacher who has experimented with integrating creative coding into content-area teaching. You’ll leave with fresh ideas and renewed confidence.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 · 4:00 – 6:00 PM · 2 CPDUs · Virtual

CSEL AI Professional Learning Series in partnership with the Illinois Learning Technology Center

Ever wonder how the AI chat works inside your favorite tool? Wondering if you can make your own customized chatbot? In this session, we will explore the core fundamentals of how AI chatbots work and examine the forces behind the AI so you can become truly AI literate. Learn what’s happening behind the quippy, quick responses of your AI chatbot to understand how information is being processed, trained, and shared back to the user. Explore with a training chatbot system that allows you to transparently see and learn how AI chatbots work. Finally, create your own AI chatbot and experiment with different prompts and learn more about AI bias, ethics, and incorrect responses.

Presenter: Emily Pool is a CS/STEM Professional Learning Specialist focused on expanding computer science and STEM education opportunities for schools and educators. With over 20 years of classroom teaching experience and 4 years as an Instructional Technology Coach, she designs and delivers professional development, curates aligned resources, and supports teachers and districts in program implementation. Emily enjoys tinkering and exploring all things tech, especially coding, creativity, and student-led learning. Emily holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership and is an ISTE Certified Educator passionate about integrating technology for effective learning.

CSEL PD Series:  Creative Coding for Curious Classrooms (K-12)

A hands-on professional learning series that helps educators bring creative coding and computational thinking into meaningful classroom experiences — for multilingual learners, at any grade level, in any content area, with any level of coding experience.

The series kicks off with an in-person workshop, where participants experience computational thinking as learners, explore the creative possibilities of ScratchJr, and start designing a classroom-ready learning experience aligned to their own curriculum. Two optional virtual follow-up sessions give educators time to try new ideas in their classrooms, then return to a supportive community to share what they learned, gain fresh ideas from colleagues, and keep building their creative coding practice.

Join us whenever you can — attend one session or all three. Everyone is welcome.  No coding experience required — just curiosity!

8.5 CPDUs available across the full series.

Series at a Glance

Saturday, September 26, 2026 · 9:30 AM – 2:00 PM · 4.5 CPDUs 📍 IRC Center, 2626 S Clearbrook Dr, Arlington Heights, IL

In this session, participants experience computational thinking as learners, explore ScratchJr, and begin designing a classroom-ready learning experience for their students. Through collaboration, reflection, and peer feedback, educators gain practical tools and develop a playful mindset — tinkering, experimenting, iterating, and reflecting — as they build the confidence to integrate creative coding into meaningful teaching and learning experiences.

Thursday, October 15, 2026 · 4:00 – 6:00 PM · 2 CPDUs · Virtual

In this interactive virtual session, participants take part in a fun ScratchJr design challenge, enjoy dedicated tinkering time to experiment with new features and ideas, and hear from classroom teachers who have piloted creative coding in their own content-area teaching. Whether you’ve already tried your lesson or are still planning your first implementation, you’ll leave with fresh ideas, renewed confidence, and inspiration.

Thursday, November 16, 2026 · 4:00 – 6:00 PM · 2 CPDUs · Virtual

Students learn code the way they learn language. They learn to problem solve the way they play. In this virtual workshop, educators get hands-on with Star Stuff Edu, a free, browser-based coding game, and play long enough to get stuck, try again, and find a second way through. Along the way, we’ll name the habits of computational thinking as they happen: tinkering, iteration, reflection. And we’ll look at what shifts when a wrong answer becomes information instead of a verdict. We’ll talk about how teachers can model this in the classroom by narrating their own uncertainty, thinking aloud as beginners, and letting students watch them figure it out. Educators leave with low-prep ways to introduce coding through play, plus Star Stuff Edu’s lesson plans, solution videos, and classroom resources.