PDTCA 2025

Teachers will have the opportunity to decorate a layer cake or character cake using buttercream frosting or fondant. Keeping cakes moist, crumb coat, and piping will all be addressed as well as applying and decorating with fondant. Each teacher will have their own finished cake and should bring something in which to take their cake home at the end of this half day session.
Session will be held at Chestermere High School east of Calgary 5 km.
CHESTERMERE: Chestermere High School 241050 Highway 791, Calgary, Rockyview

"HELP! I'm supposed to teach Fashion but I don't know what I'm doing!" This session is for new (or newer) CTF/CTS Fashion teachers. You will learn sewing basics and leave with a pair of pyjama shorts made by you! You will also get ideas and concrete resources that will help you plan your fashion classes so that your students waste less time, gain more valuable skills, and have a great experience. 
**This session will take place at George McDougall High School in the Fashion room. 
412 3 Ave NE, Airdrie, AB T4B 1R7

The fee for this session is $15 per participant; please bring cash with you to the session.  This will be collected at the door and you will be not be admitted until you pay this fee.

Ecole Secondaire Highwood High School
1401 10th Street
High River, AB
Develop safe Whittling skills (woodcarving) through a variety of small hands-on projects. This 1-day off-site workshop builds knowledge, skill, and ability using simple tools, & common materials typically found within CTF/CTR classrooms. Whittling is therapeutic in nature, providing opportunity to individually focus on developing participants overall well being. Tools & Materials, and take home projects provided. Participants have opportunity to purchase starter kits if interested to continue at home.

I hope that you can join me for my fly tying session this year. We will meet at my school (St. Luke's Outreach) in Okotoks which is located at; 23 Riverside Drive, T1S 1B3. We are on the 3rd floor. We will begin tying at 10 am at the school and tie until noon. We will break for lunch and then begin our second half of the session again at 1pm. We will then tie a few more flies and then we will finish around 3pm. I am requesting that each participant pay a $10 fee to cover the costs of the tying materials for this session. It does not matter if you are an accomplished tier or if you have never tried this activity before, you are all welcome to join us.

This session looks at Neurographic art through the lens of water colour. Neurographic art is a simple way to work with the subconscious mind through drawing. While this concept certainly falls within the realm of soft science the experiences and art pieces my students have created over the years have made this a staple in my water colour unit for grades 7-12. This style of art creation can have a calming effect on the artists and is a great project to inject within exam time, pre-vacation and as a simple introduction to how water colour as a medium responds to layering.

Grab your work buddy and come on in!

Planning for a substitute in advance is great, but what happens when you are suddenly drawn from the classroom immediately for 1, 2 or even 3 days? This double/triple session will provide teachers with ready to use activities and cooking for when an unexpected substitute with or without foods experience will be in your classroom.
This session will be held in Chestermere High School, 5km east of Calgary on Highway 1.
CHESTERMERE: Chestermere High School 241050 Highway 791, Calgary, Rockyview

Come show off your braiding skills as we learn to make traditional Ukrainian bread know as Kolach, and practice pinching (and eating) Perogies. Bring your culinary skills and your appetites.
AIRDRIE: WH Croxford School 2654 Chinook Winds Dr SW; Airdrie

Off Site - Okotoks Curling Club
Whether you are interested in curling and have never tried it before or are a seasoned curler, this session will teach you something new about the game. There will be on and off ice instruction as well as a short game at the end. Should participants have questions about how to incorporate curling into elementary PE, resources are available.
OKOTOKS: Curling Club 99 Okotoks Dr, Okotoks

This course is focused on giving you a foundation and tools to support and understand Autism in the classroom and how to effectively support the varying needs presented by our students. Starting with How is Autism diagnosed and moving through the topics of sensory processing, sensory overload, motor skills, theory of mind, executive functioning and communication. We will also delve into activities of daily living, family and social life. Through a blend of presentation and audience participation these topics will be tied to effective teaching strategies, practical strategies and supports. Case studies will be provided. 
THERE WILL BE NO PARTICIPANT FEE COLLECTED.
Off-site Address: 2651 Chinook Winds Drive NW Airdrie Alberta T4B 0B4

This session offers warm up activities for grade 7-12, semester of ideas/projects that incorporate the curricular objectives, Canadian Artist Project for Ted Harrison, as well as Reverse Painting, rubrics for marking, as well as supplementary lessons for guest teachers. These lessons can be done with minimal access to supplies or be modified for more advanced skills and programming.
Participants will leave with two art projects and digital copies of lessons that can be used immediately in the classroom.

Explore the world of both two- and three-dimensional media, such as acrylic paint, oil pastels, colored pencils, watercolour pencils and stencils to add texture and dimension to create a few artworks. This session includes an image transfer project as well as an unique ground effect for a landscape painting. The techniques presented (creating textures, blending colours and overlapping) can be modified/ adapted for all grade levels and are suitable for all levels and abilities. All the supplies are being provided and the fee for this session is $10.

Mixed Media- Projects for all seasons
Watercolours and oil pastels techniques are being explored and demonstrated in this session. The participants will use and apply these techniques to create a few art projects. Composition, design and color will be examined to guide the participants find their own inner artistic talents . The projects presented are being demonstrated step-by-step and can be adapted to any grade level to address a variety of learning styles. All the supplies are included and the fee for this session is $10.

A taste of Art- Oil Pastels Projects
Various techniques and strategies to effectively use the vibrant colours of the oil pastels are demonstrated in this session. Creating new colours, blending colours and achieving texture will be explored by step-by-step demonstration of each project. These projects can be modified for any grade level and abilities. All the supplies are being provided and the fee for this session is $10.

As a visual art senior high specialist for 20 years I had developed selection of art assignments that had proved to be particularly successful. One of these, the "Conte Still Life Drawing" assignment was particularly successful. I found this assignment dealt with several, often challenging, drawing concepts, including "working progressively from the most general to specific details", the use of values to give the illusion of three dimensionality and perhaps most importantly "drawing what you see - not what you know."

Participants prepare their drawing paper by creating a grey "ground" with the drawing conte' (similar to charcoal) then set up 3 - 4 "still life" objects (vases, mugs etc.) then dramatically light them with the table lamps.
Using the white erasers, participants draw their objects in big basic shapes. Then, participants will look for the basic highlight areas of their set up and erase those areas on their prepared drawing paper. That done, participants draw in the darker areas of their set up. Then, they will draw in any finer details using their conte' sticks and erasers.
One of the intents of the lesson is to create a convincing "range of tones" from light to dark to appear "3 Dimensional" and not Flat - 2 Dimensional.

I had presented this assignment to the Art 10 students but have found it to be of value to students of all ages and prior experience. In March of this year I presented this assignment to members of the "Calgary association of Lifelong Learners" and received a most positive response and was very pleased with the resulting drawings from the group.

I would be bringing in all of the items needed including: table lamps (to "highlight" the still life objects), drawing materials - cartridge paper, conte' drawing sticks and cheap white erasers. Although the materials are inexpensive, I would ask participants to either prepay $10.00 for materials or simply "pass a hat" to compensate me.

Monoprinting Beyond Realism
Create beautiful projects and learn techniques and methods that give your artwork movement, life, and dimension! In this session, the participants will work with a limited palette of colours to focus on specific monoprinting methods using a variety of tools and materials. A few projects will be demonstrated step-by-step and can be modified for any grade level and abilities. All the supplies are being provided and the fee for this session is $10.