Staff Development

Hemispheres offers professional development workshops for schools, districts, and educational service centers. We can come in for a full day or half-day and give international area content training and resource sharing. We also participate in district staff development days and workshops.

What is the cost for an on-site Hemispheres workshop?

Hemispheres staff do not receive honoraria, so there is no cost for our presentations. In order to maximize our limited funding, we tend not to schedule more than one event per 12-month period in the same location, or may request assistance with travel costs for repeat visits in a 12-month period. Please inquire for further details specific to your program and location.

What content does a workshop usually cover?

The specific content of each workshop varies from place to place.  Generally, our content is best received by those who teach world studies (i.e., 6th grade Contemporary World Cultures, World History, World Geography, AP World History, and AP Human Geography).  We do not restrict our enrollment to those who teach those classes, however--anyone is welcome to attend!

Our presentations usually begin with a 15-20 minute discussion of the free and low-cost educational resources that Hemispheres offers to teachers state-wide.

We then present content and resource information.

Content sessions can vary from overviews of world regions ("Introduction to the Middle East" or "Key Concepts in Teaching about Latin America", for example), to discussions of current events, to classroom replicable cultural activities for students.

We have also developed sessions around our curriculum units that explore them in more detail, and provide attendees with more background information and ideas for classroom use. We will provide attendees with information and materials that they can use in their classrooms. This may include maps and/or handouts, lists of online and print resources for further information, or step-by-step instructions and templates for activities. Attendees also receive a CD with all of Hemispheres' curriculum materials.

We can also—with enough advance notice—develop presentations on topics requested by the sponsoring organization.  These can be as specific or as broad-based as needed—tell us what you need and we will work with you to arrange appropriate content.

Sample schedules for a half- or full-day workshops may be downloaded by clicking on the links in the right sidebar.

What do I need to provide?

Hosting organizations are asked to provide space for the workshop, and are responsible for recruitment of attendees. Use of technical equipment such as projectors is helpful, but not required.

Is there a minimum attendance?  What about a cancellation policy?

We require a minimum attendance of 12 educators (this is negotiable for smaller districts) that must be confirmed two weeks before the event.  In the event that this minimum is not reached, we may decide to cancel the event.

A list of upcoming offerings may be viewed on the Events page.

How do I schedule a workshop?

For more information, please e-mail us with the following information:

• Your name, title, and organization.
• Potential date(s) for your program.
• Location of your program.
• Specific content areas or topics you aim to cover in your program.
• Will there be a registration fee for your program?
• Is attendance open or limited to a particular group?
• May we advertise the event on our website?

For scheduling purposes, we tend to schedule one semester in advance (i.e., spring semester for the late summer and fall; summer and early fall for spring).  Even if plans are tentative, contact us early to ensure your place on the calendar!