Teaching Through Students, Not To Students: Embodied equity within quality curriculum,
instruction, and assessment
Featured Presenters:
• Heather Vaughan-Southard, Professional Learning Director for the Michigan Arts
Education Instruction and Assessment project (MAEIA) and a consultant for The
Polyvagal Institute
• Nafeesah Symonette, award-winning arts education advocate
• Ellen Vorenkamp, Professional Learning Director and Assessment Consultant, MAC
• Tara Kintz, Research Associate, MAC

April 17, 2024
Time 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (in person option)
University Club of MSU, Lansing, MI

Session Description
The learning cycle comes to life for each and every student when they feel seen, heard, and reflected in
what they are learning, how the learning is facilitated, and how their learning is measured. Effective
teaching and formative assessment can, and should, honor the students’ cultural identities and nervous
system responses to learning as variables for adaptation. When we learn to value our own lived
experiences, informed by and communicated through our bodies, we become more compassionate to
the lived experiences and physical realities of others. When this happens in the classroom, outcomes are
improved for all students.