Upcoming Workshops & Events

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

Michigan Charter School Symposium (MiCSS26)

Detroit Marriott | Troy MI
 
FutureSense: Designing Tomorrow’s Schools Today
Thursday, December 10, 2026 9:00 am – 12:00pm
HFLI’s Deborah Parizek and Theodore Kozerski will lead a hands-on futures-thinking keynote workshop: explore emerging trends, imagine your school’s preferred future, and map the first moves to get there.
 
Building Strong Industry Partnerships that Support Career-Connected Learning
Wednesday, December 8, 2026 @ 1:00 pm
We all need a clear vision and a guide to help us navigate toward our goals – especially when we are making the journey with others. In this engaging and interactive workshop for educators, industry partners and community members, HFLI will help you develop your own “travel guide” that outlines your destination (strong career-connected opportunities), your recommended route (best practices), tourist traps (challenges to success) and experiences you won’t want to miss (milestones). You’ll leave with confidence and new tools and strategies, as well as access to additional resources from HFLI’s online library and contacts for follow-on coaching.
 
 

HAIS 2026 Schools of the Future Conference

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort | Honolulu HI

 

Help Build What Comes Next: Co-Designing a New SOTF Conference Strand
Thursday, October 22, 2026 @ 9:45 am
HFLI’s Deborah Parizek joins Dr. Mark Hines to help attendees co-create a new conference strand focused on collaboration and futures thinking.
 
 
 

2026 NCAC Conference

Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando | Orlando FL

 

Connection Before Content: Designing Stronger School-Business Partnerships
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 @ 10:30 am
Strong school-business partnerships begin with meaningful conversations, not just meetings. In this interactive workshop facilitated by HFLI’s Deborah Parizek, participants will experience a series of practical empathy and co-design tools that help build authentic relationships, uncover stakeholder needs, and identify new opportunities for collaboration. Through activities including the Mundane Superpower conversation starter, Love/Breakup Letters, and Business Origami, participants will strengthen their ability to facilitate strategic conversations that deepen trust and create shared understanding. Participants will leave with practical facilitation strategies and ready-to-use tools for engaging business and community partners in designing more connected, learner-centered experiences and lasting partnerships.
 
Designing Schools Where Educators Stay
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 @ 3:15 pm
Recruiting great educators is only half the challenge—retaining them is where leadership has the greatest opportunity to make a lasting impact. In this interactive workshop facilitated by HFLI’s Deborah Parizek, participants will explore educator retention through a systems lens and experience HFLI’s Ideation Matrix, a collaborative tool for generating stakeholder-centered solutions. Working on a real retention challenge from their own school or district, they will identify opportunities to strengthen belonging, engagement, and professional growth while addressing the root causes of turnover. Participants will leave with a practical facilitation process, actionable strategies, and immediate next steps for designing schools where educators choose to stay.
 
 

2026 IYI KIDS COUNT® Conference

Indianapolis Marriott Downtown | Indianapolis IN
November 2-3, 2026
HFLI will facilitate three hands-on conference sessions for people who pour time, energy, and heart into helping young people succeed (dates/times TBD):

  • Building Capacity in Young People to Direct Their Own Learning

  • Leading Productive Change Starts by Making Sure You Are Working on the “Right” Problem

  • Charting a Course to Stronger Adult Connections for Young People

 

2027 Deeper Learning Conference

High Tech High Graduate School of Education | San Diego CA
March 30-April 1, 2027
 
Session details coming soon…
 
 

Webinars

One Strategy for Retaining CTE Teachers in a Challenging Climate

Hosted by Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL)
Finding qualified Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers is hard. Keeping them is even harder. In this webinar, Deborah Parizek, Executive Director of Henry Ford Learning Institute, and her co-facilitator, Beth Grzelak, Community Coach and Learning Design Lead at Ford Next Generation, share a practical, research-informed framework for improving CTE teacher retention, engagement, and belonging, without requiring major budget increases, contract changes, or district-wide policy shifts.
 

Critical Thinking and Creative Problem-Solving for Career Academies with Context Maps

Hosted by Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL)

In this webinar, HFLI’s Deborah Parizek (Executive Director) and Theodore Kozerski (Associate Director of Social Innovation) facilitate a discussion that centers on how to use strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving tools and skills to address the messy problems that are a fact of life – for students, teachers, school leaders, and industry partners. This learning opportunity is designed to be useful for educators, school and district leaders, workforce partners, and anyone working to solve complex challenges.

Watch the Recording!

Building Educator and Student Wellness: Shared Purpose, Shared Work, Shared Joy with Ford NGL

BUILDING EDUCATOR & STUDENT WELLNESS: SHARED PURPOSE, SHARED WORK, SHARED JOY

Building Educator and Student Wellness: Shared Purpose, Shared Work, Shared Joy

Hosted by Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL)

In this webinar, HFLI’s Deborah Parizek (Executive Director) and Clare McKenna (Associate Director for Learning) facilitate a discussion that focuses on how to nurture authentic connections and wellness through shared purpose, shared work, and shared joy. Designed for educators, community members, and partners, this session focused on creating relationships that center student learning while supporting educators’ efforts. Gain insights and actionable ideas to strengthen wellness and drive transformative change in your education ecosystem.

Watch the Recording!

Here's what educators are saying
about our workshops

★★★★★
I enjoyed the approach where we were the learner first, and we were able to experience design thinking from the student perspective and build empathy for how they might feel going through this process.
★★★★★
This was one of the best workshops I have attended. I love how our ideas in the museum challenge were valued and felt like we might have an impact on the museum.
★★★★★
Now knowing how to navigate the steps of design thinking, I can’t wait to explore how it fits into various parts of my class and curriculum!
★★★★★
Awesome. No time wasted. We used every second of the day, each day.
★★★★★
You really brought in actionable ways to bridge the social-emotional learning gaps.
★★★★★
Wonderful workshop! I really enjoyed the laid-back feel and the professional ways our ideas were honored and questions were immediately addressed with care and genuine consideration.
★★★★★
This process will be really useful for helping to teach students how to think creatively and research effectively.
★★★★★
I like how the workshop went back and forth between concrete examples of how to use the process, then gave us the opportunity to engage in practicing the techniques.
★★★★★
This will help get students more involved in their learning, taking ownership of their work, and building teamwork between students.

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