OPTIONAL APPROVED ACTIVITIES
OPTIONAL APPROVED ACTIVITIES
Embedded Files
Optional Approved Activities
Optional Approved Activities
More flexibility. More choices. More ways to reach your APEX.
Other Approved Activities are flexible, self-paced learning opportunities that allow you to earn additional APEX program hours and stipends while choosing experiences that align with your interests, professional goals, and schedule.
This page is your home base for exploring currently approved opportunities and keeping track of your progress throughout the project year.
A Few Important Things to Remember
A Few Important Things to Remember
Participants may earn a maximum of 24 hours through Other Approved Activities.
These hours are tracked separately throughout the year and will not immediately appear in your APEX Platform.
At the end of the project year in August 2027, all eligible Other Approved Activity hours will be totaled and added to your APEX Platform.
Use the link below anytime to check your progress toward the 24-hour maximum.
Optional Approve Activities Completion Sheet
Choose what interests you. Learn on your schedule. Keep climbing toward your APEX!
From APEX Partner Colonial Williamsburg
CW: A Colonial Nightmare Before Christmas: A Colonial Nightmare Before Christmas
10.08.26 1 hour
Who says Christmas has to be merry and bright? In 18th-century Virginia, the holiday season included more than feasting, dancing, and celebration -- death and the supernatural were part of Christmastide, too.
Join Colonial Williamsburg historian Dr. Kelly M. Brennan for a delightfully dark look at the history of Christmas in colonial Virginia. From beliefs about death and the supernatural to the traditions that made the season anything but ordinary, settle in for an evening of fascinating and slightly spooky history. Because, as it turns out, death never takes a holiday.
CW: Making Sense of the Declaration: Strategies for Student Inquiry
10.27.26 1 HOUR
Join education staff from Colonial Williamsburg and LilyPD for an interactive online program exploring practical, classroom-ready strategies for helping students engage with the Declaration of Independence. Discover ways to break down challenging language, build historical context, and support deeper student inquiry. You’ll leave with flexible strategies you can use with the Declaration and other primary sources across your curriculum.
CW: Designing the Presidency: Lessons from the Founding Era
11.19.26 1 HOUR
How do you create a powerful executive without creating a king? Join Colonial Williamsburg and the Center for Civic Education for an exploration of the debates that shaped the American presidency, and hear from the nation’s first president himself, Colonial Williamsburg Nation Builder George Washington.
Using primary sources and a classroom-ready civic inquiry lesson, educators will explore the ideas, concerns, and constitutional principles that shaped executive power and gain practical strategies for bringing these debates into the classroom.
12.08.26 1 HOUR
We're excited to invite you and your students to step into the 18th century through an enhanced, virtual 3D Tour of George Wythe's House on Tapestry. The experience was created by CyArk in partnership with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. This immersive, interactive experience allows students to self-navigate the historic home of George Wythe—a signer of the Declaration of Independence, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and the nation's first law professor.
Designed to foster active historical inquiry, the tour uses place-based storytelling to explore the founding era from multiple perspectives. Rather than looking only at Wythe, students will gain insight into his daily life, the people he interacted with, and the diverse individuals who lived and worked on the property to support both his household and his success.
from the Virginia Department of Education
Bringing Sources to Life: Advanced Registration Required
Title: We The People: Teaching Late 20th and Early 21st Century Immigration through Oral History
Presenters: Grace Powers and Aidan Ballard, Virginia Museum of History and Culture
Date: October 6th, 2026
Time: 10 a.m. for division leads and contacts and 3:15 for classroom educators
Title: Beyond the Advertisement: Teaching Self-Emancipation and Resistance in Colonial Virginia
Presenter(s): Lindsey Horner, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Date: October 15th, 2026
Time: 10 a.m. for division leads and contacts and 3:15 for classroom educators
Spotlighting Virginia Educators: Advanced Registration Required
Title: Can We Talk About That? Facilitating Hard History Discussions in K-5 Classrooms
Presenter(s): Dr. Alicen Brown and Dr. Katie Leigh
Date: October 20th
Time: 10 a.m. for division leads and contacts - session will be recorded and added to Canvas course.
Spotlighting Virginia Educators Virtual Meetings: Advanced Registration Required
Title: Indigenous in the American Revolution: Lessons from the Oneida and Virginia’s Indigenous
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
Time: 10-11 a.m. for division leads and contacts and 3:15-4:15 p.m. for classroom teachers.
Presenter: Anne Walker, Prince William County Public Schools
Register by clicking the appropriate time above.
1 Hour
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