Inclusive Questioning: How to activate equitable student engagement

All questions are not created equally. What’s the depth of knowledge? When is it asked? Is it open or closed? How will students respond? How many ways can it be answered? Does it assess or trigger learning? Does it focus or funnel thinking? All these questions about questions are considerations that many educators have reflected upon. What might not be considered as often as it should, is how questions make students, including students from historically marginalized groups, feel about themselves and ultimately about learning.

Building an inclusive classroom through questioning requires acute awareness and purposeful effort. After a half day with Connie Hamilton, author of Hacking Questions and co-author of Amply Learner Voice, you will view questions and questioning through students' eyes. Clearly no teacher wants students to feel excluded, discouraged or disadvantaged. If you don't consider how questions and the methods that they are delivered impact students, you might be unintentionally working against your best efforts. In this session you will be asked to think about questioning through an inclusive lens. Teachers, coaches, and leaders are welcome to attend and will leave with tools and resources to take back to their schools.

Teacher Invisibility: A Superpower for Student Learning

Shift the educational balance in favor of student engagement and ownership! Empower students to take the lead in their learning journey by embracing your invisibility superpower! In this session you will learn to delve into the art of selecting and differentiating protocols, enabling you to watch, listen, and relish observing students taking charge of their learning. This transformative experience empowers you to be invisible yet influential, fostering an environment where students truly own their learning. If you desire authentic student-centered education, this workshop unveils the key – becoming invisible, allowing students to thrive as independent learners who are accountable for owning their learning.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Establish structures that decrease the dependency students have on their teacher.
• Interact with student groups to encourage peer-to-peer support.
• Determine the teacher’s role when students are working in groups.
• Execute systems that allow students to learn from one another.

Invest In Your Best: Strategies to Celebrate, Support and Grow Your Most Valuable Teachers

Are you facing the challenges of teacher burnout and high turnover rates in your school? Redirect your focus from managing underperformers to strategically nurturing and retaining your top teaching talent to create a school where teachers love to teach. This session delves into practical strategies for deeper investment, moving beyond token gestures to authentically cultivate, support, and celebrate your most valuable educators.

Discover innovative approaches to professional development, mentorship programs, and impactful recognition initiatives. Engage in discussions, explore case studies, and participate in interactive activities to gain a comprehensive understanding of the far-reaching impact that investing in exceptional teachers can have on your school culture.

As your top educators thrive, witness positive transformations ripple through your school community. Improved student outcomes, heightened morale, and a strengthened school culture are just a few of the benefits that await leaders who prioritize and invest in their top teaching talent. This is your opportunity to redefine your approach to teacher support, mitigating burnout, and securing long-term success for your educational institution.

Unleashing DBT Strategies to De-Escalate Emotions

Discover the dynamics of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), unraveling the frustration that arises when emotional and rational states collide. Grasp the three states of mind—emotional, rational, and wise—to enhance communication and turn heated exchanges into productive conversations. Acquire skills to de-escalate situations by validating emotions, applicable across interactions with students, colleagues, friends, and family. In one session, become adept at navigating emotional dynamics, transforming frustrations into effective communication tools for various aspects of your life.

In just one session, you'll gain understanding and know how to:

• Define emotional, rational, and wise mind.
• Recognize words and actions that indicate emotional mind.
• Use validation to de-escalate an emotional mind.

Strategy Slam: Engagement Strategies You Can Use Tomorrow

It’s time to put on your thinking shoes and experience active engagement. This workshop is the epitome of learning by doing with an entire toolbox of strategies that will be used, applied, and analyzed. Practical tips, learned in the field, will be shared to anticipate potential problems and avoid them by design. Common problems like engaging shy students, managing group timing, the teacher’s role during student collaboration, and off-task or shallow student talk will all be directly addressed with real solutions that work. If you’re in an elementary or secondary school, new to the profession or a veteran, classroom teacher, coach, or leader, you will leave inspired and empowered to increase your students’ engagement.

Session Outcomes:

• Experience multiple engagement strategies and reflect on their impact
• Purposefully structure protocols to include all learners
• Modify protocols to meet the unique needs of learners in your space
• Assess the effectiveness of learning routines based on four distinct areas of quality.