Building Better Humans: The Power of Prosocial Education 

Jen Foster and Haylee Anderson, eMINTS 

Learn: Discover evidence-based prosocial education strategies that can be used with any age and content area. Examine successful Prosocial and Active Learning (PAL) Classrooms project data to gain insights into enhanced student climate and increased student engagement.  

Engage: Discuss experiences and challenges related to student behavior and classroom management to discover new strategies. Analyze case study scenarios of prosocial strategies and discuss the implications and potential applications in your own setting. 

Apply: Gain specific, implementable strategies for integrating prosocial elements into your existing curricula and concrete examples of how these principles can be applied in various educational settings.

Getting Excited About Overexcitabilities: Harnessing the Energy of the Exceptional Learner 

Carly Mansfield and Jennifer Moore, Kirkwood School District 

Learn: Gain a comprehensive understanding of Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities Theory and its relevance to the characteristics of exceptional learners. Delve into each overexcitability, connecting theoretical concepts to real-life experiences. 

Engage: Actively discuss overexcitabilities and identify your own, experiencing "OE Breaks" to understand the energy release associated with each type. This session emphasizes experiential learning over passive listening. 

Apply: Move beyond theory to practical insights on creating conducive learning environments that support emotional well-being and concentration. Gain strategies for fostering self-awareness and emotional regulation in gifted students, including routines, activities and tools to manage overstimulation and enhance learning experiences for those with overexcitabilities.

Teaching Outside the Box 

Cassi Flores and Amy Spears, Francis Howell School District 

Learn: Explore collaborative strategies for designing highly engaging, educational experiences using breakout boxes. Discover the fundamentals of crafting immersive learning experiences that captivate and challenge students. 

Engage: Participate in a hands-on breakout box activity. Share feedback and insights to understand the impact and potential of these interactive learning tools. 

Apply: Gain the knowledge and confidence to create your own breakout box activities, whether independently or in collaboration with fellow educators, ready to implement innovative and engaging lessons in your classroom.

A Healthy Balance: Tech vs. Tradition 

Sophie Chambers, Chillicothe R-II School District 

Learn: Explore how to achieve a healthier balance between technology and traditional skills in your classroom. This session addresses concerns about excessive screen time and the impact on essential soft skills, drawing from discussions held within my school district. 

Engage: We will cover diverse topics, including virtual reality, traditional geography skills, handwriting versus speech-to-text, library resources, and the importance of face-to-face communication. Attendees will have opportunities for Q&A throughout the presentation to foster engagement. 

Apply: Participants will receive a T-chart to assess their current balance between technology and traditional skills, along with actionable strategies for reinforcing soft skills in their classrooms. Leave with practical ideas to enhance your curriculum and promote student success in both realms.

Building Better Humans: The Power of Prosocial Education 

Jen Foster and Haylee Anderson, eMINTS 

Learn: Discover evidence-based prosocial education strategies that can be used with any age and content area. Examine successful Prosocial and Active Learning (PAL) Classrooms project data to gain insights into enhanced student climate and increased student engagement.  

Engage: Discuss experiences and challenges related to student behavior and classroom management to discover new strategies. Analyze case study scenarios of prosocial strategies and discuss the implications and potential applications in your own setting. 

Apply: Gain specific, implementable strategies for integrating prosocial elements into your existing curricula and concrete examples of how these principles can be applied in various educational settings.

Digital Heroes: Cisco’s GPS for Genius Hour 

Arthur Vambaketes, Ferguson-Florissant School District / Cisco Corporation 

Learn: Discover Cisco’s Global Problem Solvers (GPS) program as a powerful framework for Genius Hour, guiding students to tackle real-world issues. Learn how GPS cultivates critical thinking and digital storytelling to address local, national and global challenges. 

Engage: Through live polls, collaborative brainstorming and Q&A, actively explore digital storytelling techniques and educational tools to enrich student-led projects. Small group discussions will foster idea-sharing and practical insights. 

Apply: Gain ready to implement Genius Hour projects with Cisco's GPS resources, using digital storytelling to empower students to address contemporary challenges with creativity and precision.

Improving Instructional Alignment Through Lesson Internalization 

Tiffany Patton, Riverview Gardens School District 

Learn: Discover how to use a lesson internalization protocol to enhance collaborative planning and instruction in critical content areas. This session targets districts using scripted lessons or those focused on developing teacher-created lessons, providing strategies applicable even in non-mandatory lesson planning environments. 

Engage: Analyze video clips from lesson internalization meetings and examine protocols from various districts. Engage in discussions with peers and small groups to share insights and key takeaways throughout the session. 

Apply: Gain hands-on experience with a planning template to guide portions of a lesson internalization protocol and how to implement these strategies in your school fostering best practices and instructional alignment.

Rounding Revelations: Navigating Instructional Rounds 

Jennifer Ferguson, Missy Roux, and Lindsay McCracken, Special School District 

Learn: Delve into the practice of Instructional Rounding as implemented in the Mehlville and Affton school districts, and discover its positive impacts in special education. Discover how Instructional Rounding can foster a culture of continuous learning, strengthen educator capacity and promote a community of personalized professional growth. 

Engage: Participate in hands-on activities, partner and group discussions, and interactive Q&A session. Through these collaborative experiences, gain deeper insight into how Instructional Rounding supports educator and student development. 

Apply: Reflect on the impacts of Instructional Rounding and begin planning how to incorporate this practice in your own setting. Gain actionable ideas for implementing Instructional Rounding to cultivate a supportive and growth-oriented culture within your educational community.

Supercharge Learning with a Professional Mindset 

Drew McAllister, Parkway School District and John Omoresemi, St. Charles County CAP 

Learn: Explore key elements of career readiness that have proven successful in diverse educational settings. Identify modules and mini-lessons that connect curriculum to profession-based relevance, tailored to fit your unique classroom context. 

Engage: Collaborate with shoulder-partners to practice various strategies, contribute questions that guide the workshop’s direction, and co-create a list of valuable resources and ideas. This collaborative approach will enable you to expand on resources shared while addressing real-world applications. 

Apply: Gain a co-created toolbox of resources and a clear action plan. Spend the final moments of the session sketching and sharing a personalized approach to integrating these tools into your next units, preparing you to connect learning with meaningful career readiness outcomes.  

Feeding the Learning Brain 

Denise Ford, Kirkwood School District 

Learn: Discover how teachers can leverage their unique position to positively influence students' brain development. This session will explore research in mind, brain, and education, providing practical strategies to enhance learning, memory, critical thinking, and confidence in the classroom. 

Engage: Participants will be actively involved through movement, curiosity, humor, play, music, and interactive discussions, making the learning experience enjoyable and memorable. 

Apply: Walk away with a wealth of immediately applicable, low-cost strategies to nurture every student's brain and engage their interest daily. Understanding how the brain learns will transform your teaching practice and enrich your own learning experience as well.

From One-Size-Fits-All to Learner-Centered: Using Your LMS to Support UDL 

April Burton, Francis Howell School District 

Learn: Discover how to harness the features of your learning management system (LMS) to support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and create more inclusive, accessible learning experiences. Explore insights from a district collaboration with the DESE AEM Cohort, demonstrating how UDL principles were translated into actionable goals to make the LMS a tool for diverse learners. 

Engage: Explore district-created UDL resources and experiment with tools in an Open Canvas Course designed around UDL principles. Gain insights into how other districts are addressing barriers to learning and making their LMS more inclusive. 

Apply: Put UDL into action by mapping UDL principles to your LMS, adapting shared Canvas examples, and developing personalized implementation goals that make your LMS a dynamic platform for learner-centered education.

Improving Instructional Alignment Through Lesson Internalization 

Tiffany Patton, Riverview Gardens School District 

Learn: Discover how to use a lesson internalization protocol to enhance collaborative planning and instruction in critical content areas. This session targets districts using scripted lessons or those focused on developing teacher-created lessons, providing strategies applicable even in non-mandatory lesson planning environments. 

Engage: Analyze video clips from lesson internalization meetings and examine protocols from various districts. Engage in discussions with peers and small groups to share insights and key takeaways throughout the session. 

Apply: Gain hands-on experience with a planning template to guide portions of a lesson internalization protocol and how to implement these strategies in your school fostering best practices and instructional alignment.

Labor-Based Grading in Secondary Education 

Brandy Simmons, Dupo School District 196 

Learn: Explore an introduction to labor-based grading, an innovative assessment model that shifts focus from outcomes to student effort and growth. Discover the educational advantages this approach offers for both students and educators, grounded in research by Joe Feldman, Asao B. Inoue, and Matthew Gomes. 

Engage: Participate in online polls and Q&A sessions designed to facilitate a deeper understanding of labor-based grading practices. Engage with peers and ask questions as you explore real-world applications of this grading model. 

Apply: Gain actionable knowledge and initial strategies to implement labor-based grading in your own classroom fostering a more equitable and supportive assessment environment for all students.

Reviving Literacy: Innovative Strategies for Elementary Student’s Reading and Writing Success 

Amber Ernst and Maggie Bunten, eMINTS 

Learn: Discover how to incorporate students' personal vocabulary and experiences into literacy instruction, making the learning more meaningful and relevant. Identify various literary structures found across curriculums and learn how to use these structures to enhance students' reading and writing skills.  

Explore: how dictation technology can be leveraged to support struggling readers and writers in capturing their thoughts and ideas. Engage: Participate in interactive activities that model classroom practices and foster a positive learning environment. Create your own literary examples and experiment with dictation technology on your own device to understand its application for students.  

Apply: Gain practical examples of literary structures and techniques for integrating students' personal language into literacy instruction. Reflect on how to use dictation technology to support struggling students and leave with strategies that can be transferred directly into your teaching practice.

Students Leading Their Learning 

Marie Schroeder, Orchard Farm School District 

Learn: Discover how to design, implement and teach students to create their own personal learning hubs. These hubs can focus on a single content area or serve as a tool across multiple subjects, empowering students to organize and manage their learning. 

Engage: Actively explore the structure and benefits of a learning hub, with dedicated time to develop your own hub template. Collaborate with peers and experiment with different components to create a model tailored to your classroom needs. 

Apply: Gain a completed or partially developed hub, along with the knowledge to guide students in building their own. Be equipped to implement this tool in your classroom, fostering student ownership and supporting independent, organized learning.

Supercharge Learning with a Professional Mindset 

Drew McAllister, Parkway School District and John Omoresemi, St. Charles County CAP 

Learn: Explore key elements of career readiness that have proven successful in diverse educational settings. Identify modules and mini-lessons that connect curriculum to profession-based relevance, tailored to fit your unique classroom context. 

Engage: Collaborate with shoulder-partners to practice various strategies, contribute questions that guide the workshop’s direction, and co-create a list of valuable resources and ideas. This collaborative approach will enable you to expand on resources shared while addressing real-world applications. 

Apply: Leave with a co-created toolbox of resources and a clear action plan. Spend the final moments of the session sketching and sharing a personalized approach to integrating these tools into your next units, preparing you to connect learning with meaningful career readiness outcomes.

Teaching Outside the Box 

Cassi Flores and Amy Spears, Francis Howell School District 

Learn: Explore collaborative strategies for designing highly engaging, educational experiences using breakout boxes. Discover the fundamentals of crafting immersive learning experiences that captivate and challenge students. 

Engage: Participate in a hands-on breakout box activity. Share feedback and insights to understand the impact and potential of these interactive learning tools. 

Apply: Gain the knowledge and confidence to create your own breakout box activities, whether independently or in collaboration with fellow educators, ready to implement innovative and engaging lessons in your classroom.

A Healthy Balance: Tech vs. Tradition 

Sophie Chambers, Chillicothe R-II School District 

Learn: Explore how to achieve a healthier balance between technology and traditional skills in your classroom. This session addresses concerns about excessive screen time and the impact on essential soft skills, drawing from discussions held within my school district. 

Engage: We will cover diverse topics, including virtual reality, traditional geography skills, handwriting versus speech-to-text, library resources, and the importance of face-to-face communication. Attendees will have opportunities for Q&A throughout the presentation to foster engagement. 

Apply: Participants will receive a T-chart to assess their current balance between technology and traditional skills, along with actionable strategies for reinforcing soft skills in their classrooms. Leave with practical ideas to enhance your curriculum and promote student success in both realms.

AI Tools for Teachers: Boosting Student Engagement and Learning 

Lindsey Weatherby, Special School District 

Learn: Discover the latest AI resources and how to leverage them to streamline daily tasks, enhance instructional practices and engage students meaningfully, prioritizing effective learning outcomes. 

Engage: Actively explore and utilize AI tools to design a classroom-ready lesson that incorporates practical applications, enabling students to engage actively with an AI platform. 

Apply: Gain a ready-to-implement lesson plan that integrates AI, enhancing student engagement and facilitating deeper learning experiences in the classroom.

Digital Heroes: Cisco’s GPS for Genius Hour 

Arthur Vambaketes, Ferguson-Florissant School District / Cisco Corporation 

Learn: Discover Cisco’s Global Problem Solvers (GPS) program as a powerful framework for Genius Hour, guiding students to tackle real-world issues. Learn how GPS cultivates critical thinking and digital storytelling to address local, national and global challenges. 

Engage: Through live polls, collaborative brainstorming and Q&A, actively explore digital storytelling techniques and educational tools to enrich student-led projects. Small group discussions will foster idea-sharing and practical insights. 

Apply: Gain ready to implement Genius Hour projects with Cisco's GPS resources, using digital storytelling to empower students to address contemporary challenges with creativity and precision.

From One-Size-Fits-All to Learner-Centered: Using Your LMS to Support UDL 

April Burton, Francis Howell School District 

Learn: Discover how to harness the features of your learning management system (LMS) to support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and create more inclusive, accessible learning experiences. Explore insights from a district collaboration with the DESE AEM Cohort, demonstrating how UDL principles were translated into actionable goals to make the LMS a tool for diverse learners. 

Engage: Explore district-created UDL resources and experiment with tools in an Open Canvas Course designed around UDL principles. Gain insights into how other districts are addressing barriers to learning and making their LMS more inclusive. 

Apply: Put UDL into action by mapping UDL principles to your LMS, adapting shared Canvas examples, and developing personalized implementation goals that make your LMS a dynamic platform for learner-centered education.

Perceptions and Influences: A Study on U.S. High School English Teachers’ Attitude Towards ChatGPT Integration in Instructional Practices 

Cara Bertelmann, Nevada Virtual Charter School and Brandy Simmons, Dupo School District 196 

Learn: Explore the findings of our nationwide survey involving 119 high school English teachers regarding their attitudes toward ChatGPT integration in instructional practices. Gain insights into ethical concerns, common usage patterns and current perceptions of ChatGPT in the classroom. 

Engage: Learn how English teachers are utilizing ChatGPT for personal planning and classroom instruction as you are guided through the process of creating a ChatGPT account. Learn how to differentiate lesson plans for various learning levels, develop new lesson plans and streamline administrative tasks. Depending on compurter availability, work independently or interact with demonstrations. 

Apply: Get hands-on experience with ChatGPT as you explore its capabilities using your own classroom materials. Gain practical strategies for integrating ChatGPT into your teaching, along with take-home materials such as printouts and access to our presentation to support future application.

Reviving Literacy: Innovative Strategies for Elementary Student’s Reading and Writing Success 

Amber Ernst and Maggie Bunten, eMINTS 

Learn: Discover how to incorporate students' personal vocabulary and experiences into literacy instruction, making the learning more meaningful and relevant. Identify various literary structures found across curriculums and learn how to use these structures to enhance students' reading and writing skills.  

Explore: how dictation technology can be leveraged to support struggling readers and writers in capturing their thoughts and ideas. Engage: Participate in interactive activities that model classroom practices and foster a positive learning environment. Create your own literary examples and experiment with dictation technology on your own device to understand its application for students.  

Apply: Gain practical examples of literary structures and techniques for integrating students' personal language into literacy instruction. Reflect on how to use dictation technology to support struggling students and leave with strategies that can be transferred directly into your teaching practice.

Students Leading Their Learning 

Marie Schroeder, Orchard Farm School District 

Learn: Discover how to design, implement and teach students to create their own personal learning hubs. These hubs can focus on a single content area or serve as a tool across multiple subjects, empowering students to organize and manage their learning. 

Engage: Actively explore the structure and benefits of a learning hub, with dedicated time to develop your own hub template. Collaborate with peers and experiment with different components to create a model tailored to your classroom needs. 

Apply: Gain a completed or partially developed hub, along with the knowledge to guide students in building their own. Be equipped to implement this tool in your classroom, fostering student ownership and supporting independent, organized learning.

Enhancing Leadership Behaviors and PD Via Arts-Based Professional Learning 

Daniel Jones, Riverview Gardens School District 

Learn: Explore the transformative value of integrating the arts into leadership development and professional learning for principals and district-level administrators. Discover how Arts-Based Professional Learning (ABPL) can enhance your own leadership skills while also benefiting your teachers and school communities. 

Engage: Move beyond traditional professional development formats with engaging, hands-on activities that participants can introduce in their own schools. Experience interactive techniques such as sketching, role-playing, and mask-making, designed to enliven professional development and foster creativity. 

Apply: Reflect on how to enhance your leadership behaviors through the arts and consider practical ways to incorporate ABPL into your school’s professional development programs. Gain innovative strategies and activities to enrich your leadership approach and inspire your teams.

Rounding Revelations: Navigating Instructional Rounds 

Jennifer Ferguson, Missy Roux, and Lindsay McCracken, Special School District 

Learn: Delve into the practice of Instructional Rounding as implemented in the Mehlville and Affton school districts, and discover its positive impacts in special education. Discover how Instructional Rounding can foster a culture of continuous learning, strengthen educator capacity and promote a community of personalized professional growth. 

Engage: Participate in hands-on activities, partner and group discussions, and interactive Q&A session. Through these collaborative experiences, gain deeper insight into how Instructional Rounding supports educator and student development. 

Apply: Reflect on the impacts of Instructional Rounding and begin planning how to incorporate this practice in your own setting. Gain actionable ideas for implementing Instructional Rounding to cultivate a supportive and growth-oriented culture within your educational community.

A Healthy Balance: Tech vs. Tradition 

Sophie Chambers, Chillicothe R-II School District 

Learn: Explore how to achieve a healthier balance between technology and traditional skills in your classroom. This session addresses concerns about excessive screen time and the impact on essential soft skills, drawing from discussions held within my school district. 

Engage: We will cover diverse topics, including virtual reality, traditional geography skills, handwriting versus speech-to-text, library resources, and the importance of face-to-face communication. Attendees will have opportunities for Q&A throughout the presentation to foster engagement. 

Apply: Participants will receive a T-chart to assess their current balance between technology and traditional skills, along with actionable strategies for reinforcing soft skills in their classrooms. Leave with practical ideas to enhance your curriculum and promote student success in both realms.

Feeding the Learning Brain 

Denise Ford, Kirkwood School District 

Learn: Discover how teachers can leverage their unique position to positively influence students' brain development. This session will explore research in mind, brain, and education, providing practical strategies to enhance learning, memory, critical thinking, and confidence in the classroom. 

Engage: Participants will be actively involved through movement, curiosity, humor, play, music, and interactive discussions, making the learning experience enjoyable and memorable. 

Apply: Walk away with a wealth of immediately applicable, low-cost strategies to nurture every student's brain and engage their interest daily. Understanding how the brain learns will transform your teaching practice and enrich your own learning experience as well.

Getting Excited About Overexcitabilities: Harnessing the Energy of the Exceptional Learner 

Carly Mansfield and Jennifer Moore, Kirkwood School District 

Learn: Gain a comprehensive understanding of Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities Theory and its relevance to the characteristics of exceptional learners. Delve into each overexcitability, connecting theoretical concepts to real-life experiences. 

Engage: Actively discuss overexcitabilities and identify your own, experiencing "OE Breaks" to understand the energy release associated with each type. This session emphasizes experiential learning over passive listening. 

Apply: Move beyond theory to practical insights on creating conducive learning environments that support emotional well-being and concentration. Gain strategies for fostering self-awareness and emotional regulation in gifted students, including routines, activities and tools to manage overstimulation and enhance learning experiences for those with overexcitabilities.

Labor-Based Grading in Secondary Education 

Brandy Simmons, Dupo School District 196 

Learn: Explore an introduction to labor-based grading, an innovative assessment model that shifts focus from outcomes to student effort and growth. Discover the educational advantages this approach offers for both students and educators, grounded in research by Joe Feldman, Asao B. Inoue, and Matthew Gomes. 

Engage: Participate in online polls and Q&A sessions designed to facilitate a deeper understanding of labor-based grading practices. Engage with peers and ask questions as you explore real-world applications of this grading model. 

Apply: Gain actionable knowledge and initial strategies to implement labor-based grading in your own classroom fostering a more equitable and supportive assessment environment for all students.