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Relevance Sessions
Leading the Way to Inclusive and Equitable STEM Instruction
In this session, administrators will explore strategies for fostering an inclusive and equitable STEM learning environment. Participants will gain practical insights into leading the development and implementation of inclusive pedagogy, addressing barriers to STEM access, and supporting diverse learners in STEM classrooms. Attendees will leave with actionable tools and resources for coaching educators, that prioritize a school culture for diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM education. Presenter: Bret States Target Audience: Administrators
20/20 Isn't Everything: The Critical Link Between Vision and Learning
Often times, children are diagnosed with ADHD, when in actuality they may have undiagnosed learning related vision issues. Join our session to learn about the behavior signs and symptoms of learning related vision issues and what you can do to support your students. Presenter: Dr. Derron Lee & Dr. Leanne Lee Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Empowering California's Future: AB285 Climate Change Education
Explore a new tool developed by CAELI (California Environmental Literacy Initiative) to support school districts and educators with understanding the requirements of AB285 (Climate Change Education) and identifying next steps for schools. Presenter: Tamara Basepayne Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
CTRL + ALT + TEACH: Keyboard Shortcuts & Tools to Level Up Your Day
Tired of wasting time on repetitive clicks and endless tabs? CTRL + ALT + TEACH is your fast pass to a more efficient workday. In this interactive session, you'll learn powerful keyboard shortcuts for Windows and the Chrome browser that can streamline your workflow, boost productivity, and help you get more done in less time. Whether you're managing emails, navigating the web, or organizing digital resources, these simple tricks will make a big difference. Walk away with practical, ready-to-use tools that you—and your colleagues—will wish you had known sooner! Presenter: Viry Tun Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
10 Time saving tips in Adobe Express
Learn 10 powerful, time-saving tips to support your instruction. Explore features like Classrooms and Class Gallery for seamless collaboration, AI-powered tools to spark creativity, and easy PDF editing to streamline workflows. Walk away with practical tips to save time and elevate learning experiences. Presenter: Martin Cisneros Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Promoting Wellness by Managing Mental Health and Stress
"In this engaging and interactive workshop, participants will explore FOUR key objectives (KO) and outcomes focused on mental health and stress management. Participants will: (KO #1) DISTINGUISH characteristics of chronic/ traumatic stress, burnout, and mental health challenges; OUTCOME - Participants will learn to identify and differentiate types of stress. This distinction is crucial for applying the right strategies to manage each type of stress effectively. (KO #2) IDENTIFY workplace and environmental sources of stress. OUTCOME - Identifying and understanding different sources of stress and their triggers will help in spotting and addressing signs of an overactive response. (KO #3) RECOGNIZE the detrimental impacts of stress on our relationships, workplace productivity, physical, mental, and emotional well-being. OUTCOME - Recognizing the negative impact that stress has on our body, mind, and soul is relevant to maintaining a healthy body, brain, and spirit. (KO #4) CREATE a tailored self-care plan that addresses their unique needs to protect against stress and contribute to wellbeing. OUTCOME - Their self-care plan will include strategies to safeguard their physical, mental, and emotional well-being, ensuring a holistic approach to stress management. Through these activities, the workshop aims to equip individuals with practical tools and techniques for managing stress and maintaining their overall health. Presenter: Carol Brooks, Ed.D. Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Hands-On Healing: Practical and Classroom Strategies for Addressing Trauma
This session explores practical and classroom-based strategies for addressing trauma, focusing on hands-on techniques to support individuals in educational and community settings. Participants will engage in interactive activities and discussions designed to enhance their understanding and application of trauma-informed practices. Presenters: Genevieve Lucaccini/Kelly Hudleson Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers
AI for Educational Leaders
Open AI helps us manage our time and support our students. Come explore AI and how to use it as an educational leader. This session includes some history and some hands-on activities relevant to technology use in our schools. All levels welcome. Presenter: Anne-Marie Mason Target Audience: K-12 and Higher Ed. Teachers and Administrators
Harnessing AI for Impact: Empowering Administrators to Focus on What Matters Most
In this session, administrators will explore how to harness AI to streamline administrative tasks and create more time for what truly matters—supporting teachers and students. Participants will discover practical strategies for using AI to improve efficiency, enhance decision-making, and provide personalized support. By integrating AI into daily operations, administrators can unlock greater impact in their schools and districts, fostering a more focused and supportive educational environment. Presenter: Kristin Ward, M.Ed. Target Audience: Administrators
Teacher efficacy with academic technology with students in special education
This session would talk about the benefits of academic technology and the different academic technology resources availanle to use with moderate and severe students. Different technology sources and ways to implement effectively and systematically. Also session will govern opportunities to grow your knowledge and build on your comfort with technology implementation. Presenter: Janae Meraz Target Audience: Special Education
Integrating Inquiry for Enhanced Student Learning
The central objective of this workshop is to empower educators with the knowledge and skills required to integrate inquiry-based approaches across diverse curricula, ranging from science to math to ELA. Through the cultivation of curiosity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, the goal is to elevate the overall learning experience for students, fostering a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the subject. Explore strategies that will enable educators to seamlessly incorporate inquiry into their teaching practices across various academic disciplines. Presenter: Del Pabalan Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Simply Sentences
This presentation is designed to equip educators with effective strategies for teaching K-2 students how to write clear, simple sentences and expand the sentences for greater detail and complexity. Through genre-based writing activities and sentence mapping, participants will learn how to guide young writers in constructing sentences that enhance their narrative writing skills. Teachers will leave with practical techniques for improving sentence-writing instruction as well as graphic organizers to use with their students. Presenter: Melicety Deatherage Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers
Artificial Intelligence, Real Impact: Elevating Education with AI
Discover how artificial intelligence is transforming the landscape of teaching and learning in meaningful, practical ways. In this hands-on professional development session, educators will explore how AI tools like ChatGPT and others can streamline lesson planning, personalize student support, simplify administrative tasks, and ignite creativity in the classroom. Whether you're an AI beginner or looking to level up your skills, this session offers real-world applications, ethical considerations, and easy-to-implement strategies to help you teach smarter—not harder. Walk away with tools, resources, and inspiration to make AI a powerful partner in your educational practice. Presenter: Viry Tun Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers
What is Adobe Express for Education? 10 Highlights in 60 minutes
Discover how Adobe Express empowers creativity in K-12 schools with its free premium version designed for safe, student-friendly use. Learn to create multimedia projects—graphics, videos, presentations—seamlessly in one editor, explore AI-powered tools for animations, translations, and image generation, and dive into exclusive features like drawing tools and more. Join us to explore how Express makes creativity accessible and available to all! Presenter: Martin Cisneros Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Relationships Sessions
Restorative Conversations: Accountability through Relationships
We will present a brief overview of restorative practices and its four pillars, affective statements, how to conduct a circle, and how to have restorative conversations when harm has been done. The focus will be on reducing exclusionary discipline through relationship building, appropriate accountability, and restorative conferencing, as well as reparation of harm. Presenters: Brooke Zuidema, Cari Bright, Lisa Richmond Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Cognitive Coaching
Practice Pausing, Paraphrasing, and Posing questions within the Planning and Reflection Maps. This session is for aspiring Administrators, TOSAs, and for folks who want to practice 1-1 coaching skills. Presenter: John Kanemoto Target Audience: Administrators
Trust At Work: How to Build Relational Trust with Colleagues
This reflective and interactive presentation will provide the what, why, and especially the how with building and nurturing trust in any work setting. Particularly relevant for leaders, this session will highlight the specific behaviors a leader can integrate into their daily practice to build and maintain high trust relationships. Presenter: Sally Glusing Target Audience: Administrators
The Power of Relationships
The power of relationships in teaching lies in their ability to foster trust, engagement, and a supportive learning environment. When educators build meaningful connections with their students, it enhances communication, motivation, and academic success. Strong meaningful relationships also create a safe space for students to take risks, make mistakes, and grow. Ultimately, teaching becomes more than just content delivery or learning facilitation—it's about guiding students in their emotional and intellectual development through authentic human connections while inspiring them to academic and life goals far beyond anything they could imagine on their own. Get ready to leave our session with practical, actionable strategies that will not only help you connect with and inspire your students but also reignite your own passion for teaching and personal growth. Presenters: Kelsey Sequeira & Eric Kjeldgaard
Developing Leadership Capacity and Supporting Decision Makers in MSCS Education
How do you develop leaders within your system? This session explores aspects of inviting, supporting, and developing leaders in mathematics, science, and computer science education. It also explores tools and resources leaders at all levels might offer and utilize to support decision making that leads to inclusive practices and pedagogy. Presenter: Megan Smith Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Looking at My Students Through a Trauma Informed Lens
This session is part one of a two-part series that explores evidence-based trauma informed practices as integral to Multi-Tiered Systems and Supports. Educators will examine the impact of trauma on learning and behavior as it affects students' capacity for self-regulation, social-emotional development, organization, comprehension, and memorization. Grounded in neuroscience, psychology, and educational research, participants will gain practical knowledge on viewing student behavior through a trauma informed lens. By the end of this session, educators will experience a fundamental shift in their understanding—moving from asking "what's wrong with you?" to "what happened to you?" when addressing challenging behaviors. This perspective transformation enables educators to create classroom environments that promote safety, empowerment, and resilience for all students, particularly those affected by trauma. Presenter: Dr. Beth Jara Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Building meaningful and purposeful relationships
This presentation explores the importance of cultivating genuine connections in personal, professional, and community settings. It emphasizes strategies for fostering trust, empathy, and open communication to create relationships that are both meaningful and goal-oriented. Participants will learn practical techniques to enhance collaboration, resolve conflicts, and strengthen their bonds with others, ultimately leading to a more inclusive and supportive environment. Presenter: Isaias Rumayor, Jr., Ed.D. Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Fostering Personal & Professional Growth Through Mindful Well-Being Practices
This Presentation is designed to help understand, identify, and manage stress and stressors, as school staff and in youth. We will explore the various types of stress that individuals encounter and discuss effective strategies for recognizing stressors early, allowing for proactive management. The session will also focus on self-motivation techniques, helping individuals to motivate themselves to set and work toward meaningful personal and professional goals. Finally, learn about various self-care practices and how to integrate them into their daily routines to combat stress and enhance overall quality of life. Presenter: Rita Rasuli Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Reflection Sessions
Schoolyard Community: Environmental Literacy for Educators
Empower outdoor learning! Uncover indigenous wisdom, forge community bonds, refine observation skills, and integrate ELA connections. Engage in hands-on activities: BioBlitz and nature journaling. Cell phone required for interactive session. Presenter: Bella Githere Target Audience: 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers
Nurturing Educator Well-being: A One-Hour Wellness Boost
This engaging presentation helps educators to explore practical strategies for enhancing their overall well-being. We'll cover key aspects of physical, mental, emotional, and social health, providing participants with immediate and actionable insights to foster a healthier and more balanced professional life. Presenter: Teri Dix Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Reflective Leadership Through the Lens of Special Education Law
To empower school staff with a deeper understanding of the historical foundations of special education law, and how this awareness supports inclusive, ethical, and reflective leadership at the school site level. Presenter: Thomas Crocker Target Audience: Special Education, Administrators
First Year Admin: A Year in Review
Transitioning from a classroom teacher to an administrator (or any leadership role) is a significant leap, filled with challenges, triumphs, and invaluable lessons. In this engaging session, we will explore the key insights and skills that can bridge the gap between teaching and administration, providing new administrators (or inspiring teachers to consider administration) with practical strategies to thrive in their roles. Presenter: Cassandra Skelton Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Administrators
Create Generative AI-Resistant Assignments with Reflective Learning Strategies
Assignments often focus on achieving the correct answers. Teachers are concerned that students will use generative artificial intelligence to "cheat" on work. Bring your Chromebook or Computer to collaborate on reflective lesson strategies to create Generative AI-Resistant Learning Activities. Presenter: Burt Lo Target Audience: 6-8 Teachers
The Importance of Teacher Reflection for School Culture
This session will provide insights on the relationship between a school's professional culture around teacher reflection and its effects on student achievement. Based on my dissertation research, the importance of utilizing Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and adhering to a culture of continuous improvement both indicate significance in promoting college and career readiness of students. Participants will reflect on their own school culture and PLC implementation to begin planning for growth that will support teacher reflective practice and ultimately improved student achievement. Presenter: Dr. Mitchell Mesimer Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Reflect, Rotate, Repeat: Designing Student Thinking with AI and EduProtocols
What if student reflection wasn’t an afterthought, but the engine driving learning? In this session, discover how to design intentional reflection using EduProtocols, AI tools, and station rotation. Learn practical strategies to make student thinking visible, deepen engagement, and foster metacognition—all while keeping it fast, fun, and flexible. Walk away with ready-to-use ideas that work across content areas and grade levels. Presenters: Robert Mayfield & Jon Corippo. Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Rigor Sessions
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Opening Keynote speech that encompasses the 4 Core Values. Presenter: Martin Cisneros
Shifting Gears: Accelerating Learning through Universal Design for Learning
During this UDL session, we’ll explore how implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is akin to shifting gears in an automatic vehicle. Just as a car adjusts its gears to optimize performance based on speed and terrain, educators can tailor their teaching strategies to meet diverse learner needs. Participants will engage in hands-on activities demonstrating how to seamlessly transition between different teaching methods, ensuring all students can accelerate their learning journey. By embracing the UDL framework, we can create a smoother ride for every learner, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone thrives. Presenter: Fred Cochran Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Critical Prompting: Elevating Thinking in the AI Era
This presentation explores critical prompting as the next evolution of critical thinking, equipping educators with strategies to teach students how to engage effectively with AI. Participants will learn the four-part prompt framework to generate high-quality AI responses, refine outputs, and foster deeper inquiry. Through hands-on practice and classroom applications, educators will leave with practical tools to integrate AI-driven critical thinking into their teaching. Presenter: Kristin Ward Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Learning Without Limits: Literacy for Students with Disabilities
"Learning Without Limits: Literacy for Students with Disabilities" explores practical strategies, tools, and approaches to make literacy accessible for all learners. This session delves into common barriers faced by students with disabilities, highlights the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and showcases the role of assistive technology in fostering inclusive education. Attendees will gain actionable insights into creating equitable literacy experiences, fostering collaboration, and celebrating the unique potential of every student. Presenter: Amanda Shores Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, Special Education
Bridging theory and practice: EL success through rigor and relationships
This presentation will provide educators with an understanding of the intersection between scaffolding and rigor by providing theory and practical strategies to make classrooms, schools, and instruction more EL accessible. Presenter: Michael Tominaga Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Generative AI in the classroom with Adobe Express
Discover how to enrich student learning by using generative AI to enhance any topic and get students’ to think creatively. In this session, you will learn how to create unique graphics and characters with generative AI prompts and practice refining prompts for better results, teaching career-ready skills for any subject. Presenter: Martin Cisneros Target Audience: TK-2 Teachers, 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Special Education, Career Technical Education (CTE), Administrators
Keeping the Rigor in Multilingual/English Learner Education
As our student population becomes more diverse and students are coming with little to no English language proficiency and/or literacy we are still charged with providing them access to grade level appropriate instruction aligned to state adopted standards. How do we add supports and remove the roadblocks to offer equitable opportunities for Multilingual or English Learner students that their civil rights demand? Presenter: Amy Marszewski Target Audience: 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers, Administrators
Unleashing the Power of EduProtocols in Your Classroom
As educators seek innovative ways to enhance student engagement and foster deeper learning experiences, EduProtocols have emerged as a transformative instructional strategy. This workshop invites attendees to participate in an immersive and hands-on experience, delving into the practical applications of EduProtocols. Please bring a fully charged device as there will be hands-on time to build materials for your classroom." Presenter: Teri Dix Target Audience: 3-5 Teachers, 6-8 Teachers, 9-12 Teachers