Creating Inclusive Classrooms: Meeting the Needs of Every Student in Math and/or Language Arts

Sessions in this strand highlight instructional practices that honor diversity and create safe learning spaces where students’ voices, thoughts, and ideas are heard; their identities thrive, and they are secure in knowing they matter. Presentations in this strand may include but are not limited to the following:  

• Effective differentiation strategies, structures, and routines
• Trauma-informed approaches
• Antiracist and anti-oppressive classrooms
• Restorative justice
• Culturally relevant pedagogies
  

Building on Students’ Strengths: Practices That Challenge, Engage, and Empower

Sessions in this strand will help participants make the dream of promoting students’ positive identities and sense of agency over their learning a reality through the exploration and examination of innovative teaching practices. Presentations in this strand may include but are not limited to the following: 

• Instructional practices that illustrate inclusive engagement strategies
• Instructional practices that elevate students’ ideas and experiences for shared learning opportunities
• Showcasing ways new knowledge builds on prior learning
• Illustration of instructional units that engage student voice
• Instructional practices that position students as owners of their learning 
  

Beyond the Classroom Walls: Empowerment, Access, and Equity

Sessions in this strand provide ways of identifying real world problems and including parents, school and/or community experts in problem solving. Presentations in this strand may include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Using math and ELA to understand local civic issues and the ideas behind the numbers
• Projects and initiatives that move beyond the classroom to interact with other spaces in the world and engage families. This can include student challenges beyond the school building (for example, book access, food insecurity).
• Math and ELA as civil rights actions for social justice and societal change
  

Revolutionizing Assessment to Elicit, Illuminate, and Leverage Student Thinking

Transform and reimagine classroom assessment practices to spotlight the dreams and brilliance of students. Presentations in this strand may include but are not limited to the following:  

• Examining and eliminating bias in assessment structures
• Purposeful assessments: using student thinking to drive instruction
• Working with students to write assessments collectively
• Translating student thinking found on assessments into transformative, student-led instruction 
  

Using Literature in Mathematics Classrooms and/or Using Mathematics in ELA Classrooms

Incorporating children’s literature in the mathematics classroom and/or using mathematics in ELA classrooms provides students with an opportunity to connect mathematical concepts to the real world and engage in problem-posing tasks that relate to real-life situations. Presentations in this strand may include but are not limited to the following:  

• Digital media literacy units that break down analyze both words and numbers in online news outlets
• Common concepts that bolster learning across content areas
• Strategies and activities to incorporate children’s literature in mathematics
• Instructional strategies that illustrate cross-curricular activities and promote literacy
• Math is a language: interpreting the patterns, numbers, and symbols to facilitate comprehensible multiliteracies
  

Teachers as Learners: Empowering Teacher Voice, Reflecting on and Refining Practice

A deeper knowledge of content empowers teachers to engage students in developing deep conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and reasoning. When teachers are equipped with a deep understanding of content and equitable teaching strategies, they are poised to increase students’ joy for learning. Presentations in this strand may include but are not limited to the following:  

• Teacher professional learning communities and collaborations
• Preservice teacher preparation for cross disciplinary learning
• Development and refinement of a specific teaching pedagogy or practice
• Shared leadership/shared learning structures within schools
• Structures/policies that facilitate cross-discipline and cross-grade level collaboration