Professional Development Conference

Traditional social skills instruction has often focused on teaching neurodivergent students to align their behavior with neurotypical social norms, such as maintaining eye contact, demonstrating "whole body" listening, and limiting discussion of special interests. As our understanding of neurodiversity continues to evolve, many educators are asking a different question: What if the goal isn't conformity, but rather creating conditions that support unmasking and authentic connection?

This session explores a shift from compliance-based social skills instruction to relationship-centered practices that foster self-awareness, authentic self-expression, and meaningful human connection. Drawing on her experience as a high school speech-language pathologist who co-teaches academic classes, facilitates social communication groups, and develops naturalistic community-based learning opportunities, the presenter will share practical, neurodiversity-affirming strategies that help students better understand themselves, navigate relationships, and participate in ways that honor their individual strengths, identities, and communication styles.

Participants will leave with a framework for rethinking social-emotional intervention through a neurodiversity-affirming lens, along with concrete ideas for creating more authentic, inclusive, and relationship-focused learning environments. Rather than expecting students to conform to neurotypical social norms, attendees will learn how to partner with students in setting personally meaningful social goals, fostering choice, agency, and self-advocacy while reducing the pressure to mask.

Educational travel has the power to transform students from passive observers into active global citizens. Using a successful American National Parks field course as a case study, this interactive session explores how to intentionally design travel experiences that deepen student curiosity,  inquiry, open up new perspectives, and expand worldviews. To make this practical for all educators, regardless of their school's travel budget, participants will engage in an "Experiential Design." Together, we will deconstruct how to map out historical, cultural, and environmental inquiry before a trip, and how to capture student voice during and after the experience.

How can we move beyond using technology as a simple substitute for traditional tools and leverage it to truly amplify student access, voice, and inquiry? This interactive breakout session explores how to intentionally integrate technology to transform the classroom into a more inclusive, student-centered environment. Through the lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), we will investigate practical strategies that empower all students, including multilingual learners. Participants will leave with ready-to-use activities and a framework for selecting technology that removes barriers, builds belonging, and positions students as co-constructors of knowledge.

Great coaches do more than develop athletes. They build confidence, foster belonging, and empower students to take ownership of their growth. In this session, we'll explore how coaching strategies can be intentionally transferred to the classroom and (vice versa) to increase student access, engagement, and voice. Participants will examine approaches such as meaningful goal setting, expanding opportunities for student choice and leadership, and building strong relationships. Whether you coach a team or teach in a classroom, you'll leave with adaptable strategies for creating environments where every student feels valued, supported, and empowered to succeed.

Participation is often viewed as evidence of engagement, confidence, and understanding. Yet many students—particularly multilingual learners—participate in ways that remain invisible in traditional classrooms. Designing Participation: Amplifying Student Access, Voice, and Belonging invites educators to rethink participation as an instructional design challenge rather than a student characteristic. Through classroom examples, reflection, and practical design tools, participants will explore how participation structures can unintentionally privilege speed, verbal confidence, and dominant communication norms. Together, we will examine strategies for identifying hidden participation barriers, designing multiple pathways into learning, and creating classrooms where every student has meaningful opportunities to contribute without lowering academic expectations. Participants will leave with practical tools they can immediately apply to amplify student access, voice, and belonging across disciplines.

How can we maintain rigorous academic expectations while making complex thinking more accessible to every learner? Drawing on my experience teaching IB Language and Literature, this interactive session explores practical strategies that help neurodiverse students demonstrate sophisticated thinking without diluting intellectual challenge. Through classroom examples, personal anecdotes, and ready-to-use instructional tools, participants will explore approaches such as teacher modeling, focused close-reading tasks, sentence stems, and intentional scaffolding that amplify student voice by removing unnecessary barriers rather than lowering expectations. While grounded in the literature classroom, these strategies are adaptable across disciplines.

Traditional punitive discipline policies disproportionately exclude marginalized learners, fracturing classroom communities and widening equity gaps. Therefore, this roundtable will invite educators to explore a necessary paradigm shift: moving accountability towards repairing harm, honoring student voice, and fostering true belonging through the application of Restorative Justice (RJ) practices. Drawing parallels between RJ and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), we will examine how providing multiple, human-centered, dialogue-oriented pathways for solving conflicts and creating connections can transform classroom culture. Participants will share real-world challenges, reflect on district-level lessons, and collaboratively build actionable strategies to implement restorative practices within their own classrooms and schools.

Controversial topics, like politics and identity, are challenging to navigate but invite authentic learning. The key is accessibility. How do we create spaces where people can hold conflicting opinions, yet feel valued, safe to contribute, and heard? In this discussion, participants will use the St. Andrew’s School Community Norms, apply them to their own classroom or school, then share how they might be effective or used in different ways. Particular attention will be placed on identifying philosophical starting points and naming the habits of mind and heart necessary for having difficult conversations that creates space for self-reflection, civility, and a sense of belonging.

Artificial Intelligence is undeniably on the rise in our homes, at school and on our phones. And to imagine it will do anything other than proliferate could compromise our own growth, both intellectually and emotionally. An important question that many, in the excitement of AI’s promise, may not consider is: how might we balance this important technological breakthrough by reversing course and reducing our use, so as to keep ourselves and our students in balance?

By slowing down. And pausing.

We can learn new techniques, rooted in both psychology and Universal Design for Learning, to maximize our “human” intelligence and create intentional plans that can be implemented in and out of school. Digital detoxing is often applauded when considered through a personal or social media lens. But it might rather be our classrooms and during the school day where we take aim at prioritizing and maximizing our wellbeing at the expense of technology. While it may seem counterintuitive with many school wide initiatives focusing on integrating more technology into the classroom, this round table discussion will ask you to check your devices at the door and “connect,” the old fashioned way, trusting our instincts and each other in order to grow our perspectives and skill sets in order to benefit our students.