FEATURED SPEAKER: The world’s foremost expert on all things Rube Goldberg, Jennifer George is the legacy director of Rube Goldberg Inc. (RGI). Overseeing all aspects of her grandfather’s estate, Jennifer has conceived and developed numerous cultural events and educational projects, often linking the fields of art, science, technology, and entertainment in visionary ways.

EDUCATORS MATTER: It’s time…time for educators to stand up and speak up! Yes, Educators Matter and the work being done day after day in classrooms across North America reinforces why. This session is designed to love, honor, and cherish educators for what they do, why they do it, and to inspire them to keep doing it!

BUILDING MATH CONFIDENCE STARTING AT HOME: We live in a society filled with people who hate math or suffer from math anxiety, but we can try to change the narrative for our children and students. We want our children to grow up seeing the beauty and joy of mathematics. We can do this by bringing math into their worlds through positive experiences and finding the math around us. Join me in this session as we explore mathematical concepts found in every day experiences and learn how to build our students’ confidence with mathematics.

LESSONS BEHIND THE GATES: Leading a school can be both a joy and a challenge in regular times. Peter is the principal of a Canadian school housed on NATO’s Supreme Headquarters in Belgium. His school’s mission is to support the children of military serving overseas. With the world rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading this particular school presents unique challenges. Join me as we explore the lessons learned from this unique leadership experience.

POWER OF CONNECTIONS: A PLN is a mindset; it is not a one-shot connection. If managed well, these connections can help teachers and leaders innovate and improve student outcomes. Lifelong learning requires effort. Collaboration as a method of learning has been a fabric of education for years. However, PLNs were mostly limited to face-to-face interactions within school buildings, districts, or, in some cases, conferences, but with the technology we have today, our connections are limitless. Twitter, Voxer, EdCamp, FAcebook and more, are the backbone for most PLNs. This session will provide strategies to maximize your connections and grow as an educator.

AMPLIFYING THINKING ROUTINES USING DIGITAL TOOLS: Project Zero’s Thinking Routines promote students’ thinking by taking what students have read or learned about and have them synthesize their thoughts to make their thinking visible. Haven’t heard of them yet? Come to this session and learn all about them. Discover when and how using technology tools, such as GSuite, Padlet, Pear Deck and Flipgrid can amplify the use of these routines. Empower your learners to new levels as you learn to combine thinking routines and technology tools.

DISCOMFORT BY DESIGN: Read any school’s mission statement and you will probably discover each strives to prepare students for the world that awaits them after their educational journey. This is a world full of experiences and challenges which are outside the comfort zones of many of our students. All of this will require specific skills and traits which are often overlooked by our current, result-oriented, education system. Discomfort by Design takes you on an entertaining and inspirational journey through a process of stepping out of our comfort zones both in and outside of the classroom. Along the way, Discomfort by Design fosters essential skills in all of us, promotes critical thinking and problem-solving, and encourages us to pursue becoming a better version of ourselves. It’s a life-changing message and process that every student, teacher, administrator, and parent needs to experience. 

MENTAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS: HOW CAN EDUCATORS SUPPORT STUDENTS AND PARENTS DEALING WITH MENTAL ILLNESS?: Schools are being inundated with cases of anxiety in young adults. The dramatic increase in attention being paid to the illness has been beneficial to those suffering, however the difficulty lies in understanding the illness and how best to support students in their efforts to overcome it. Although many students have logistical circumstances keeping them from being successful, many of them are school avoidant because of anxiety that is, quite frankly, debilitating. Understanding anxiety is a work in progress for educators, parents, doctors, therapists, students, sufferers, and non-sufferers. Just like anything else we attempt to understand, we will never get there if we don’t, first, ask questions. In this session participants will look at the primitive needs for anxiety, i.e., why we are programmed to experience angst, what it is and why it’s exacerbated in young adults, how to talk to students suffering and support parents desperate for answers. Come learn from a sitting high school administrator who has not only lived with mental illness, but has counseled many on the topic. 
Participants will…
*learn practical strategies to use with students suffering from anxiety and support parents fighting for their child’s success
*explore the primitive rationale for the existence of anxiety and the fight or flight response
*examine what anxiety is, how it is exacerbated in young adults, and how it differences from general nervousness

ANSWERING THE CALL: Teachers and potential teachers often refer to joining the ranks of educators as a calling and with the projected increase of a shortage of teachers in next couple of years we need more good people becoming great teachers.

MINDSET MOMENTS: ATTENTION ALL EDUCATORS! Have you ever felt alone, powerless, or overwhelmed? Would you like to feel more in control of your own destiny no matter the circumstances? How about feeling more capable to overcome any challenge and face adversity with a surefire plan? Mindset Moments have your back! Join Andrew J. Canlé as he explains a framework that will empower you to bet on yourself despite the odds time and again.

THE PROBLEM WITH COLOUR BLINDNESS: With so many conversations around race and ethnicity in our educational spaces, it is important to understand that some of the best intentions have unintended consequences. Join me as I share my story of being raised “white” despite a very obvious conflict…I’m not. I will discuss how this approach to equity and inclusion shaped my perceptions and experiences both in and out of school.

PK-12 CS PATHWAYS, E-SPORTS AND MORE: Learn how small rural midwest school district created opportunities for kids PK-12 and is leading the state of Iowa with class offerings and a successful Esports program!

FIRED UP LEADERSHIP: Calling all Heretics, Outliers and Disruptors to the leadership table. The more leaders you create the more your leadership ability increases exponentially. Learn the 4 Dimensions of Fired Up Leadership driven by the 5th Dimension, passion! 

BREAKING BETTER: MAKING THE MOVE TO BETTER PRACTICE: This session will focus on the importance of challenging present practice as a matter of course to discovering better practice. Designed for all educators, this session will seek to inspire attendees to break away from the status quo and seek the better in their beliefs of what could be in education. 

BUILDING HOPE IN CHALLENGING TIMES: Reflect, grow and create tangible changes that will help you build a focus on HOPE for your classroom, school or community. In a cyclical, comprehensive approach, learn how to question and challenge current structures and barriers to develop a vision and community centered around HOPE and action. Make a bold statement of the importance of every community member and how you value their presence and contribution. Tackle challenges, ask questions, shake your status quo and transform your current reality to lead with heart, empathy and share HOPE with others.

UNLOCKING UNLIMITED POTENTIAL: Unlocking Unlimited Potential is at the core of what every educator is trying to achieve with all those they serve. In order to stay true to this vision, you must first look within to understand the infinite power that is inside of you. In this keynote, Brandon builds the foundation that is critical for helping you turn self-limiting beliefs into self confidence. Your potential is limitless.

REDISCOVERING YOUR VOICE AND IMPROVING YOUR TEACHING THROUGH PODCASTING: We are presenting on Rediscovery of Voice – bettering our teaching practices through podcasting. This concept was developed through the podcasting work that we have done in the past 16 months. We want all educators, including classroom teachers, administrators, and other educational staff to walk away knowing their voices deserve to be heard. Their stories deserve to be told, and their opinions and ideas matter. We encourage teachers to use podcasting as a way to archive their teaching practices and their thoughts for a particular time. It is a highly reflective practice that allows teachers to be able to better themselves as educators. We encourage teachers to use podcasting as a way to develop their Professional Learning Community, and therefore develop great pedagogies through their own research and learning. 

PREVENTING POLARIZATION: TEACHING CIVIC MINDEDNESS AT ALL LEVELS: Too often we confuse a civic education as having taken a one and done course on the role of the government and how it functions. WRONG! Having a civic education should result in being civically minded. This means caring about what’s happening in your world and your community – and knowing you have a responsibility to shape its future. It means making the effort to have an informed opinion, to vote, and to get involved in what’s happening in the world. Join us for this interactive session as we share strategies that any teacher can use to help promote civic mindedness and constructive dialogue (especially around tough topics).

USING HISTORICAL EMPATHY TO BUILD CONTEXT AND CONNECTION: Using the building blocks of citizenship and civic education, we will provide strategies on helping students to connect to the experience of others across epochs, belief systems, geographical locations and socio-economic stratas.

HOW CAN YOU HARNESS THE CREATIVE POWER OF THE #SHIFTSEED?: Life is all about choices: wake-up or hit the snooze button, roast dinner or order take-out, grade papers or catch-up on Netflix. So what drives us to make one decision over the other? What’s driving our learners with their decisions? But most importantly, how are we inspiring our education community as leaders, to plant and grow the #ShiftSeed in creative meaningful ways? Join me to dive-in to innovative strategies that leaders can leverage to inspire their Teams in these ever-changing times, to support their learners to thrive in this new educational landscape! This will be an interactive #creativityJAM presentation where leaders are learning & growing together, using a variety of app-smash tools to ignite inspiration and #thecandleofcuriosity (e.g. utilizing your organization’s digital signage to hook other educators, students, leaders, to celebrate, and to inspire, etc.).