STLinATL

The hands-on workshop (concurrent session) “Beyond the Books: Creating Engaging STEAM Activities, 2.0” will provide attendees with the opportunity to experience a variety of activities that can be used in the Makerspace or STEAM classroom. Presenters will share teaching strategies and classroom practices that foster critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity in elementary students. Additionally, there will be an opportunity to explore various technologies including coding and robotics (Root Robot, Ozobots, Sphero Indie, and Spike Prime.). This will be an engaging experience that reflects best practices of STEAM instruction and creative ways to incorporate literature.

Learning is absolutely incredible, but sometimes, like students we teach, we need a little break to process all of this new information or to just chill. In this session we will share a few engaging art brain break activities that are perfect for students of all ages to help them refresh and refocus. A brain break is a short period of time dedicated to engaging in activities that differ from the primary task at hand, often used to help refocus and improve the learning experience. These art brain breaks are quick, creative activities that require minimal materials and setup. Come to this creative session and explore your inner artist! We will offer various art centers where you can explore your creative side. Whether you are seeking to do some creating yourself or use these ideas in your classroom, this session is the place for you. Materials will be provided.   

The overarching presentation will emphasize the importance of relationships in education, demonstrating how they are built through stories, hands-on learning, and creativity. Admin asks teachers; teachers ask admin; teachers ask students; students ask teachers; teachers ask parents; parents ask teachers; parents ask admin; admin ask parents... in the never-ending communication cycle, relationships change the dynamic immediately. Each relationship is valued and integral to the educational process. Relationships should always come first.

- Clear/concise communication with admin, teachers, students, and parents
- Fear VS Fear
- How to build relationships with students
- How to build relationships with parents
- How to build relationships with teachers
- How to build relationships with the admin
- How to have uncomfortable conversations with admin, teachers, students, and parents after establishing relationships

Discover how SEE Learning (Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning) can transform the World Languages classroom into a space where language acquisition and emotional growth go hand in hand. In this session, we will explore practical strategies for integrating SEE Learning’s core principles—cultivating self-awareness, compassion, and ethical engagement—into the curriculum to enhance students’ linguistic and cultural proficiency.

Participants will learn how to design lessons that encourage empathy and cross-cultural understanding, helping students build deeper connections with the language, its speakers, and their peers. Examples will include activities that combine mindfulness practices, reflective exercises, and interpersonal dialogue to foster both emotional intelligence and communicative competence.

This session will provide tools for addressing challenges such as student disengagement, diverse learner needs, and cultural misunderstandings, making the classroom a supportive and inclusive environment. Attendees will leave with sample lesson frameworks and assessment methods, to implement SEE Learning within their language instruction.

This interactive workshop empowers K-12 educators to confidently utilize makerspace tools and equipment in their classrooms. Through a small hands-on build project, participants will gain practical experience with essential workshop tools while exploring strategies to integrate engineering, physical computing, and AI concepts into student learning.
This session also provides adaptable curriculum ideas, project-based learning strategies, and best practices for creating engaging, real-world learning experiences. With practical demonstrations and step-by-step guidance on operating makerspace tools, attendees will leave equipped with actionable insights and digital resources to inspire their students and enhance their STEM programs. This session is ideal for new and experienced teachers looking to expand their confidence with makerspace equipment, incorporate innovative STEM projects, and empower students to develop the skills needed for 21st-century careers.

Find out how Optima partners with independent schools to support student learning and teacher development through virtual reality. Explore how educators use innovative tools to inspire the next generation.
Listen to one of our partners share their experience and their plans for future learning.

In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, securing research funding is critical to driving innovation, supporting student- centered learning, and sustaining transformative teaching practices. Yet, many educators and school leaders find the grant-seeking process daunting, time-consuming, or inaccessible. This session will demystify the research grant process, providing actionable strategies to help educators identify funding opportunities, craft compelling grant proposals, and effectively manage awarded grants to maximize their impact.

Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how to:
✅ Identify grant opportunities that align with their educational initiatives and research interests.
✅ Structure a compelling grant proposal using proven frameworks that increase funding success.
✅ Integrate student-centered, research-backed innovations into grant applications.
✅ Leverage data to demonstrate impact and secure continued funding.
✅ Manage awarded grants efficiently to ensure long-term sustainability and meaningful outcomes.

Every learner has different needs--but there are simple strategies that any teacher can use to ensure that every student is appropriately challenged and supported every day. Learn how independent-school teachers worldwide are using the self-paced, mastery-based Modern Classroom instructional model to create classrooms where all learners can succeed.

In this engaging and interactive session, Modern Classrooms Project co-founder (and former independent school graduate and teacher). Robert Barnett will explain how educators can:

-Digitize direct instruction, so they can spend class time working closely with their students.
-Design structures for self-paced learning, which keep all students appropriately challenged--and appropriately supported--every day.
-Ensure that all students achieve authentic mastery before advancing to more complex content.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins found "overwhelming positive support" for this approach. In this interactive session, led by Modern Classrooms Project co-founder Robert Barnett, you'll see why! In particular, you will:

1) Experience Modern Classroom instruction from the student perspective, by completing a series of brief mastery-based learning tasks.

2) Use classroom-tested guides and templates to identify instructional videos, design collaborative practice activities, and create mastery checks - all of which they can use with their own students, in their own communities.

3) Learn from one another by providing feedback on each others' materials and articulating clear action plans to implement the lessons they have created with their students in the fall.

You'll leave feeling inspired to meet every learner's needs--and empowered to do so!

Explore Flint, an AI platform revolutionizing education, and learn how to create interactive tutors for STEM education. This session will showcase Flint's capabilities, including its latest features and progress over the past year, and provide practical examples of its use in various educational scenarios. Participants will discover how Flint can support innovative teaching methods, leaving them with the inspiration and tools to explore its potential in their own classroom settings. Whether you're teaching algebra, physics, or programming, this presentation will highlight multiple possibilities and suggest ideas for using Flint to enhance the learning experience for your students.

One of the challenges faced by educators who are increasingly trying to move students away from their electronic devices is how to activate them both physically and mentally in positive class participation and discussion. This presentation offers practical techniques for facilitating interpersonal interaction between students to engage them in thoughtful discussion and collaborative problem solving. These strategies incorporate ideas for how to get students up out of their desks and moving while thinking and interacting. Participants will have the opportunity to try some of these strategies firsthand, and will be encouraged to participate in brainstorming and discussion regarding how they might be implemented in their classrooms.

How can students be in the driving seat of their learning experience? And why should they be? In times of generative AI, machine learning, and easy access to knowledge, students cannot be passive recipients of that knowledge anymore. We need to meet the students where they are, not where we think they should be. That means students should be encouraged to be creators of knowledge and to transfer their knowledge to novel situations. As they design their learning experience, they become problem-solvers and critical thinkers, content experts, and collaborators. Students grapple with authentic, non-linear, interdisciplinary work that requires a focus on skills over content. Our student-directed projects are at the core of our student-driven learning approach. Students are active explorers driven to answer an essential question they created. Through this non-linear, interdisciplinary inquiry, students engage in deeper learning as they construct, transfer, and make sense of their knowledge. An approach that promotes student agency, choice, and investigation. Come and hear about our journey to make this change happen, the highs, the not-so-highs, the need to let go of some of
our beliefs about how schools should work and students should learn.

The Educator’s Compass: Navigating Compassion Fatigue and Burnout is an interactive session  designed to help educators recognize, manage, and overcome the emotional toll of their profession. It provides practical strategies for maintaining well-being, setting boundaries, and reigniting their passion for the field. By addressing stress, self-care, and resilience, this resource empowers educators to navigate challenges while sustaining their purpose and impact.