ENGAGE 2026 Professional Learning Conference

Teachers know that students learn best when group sizes are smaller! With class sizes increasing, small groups are a wonderful way to structure your classes and see increased engagement and comprehension! Come to this session to learn:
How to form your small groups
How to create a routine for small groups
Structuring small group mini-lessons
How to engage students NOT in a small group

Get your classroom ready for game day math! This session will show educators how to use your new math resource to implement problem-solving and discourse routines that keep students actively engaged and thinking strategically. Explore hands-on approaches for fostering meaningful math conversations, building reasoning skills, and guiding students to work collaboratively through challenging tasks. You’ll leave with practical strategies to help every student advance down the field toward stronger conceptual understanding.

Join us for a hands-on workshop where we will explore the practical applications of NotebookLM. NotebookLM is an AI-powered workspace that allows you and your students to interact with documents, notes, and research materials in a dynamic and intuitive way. It can:
Summarize complex texts: Quickly distill key information, freeing up valuable class time.

Generate personalized study guides: Create tailored learning resources for diverse student needs.
Facilitate deeper analysis: Encourage students to ask insightful questions and draw meaningful connections.
Streamline research projects: Empower students to gather, organize, and synthesize information efficiently.
Provide instant vocabulary and concept explanations: Students can get help with difficult topics instantly.
We will focus on the tool's ability to turn a typed-up interview into an AI generated podcast.

Great readers, like great athletes, know what to watch for — and the Fiction Signposts from the Notice and Note series by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst give students exactly that edge when tackling literary texts. In this session, we'll break down each signpost and explore ready-to-use strategies for coaching students to read with intention and analyze an author's purpose like a pro.

Get ready to enhance your teaching "game plan" with the Lead4ward Instructional Strategies Playlist. This session is designed to provide educators with a practical set of low-prep, high-yield maneuvers that turn everyday lessons into active learning experiences. We will explore how these easy-to-use strategies can be integrated into your existing curriculum to encourage deep student interaction and make thinking visible. By the end of this session, you’ll have a refreshed playbook of research-based strategies ready for kickoff in your own classroom. Let’s huddle up and prepare for a season of high student engagement!

Many of our students love nothing more than for teachers to do the heavy cognitive lifting and speaking on their behalf. But there is a solution for supporting students in a swift transition to independent critical thinking, speaking, and problem solving. This session will help teachers to plan and deliver instruction that addresses learned helplessness, diverse needs and divergent cognitive abilities. In this workshop series, Dr. Dickey – a nationally respected and highly sought-after expert in teaching and learning will deepen participants’ understanding of the cornerstone for driving student capacity and confidence.

Step onto the field ready to strengthen your instructional game with purposeful visual supports that drive learning for Emergent Bilingual (EB) students. In this engaging session, participants will explore practical strategies for using visuals to clarify content and boost engagement. Learn how to avoid common instructional “fumbles” and create a visual game plan that helps students move the chains toward academic success.

Great teams communicate on and off the field—and strong math classrooms do the same! In this session, elementary educators will explore how to build a winning “math team” (class) through purposeful student discourse. Learn practical strategies to get every player in the game, including math talk play calls, team signals, and structured partner huddles. Walk away with ready-to-use tools that help you coach a classroom culture where every student takes the field, shares their thinking, and works together to score big in math learning.

Explore practical strategies to turn academic conversations into powerful learning. Make every discussion a championship move!