Wednesday Breakout Sessions

Wednesday Breakout Sessions

Wednesday, June 17

9:40–10:30 AM Breakout Sessions

Self-Leadership: How Teachers Reclaim Their Power and Purpose

Presenter: Jermaine Shakespeare
Empower teachers to reclaim their purpose through self-leadership. This session offers practical strategies to shift mindset, lead with intention, and make a greater impact on students and school culture.

Strand: Transformational Leadership and Systems Change

Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Public Health Approach to Equity and Prevention

Presenter: Dr. Pamela Sacks-Lawlar
Using a public health framework, this session examines the epidemiology of the School-to-Prison Pipeline, including root causes, risk factors, and long-term outcomes such as trauma, academic disruption, and reduced life opportunities

Strand: Culturally Responsive Practices that Advances Academic Achievement

EconReads: Bringing Economics to Life Through Children’s Literature

Presenter: Ms. Donna Dempsey
EconReads uses children’s literature and hands-on activities to teach K–5 students economics and personal finance. Educators will gain ready-to-use, standards-aligned lessons and strategies to connect literacy with financial learning in engaging ways

Strand: Early Learning Foundations

What Students Carry: Partnering with Families to Support the Whole Child

Presenter: Mrs. Kylah Seabrooks
Explore how to build strong family partnerships, strengthen communication, and create culturally responsive environments that support the whole child. Gain strategies to build trust and strengthen school-home connections.

Strand: Community and Family Partnerships

10:40–11:30 AM Breakout Sessions

Is Your Coaching Program Delivering Results?

Presenter: Dr. Ildi Laczko-Kerr
Unsure whether your instructional coaching is working? This interactive session shows you how to evaluate impact, gather meaningful qualitative and quantitative data, and align coaching to your goals so your investment delivers real results.

Strand: Transformational Leadership and Systems Change

From Misread to Empowered: Seeing the Student Behind the Behavior

Presenter: Dr. LeTron Alexander
This session equips educators and leaders with practical, culturally responsive, trauma-informed
strategies for understanding student behavior and responding in ways that strengthen
connection, engagement, and success.

Strand: Culturally Responsive Practices that Advances Academic Achievement

Unlocking the Joy of Writing: Proven Strategies to Inspire Reluctant Writers

Presenter: Mr. Adam Laningham
Many students struggle with writing as both a skill and an emotional task. This session provides
tools to reduce anxiety, strengthen resilience, and create supportive, process‑centered
classrooms that help all learners grow.

Strand: Culturally Responsive Practices that Advances Academic Achievement

What Students Carry: Partnering with Families to Support the Whole Child

Presenter: Dr. Bisi Alli
Explore how to build strong family partnerships, strengthen communication, and create culturally
responsive environments that support the whole child. Gain strategies to build trust and
strengthen school-home connections.

Strand: Community and Family Partnerships

1:30–2:20 PM Breakout Sessions

Perception and Perspective: Does Your Reality Need A Reality Check?

Presenter: Prof. Rico McCoy Burton
A fast‑paced session that shows how perception shapes our reality and influences our
interactions and relationships, with practical strategies to reflect, reframe, and reset when
assumptions lead us off track.

Strand: Educator Leadership and Growth

I Am Because We Are: Centering Black Student Voice Through StoryShare

Presenter: Cecilia Abarca & Amaya Ravenell
Step into StoryShare, an interactive literacy model centering student voice through writing and
performance. A replicable model implemented with middle-grade Black students at Utterback
Middle School in partnership with the University of Arizona.

Strand: Collaborative and Student-Centered Learning

The Most Dangerous Word in Education Isn’t Failure. It’s Potential.

Presenter: Dr. Ovett Chapman
“You have so much potential.” We say it all the time. But what if it delays support for Black
students? This session challenges that phrase and gives educators practical tools to change
what students receive now.

Strand: Culturally Responsive Practices that Advances Academic Achievement

Keeping Our Voice: Culturally Responsive Teaching in the AI Era

Presenter: Dr. Ann Williamson
Explore how to use AI to support instruction while preserving culturally responsive teaching,
educator voice, and student identity. This session offers practical strategies to integrate
innovation without losing the human and cultural essence of teaching.

Strand: Culturally Responsive Practices that Advances Academic Achievement

2:30–3:20 PM Breakout Sessions

Ditch the To-Do List: Build Your To-Be List for Real Impact

Presenter: Ms. Kathi Kulesza
Move beyond the relentless to-do list and discover how intentional, “to-be” leadership
transforms visibility, confidence, and impact. This breakout gives Black educators and aspiring
leaders the frameworks and action steps to lead unapologetically.

Strand: Educator Leadership and Growth

Black Children Deserve More Than Survival: Reimagining Schools as
Places of Belonging, Brilliance, and Liberation

Presenter: Rev LaShauna Austria, Karinda Robuck & Mtende Roll
Black children deserve schools that honor their identity, cultivate their brilliance, and support
their full humanity. This interactive session invites educators, leaders, nonprofit partners, and
community advocates to reflect, regroup, and reimagine

Strand: Transformational Leadership and Systems Change

Keeping Our Voice: Culturally Responsive Teaching in the AI Era

Presenter: Cedric Collins & Berdetta Hodge
The presentation explores key elements of effective partnerships, including open
communication, mutual respect, and cultural responsiveness.

Strand: Community and Family Partnerships

When Students See Themselves: Identity‑Affirming Practices for Success

Presenter: Christopher Blane
Learning begins with students’ lived experiences. This session explores identity‑affirming
practices like storytelling and prior knowledge activation that connect content to reality, build
belonging, and empower all learners to succeed.

Strand: Culturally Responsive Practices that Advances Academic Achievement

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