This interactive keynote will address how to navigate one of the biggest challenges educators face today — providing students with equitable and culturally inclusive learning opportunities. This talk will include a detailed analysis on the varying levels of culture, addressing our social-emotional needs, and why we must ensure our students are provided a diverse and equitable educational experience. Further expanding on the primary purpose will be a look at how technology serves as both a needed and critical component to that end. Embedded within the keynote are personal narratives aligned with the central theme of incorporating both a culturally relevant and culturally responsive pedagogy to any content area.

Among the many factors that play a role in our experiences being seen, being heard, and being included are critical to those. School is no different as these are aligned with some of our basic needs. Yet, how often do we look at our own habits of mind and cultural norms to ensure that we are mindful of our actions/interactions and ensure we are truly being inclusive and mindful? In this interactive session, we will take a macro perspective on school culture and develop strategies for consistent examination on our habits of mind and culture norms. We will look at the norms that can lead to a lack of inclusion and how we can make mindfulness a norm instead. Participants will be taken through design and problem-based protocols that will serve as the basis for sustainable restorative practices as well as be the catalyst for developing a sustainably inclusive culture.

When it comes to learning and our learning environments culture is one of the most critical factors in our experiences. The culture you create, the culture you perpetuate, the culture you participate in can often be the determining factor for many things including student success, student access, and overall student experience. Culture is also a key determinant for the experiences of the educators in the building or district. In this talk, we will examine how our biases, our environments, and our authenticity can often be one of the single most important factors in the experiences we as well as our students have.

We have a startling level of accessibility to information and resources. Today’s learner is not only conditioned for immediate feedback, in many cases the desire for immediate results is expected. Adding to all of this is the competition for attention, The Attention Economy. As a result, one of the more significant challenges we face is to appropriately engage and connect with today’s learner. When it comes to technology and digital resources, many of these forms of engagement can occur at varying lengths of time from seconds to semesters. Whether it be teaching, learning, or creating, we have a plethora of resources available, literally at our fingertips. During this interactive keynote we will explore ways in which these resources can foster increasing degrees of engagement from a teaching, learning, and creating perspective.

In today’s age, the terms learning and classroom (learning space) have taken on a myriad of different and newer meanings. Both regularly occur and are associated with physical and digital environments. Often times the design of these environments can be a determining factor in the desired outcomes. In both cases, the designs of each can not only influence the learner, but also the breadth and quality of their learning experience. It is this experience that can mean the difference between successful engagement in learning and disengagement. During this keynote we will examine ways in which we can leverage the designs of physical and digital space to create a unique learner experience as well as strategies for effective design of learning environments. Because, Design Matters.

In our quest to provide students with rich learning environments, we often strive to find creative ways to further engage our students. In some cases, this may involve the use of technology to a variety of degrees. Since technology has a ubiquitous influence in the everyday lives of our students, one of our biggest challenges is to identify ways in which we can leverage it for increased student learning. This keynote will examine a variety of methodologies and strategies for effectively implementing and integrating technology into the curriculum. We will also look at ways in we can leverage the use of technology to increase student engagement as well as foster environments for equity.