Community & Belonging 🤝
Creating Connections: Best Practices in Teaching and Community Building
Lan Yao, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School
This interactive workshop shares practical strategies for building inclusive, student-centered classrooms and strong professional communities.
Strength in Difference: Building Meaningful Solidarity Across Communities of Color in Independent Schools
Jessy Molina, Molina Consulting
This reflective and energizing workshop invites educators of color to explore shared experiences and meaningful differences while strengthening collective power.
Threads of Connection: Weaving Shared Stories and Experiences Together in Community
Wordna Meskheniten, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School
This interactive session centers shared stories and simple practices that deepen trust and belonging across school communities.
Teaching & Learning 📚
Beyond the Bookshelf: Using an Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Framework to Select Culturally Relevant Texts for Children
Sharlene Wilson Ottley & Caryn Heskey, The River School
Educators will engage in hands-on strategies for selecting texts that affirm identity and promote equitable literacy.
Empowering Students: One Assignment Fostering Agency, Equity, and Innovation
Ashley Edwards, The Park School of Baltimore
This hands-on workshop highlights a powerful assignment that centers student voice and engagement.
Restorative Practice & Student Behavior Management in Middle School
Hayes Davis & Shrijana Puri, Park School of Baltimore
Participants will learn strategies for moving from punitive systems to restorative, relationship-centered approaches.
Equity, Identity & Leadership ⚖️
Landscape of Athletics
Jessy Morgan, Garrison Forest School
This session explores how athletics can be leveraged to promote access, representation, and belonging in independent schools.
Prioritizing Wholeness: Centering “Real” in Cultures of “Nice” for Educators of Diverse Backgrounds and Abilities
Michael Tennant, Curiosity Lab & Taaj Davis, Woodberry Forest School
This restorative session offers space, tools, and reflection to support resilience and wholeness for educators of color.
Reframing Equity: How to Ground DEI for Changing Times
Wordna Meskheniten, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School
This workshop supports educators in sustaining and adapting equity work during moments of challenge and transition.
Thriving, Not Surviving: Reclaiming Purpose and Power as a Black Educator in Education
Alexis Watson, Upper School Dean, St. Paul’s School for Girls
This empowering session creates space for Black educators to reflect, reconnect, and move beyond survival toward sustained purpose and impact.
Well-Being, Sustainability & Care 🌿
Sustaining the Spark: Making Teaching Sustainable for Parents Who Teach
Kaneia Mayo Crumlin, Beauvoir School
This affirming session centers educators who are parents, offering community, strategy-sharing, and renewal.
Technology, Creativity & the Future 🤖
What Is Excellence to a Robot?
Anjulee Bhalla, The Bryn Mawr School
This thought-provoking session explores AI through the lens of communities of color, ethics, and creative power.