This interactive session introduces secondary teachers to the key practices of Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC) and how they can be implemented in real classrooms to increase student engagement, collaboration, and deep mathematical thinking. Participants will experience BTC strategies firsthand, including thinking tasks, vertical non-permanent surfaces, and random grouping, and will leave with practical tools they can immediately apply in their own classrooms. Participants will need access to lesson plans (digital or paper).
Secondary classrooms often face increasing pressures related to engagement, behavior, motivation, and disconnection. This session explores a practical alternative to compliance-centered instruction by focusing on the design of participation itself. Drawing from the Dignity Connectors framework, participants will examine how classroom structures can foster belonging, agency, discussion, collaboration, and meaningful contribution while maintaining clarity and rigor. Educators will leave with adaptable participation strategies that support stronger relationships, deeper thinking, and more equitable engagement across diverse learning environments.
What? We are learning to define small group instruction and explore effective systems, strategies, and resources to differentiate for various learners in the secondary classroom. Why? Effective small group instruction is essential for meeting diverse student needs and tailoring teaching to where students are, grounded in the mission, vision, and portrait of a graduate in Colonial School District. How? By viewing examples, reflecting on prior instructional experiences and engaging in peer discourse, we will identify classroom management procedures and develop resources to successfully facilitate small group instruction. Please bring a laptop.
This interactive session introduces secondary teachers to the key practices of Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC) and how they can be implemented in real classrooms to increase student engagement, collaboration, and deep mathematical thinking. Participants will experience BTC strategies firsthand, including thinking tasks, vertical non-permanent surfaces, and random grouping, and will leave with practical tools they can immediately apply in their own classrooms. Participants will need access to lesson plans (digital or paper).
What? We are learning to define small group instruction and explore effective systems, strategies, and resources to differentiate for various learners in the secondary classroom. Why? Effective small group instruction is essential for meeting diverse student needs and tailoring teaching to where students are, grounded in the mission, vision, and portrait of a graduate in Colonial School District. How? By viewing examples, reflecting on prior instructional experiences and engaging in peer discourse, we will identify classroom management procedures and develop resources to successfully facilitate small group instruction. Please bring a laptop.
Secondary classrooms often face increasing pressures related to engagement, behavior, motivation, and disconnection. This session explores a practical alternative to compliance-centered instruction by focusing on the design of participation itself. Drawing from the Dignity Connectors framework, participants will examine how classroom structures can foster belonging, agency, discussion, collaboration, and meaningful contribution while maintaining clarity and rigor. Educators will leave with adaptable participation strategies that support stronger relationships, deeper thinking, and more equitable engagement across diverse learning environments.
Participants will learn how to do two things simultaneously — use AI tools to strengthen their own instructional practice and weave AI literacy mindsets and skills into existing content-area lessons. This matters because students need adults who can both model thoughtful AI use and teach them to engage with AI critically and ethically — not as a separate unit, but embedded in the work they're already doing. Participants will know key AI literacy concepts appropriate for secondary students (bias, transparency, human judgment, prompt quality, appropriate vs. inappropriate use); understand how to identify natural entry points for AI literacy within their existing curriculum without adding new content; and be able to draft one lesson moment or discussion hook that builds student AI literacy within their subject area.
