Belongingness is at the heart of learning, and an essential tool for improving attendance. This workshop will explore how educators can intentionally create schools and classrooms where every student feels welcomed, known, valued, heard, supported, and needed. You will examine the relationship between belonging, well-being, engagement, and academic learning and identify the everyday experiences that communicate who belong. Through reflection, discussion, and practical application, you will learn evidence-informed ways to strengthen relationships, increase meaningful student participation, build productive peer connections, and create conditions that encourage academic risk-taking. Attendees will leave with practical strategies they can use immediately and a plan for making belonging a consistent feature of the student experience, as well as a tool to improve attendance.

Strong student-teacher relationships are the foundation of student success and the secret sauce of great teaching. Relationships matter. This interactive workshop, inspired by the book, High Impact Relationships, by Bryan Harris and Shauna King, explores how you can create a classroom where every student feels seen, valued, and empowered to succeed. You will learn practical strategies to build authentic relationships that promote connection and empowerment.

What students learn is shaped not only by instruction, but also by the beliefs, expectations, and environments that surround them. In this interactive workshop, you will explore how teacher thinking and teacher expectations influence student motivation, engagement, achievement, and identity. Drawing on the science of learning, you will examine how expectations become embedded in classroom practices and how student expectations of themselves and others affect learning outcomes. You will connect research on cognition, belonging, and motivation to the development of positive school culture and classroom climate, leaving with practical strategies to foster high expectations and learning-centered environments.

This workshop, based on Dr. Kate MacLeod's book, From Behaving to Belonging: The Inclusive Art of Supporting Students who Challenge Us, will focus on the mindset, heartset and skillset K-12 school staff can use to re-story challenging student behaviors, implement compassionate and collaborative strategies, focus on and nurture their own well-being, and address system-wide structural inequities to create more inclusive and caring schools.

How do we teach the skills of bridging and dialogue in our classrooms and schools? What strengths or qualities can we draw on to communicate across differences? What are the protocols and practices that best support constructive dialogue—and kinder, happier schools where everyone belongs? This workshop will feature aspirational ways of bringing people together—in the spirit of connection, authentic listening, and healing. Together, we will reflect on three key qualities or skills in practice: curiosity (“Tell me more; I want to understand”), intellectual humility (“I may be wrong, and I’m open to changing my thinking”), and empathy (“I feel with you–and your perspective”).