AI tools have integrated into our classrooms whether we want them to or not. As teachers, we need to embrace, not demonize, AI by teaching our students how to use these tools ethically and responsibly. AI is able to work with you, not against you, as a writing tutor to help students gain valuable feedback. This does not replace you as the teacher or the peer review process, but rather gives students another tool to examine and improve upon their writing. By teaching students how to use the tool, you are teaching them how to apply feedback they receive and ask additional questions. I have been implementing AI writing tutors in my classroom (along with peer and teacher reviews) and have seen student writing improve dramatically. Tools examined in this session will include ChatGPT and MagicSchool. Tool familiarity is not required! You will need a laptop/Chromebook for this session.
Join this 45-minute session to discover hands-on ways educators can use AI to make teaching more efficient, engaging, and authentic. Drawing on experiences from three years of 7th-grade science teaching, a year of substitute teaching, and a recent college course, the session introduces tools like SchoolAI, MagicSchool AI, and Perplexity Pro for classroom management, faster grading, and deeper student engagement. We’ll also discuss how assessment is evolving—highlighting creative approaches that pair technology with authentic demonstrations of learning through oral presentations and handwritten blue book exams.
Utilizing Trine’s state of the art makerspace, The Mill, and a variety of provided materials, spend some time exploring your creativity to enhance your classroom with custom door signs or name plates. If your style is too great to be limited to school, come make bespoke jewelry or a personalized crossbody phone lanyard.
Students carry invisible stories into our classrooms every day. Trauma affects attention, behavior, emotional regulation, and relationships—often in ways that are misunderstood as defiance or disengagement.T his practical 45-minute session equips educators with immediately usable trauma-informed strategies that maintain high expectations while increasing emotional safety. Participants will learn how trauma impacts the brain, how to reframe challenging behavior as a survival response, and how to use specific language shifts and regulation tools to de-escalate situations. Educators will leave with actionable techniques they can implement the very next day.
Join this session to learn how to navigate the world of Canva and content design at an introductory level. This session will cover the basics of Canva and the functions it can serve in an educational setting. You will learn how to navigate the platform, utilize unique tools and create quality content that can be beneficial for organizing your own lesson plans as well as those forward-facing graphics you can showcase to students. Participate in this session to grow your creative endeavors!
Get ready to explore chemical and biochemical engineering through hands-on extraction activities your students will love! This interactive session begins with a relatable, real-world look at what chemical and biochemical engineers actually do and why their work impacts everything from medicine to food to everyday products. Participants will then dive into three engaging activities: extracting DNA from strawberries, separating Sharpie ink using alcohol and water to model solvent extraction, and connecting these ideas to essential oil applications. We’ll wrap up by making bath bombs while exploring reaction kinetics (why the fizz doesn’t start until water is added!) and real-world scale-up challenges, from producing one bath bomb to manufacturing hundreds. Teachers will leave energized and equipped with adaptable, classroom-ready activities that make big engineering concepts accessible, memorable, and fun for K–12 students.
This presentation focuses on strategies that support executive function skills for students with and without disabilities. It will also focus on how we can use executive function skills to support the whole child and in a culturally responsive way.
Utilizing Trine’s state of the art makerspace, The Mill, and a variety of provided materials, spend some time exploring your creativity to enhance your classroom with custom door signs or name plates. If your style is too great to be limited to school, come make bespoke jewelry or a personalized crossbody phone lanyard.
I will be discussing the dual enrollment opportunities available at Trine University, including our degree-specific pathways and CTE pathways designed to help students get a head start on their college education. I will also cover important topics such as transfer credit, transcripts, and the Indiana College Core. There will be time for questions, and I’m happy to answer any general questions about dual enrollment—even if they are not directly related to Trine. My goal is to be a resource for students, counselors, teachers, parents, and schools navigating dual enrollment opportunities.
Attending college puts you on a great path for life. The college experience is way more than the subject you study. Visiting campus while in secondary school can motivate and inspire you to get to the next level. Real life experiences can make an intangible idea less abstract.
Ready to press start on purposeful review? This high-energy session equips future and current middle school educators with practical strategies for designing and facilitating engaging review games that reinforce standards while boosting student retention and motivation. Participants will explore how to transform traditional test prep into inclusive, interactive experiences using team-based competitions, movement-based challenges, and digital platforms like Baamboozle. Discover how to structure games with clear routines and expectations to maintain classroom management while maximizing fun. Explore strategies to randomly group students and ensure equitable participation through collaborative roles so every learner actively contributes. Walk away with ready-to-implement ideas that transform test prep into meaningful, memorable learning experiences your students will actually look forward to. Game on!
A 6th-grade math and science teacher, Trista Deel has been an educator and tennis coach at Clark-Pleasant Middle School for four years. She grew up in Bryan, OH and earned a Bachelor of Science in elementary and special education from Trine University, where she also played tennis... Read More →
What if one of your biggest goals this year was to intentionally raise the bar for both yourself and your students? In this session, educators will explore how to move classrooms beyond simple compliance and into true commitment to learning. Participants will learn how to build strong relationships, establish meaningful classroom expectations, and create a culture where students feel safe to take risks and think critically. Using real classroom examples from entrepreneurship and personal finance courses, this session highlights strategies for designing relevant, real-world learning, differentiating without lowering rigor, and giving feedback that fuels growth. When students experience ownership, purpose, and high standards, learning transforms. Attendees will leave with practical tools to help students not just meet expectations, but choose to exceed them.
Join Alison and Anni as they explore the latest neuroscience behind building authentic, meaningful connections with students. Backed by research, their insights focus on practical and effective strategies that educators can apply immediately in their classrooms. Discover how understanding the brain can transform student engagement, improve behavior, and create a positive learning environment. Whether you're looking to strengthen relationships, enhance classroom management, or support students' emotional well-being, Alison and Anni provide actionable tools that make a real difference. Their approach is not only research-based but also teacher-tested, ensuring that every strategy is both practical and impactful. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how connection can unlock student potential and create lasting success.
We often say, 'If you have met one person on the Autism Spectrum, you have met one person on the Autism Spectrum.' This statement reminds us that each student with ASD is unique, and what works for one may not work for another. Evidence-based strategies are essential in supporting students on the spectrum, and when you build programs that are relationship-focused, interventions begin to meet individual needs. In this session, we are going to share our experiences from the middle school setting supporting ASD students with the target areas of need being heightened sensory response, lack of social desire, lack of peer relationships, self-stimulatory behavior, & suicide ideation.
Beginning with the biological, environmental, and sociocultural aspects of traumatic experience on learners and how they can typically manifest in the classroom, using relevant, real-world examples. Specific strategies from the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative and the Center for Responsive Schools will be covered. Participants will analyze their current environment and identify areas of improvement to implement trauma-sensitive design in the classroom to support students who have been impacted by trauma. Participants will also have the opportunity to collaborate with peers to share successful best practices from their own experiences.
Remember when Google first arrived in schools? Teachers were unsure, students were curious, and policies needed to be updated. AI is at that point. It is already part of student learning, the question now is: how do we leverage it effectively? This session focuses on using AI not only to increase student engagement but also to meaningfully differentiate instruction at the Tier 1 level. Participants will explore practical AI tools that support lessons, scaffold tasks, and help build well-rounded lesson plans. Grounded in MTSS principles, the session provides ready-to-use AI tools, a clear resource document of additional platforms, and hands-on strategies for bringing fun and creativity back into teaching, all while keeping students engaged and supported.AI is more than a tool; it is a way to make instruction more accessible, engaging, and impactful for every student.
Kaitlyn Reese - Leadership Consultant | Literacy Coach Coordinator | MTSS Administrator |With nearly a decade of experience in education, I am dedicated to building supportive and effective learning environments. As a Literacy Coach Coordinator and MTSS Administrator, I specialize in instructional l... Read More →
Utilizing Trine’s state of the art makerspace, The Mill, and a variety of provided materials, spend some time exploring your creativity to enhance your classroom with custom door signs or name plates. If your style is too great to be limited to school, come make bespoke jewelry or a personalized crossbody phone lanyard.
Esports is more than competition. It is a powerful academic tool that connects student passion with purposeful learning. This breakout session explores how structured Esports programs cultivate highly transferable skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication, strategic thinking, problem-solving, data analysis, and time management. By engaging students through something they genuinely love, institutions can create meaningful pathways to academic success and career readiness. We will also examine how Esports participation can positively influence student performance beyond the arena. At Trine Esports, for example, the program maintains an 87% retention rate, demonstrating how involvement encourages accountability, consistent attendance, and strong academic standing. When students feel connected to a community that values both competition and classroom achievement, motivation increases. Join this session to discover how Esports, under the department of Academic Affairs, can be leveraged as an innovative, outcomes-driven tool for student engagement and success.
You will be exposed to different experiences in the classroom and other student environments that come with highly diverse cultures. Awareness of obstacles and attributes that appear when multiple different cultures come together in a school/classroom, while considering different levels of English proficiency. We will then lead off from that concept to how you can adhere to different students' needs, and how to construct a culturally responsive classroom. Additionally, strategies about how to teach those students, including adaptation of materials, while also holding students to a high standard.
Do you have trouble getting your neurodivergent learners to engage in your lessons? Do they shut down or explode seemingly out of nowhere? This session will include simple strategies the Dynamic Minds Academy team uses to build certainty and reduce anxiety for our learners on the spectrum, as well as neurotypical students who lack confidence in their abilities.
Are you a Special Education teacher learning how to navigate the new IEP system? Wanting tips and tricks on quality items to include in your report? Do you have 30+ kids on your caseload and need quick ways to track accommodations, behaviors, IEP goals. Are you looking for new information to add to a current IEP and needing to get quick input from other teachers and outside agencies and resources. Come learn more as we walk through an IEP in the new system and utilize various tools, forms and even AI to include quality data while saving some time. Are you a General Ed teacher curious about what all is included in a student's IEP or want some tips on analyzing a special ed student's IEP? Come hear from a new and veteran special ed teacher giving you some new tips and tricks.
Carol Fike has been a Special Education teacher at DeKalb High School for 12 years. At DeKalb High School, she teaches Developmental Reading (remedial English) and Applied Careers (portfolio class for students that are off diploma track) in addition to being a Resource teacher. When... Read More →
