Teacher shortages have shifted the landscape of our schools. Today, we welcome passionate alternative-route and non-traditional educators who bring immense enthusiasm but have limited classroom experience. While traditional mentoring can overextend veteran teachers, this shift presents a wonderful opportunity to rethink how we support new staff without sacrificing our core culture. This practical session equips leaders with a foundational playbook by applying a familiar concept to adults: a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) for teachers. We will explore how to build Tier 1 universal supports: establishing clear, shared routines like common attention signals so new staff don't have to invent management systems from scratch. We’ll also cover Tier 2 connection check-ins and Tier 3 mentorship. Attendees will walk away with a ready-to-use toolkit, including: The 15-Minute Connection Check-In: A template focused on connection over compliance. Supportive Scripts: Approachable conversation starters for administrators, coaches, or veteran staff to offer help. The "Need-to-Know" Checklist: A cheat sheet for decoding school norms, acronyms, and protocols.
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 →
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.
Threshold greetings have been proven to increase student engagement and build community. This session will look further into why we should be using threshold greetings and how we can effectively implement them in our classrooms. Attendees will understand how these greetings can help build rapport and take a daily “pulse” of the classroom, while simultaneously setting expectations for the day or class period. All of this can be done with little or no cost, making this an option to increase success for all school communities.
