STLinSTL 2025: Full Schedule

9:15am CDT

The Past, Present, and AI: A Year of Experimentation in the History Classroom

Thursday June 5, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am CDT

What if your most powerful teaching assistant was an AI? This presentation pulls back the curtain on a year-long exploration of AI in a history classroom, revealing how tolls like Gemini are transforming the way we teach and learn about the past. From brainstorming captivating lesson plans to streamlining grading and fueling student-drive projects, we’ll uncover the surprising potential of AI in history education. Learn about real-world examples and practical strategies, with a focus on finding ways to implement ideas immediately.

This session goes beyond the hype, offering a candid look at the realities of AI integration. We’ll share both the successes and the stumbles, discussing how AI can scaffold learning, provide personalized feedback, and ignite student interest. Crucially, we’ll address the ethical dimensions of AI in education, including bias, plagiarism, and the impact on critical thinking. Leave equipped to harness the power of AI responsibly and ethically, creating a richer and more engaging learning environment for your students.

Speakers

Dr. Tanya Roth

Upper School History Teacher, MICDS

Dr. Tanya Roth teaches a wide variety of upper school history classes at MICDS, and is always looking for new ways to help her students see what makes history so fascinating. She earned her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2011 with research on women’s integration... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am CDT

1-Hour Session

Category Schools of the Future

9:15am CDT

Developing a Future-Ready Portrait of a Graduate: From Vision to Implementation

Thursday June 5, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

In an era of rapid technological, social, and economic change, schools must prepare students with the skills, mindsets, and competencies they need to thrive in an unpredictable future. This interactive workshop will guide independent school leaders and educators through the process of developing and implementing a Portrait of a Graduate - a visionary framework that defines the essential skills and attributes students should cultivate by graduation.
Participants will explore best practices for designing a Portrait of a Graduate that aligns with their school's mission, engages key stakeholders, and integrates seamlessly into the curriculum. Through case studies, hands-on activities, and group discussions, attendees will discover strategies for embedding these competencies into classroom instruction, assessment, and experiential learning.
By the end of this workshop, participants will leave with a clear understanding of how to craft, implement, and measure the impact of their school's Portrait of a Graduate, ensuring students are equipped for success in college, careers, and civic life.

Featured Speakers

Connie White

Director of Learning Design & Innovation, Woodward Academy

Connie White is a visionary leader in education, serving as the Director of Learning & Innovation at Woodward Academy in College Park, Georgia, since 2015. With a background as an Upper School Physics, Chemistry, and Math teacher, she was among the pioneering Technology & Learning... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

Workshop

Category Schools of the Future

10:30am CDT

AI in Action: Transforming Your Classroom with Purpose

Thursday June 5, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am CDT

Transform your teaching practice through understanding AI literacy and exploring purposeful AI integration. Utilizing AI can enhance student learning and reduce teacher workload. This hands-on session empowers educators to confidently understand the power AI can have in their classroom and allows them ideas of how to navigate AI. Participants will explore practical classroom applications, learn to evaluate AI resources, and develop strategies for meaningful implementation that aligns with curriculum goals. Leave with ready-to-use strategies that make AI work for you and your students.

Learning Objectives - By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand tenants of AI Literacy
Create efficient workflows using AI tools to streamline lesson planning, differentiation, and assessment tasks
Design lesson activities that leverage AI to promote deeper learning while developing students' digital literacy and critical thinking skills

Speakers

Shauna Stephanchick

President, STEP Up

At STEP Up, we recognize systemic flaws in Missouri education, particularly in curriculum design. Amidst record-high teacher turnover, we advocate for replacing curriculum frustrations with curriculum innovation, and we're here to guide you through each step of this transformatio... Read More →

Sue Herrera

Educational Consultant, STEP Up Consulting

Sue Herrera’s career in education spans 37 years, during which she has held various roles, including Administrator, Instructional Coach, classroom teacher, mentor and Champion of Students. Her extensive experience in suburban, rural, and urban settings in grades K-6 has equipped... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am CDT

1-Hour Session

Category Schools of the Future

12:30pm CDT

Empowering Procrastinators Through AI Tools That Address Self-Regulation

Thursday June 5, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm CDT

This session will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be harnessed to support students who struggle with task initiation and completion. Drawing from a recent study of procrastination patterns among over 500 secondary school students in grades 7 and 10 from three independent schools, we will delve into the intricate relationships between self-regulation, gender, and age in the components of procrastination.

Attendees will gain insights into:

The differentiated impact of procrastination on students based on age and gender and how AI can be tailored to address these variations.
The alignment of Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT) with low procrastinators’ behaviors and how AI can reinforce these positive patterns.
The connection between Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) and high procrastinators’ experiences, exploring how AI can reshape these students’ approaches to academic tasks.
Practical applications of AI tools in the classroom to support students’ self-regulation and time management skills.
Strategies for implementing AI-assisted interventions that focus on improving students’ approaches to beginning and progressing through schoolwork rather than solely emphasizing outcome satisfaction.

This session will give attendees a unique perspective that builds on foundational theoretical frameworks by exploring connections to technology and innovative practices. Participants will leave with actionable insights on leveraging AI tools to create more effective, personalized interventions for students at different procrastination levels, ultimately fostering a more engaged and self-regulated learning environment.

Speakers

Louis Tullo

Chief Information Officer, Ravenscroft School

Louis Tullo, M.Ed., TLIS, serves as the Chief Information Officer at Ravenscroft School and has extensive experience as a technology leader in corporate and education sectors since 2013. Leveraging his technical background, he has effectively streamlined infrastructure and technology... Read More →

Stewart Peery

IB Coordinator, Upper School Science Teacher, Charlotte Country Day School

Thursday June 5, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm CDT

Spotlight Session

Category Schools of the Future

1:40pm CDT

Power Carving & Epoxy: Hands-On Making for the Classroom

Thursday June 5, 2025 1:40pm - 4:00pm CDT

Maker Lab

Join us for an immersive, hands-on experience in power carving and epoxy work, designed specifically for educators and makerspace leaders. This session will begin with an exploration of the foundational principles of maker education and the decade of progress that has shaped today’s learning environments. Then, we’ll dive into practical techniques, providing participants with hands-on experience using power carving tools and epoxy to create stunning projects.
But this session isn’t just about making - it’s about teaching making. You’ll gain insights into how to integrate these tools and techniques into your own makerspace, adapting them for different age groups, skill levels, and classroom settings. Whether you’re looking to refine your own skills or empower your students with new creative possibilities, this session will equip you with both the mindset and the methods to bring hands-on innovation to your learning space.
No prior experience with power carving or epoxy is necessary - just a willingness to create, experiment, and learn!

Featured Speakers

Leigh Northrup

Dean of Innovation & Technology, Cannon School

Leigh Northrup’s lifelong passion for making traces back to his grandfather’s workshop, where he first discovered the joy of creating with his hands. Now, as the Dean of Innovation and Technology at Cannon School for over 24 years, he has built a thriving, nationally renowned... Read More →

Mush Hughes

Makerspace Facilitator, Cannon School

Mush Hughes joined Cannon School as an Upper School Makerspace Facilitator in 2017. Prior to that time, he was an independent consultant for an international nonprofit, where he taught teachers how to use math and reading software, and developed STEM incentive curriculum for schools... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 1:40pm - 4:00pm CDT
Maker Lab

Workshop

Category Schools of the Future

1:40pm CDT

Radical Neuroconstructivism: How Generative AI is Changing Thinking

Thursday June 5, 2025 1:40pm - 4:00pm CDT

Since its introduction on the educational stage in 2022, ChatGPT and other AI tools have catalyzed a review of what it means to be a successful teacher, and how we measure successful learners. The evaluation of learning outcomes have primarily focused on “products” - a test score, an essay, a correct demonstration of work on a math problem - rather than the invisible thinking “processes” that underpin those projects. This workshop will explain the concept of radical neuroconstructivism, or the way humans construct their learning based on the content they receive and the contexts within which they learn. We will look at examples from early math and middle school writing to talk about the thinking behind the learning, the role of human interaction, and the pros and cons of using AI to facilitate this process.

Featured Speakers

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, PhD

Educational Researcher & Harvard University Educator, Conexiones: The Learning Science Platform

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D., is a teacher at Harvard College and the Harvard University Extension School where her course, “The Neuroscience of Learning: An Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health, and Education” offers a transformative self-learning adventure. She is the co-founder... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 1:40pm - 4:00pm CDT

Workshop

Category Schools of the Future

1:45pm CDT

Deep Education: Transcending Turbulence, Unleashing Creativity

Thursday June 5, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm CDT

“Deep” often signifies profound or universal. What is “deep education”? This response will surprise you. Building on an innovative approach implemented in hundreds of schools worldwide, this concept will be explored from methods for transcending the turbulent surface level of our thinking to revealing insights from ancient wisdom and modern scientific research. Be prepared to stretch your thinking about education, human nature, and how we equip our students to manage stress and realize their innate potential.

Speakers

Richard Beall

High School Member, Maharishi School

I am a passionate educator who over a 40-year career has helped establish two new schools and pioneer an innovative approach called Consciousness-Based Education that has spread from its source in Fairfield, Iowa, to applications across the nation and around the world. As a teacher... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm CDT

1-Hour Session

Category Schools of the Future

3:00pm CDT

Struggly: Unlocking Children's Unlimited Potential

Thursday June 5, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT

Neuroscience and growth mindset research says that the best time for our brains to learn and grow is when we struggle! The Struggly program is all about supporting teachers and students to embrace struggle as an exciting and integral part of the learning process. Struggle pairs visual, creative, and conceptual math tasks with an irresistible game-like pull and growth mindset messaging for students in grades K-8. The program is modeled after Dr. Jo Boaler’s Mathematical Mindset approach to mah teaching and learning.

Speakers

Kristina Jones

Middle School Math Teacher, MICDS

Kristina Jones is a part of the 5th grade team at MICDS as the Math Teacher. This is her 4th year teaching at MICDS and previously she has spent time teaching various grades from SK to 8th. She holds a Master of Arts in education. Kristina was born and raised in northern Minnesota... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT

1-Hour Session

Category Schools of the Future

8:00am CDT

Anticipating Change, Preparing for Uncertainty: The Future of AI in Schools

Friday June 6, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am CDT

Brauer Auditorium

If nothing else has become clear in the three years since ChatGPT emerged, it’s that generative AI is a long-term, strategic opportunity and challenge for schools, not a short-term technological one. The pace of AI’s evolution, the number of issues it raises, and the power of its emotional and pedagogical impact have made it incredibly difficult not just to make decisions about AI in the present, but to know which possibilities to embrace and which pitfalls to avoid. How do we become more open to, more proactive about, and more prepared for the possibilities that come with deep change? This session is designed to help educators anticipate an AI future, even if we can’t predict it. We’ll consider the current state of the technology, look at some case studies, and practice strategic foresight exercises.

Keynote Speakers

Eric Hudson

Facilitator & Strategic Advisor, Eric Hudson Consulting

Eric Hudson is a facilitator and strategic advisor who supports schools in making sense of what’s changing in education. He specializes in learner-centered assessment, human-centered leadership, and strategic program design. Most recently, Eric spent ten years at Global Online Academy... Read More →

Friday June 6, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Brauer Auditorium

Keynote

Category Schools of the Future

9:15am CDT

Engaging Students on Generative AI: What, Why, How

Friday June 6, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

Making healthy, ethical decisions about AI is a skill our students need, now and in the future. In this session, we’ll explore decision-making as a teachable, relevant skill that can engage students in productive, open conversation about generative AI. We’ll begin by looking at what we know (and don’t know) about generative AI’s impact on student learning and wellness at school and in life. Then, we’ll explore the relationship between decision-making and autonomy, look at the research on student agency, and consider a variety of pathways for engaging students on AI in the classroom and beyond. We’ll practice using games, case studies, and generative thinking exercises as tools, and we’ll draft plans for how we can be proactive with student engagement and education in the 2025-26 school year.

Keynote Speakers

Eric Hudson

Facilitator & Strategic Advisor, Eric Hudson Consulting

Friday June 6, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

Workshop

Category Schools of the Future

9:15am CDT

Generative AI (GenAI) is Here. What Does Learning to Program Look Like Now?

Friday June 6, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

Everyone knows that programming skills can help people be more effective across many different types of jobs. It can also be a source of intense creativity for hobbyists who wish to create digital artifacts in the 21st century. Learning to program, however, has historically been a daunting task. Programming languages are hard to learn and unforgiving when people make mistakes.
Generative AI (GenAI) tools have the potential to turn all of this on its head. Rather than speaking to a computer in a syntactically rigid programming language, programmers can now interact with a GenAI in a natural language, like English.
Specifically GenAI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, can solve introductory programming assignments. They can solve introductory programming exam questions. They can trace code step by step, explain what code does, help debug (fix) code, convert code from one programming language to another, and generate test cases for code.
So then: that’s it? We’re done? We don’t need to learn programming anymore?
Not so fast :D
While it’s true that GenAI can contribute to carrying out many programming tasks, in this talk we will demonstrate that rather than causing programming to go away, GenAI has the potential to lead us to ever-higher levels of problem solving, needed if we are to keep pace with the world’s demand for software.
We’ll begin with a brief summary of what the research says about GenAI and learning to program. Do students learn when using GenAI, and how can learning be enhanced? What are the effects of GenAI on learner creativity? Can GenAI serve as an effective tutor?
Next, we’ll describe the design goals and findings emerging from the Computing Education Research Laboratory at UC San Diego as we create and study an introductory programming course for majors and non-majors that fully incorporates GenAI and can provide materials for anyone interested in our approach.

Featured Speakers

Dr. Daniel Zingaro

Associate Professor, University of Toronto Mississauga

Dr. Daniel Zingaro is an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Toronto. His passion is taking everything he knows about teaching and learning to create books that put the learner first. Most recently, Dr. Zingaro and Leo Porter wrote Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming... Read More →

Leo Porter

Professor, Author, University of California San Diego Computer Science and Engineering Department

Leo Porter is a Teaching Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at UC San Diego. He is best known for his research on the impact of Peer Instruction in computing courses, the use of clicker data to predict student outcomes, and the development of the Basic Data... Read More →

Friday June 6, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

Workshop

Category Schools of the Future

9:15am CDT

How AI Helps and Hurts the Creative Process

Friday June 6, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

Creativity is one of the brain’s most complex processes. Research in neuroscience shows how creative insight is facilitated by time in the Default Mode Network (mind wandering). Other studies show how time in the Default Mode has been reduced due to smartphone use, and that smartphone use is on the rise. Combined, this would suggest humans are getting less creative. Is this so? This workshop will talk about the goal of improving innovative skills and the ways technology has enhanced and detracted from creative thinking.

Featured Speakers

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, PhD

Educational Researcher & Harvard University Educator, Conexiones: The Learning Science Platform

Friday June 6, 2025 9:15am - 11:45am CDT

Workshop

Category Schools of the Future

1:45pm CDT

Designing Future-Ready Schools Through Authentic, Relevant, Transferable, and Impactful Learning

Friday June 6, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm CDT

The traditional classroom model is outdated. Instead, we need schools that prioritize ARTI-ful learning – where students engage in real-world problem solving, meaningful projects, and community-based learning.

Key Takeaways:

What ARTI-ful Learning is and why it matters in the AI age
How experiential learning, project-based approaches, and emerging technologies support deep learning.
Success stories from work in ARTI-ful units.
How educators can start shifting their classrooms today.

Speakers

Peter Dry

Director, The PDL Group

Dr. Peter Dry is an educational leader focused on innovation in schools and organizations. He specializes in strengths-based leadership and future-ready education. He works with schools and teams to improve engagement and effectiveness.His experience includes leading strategic innovation... Read More →

Friday June 6, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm CDT

1-Hour Session

Category Schools of the Future

3:00pm CDT

Leading Change: Transforming Schools for an Unpredictable Future

Friday June 6, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT

Schools must evolve to prepare students for a rapidly changing world, but meaningful change is often met with resistance. This session equips school leaders with practical strategies to drive innovation, overcome barriers, and create buy-in for new educational models. Drawing from expertise in leadership development, strengths-based coaching, and Appreciative Inquiry, this session will provide actionable insights to help administrators and educators navigate change effectively.

Key Takeaways:

Understand the psychology of change: Why educators resist and how to engage them.
Learn how to use Appreciative Inquiry to foster a culture of innovation.
Explore Strengths-Based Leadership and how it can develop a growth mindset in staff and students.
Discover practical strategies to create buy-in for new pedagogies, including ARTI-ful learning, AI integration, and interdisciplinary approaches.

Why This Session Matters: This session blends leadership best practices with real-world applications for transforming schools. Designed for administrators, education leaders, and instructional coaches, it offers the tools needed to lead change with confidence, ensuring that innovative practices take root and thrive.

Speakers

Peter Dry

Director, The PDL Group

Friday June 6, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT

1-Hour Session

Category Schools of the Future

STLinSTL 2025

From $250.00