Registration opens Sept. 22 and closes on Oct. 17, 2025.
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Schedule
Rob Barnett – Session Full
Dr. Shelley Moore
Weston Kieschnick
Jessica Minahan
Trevor Muir
FAQs about Nov. 5
Schedule for Nov. 5
Check in & Networking – 8:00-8:30 a.m.
Welcome/Outcomes – 8:30-8:40 a.m.
Session Part 1 – 8:40-11:30 a.m.
Lunch – 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Session Part 2 – 12:15-2:35 p.m.
Reflection/Survey – 2:35-2:45 p.m.
Session #1
Rob Barnett
Build Stronger Relationships by Meeting Every Learner’s Needs
Location: North Central Michigan College Library Conference Center, Petoskey (1515 Howard St, Petoskey, MI 49770)
The fundamental challenge of teaching is that every learner has different needs. However, by digitizing direct instruction, helping learners set their own paces, and requiring that students master content before advancing, teachers can ensure that every student is appropriately challenged and supported every day – and spend their own time in class building close relationships with their students. In this session, you’ll work with Robert Barnett, co-founder of the Modern Classrooms Project and author of Meet Every Learner’s Needs, to design lessons that will help each of your learners succeed.
Participants will:
– Explain why traditional instruction fails to meet many learners’ needs. Robert Barnett will share his own experience as a teacher to explain where he struggled, as well as the evidence-based techniques that worked for him and his students.
– Use research-backed teaching practices to keep every student appropriately challenged – and appropriately supported – every day.
Robert will explain the Modern Classroom instructional model, which helps independent-school teachers around the world respond to the diverse needs of their learners. More importantly, participants will experience this model for themselves, then apply it to plan lessons of their own.
About Robert Barnett
Robert Barnett co-founded the Modern Classrooms Project, which has empowered over 80,000 educators in 180+ countries to meet every learner’s needs, and wrote Meet Every Learner’s Needs: Redesigning Instruction So That All Students Can Succeed. Before that he taught math, computer science, entrepreneurship, Theory of Knowledge, and law, from the middle-school to university levels, at public and private schools in the U.S. and Switzerland. He graduated cum laude from Princeton University and Harvard Law School; speaks English, French, and Spanish; and lives in Washington, DC. He hopes his two young children will learn in Modern Classrooms someday!
WSCC Alignment: Challenged, Engaged, Supported
Audience: PreK-12 educators, administrators, ISD staff, paraprofessionals
Registration link
Session #2
Supporting One, Supporting All
Location: Castle Farms, Charlevoix (5052 M-66, Charlevoix, MI 49720)
How we support students with disabilities continues to shift and evolve as we learn more about diversity and identity. The Inclusive planning process is aiming to situate Disability as an identity, not a deficit, and so to determine what supports and strategies students require, teaching teams are shifting to look at needs, instead of disabilities, as a reference point. In this way, planning for inclusive classes can be universal, and anticipate the needs of everyone in a community.
In this full day session we will start by looking at what inclusion means and why it is important in classrooms and schools today. Then we will connect to Universal Design for Learning principles and look at how we can collaboratively plan for a student with a disability, in ways that can support many students in a classroom.
Participants will:
-Understand how advocacy efforts for supporting students with disabilities have changed and how those efforts are improving education for everyone.
– Learn about how supporting students with disabilities has changed over time.
– Learn about how to shift classroom supports from disability to needs.
– Learn about how to layer supports in a classroom.
– Be able to identify needs of students.
– Be able to determine strategies that support students in universal ways.
– Be able to reflect on their current contexts and set goals for moving forward
About Dr. Shelley Moore
Based in British Columbia, Canada, Dr. Shelley Moore is a highly sought-after inclusive education researcher, teacher, consultant and storyteller. She has worked with school districts and community organizations around the world. Her research explores how to support teachers to design for all learners in grade level academic classrooms that include students with intellectual disabilities using strength based and responsive approaches. Shelley completed her undergraduate degree in Special Education at the University of Alberta, her Masters at Simon Fraser University, and her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. Shelley is married with two children and lives on Bowen Island.
WSCC alignment: Challenged, Healthy, Engaged, Safe, Supported
Audience: PreK-12 educators, administrators, ISD staff, paraprofessionals, support staff
Registration link
Session #3
The Educator’s ATLAS: Your roadmap to joyful, engaging, & successful classrooms
Location: Castle Farms, Charlevoix (5052 M-66, Charlevoix, MI 49720)
Based on the critically acclaimed book, The Educator’s ATLAS offers a groundbreaking roadmap for capturing student engagement in the first moments of class, and sustaining it all the way to the last. In keeping with Weston Kieschnick’s mission and vision for education, ATLAS holds both learner needs and teacher wisdom in equal importance. Central to this is alignment and clarification of student engagement that – once and for all – offers teachers an actionable role. Educators will leave this session joyfully inspired, motivated, and with a plan in hand for cultivating curiosity, creating participatory classrooms, and nurturing a desire to persevere in all students. And as is always the case with Kieschnick’s keynotes, participants will laugh and have a lot of fun along the way.
Participants will:
– Leave with frameworks for engagement and instructional design.
– Identify and create learning scenarios aligned to nearly a dozen highly effective instructional strategies.
– Exchange ideas for immediate classroom, school, and district implementation.
About Weston Kieschnick
Weston Kieschnick is an award-winning educator, best-selling author, TEDx speaker, coach, husband, and father. He is the author of, The Educator’s ATLAS, Bold School, Breaking Bold, co-author of The Learning Transformation: A Guide to Blended Learning for Administrators and the creator and host of Teaching Keating; one of the most downloaded podcasts for educators and parents on iTunes.
WSCC alignment: Challenged, Engaged, Supported
Audience: PreK-12 educators, administrators, paraprofessionals
Registration link
Session #4
Promoting Engagement and Connection: Practical Strategies to Reduce Anxiety and Challenging Behavior
Location: Charlevoix Middle High School Auditorium (5200 Marion Center Road, Charlevoix, MI 49720)
Note: Jessica’s session will be a repeat of content that she has delivered in the past to audiences up north.
With up to one in three children struggling with anxiety in this country, overwhelmed adults require a new approach as well as a practical and easy-to-implement toolkit of strategies that work. In the time of COVID19, and the subsequent societal changes, anxiety has become ever-present in students of all ages. It is probable that during a pandemic that heavily impacts everyday life, levels of anxiety in children and teens are even higher, and the possibility of subsequent trauma greater.
Through the use of case studies, humorous stories, and examples of everyday challenging situations, participants will learn easy-to-implement preventive tools, strategies, and interventions for reducing anxiety, reducing negative thinking toward writing, increasing self-regulation, work initiation, accurate thinking, and self-monitoring in students.
Participants will:
– Describe the relationship between anxiety and working memory.
– Describe why traditional breaks might not be effective for students with anxiety or trauma histories.
– Enumerate strategies for reducing negative thinking toward writing. Participants will be able to enumerate strategies to promote initiation skills in students
About Jessica Minahan
Jessica Minahan, PhD, BCBA, is a licensed and board-certified behavior analyst, special educator, as well as a consultant to schools internationally (www.jessicaminahan.com). Jessica has over seventeen years of experience supporting students who exhibit challenging behavior in school systems. She is the co-author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide toUnderstanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students (Harvard EducationPress, 2012) and author of The BehaviorCode Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors (Harvard Education Press,2014).
WSCC alignment: Healthy, Engaged, Safe, Supported
Audience: PreK-12 educators, administrators, counselors, ISD staff, paraprofessionals, support staff
Registration link
Session #5
Innovate Together: Honoring What Works, Embracing What’s Next
Location: Petoskey Middle School Auditorium (801 Northmen Drive, Petoskey, MI 49770)
Being different in education isn’t about abandoning tradition, but embracing what works while staying open to change. With the constant introduction of new technologies and strategies, this is a mindset teachers need. It’s one that encourages creative risks and continuous improvement, making educators adaptable in a constantly evolving world. Education demands innovation and a willingness to evolve to become a different kind of teacher. This workshop is about developing this mindset, strategies to employ it well, and using it throughout a teacher’s career so they AND their students can thrive.
Participants will:
– Develop and cultivate a mindset that balances the value of traditional practices with openness to innovation, enabling them to effectively navigate the evolving landscape of education.
– Discover strategies to use AI and other technologies to design engaging and meaningful learning experiences.
– Collaborate with fellow educators to share ideas, gain insights, and build a supportive network.
About Trevor Muir
Trevor is a teacher, author, creator, and co-founder of the New Teacher Academy. His books The Epic Classroom, The Collaborative Classroom, and New Teacher Mindset have helped teachers worldwide to create purposeful and dynamic learning experiences. Trevor has taught in middle, high school, and college classrooms, as well as pre-service teachers at Grand Valley State University. He was a national faculty member for the Buck Institute for Education and his work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Edutopia, and EdWeek. Trevor’s inspiring and informative videos have been viewed over 30 million times. At the heart of Trevor’s work is the conviction that every student has the potential for greatness, and that every teacher can be equipped to unlock that potential.
WSCC alignment: Challenged, Engaged, Supported
Audience: PreK-12 educators, administrators, ISD staff, paraprofessionals, community partners
Registration link
Frequently Asked Questions
How many sessions are available?
This year’s conference will feature five amazing presenters at four different locations.
Where are the locations?
Two sessions will be held at Castle Farms in Charlevoix. One session will be held at each of the following locations: Charlevoix Middle High School Auditorium, Petoskey Middle School Auditorium, and North Central Michigan College Library Conference Center in Petoskey.
Do I need to register for a session or should I just show up at the one I’m interested in attending?
Attendees will need to register online for the session they are interested in attending, due to capacity limits at each venue.
Will there be a limit to how many people can attend each session?
Yes. Each session will be limited to the space available at that venue. Online registration will close for each venue once capacity is reached.
Can I change sessions part way through the day and go to another one?
No, you will not be able to change sessions on Nov. 5. You will need to stay with the session you selected at registration.
Can I change my session selection after registering? You will be able to change your session after registering, as long as it is before the registration deadline of Oct 17, 2025.. You will need to log into WisdomWhere, cancel your current registration, and re-register for the new session you’d like to attend. You will only be able to change after cancelling your initial registration.
Will there be a keynote presenter?
There will not be a keynote presenter this year.
How did you decide on the sessions that are being offered?
We looked at a variety of data sets including last year’s AWPLD Survey, anecdotal data from conversations with district leaders, and ongoing feedback from educators in the region to determine the topics and presenters for this year’s event.
Will I be able to select breakout sessions?
You will not need to register for breakout sessions for this year’s conference. You will stay with the presenter for a full day of in-depth learning and application.
Should I attend the session closest to my school district?
You should register for the session that most interests you, which may not be the one geographically closest to your district.
If I can’t attend, will I be able to watch a recording of the presentation?
Unfortunately, our presenters will not allow us to video record their presentations.
Will I need to provide my own beverages and food?
Char-Em ISD will provide water in the morning, and lunch and beverages at lunchtime. You will be able to indicate dietary restrictions during registration, which opens Sept. 22 and closes on Oct. 17, 2025.
Registration link
Questions, further assistance
If you have questions about Area-Wide Professional Learning Day, please contact Mike Haynes.