Introduction
The High Impact Conference for Educators was held on June 10-June 11, 2025. This was the 3rd year I attended it (first year it was SPARCC only, last year they merged with HICE). Each year it is a little different, although I’m getting more familiar with repeat presenters and now am better able to discern which sessions will be helpful. I’ve also transitioned to a new role this past year, and after a year of doing the role I’m more focused on the types of sessions I’m interested in. Three years ago I had just finished my first year doing tech support for the school, but wasn’t clear on where I would be going. Each day had six sessions and I was interested in learning more about AI literacy & policy, designing professional learning for educators, and ways as a tech coach to work more collaboratively with teachers and students.
Day 1
Did a Robot Write this Report? Managing AI Cheating with Eric Curts
The topic of AI has been heavy on my mind the last year. Although I’ve been evaluating AI tools for my school, been involved in crafting policy for staff and students, and created a PD session on AI for educators at my district this summer, the question of cheating with AI was put backstage. My focus has been on equipping the teachers to use AI to help them do their job, and find tools that will help us navigate poor student use of AI. The session reaffirmed the steps we have been taking so far, such as crafting guidelines and ensuring AI policy is clear and consistent across the school. Being clear on what acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI upfront with teachers and students sets a tone and clear expectation from the get-go, rather than trying to backpedal after the fact.
The most interesting takeaway from this session was centered on adjusting assignments and assessments to reduce the impact poor use of AI could have. The primary way to do this is to shift to emphasizing the process over the product. AI can do a decent job at writing an essay and turning in a polished product. But it won’t be able to show its work! The writing process is really what matters for students, because teachers really don’t need to read one more essay. Eric also pointed out that including personal connections in assignments can aid in this endeavor, so instead of having a student summarize a book for a book report (which AI can do VERY easily), instead ask the student to talk about a personal experience or memory that connects to the themes of the book. Making learning more personal and connecting content to self can also help learning come alive.
EdTech Roundtable with Eric Curts
This year the conference tried a new session format on the first day and offered various types of roundtable discussions instead of the traditional presenter-audience type session. I attended the EdTech roundtable, hoping to network and connect with technology directors, leaders, and specialists from the area. Unfortunately, I did not meet anyone new, most people were not that engaged or participating actively. We bounced around a few topics, from MagicSchool, to how to detect if an image is AI-generated, features of NotebookLM, importance of Data Privacy in AI, leveraging LookerStudio, and how to attract teachers to summer PD (my question).
As I am leading a series of PD sessions this summer focusing on “playing in the sandbox of tech tools” I was curious to see if other districts were doing anything similar. The response was overwhelmingly a simple “no” or at least “no comment.” I don’t know if I’m groundbreaking or just naive. One suggestion was to become an adjunct through Ashland University and offer grad credit for participating in PD sessions. I had not considered this option and it is something to chew on, I’m not sure how much this will actually motivate the teachers in my district, but it is something I may discuss with the educational leadership team. The only other suggestion was to offer incentives, like gift cards or SWAG, but personally that undermines the whole culture I’m trying to build. I envision a learning environment in my district where all are eager to engage in learning and improve themselves.
The discussion on NotebookLM did introduce an idea that I had not considered before. I have used NotebookLM a bit and took Google’s intro course to it to become familiar with capabilities, but it is not something I use day to day. I just don’t have the need to reference a wide range of information at this time, but as I wade into different instructional topics I may use it more. The idea was tied to a new feature that Google just introduced, which is being able to share a Notebook out publicly. Now that this is in place, you can upload your handbooks, district policies, whatever information you want to include, and then create a link to share with parents. Now instead of emailing the principal for answers or spending a long time wading through the documents, parents can chat in the link with Gemini, backed with the information in the documents provided. I haven’t tried this yet, but I intend to propose this to my district leaders, as I know they are constantly fielding questions from parents.
What other uses have you found with NotebookLM? Please don’t say the podcast feature, I’d rather read than listen to something.
Teacher Agency in Professional Learning with Jennifer Furey
I was interested in this session because I am playing a larger role in PD and professional learning in my district, but have noticed a general lack of enthusiasm for PD. This is one of the central issues I’m trying to address. In the session slide deck Jennifer provided a framework her district created during the pandemic on what a portrait of a learner might look like! They then used this framework to shape what professional learning could look like and this fascinated me. I love paradigms and breaking down abstract concepts into concrete visuals.
Using the framework, district leaders can begin with questions centered around curiosity, what would you do if you had 12 weeks to dive into learning something you’ve been curious about related to the work you do? What is this thing? Why does it matter (so what?) and how will it shape your practice (now what?)? Jennifer calls this initiative Seeds of Change and it is driven by teacher agency, inquiry, and collaboration. It is entirely optional, but if you participate, you have 12 weeks to dive into something you are interested in, have opportunity to collaborate with others from your district on it, and then put together an artifact of learning to showcase learning at the end in a sort of science-fair-esque night for educators!
While I love the idea of educators being empowered to take on this sort of learning, my primary question at the conclusion was what needs to be in place for this to take off? The same refrain was repeated that if given CEUs or Credit, teachers will be interested. The other aspects that make an initiative like this an actual prospect is that it flips the script for educators and gives them permission to chase what they want and gives them agency in having choice. I’m all for agency and choice, and it is giving me something additional to consider as I have discussions on learning in my district, but the biggest concern I hear from teachers is that they don’t have enough time. I don’t care how much credit, CEUs, or agency you give teachers, if they don’t have time to dive into their idea, they don’t have time to dive into their idea! For something like this to work in our environment, I envision giving teachers a sort of sabbatical, maybe a quarter (9 weeks) to pursue this sort of learning experience. Many of the examples presented involved teachers going to other classrooms to learn from others and interact with students, which would all require the teacher not being present in their primary classroom. I return to my question now, what sort of things need to be in place for teachers to participate in this sort of optional learning? Where do the culture and environment of the district need to be to empower educators in this way?
Reciprocal Teaching – Oldie but a Goodie! With Maggie Hatcher & Jessy Tsoufiou
I attended this session due to the moniker I’ve become quite fond of, that “you learn what you teach.” I wanted to see more of this in action and hear other ways to implement it! Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite what this session was about, although there was a small element of this. The session unpacked Reciprocal Teaching as a type of collaborative instructional approach where students learn and practice comprehension strategies related to literacy. This approach helps with reading comprehension across all disciplines and content areas, and the presenters demonstrated with data how much standardized scores improved after just 1 year with this approach.
The approach centers on what is termed The Fab 4: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing, in a sort of Frayer type framework. Students predict what will happen, ask questions, clarify with each other in groups, and then summarize that information by sharing by splitting up and going to other groups. In this way it becomes Reciprocal Teaching at the clarifying and summarizing stages. Once this is built into a consistent practice, students start to do this naturally and will do on their own, with the hope that it will become an internal process as they read anything, instead of an in-class external process documented on worksheets.
I asked about how to apply this technique to other subjects, and I was handed a packet from Teachers-Pay-Teachers which contained examples for math, social studies, and science. Armed with a masters in history, I had no difficulty seeing how I could use this in social studies, but the sheets on math and science are helpful in clarifying things. Some sentence stems for math are “I think__________because_________,” “At first I thought______but now I think________,” “Why did you solve it that way?” and “An important concept we learned is_________.” It is a technique that improves literacy while also fostering thought processes and deepening learning for students! Is Reciprocal Teaching something you have tried? Let me know your thoughts!
Passion Projects / Genius Hour
The saddest news of all – this session was cancelled! The presenter was unable to make it. I was disappointed, as this was one session I was very excited for! I anticipated it would be related to PBL, inquiry, curiosity, play, and 21st century skills – you know, all the things that make me excited to wake up and get to work as fast as I can every day. I was curious to hear how other districts incorporate project-based learning into their curriculum and get teachers onboard. We have a makerspace and future-ready learning teacher at my district, but most of the work is isolated and not connected to the learning the students are doing in their other classes. I showed up to this session anyway, and found one other teacher there. We ended up talking for the entire hour about a variety of topics, and discovered we had several overlapping connections. It was refreshing to actually have a conversation with someone else, as it is difficult for me to actually meet and network with others at conferences. My experience especially at this conference has been that people don’t hang around or make an effort to meet new friends, and rush out as soon as the session or day is over.
The person I met hit this home, when at the close of our conversation she asked “are you required to be here tomorrow?” To which I was not quite sure how to respond. I’m not required, all this is optional for me! She said if she attended this, she “got out of” a district PD day during the year. Frankly, none of this logic makes sense to me at all. Why are focused district PD days exchanged for broad PD days in the summer? Or are PD days at other districts not focused on district specific initiatives? And is PD only done because you are required to do it? What does that say about the culture and mindset of learning? This is something I’m wrestling with, because I saw it at the conference and it makes me feel like I don’t belong. I know I’m not the only one with a growth mindset, but sometimes it feels that way. I just expected more people in education to actually buy-in to learning and growth without needing a carrot on a stick. I can see I have a lot of work to shift the culture and mindset in education.
Day 2
Supercharging Your Google Slides with Interactive Tools with Julia Tilton
I’ve found that EdTech conferences LOVE to use language like “Supercharge” in their sessions! While some things are “cool,” I’m not sure “Supercharge” is actually the best descriptor. But I digress. This session focused on a few tools that can be used to enhance slide decks with interactive features. Interactive lessons improve engagement with students, and when activities are interactive it also improves learning. I wish the session had actually spent more time unpacking the science behind interactive lessons, because I’m a sucker for theory. I can figure out how tools work, but I’d like to know more about theory and how it relates to practice. Especially in my role as an instructional technology specialist who has not spent much time in the classroom, it is the theory and pedagogie that I’m fascinated with right now.
The tools that were discussed were Nearpod, Peardeck, Slido, and Quizizz. I was aware of all these tools, but have not played around with them much. The basic concept is you import your existing slides into Nearpod or Peardeck, then add in additional slides that are interactive, such as polls, blank canvas for drawings, or even 3D real world viewers. Students can then access a link, put in a code, and join the interactive lesson. The caveat is that for this to work, you have to launch the slides within those spaces, you can’t export them back to your Google Slide repository. For this reason, I haven’t shared these tools with my teachers, because the extra steps may feel overwhelming for them. They will need to keep track of which lessons are where, which is already daunting enough (unless they import ALL their lessons into a tool like Nearpod, which is unlikely as there is no mass import -_-). The tools that extension overlays on top of Google Slides partially mitigate this issue, but it still involves extra steps. I was sitting with a teacher from my district though who said Nearpod was cool and that I should share it out, so maybe I’m in the wrong? Maybe it isn’t that hard after all?
My concluding thought on this session is that we should more clearly define what we mean as interactive. Are all the features in Nearpod actually interactive? Yes. Students interact with the slides instead of just viewing them, and that is a type of interaction. But I was actually looking for something a step further. When I speak about interactive lessons, I don’t mean students staying glued to their screens interacting with a Slide Deck. What I’m really interested in, and what I deeply believe will help students learn at another level, is when we have activities that get students up and moving out of their seats. This can be they do an interactive slide deck but it is up at the touch board. That is the sort of thing I was hoping for, and I have teachers that keep requesting this from me. I’m trying to find what they want, but it is limited. Students need to interact with physical objects and manipulatives to connect with the learning. Something magical happens when we combine the tactile with the abstract in our head. I was hoping the session would cover how to do this immersive learning with various Google Slide tools, but I think I brought different notions with me. This is something I will keep exploring. It is needed, but there are no easy answers right now.
Recharging Your Coaching Batteries with Stephanie Howell
It is always a treat to be in a session with Stephanie, and this was no different. Last year I connected with her after one of her sessions and she invited me to a group she formed for educational coaches. Although I don’t formally do coaching in my district (at this time…) I was interested in this topic because I foresee doing more of this in the future, and currently am trying to establish a rhythm that will keep my battery charged and not perpetually drained. I work all year round, and do not have the luxury of a summer to recharge. So I’ve slowed down the pace of my work so that it is sustainable all year round. I do not let myself go into the well very often, and instead make consistent incremental progress through step-wise fashion.
The other participants were all instructional coaches and it was enlightening to hear about their experiences at their schools. Some people are micro-managed and have to give an account of what they do every single day! Some people have to meet with every single teacher. Some people have to “meet a quota” of coaching cycles per year. Personally, this all sounds overly restrictive, and not conducive for a healthy learning community. On the contrary, I’m not forced to do anything, and am only supposed to meet with teachers when they ask. Technology integration is teacher-led and I’m the support piece, but I can’t initiate at the moment. So the position I find myself in is that if no teachers want support, I simply find other things to do. I track my wins, my personal learning, my meetings, the PD I do lead, and the projects I work on in case I am asked about how I spend my time, but otherwise I have no oversight, and this helps me keep my batteries charged. I don’t do well when I’m micro-managed, or limited in creativity, or have a lot of constraints and confines placed upon me. I work best and thrive when I am given agency, autonomy, and left to my own devices (sic).
The session was mostly conducted as a discussion, and was a more laid-back reflective approach. I really enjoyed this and wished the roundtable was conducted with this structure the day before. One of the main takeaways that was shared by another participant was to limit the time you spend on the “3rd Floor Grumblers” and instead focus on the healthy champions, who are eager to work with you. The grumblers will drain your battery and coax you to dread your work. I pointed out that my admins have been protecting me, warning me about the grumblers and helping me establish boundaries, as I navigate what my role entails. I feel blessed that the admins are looking out for me, and helping me thrive and flourish in a complicated role that requires walking a tightrope between teachers and leaders. I’m also grateful that I took the time to document my wins, my projects, and all the ways I invested in my learning this year as a record to look back on. Sometimes it is difficult to remember the ways our work impacts others, but I have it noted in various ways.
AI for Admins: Learning and Leading with AI with Eric Curts
This session echoed the session I had been in with Eric the day before, and was not that helpful for me to attend. No share towards Eric, he knows what he is doing and does a great job, the session was just not designed for someone like me who has dived into the deep end of AI and been involved in crafting policy, educating myself on implications of FERPA and data privacy, spent copious amounts of hours playing with various AI tools to vet them for our district, and created support documents noting differences between various tools. No, this session was for those who HADN’T been doing what I was doing, and that’s fine! That is needed for most. I was hoping to learn more about policy and implementation of AI at the district level, but the session focused more on the tools admin can use to be more effective in their roles.
None of the tools were new to me, I’ve been playing with these things for months, but Eric did remind me about TeacherServer, which I last looked at in the Fall and need to take another gander in. While I’ve been doing PD and equipping myself with AI literacy to the point I can teach others and practice prompting on my own, there are tools that write prompts for you, so that you don’t need to spend so much time writing them yourself. PErsonally, I think it would be more beneficial to steer clear of MagicSchool and TeacherServer and simply learn how to prompt well on your own, but I see a need for those who don’t have the time (maybe the ability???) to lean on these tools, at least while they get their feet wet.
The Choice Academy: Creating Personalized Learning for Professional Growth with Lisa Jones & Stephanie Howell
I originally signed up for a different session, on using AI with students. But after attending the AI sessions led by Eric Curts and seeing the ways AI was showing up in sessions not explicitly about AI, I determined that this would not be the best use of my time. The AI sessions were not showing me anything I hadn’t seen or thought about before. So I participated in another session on professional growth for the district, as that is more of where I am focused at this time.
The co-presenters each shared an idea they have run for PD to demonstrate ways to personalize and give choice to educators in their learning. Lisa has a resource she calls “Summer-Opoly” which is based on the gameboard of Monopoly. Each space contains 1 hr of PD that teachers can complete on their own. They can do as much or as little as they want, but if they complete all the areas of the same color, they can win a prize! For prizes Lisa contacted EdTech companies and they sent her swag! I have not thought about doing this, but I definitely will. I don’t know how big of a draw swag is for our educators, but it could be something fun to try!
Stephanie discussed her idea entitled “Pop & Go.” It is a play on words with popcorn (provided generously of course). At the start ideas are introduced and discussed, then teachers are given time to brainstorm on their own before rejoining for the collaborative part. Stephanie lines up all the teachers across from each other, and then they “speed date” each other for a few minutes, pitching and sharing ideas. Then they move down the line (hence the pop part…popping down the line). Teachers don’t have to come up with new ideas, they can share something they have already done, but it is a way to get educators discussing and sharing ideas instead of staying in a silo.
To illustrate this, we were then given time to brainstorm on our own, with the suggestion that we go to ChatGPT or Gemini for ideas. I struggle thinking in the moment, but I pulled up an upcoming session I have on Viewboards and brainstormed about that. I actually gleaned some helpful ideas, such as starting off my session with teachers using the Viewboard to answer some questions and move objects around. The point of my session is to shift lessons to getting students out of their seats and working at the Viewboard. Students want to move around, not stare at their Chromebook screen. I now have a few ideas to ponder as I work on how I can effectively train teachers on the Viewboards and help them use it in an interactive way.
Design for Success: Build a Collaborative Classroom with Katie Lovell
This session ended up being a mixed bag. I had attended other sessions with the presenter as a participant and was starting to be familiar with her. I was attracted to this topic because collaboration is one of the benefits of technology integration, and I was hoping to find a new approach to working with teachers on collaborative projects with students. However, the session focused on something called “procedures” instead of how to design your classroom around collaboration. To be fair, Katie had prepared something appropriate for a 3 hour PD session, not the confines of the 1 hour we had. I *think* you use procedures to streamline classroom flow, which gives you and students agency and time back so that you can shift to collaboration. But that was a subtext.
What are procedures? They aren’t rules, more like guidelines (pirate code?). They are step-by-step instructions that eventually turn into routines and systems. On the surface, I LOVE procedures. I create them for myself all the time. They are who, does what, by when. This helps create transparent expectations and consistency in the classroom. The issue is that this session felt a lot more like a classroom management strategy than a system for classroom management. And at the end of the day, even though I have a big packet of information, I’m still fuzzy on how to create and use procedures in the classroom. I primarily work with middle schoolers, and I believe they are at an age that they should have agency for how they do things. So when we present, we ask them to take notes. I don’t care if they take notes on their Chromebook or on paper. I’m not going to create a procedure for how they take their notes out. They are capable of doing that themselves. I’m going to start the lesson whether they are ready or not. If they miss information, that is on them. They need to take ownership.
I did glean several things to look up from this session, because Katie was throwing out terms faster than Roman Emperors in the 3rd century. Here is a list of things to explore:
- PBIS vs RTI
- CHAMPS (procedures are a repackaged version of these…whatever that means)
- First 100 Days by Harry Wong (Wong has been on my list for awhile, just haven’t gotten to him yet)
- https://visible-learning.org/
I came to the conference to learn, to expand my knowledge, and even when the session isn’t on what I wanted (or probably what the presenter wanted) I am still going to find a way to learn.
Fun-Sized Tools for Young Learners with Matt Mays
Matt Mays led the first session I was in when I first attended this conference 2 years ago. It was only fitting to end this conference with him. It was a very similar session to what he did before, where the whole time is a blitzkrieg through various tech tools and resources, far more than what can be taken down. Even Matt did not go through every tool on his slides, or we would have been there twice as long. None of the tools really jumped out at me, but I have a few takeaways. Attending this session was helpful because it provided validation that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing in my role. I am aware of several of the tools he shared, I am curating similar lists, and I am sharing these resources with my district. Towards the end Matt showed how he created different Google Slides for teachers to use as an interactive activity with their students, and that was helpful to see new ways to use the Slides app. I also am now equipped with another repository of tools and resources to add to my own.
Final Thoughts
I noted at the onset that the theme has shifted to process over product. The sessions overall focused more on the process. I attend these conferences because they give me new ideas, validate my own ideas, and give me a burst of energy with excitement to be better after seeing all the cool things people are doing at other districts and schools! I think if you just stay within the confines of your own building, you are missing out. We were made to grow together. We are never done learning, and there is so much out there! I’m inspired every time I interact with Stephanie Howell. She makes me better at what I do (which means she is a great coach). She doesn’t even coach me, it just exudes out of her. I hope I can be this sort of presence in my own district, a person that makes everyone better and gives people new ideas or encouragement from every interaction they have with me.