A Sessions (10:45 - 12:00)
"A" SESSIONS - MORNING (10:45 - 12:00)
Title: A01 – Dr. Keith Carlson Keynote Speaker
Presenter: Dr. Keith Carlson Keynote Speaker
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This is a follow up to the learning addressed during the Keynote lecture. This workshop is related to actions staff can take to decolonize school districts, build reconciliation with Indigenous youth (in particular male Indigenous youth) and their families.
Title: A02 - Pathways to Leadership
Presenters: Ryan Colbert, Tyler Baruta & Heather Reid
Audience: Teachers who are interested in Administration with the Abbotsford School District
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This session explores pathways to educational leadership within the Abbotsford School District. Participants will reflect on their ‘why,’ examine leadership realities and challenges, and learn practical steps for growth—such as networking, mentorship, and advocacy. Gain insights into roles, responsibilities, and strategies for building a successful leadership journey.
Title: A03 - AI in Adobe Express for Image and Video Creation
Presenter: Bryon Carpenter
Audience: Middle & Secondary Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Adobe Express, backed by Adobe’s creative power, lets you easily create graphics, images, and videos for your classroom. With built-in generative AI, you can produce stunning visuals and animations instantly. This workshop shows you how to start using Adobe Express with your Abbyschools account. Bring a computer with mic and mouse.
*Title: A04 - Tipi Teachings ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Sameera Bird
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: One of the most recognizable symbols of Indigenous culture is what the Cree call a teepee. Traditionally, women are the owners of the teepee and are responsible for its assembly, disassembly, and upkeep teachings passed down from generation to generation, century to century. The teepee is a culturally significant act rooted in ceremony, it's construction an opportunity to teach the foundational values of life: respect, obedience, and humility. Balanced together, they provide the foundational base for life.
We will go through the 15 teachings each pole represents and how this affects not only our selves but how we should carry ourselves within our society for a good life.
*Title: A05 - Stó:lō Seasonal Cooking with Chris Kelly ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Chris Kelly
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Learn more about seasonal foods from Sto:lo Territory and cook a delicious meal together.
Title: A06 - Beyond Blankets: a Stó:lō Lands Exercise
Presenter: Leanne Jarrett
District Contract: Allison Gardner
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Beyond Blankets: a Stó:lō Lands Exercise an immersive and transformative learning experience was developed by Keith Carlson and Xwiyolemtel Grand Chief Clarence Pennier. To foster understanding of Stó:lō culture, history and connection to the land.
*Title: A07 - How to Have Courageous Conversations ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Stacey Hagkull
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Courageous conversations are open, honest discussions about difficult topics that require vulnerability, empathy, and a willingness to listen. They involve addressing issues directly and respectfully, even when the stakes are high or emotions run deep. Learning how to have courageous conversations helps build trust, resolve conflict, and strengthen relationships in both personal and professional settings.
*Title: A08 - The History of Indigenous Dog Breeds ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Carlos Julian
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Learn more about Indigenous Dog Breeds, including the Coast Salish Wooly Dog. Then, get creative in making your own 3D Wooly Dog using needle felting techniques.
*Title: A09 - Create and Empower with Book Creator ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Tracy Finch
Audience: K - 12 Teachers and EAs
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Did you know that Abbotsford has a premium district license for Book Creator? Come with your computer to explore all the possibilities within this versatile online tool: create, engage, differentiate, amplify student voice, and appsmash.
*Title: A10 - Understanding Your Mental Health ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: TELUS Health
District Contact: Kate Muir
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 11:45
Description: With 1 in 8 people experiencing mental illness and anxiety and depression rising sharply, workplaces need strong mental health literacy. This session teaches early-warning-sign recognition, WHO-5 use, and practical self-care and peer-support skills, enabling timely help-seeking and fostering a resilient, compassionate culture that benefits teams and improves overall organizational wellbeing.
*Title: A11 - From Burnout to Balance ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: TELUS Health
District Contact: Kate Muir
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 11:45
Description: Burnout is a growing workplace challenge that harms wellbeing, reduces productivity, and increases turnover. This interactive program addresses individual and organizational factors, offering practical strategies to build sustainable balance. Through exercises and discussion, participants learn to set healthy boundaries, manage high-pressure workloads, and navigate urgency-driven cultures with greater clarity and resilience.
*Title: A12 - Building Bridges: Collaboration at Work ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: TELUS Health
District Contact: Kate Muir
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 11:45
Description: Having to work with others is a common requirement in the workplace. When collaboration is successful, you feel positive, productive, and willing to face any challenge. This seminar will build on the notion that cooperation and building bridges can be learned and should be practiced. It will teach participants the key elements of teamwork and provide them with the opportunity to practice collaboration-building techniques.
Title: A13 - AI & Digital Literacy: From Understanding to Classroom Action
Presenter: Nelly Fargeon
Audience: K - 12 Teachers, LLC Teachers and/ or Digital Ambassadors
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Dive in and experience AI and digital citizenship lessons firsthand! Explore resources, experiment, and collaborate with peers in a supportive space. Leave with practical ideas and a toolkit of ready-to-go lessons to confidently teach these essential skills to your students next week! You will need your laptop for this session.
*Title: A14 - Culturally Responsive Literacy Teaching: PWIM (Picture Word Inductive Model) ~ Cancelled*
Presenter: Michelle O’Doherty
Audience: K – 5, ELL, LSS Teachers & Admin
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: In today’s diverse classrooms, it’s essential for educators to design literacy instruction that reflects and respects the cultural backgrounds of all students in their classrooms. This workshop, Culturally Responsive Literacy Teaching, offers practical strategies for integrating students' cultural experiences into whole-class literacy instruction, ensuring that learning is not only meaningful but also empowering for all students.
Walk away with actionable tools and resources that you can implement immediately in your classroom. These resources are designed to engage students with a wide range of cultural backgrounds while fostering critical thinking and literacy skills.
Title: A15 - Beyond the Border - Culture Kit and Unit Study by The Reach
Presenter: Andrea Orlosky
District Contact: Allison Gardner
Audience: Social Studies - Middle and Secondary
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: The Reach Gallery's free Culture Kit presents objects, historical photographs, and maps along with 10 classroom lessons focused on how the creation of the Canada-US border in the 1850's impacted Indigenous Communities.
Title: A16 - Interactive Read-Alouds: From Listening to Learning
Presenter: Amy Baker
Audience: 3 - 5 Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Shift your read-aloud from listening to learning – to inspire rich and meaningful comprehension. We’ll dig into how to model reader thinking, spark student talk, and use text sets—mixing fiction and nonfiction—to deepen understanding. Experience interactive read-aloud strategies and leave with practical ideas you can use next week — plus a brand-new class novel to launch your next read-aloud! This workshop is specifically designed for teachers.
Title: A17 - Gr. 4-8 Learning Exchange: Connect, Share, Explore
Presenter: Colleen Gregory
Audience: 4 - 8 Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Share what’s working and explore new possibilities for your classroom. What’s going well? What fresh ideas can we learn from one another? We invite you to bring a lesson idea, a resource or read-aloud, or an example of student work that resonates with you. The intention is for teachers to leave feeling affirmed, inspired, and having been a part of rich and connected conversations.
Title: A18 - Navigating Students’ Use of AI in Secondary Classrooms
Presenter: Michael Schmidt
Audience: Secondary Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Join your colleagues to discuss student AI use in secondary classrooms and to learn how to AI-proof assessments. Please bring at least one assignment or unit that you would like to AI-proof. This session is for Secondary Teachers.
Title: A19 - Comparative Grading in Secondary Math: A Learning Exchange
Presenter: Daniel Muller
Audience: Secondary Math Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This session focuses on building shared understanding of what “proficient” and each letter grade look like across grade levels and math units. Participants will compare grading expectations, analyze student samples, and exchange assessment materials. Please bring tasks, rubrics, or exemplars to support collaborative discussion.
*Title: A20 - Secondary Science Course Material Exchange ~ Cancelled*
Presenter: Ashlyen Singh
Audience: Secondary Science Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This is a collaborative session for sharing science course materials. Participants will exchange labs, assessments, unit plans, and instructional strategies. Please bring digital or print resources to contribute to this collegial swap of ideas and tools.
*Title: A21 - Teacher Wellbeing: A Learning Exchange ~ Cancelled*
Presenter: Naomi Petkau
District Contact: Ashlyen Singh
Audience: K - 12 Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Explore practical strategies for sustaining teacher wellbeing through mutual exchange. Participants will discuss routines, structures, and supports that strengthen professional balance. Please bring a strategy, resource, idea, or discussion prompt to share in this collegial conversation.
Title: A22 - Level Up with Mauril: Engaging Tools for French & English Language and Cultural Learning
Presenter: Natalie de Wit
Audience: 8 - 12 Core French and Immersion Teachers, ELL and English Teachers. Suitable for any adult learner.
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Discover Mauril, a free platform from CBC/Radio-Canada that immerses adolescent and adult learners in Canadian media to build French and English skills. Explore engaging videos with everyday expressions, interactive activities, and classroom strategies for authentic learning for beginners to advanced levels. Ideal for teachers seeking culturally rich resources for language acquisition. Bring a computer and headphones.
Title: A23 - Métis Resources, Sash Games, and Spoons
Presenters: Danielle Hill & Kelly Penner
Audience: K - 8 Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Learn about a variety of approved Métis resources for the classroom grades K-8. Participate in fun and engaging Sash games that get your body moving and encourage cooperative problem solving. This workshop includes an introduction to playing Spoons.
*Title: A24 - Oral Story Telling ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Jessi Old Coyote & Tyrone Thomas
District Contact: Taryn MacDonald
Audience: K - 8 Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Across Indigenous territory, with our written language being so young, oral storytelling has been our teaching guide for our children. Tyrone Thomas and Jessi Old Coyote will share the importance of oral stories, and they will tell a couple of stories. One from the Stó:lō territory and one from their family, to help identify the lessons within.
Title: A25 - Enhancing Students' Love of Reading through Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
Presenters: Megan Antak, Jennifer Cook, Rozy Makkar & Kathleen Manuel
Audience: Language Arts, K-5 teachers and EAs
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This session will focus on effective and fun classroom strategies to teach vocabulary to students in the K-5 setting. Participants should come prepared to engage in hands-on activities and leave with vocabulary strategies they can use right away in their classrooms.
Title: A26 - Creating a Learning Environment to Engage All Learners
Presenter: Aidan Ohara
Audience: 8 - 12 Teachers, Practical Teachers with Diverse Classrooms.
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This session demonstrates how I've used UDL, scaffolding, and flipped instruction to create an inclusive, high-engagement practical classroom. Using examples from an Electronics and Robotics Course, it shows how to support diverse learners, including low-incidence & adapted learners within multi-level groups—while sharing proven strategies and classroom wins that provide meaningful learning pathways for every student.
*Title: A27 - An Introduction to Trauma Informed Practices ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Melissa Wood & Lori Mohitpour
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: What key trauma informed practices can be used to understand and support our students (particularly those with behaviours that we may find challenging)? This workshop will focus on understanding trauma informed practices/strategies and how these can be used to support students to feel increasingly safe, connected and regulated at school.
Title: A28 - The Power of Five: Strong Literacy Skills in the Intermediate Grades
Presenter: Sara Strocel
Audience: 4 – 8 Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Explore five essential components of literacy—phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and engagement—and discover practical strategies for using these components and strengthening reading skills in the intermediate grades or middle school. This session equips educators with tools to build confident, capable readers through interactive, evidence-based lessons and activities.
Title: A29 - Digital Curriculum in the Classroom. Teaching Possibilities Not Programs
Presenter: Ryan Dunford
Audience: 4 – 9 Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: We are in a digital age and should be teaching all students how to engage with technology. The goal of this session is to give teachers a blueprint for what skills to teach and how to teach them. This session can help teachers who have never used technology before or teachers that have years of experience. It starts with teaching students how to use their imagination and showing them possibilities.
*Title: A30 - Connect the Dots: A Braille Starter Workshop ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenters: Kari-Ann Pearce & Peggy Szucs
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This hands-on session introduces educators to the basics of braille, helping you understand how students read and write through touch. Learn key skills, explore common tools, and build confidence supporting students who currently use braille - or may join your classroom in the future.
Title: A31 - From Stuck to Strategies: Ways to Develop Mathematical Problem Solving
Presenter: Tawnie Hildebrandt
Audience: 2 - 8 Teachers
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Having students engage in problem solving activities in math, allows for them to learn how to apply the math they have learned. But problem solving is not without its own problems! We'll explore different ways to engage students in thinking critically and creatively through routines like Open Middle, 3 Act Tasks, and Numberless Word Problems.
*Title: A32 - Awe Walk ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Karen Van Egmond
Audience: K - 12 - Social Emotional Learning
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This session introduces the practice of Awe Walks--moments to pause, observe, and reflect on the beauty and complexity of the world around them. Come to explore the science behind awe and its impact on student well-being and engagement, learn practical strategies and experience an Awe Walk yourself. As the majority of this session will take place outside, please wear comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather.
*Title: A33 - Psychological Health & Safety ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Manveer Phagura
Audience: All Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: This session will help you understand what workplace violence is, why reporting matters, and how to use tools like safety plans and safe work instructions to keep everyone safe. In a school setting, situations can arise quickly, being informed makes a big difference. Join us for practical guidance, clear steps, and an open discussion on creating a safer environment for staff and students.
Title: A34 - Comprehensive School Health Approach to Vaping in Schools
Presenter: Judith Pellerin ~ Fraser Health Public Health - Healthy Schools Nurse for Abbotsford School District
District Contact: Galen Soon
Audience: Middle & Secondary Staff
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: A Comprehensive School Health framework maximizes impact on student health and learning outcomes through focused interventions in 4 key areas. Discover a vaping prevention program that uses a peer-to-peer training model, provides resources for school staff, fosters supportive communities for students, and builds relationships with community partners for ongoing vaping support.
*Title: A35 - Low-Prep, High-Impact: Strategies for Engagement and Accessibility ~ SOLD OUT*
Presenter: Wendy Wiebe & Amy LeClair
Audience: K -5 Teachers & LSS
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Want to make learning more engaging and accessible without spending hours prepping? This workshop for early educators will share practical, low-prep strategies that spark curiosity, encourage active participation, and support diverse learners. Walk away with simple, effective tools you can implement to create an inclusive and dynamic classroom.
Title: A36 - SchoolCash Refresher
Presenter: Paula Bryant
Audience: School Admin Assistants
Time: 10:45 – 12:00
Description: Refresh your SchoolCash skills, learn something new, come with questions and discuss processes with other schools.
Please proceed to Session B if you are planning to attend an afternoon session.
If not, you may go ahead and complete your registration.
Registering for Sessions A and B?
Please choose “NOT ATTENDING” for Session C.