Student success is at the heart of all of our efforts as educators. However, to fully serve each of our students, we must understand the barriers preventing them from reaching their full potential. Educational equity is an effort to give everyone what they need to succeed and an explicit effort to level the playing field to reach equality. In this workshop, participants will examine some of the barriers students face and reflect on what they can do to reduce barriers and provide support.

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Empathy is the ability to understand and share another’s feelings, and it is a skill that can bring people together and make people feel included and valued. When we listen to understand, we can remove barriers. This workshop assists participants in reviving an updated version of the golden rule and equips them with practical strategies to improve their listening skills.

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Culturally responsive educators eliminate barriers and add equitable support for marginalized students, facilitating learning environments that enable students to reach their full potential. The journey to becoming a culturally responsive educator is a never-ending, enriching experience rooted in developing cultural competence, demonstrated by employing inclusive and equitable strategies, and reflected in an iterative practice of noticing, listening, and questioning how we can improve. In this workshop, participants will explore the key characteristics of cultural competence and learn practical strategies for culturally responsive teaching.

Our brains all learn in the same way, moving through the six stages of the natural learning process that lead to mastery. When we move through each stage, we work with our brains to develop knowledge and skill. Many things affect learning differently; however, through no fault of their own, factors impact some people more than others. When we expand awareness of barriers in the classroom, we can create a more equitable and inclusive learning environment. This workshop teaches the natural learning process, basic neuroscience of how the brain learns, overviews ten barriers to learning, and equips educators with strategies for helping oneself and others learn.

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As we navigate instruction amid the global pandemic, the learning loss gaps challenge us in unique ways. One way to bridge the gap is to shift our mindset to an asset- or strengths-based perspective. This shift enables us to incorporate our students’ experiences as value-added contributions to the learning environment. When we find value in what students bring rather than focus on what they lack, we are better situated to create equitable and inclusive learning environments. This workshop will equip educators to develop a strengths-based mindset for inclusive instruction.

Micromessages are small, subtle, unconscious messages we both send and receive when we communicate with others. These messages manifest in what we say, our tone of voice, body language, curriculum, and instructional choices. No one is immune from sending them or receiving them. The accumulation of micromessages can become big roadblocks to student success. When we increase our awareness of micromessages, we can mitigate how often they show up in the classroom. This workshop will help educators identify negative micromessages and reduce barriers to a more equitable and inclusive learning environment.

For diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, we must find the root causes for our specific populations before diving in with well-intentioned interventions that may miss the mark and leave us no better than before we started. In this workshop, we will teach participants how to do a root cause analysis to help uncover the root causes of the more visible symptoms and problems like persistence or interest in nontraditional careers.

Decades of research provide us a wealth of knowledge on the root causes for why people don’t pursue and persist in nontraditional pathways. However, it’s rarely as simple as one thing. A combination of factors is usually at play, reducing equity and inclusion in nontraditional pathways and careers. In this workshop, participants will learn the top ten root causes for equity in CTE and STEM. Through case study analysis, we will examine the intersections of these root causes for participation and completion.

Recruiting nontraditional students into STEM and CTE programs and pathways can be a significant challenge. Understanding the root causes is crucial to sustainable change; however, recruitment remains one of the biggest hurdles to participation. In this workshop, we will review the best practices for recruitment, and participants will explore strategies that will work best for their population.

For many, the last year and a half have been a crash course in resiliency. Others may have enough grit to last a lifetime but could benefit from tips to find balance amid persistent challenges. Many of us wish to support those around us in cultivating resilience. This workshop provides the best practices for building strength in ourselves and others and equips participants with practical strategies for developing resilience.