Building Thinking Classrooms 2025 Annual Conference: Full Schedule

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8:45am PDT

Affinity Groups Primary PreK-2

Monday June 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:30am PDT

Rainier

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2025 Conference Presenters

Tammy McMorrow

Indian Creek Elementary, Kuna School District

Tammy McMorrow has been teaching first grade for 31 years in Kuna, Idaho. In 2022 she began building a thinking classroom inspired by the work of Peter Liljedahl and was quickly won over by its magic and messiness. Determined to start a movement, she created a Facebook page for K-2... Read More →

Monday June 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:30am PDT
Rainier

Affinity Group, General

9:45am PDT

Starting Strong: Building Inclusive Thinking Classrooms Together

Monday June 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:45am PDT

Rainier

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This session aligns with the Connections to Equity and Access strand by offering strategies to create inclusive thinking classrooms for IEP-eligible and neurodivergent students. It will demonstrate how the "Math Image Assignment" bridges home and school, fostering belonging and valuing diverse student experiences. The session highlights how personal connections and inclusive task design provide access for students with varying needs, such as speech, sensory, or cognitive differences. It will also explore how tasks with "no wrong answers" promote student autonomy, encourage multiple entry points, and ensure all voices contribute to learning, fostering creative thinking through multiple pathways to solutions.

2025 Conference Presenters

Brian Durocher

Elementary School Teacher,, West Hartford, CT

Monday June 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:45am PDT
Rainier

Connections to Equity and Access, K - 12

1:00pm PDT

This is NOT a success story. It’s a story of moving the needle from resistors to “maybe I’ll try it”

Monday June 30, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT

Rainier

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We watch classrooms, co-teach, develop and deliver Professional Development (PD) , try to incorporate BTC into classrooms, and still change is elusive. Hear about our real and raw journey to transform practices in math classrooms so everyone embraces BTC. Come discover how a new mathematics education coach and outside consultant developed research-based protocols to collaboratively implement PD while implementing resources and providing support through continuous improvement. Leave with complete rubrics, checklists, and resources to affect meaningful change in your coaching and PD as you create more buy-in, strategically introducing BTC.

2025 Conference Presenters

Katherine Holtz

Secondary Math TOSA, Newport Mesa Unified School District

Sean Nank

California State University San Marcos

Sean Nank, PhD, received the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). Sean is a Distinguished Teacher in Residence and adjunct professor at California State University San Marcos, a full professor at American College of Education, and works... Read More →

Monday June 30, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Rainier

Cultivating Leadership and Community, Systems Leadership

2:15pm PDT

Think, Speak, Learn: Empowering Multilingual Learners Across Content

Monday June 30, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm PDT

Rainier

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Immerse yourself in the experience of emergent multilingual learners with an interactive social studies vocabulary lesson conducted partially in French. This session demonstrates how BTC practices create an ideal environment for language acquisition and equitable access. Participants will engage in activities such as organizing vocabulary along a semantic gradient, creating Frayer models, and playing vocabulary games. Through small-group collaboration, visual supports, and NPVSs, you'll discover strategies that reduce cognitive load and performance risk for language learners. Come see how these approaches can be applied to support diverse students in your classroom, enhancing equity in the humanities and all subjects.

2025 Conference Presenters

Joshua Lafleur

Learning Specialist, Calgary Canada

I support K-9 schools in a rural board, focusing on helping teachers serve their multilingual students. I support teachers in any and all subjects. Many of the teachers I work with in middle school, I teach how to use BTC as a universal strategy that supports all students with literacy... Read More →

Monday June 30, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm PDT
Rainier

BTC in Other Content Areas, General

3:30pm PDT

Revolutionizing Social Studies Through Building Thinking Classrooms

Monday June 30, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Rainier

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If you love Building Thinking Classrooms strategies but want to explore how they can transform other content areas, this session is for you! Participants will engage in a hands-on BTC experience focused on social studies, starting with collaborative analysis of a map and connecting it to a written passage. You'll see how BTC practices can drive inquiry, foster collaboration, and engage students with challenging content. Leave with actionable strategies to implement BTC principles in your own social studies classroom.

2025 Conference Presenters

Amanda Ramey

Instructional Coach, Franklin Community Schools

Franklin Schools has been a pioneer in implementing Building Thinking Classrooms, hosting the first-ever BTC conference and embracing its practices across grade levels. Our district is dedicated to innovative, student-centered instruction that empowers learners to think critically... Read More →

Amanda Ray

5-6 Elementary Teacher,, Franklin Community Schools

Monday June 30, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Rainier

BTC in Other Content Areas, K - 12

8:45am PDT

9:45am PDT

1:00pm PDT

2:15pm PDT

3:30pm PDT

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