Building Thinking Classrooms 2025 Annual Conference

Connie Chinen

Kaneohe Elementary School

Math Resource Teacher

About me

Aloha,
I am a Math Resource Teacher at Kaneohe Elementary School. I have been an elementary teacher for 33 years primarily in grades 3 and 4, but have been a math resource teacher for the past 10 years. I began my BTC journey in 2020 and it has been life changing for me. I look forward to meeting fellow BTC educators and learning more to make my retirement year the best ever! In my spare time I love dancing hula, doing crafts and decorating classrooms and parties.

9:45am PDT

One Size Fits EACH: Unit Planning and Lesson Planning for Thinking Bellevue IChase Orton • Kim Rimbey Lakeside Chat with Peter Liljedahl - Instructional Routines in a Thinking Classroom: Compliance vs. Thinking Lakeside Chat - Grand Ballroom 3-6-9Peter Liljedahl Numbers Aren't Always What They Seem - Launch To Close For K-12 Lake Washington Ballroom IIMichelle McCarron • Kyle Webb

11:00am PDT

Playing with Structure then Naming it: Verbing Mathematics in a Building Thinking Classroom Framework Bellevue IIKirk Keating Peeling Back the Layers of Thin-Slicing for K-5 Grand Ballroom #1Pierre Tranchemontagne The Underrated Nuances of BTC: Small Moves, Big Gains Lake Washington Ballroom IJudy Larsen From “One More Thing” to “Let’s Try” : Growing Building Thinking Classrooms Grand Ballroom #2Stephanie Eleck • Alicia Naleway

1:00pm PDT

Shifting Assessment & Evaluation from “Who They Are” to “Where They Are” Grand Ballroom #2Kirk Keating • Michelle McCarron

2:15pm PDT

Launching Strong, Landing Stronger: Storywork and the Bookends of BTC Lake Washington Ballroom IIMaegan Giroux • Judy Larsen Leveraging a Lab Cohort as Job-Embedded Learning of BTC West SeattleCandice Frontiera • Kathleen Trifonovitch

3:30pm PDT

Grading and Norming work at the Boards Grand Ballroom #8Nicholas Stevener Lakeside Chat with Peter Liljedahl + Magma Math: Curricular Resources as a Tool for Thin-Slicing Lakeside Chat - Grand Ballroom 3-6-9Peter Liljedahl Year One Insights - Building a Thinking Classroom and School from the Ground Up Bellevue IILaura Eidson • Tricia Hukee • Sydnie Millie • Hannah Wentz AI Meets Thinking Classrooms: Fostering Collaboration Across Grades Lake Washington Ballroom IIJulie Broderick • Lisbeth Uribe

7:00pm PDT

Social Event! - Urban Night Market Mercer TerraceMichelle Locke

8:00am PDT

Leveraging AI: Adapting BTC Lessons with Intelligence and Intention Grand Ballroom #7Jeff Crawford • Chase Orton Demystifying the Art of Thin Slicing West SeattleChelsea McClellan BTC Buy-In and Book Clubs RainierLaura Tomas

9:15am PDT

Three Years and 12 Practices: How I Found Success with Navigation Tools BakerMadison Butts Adapting the Building Thinking Classrooms Framework for the English Classroom Grand Ballroom #7Aleda Klassen Integrating Fact Fluency in a Thinking Classroom Lake Washington Ballroom ICourtney Flessner Putting the puzzle pieces together: How to BTC on the Daily with Thin-Slicing Grand Ballroom #8Judy Larsen • Pierre Tranchemontagne Coaching in Action: Partnering for Meaningful Teaching Growth Grand Ballroom #2Michelle McCarron

11:00am PDT

The Nonsense of Numbers Bellevue IKyle Webb Everything at the Boards: BTC Across the Curriculum in the Upper Elementary Classroom Bellevue IISamantha Lauderdale • Lourdes De Leon Why Do We Flip It?: Using Tech With Intentionality to Make the Abstract Make Sense Lake Washington Ballroom IAmy Chang • Maegan Giroux From Imperfect to Inspired – Becoming the Best Thinking Classrooms Teacher You Can Be Grand Ballroom #2Chase Orton

1:00pm PDT

How to Use BTC Grading Practices to Support Student Learning and Interventions Lake Washington Ballroom IIAnna Colaric Meaning Making with Multiplication and Division of Fractions: Thin Slicing our Way to Understanding Bellevue IIRyan Flessner

2:15pm PDT

Building Thinking Lessons from Textbook-y Tasks Lake Washington Ballroom IIJared Sliger • April Strom