Building Thinking Classrooms 2025 Annual Conference: Full Schedule

8:45am PDT

Affinity Groups Primary PreK-2

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

Rainier

Feedback

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

Feedback

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

Feedback

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

Feedback

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

Feedback

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

8:00am PDT

BTC Buy-In and Book Clubs

Tuesday July 1, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Rainier

Feedback

Learn how to inspire teacher engagement in professional learning through BTC strategies and engaging book clubs. This session offers practical tools to build buy-in, encourage collaboration, and create sustainable, teacher-driven growth. Perfect for school leaders, instructional coaches, and teacher leaders ready to transform PD into something meaningful and manageable.

2025 Conference Presenters

Laura Tomas

Math Therapist, Poinciana STEM Elementary School

Always Learning,Laura Tomas@iteachthewhyMath TherapistPoinciana STEM Elementary School

Tuesday July 1, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Rainier

Cultivating Leadership and Community, General

9:15am PDT

ReFraming a textbook lesson using BTC strategies

Tuesday July 1, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Rainier

Feedback

Trying to incorporate Building Thinking Classroom strategies into your classroom using lessons from a textbook? Be sure to join us as we experience a lesson from an Algebra 1 book. You will work with colleagues at a VNPS through curricular tasks and experience consolidation for the lesson. Finally we will look at the original presentation of the lesson in the book and debrief the strategies.

2025 Conference Presenters

Sharon Rendon

Director of Professional Learning, CPM Educational Program

Tuesday July 1, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Rainier

BTC Using Specific Textbooks, Secondary

10:20am PDT

Federal Way - District Team

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:20am - 10:50am PDT

Rainier

Feedback

PNW Team

Monique Pollitt

Regional Math Coordinator, ESD 121, Puget Sound ESD

Monique Cabellon (she/her)Math Program Manager Puget Sound Educational Service District | 800 Oakesdale Ave. SW | Renton, WA 98057P: (425) 917-7863 | www.psesd.org Subscribe to the Math Newsletter Book time to meet with Monique... Read More →

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:20am - 10:50am PDT
Rainier

Affinity Group, Systems Leadership

11:00am PDT

MARTIAN MATH: A BTC Immersion Experience

Tuesday July 1, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT

Rainier

Feedback

Ever wondered how mathematics would work if we had three fingers on each hand? Step into your students' shoes as we explore mathematics through a Martian lens! Experience a complete Thinking Classroom lesson where familiar mathematical concepts become delightfully unfamiliar. Through this unique perspective, participants will engage with core BTC practices - from vertical non-permanent surfaces to visibly random groupings - while discovering how mathematical meaning-making feels for our students. Leave with practical insights about creating accessible, engaging mathematics learning experiences for diverse learners, including emergent multi-linguals and neuro-divergent students. Join us for an out-of-this-world mathematical adventure!

2025 Conference Presenters

Patty Stephens

K-12 Math Specialist, Northshore School District

Tuesday July 1, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT
Rainier

Connections to Equity and Access, General

1:00pm PDT

BTC in the Social Studies Classroom: How I got my most off task students to love learning about maps.

Tuesday July 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT

Rainier

Feedback

This session will show how to adapt current Social Studies lessons into BTC
lessons without a ton of prep or resources. Strip away note taking and slide
decks. Let go of the idea that students are listening when you're talking and
trust the power of a non-permanent vertical surface, also known as a white
board. We will look at two to three lessons that I have modified into BTC
lessons using current curriculum. I will also share about my classroom set
up and behavior modification strategies that have made this year a success,
with a few humorous failures. Come check it out.

2025 Conference Presenters

Lauren Kulczycki

Social Studies Teacher - Pioneer Middle School,, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools

Lauren Kulczycki is a former high school and middle school administrator turned Social Studies teacher with a passion for creating engaging, student-centered classrooms. For the past two years, she has been using and presenting on the principles of Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC... Read More →

Tuesday July 1, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Rainier

BTC in Other Content Areas, Secondary

2:15pm PDT

Reflections on a year of BTC implementation in Algebra 1 and in IB Higher Level Mathematics

Tuesday July 1, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm PDT

Rainier

Feedback

We are two experienced and successful teachers who are constantly striving to improve. Nothing has improved our practice like BTC. BTC allows us to engage more students, better assess their understanding, and push them to higher-order thinking. Within days, we could see (and hear) how much of a difference BTC was making with our students. Within weeks, we saw the potential for BTC to be an equity driver while upholding high expectations for curricular mastery. Within months, we saw gains on our standards and room for further professional growth. This presentation shares some of our successes and failures, as well as our strengths and areas for improvement. Attendees will leave with strategies and ideas to try in their own practices.

2025 Conference Presenters