Join us for the conference opening ceremony, featuring a keynote address by Dr. Margo Gottlieb, author and cofounder of WIDA. Dr. Gottlieb will share insights on rethinking classroom assessment to better support our North carolina students.
During this special session, NCDPI Associate Superinterndant Dr. Stacey Wilson Norman will present the ELD Recognition Award (ERA), honoring outstanding educators and programs that demonstrate excellence in supporting multilingual learners through innovative and impactful practices.
This inspiring kickoff will set the stage for the conference, celebrating collaboration, leadership, reflection, and a shared commitment to equitable and effective instruction for all students.
This session explores practical, culturally responsive strategies for engaging multilingual families across K–12 settings. Based on insights from a year-long PLC and community walkthroughs, we will share a one-pager of “Do’s and Don’ts,” discuss what doesn’t work, and offer actionable ideas to build trust, promote two-way communication, and strengthen family-school partnerships.
Participants will:
1. Learn culturally responsive strategies to engage and support multilingual families across K–12 settings.
2. Examine common barriers to effective family engagement and explore what practices are often ineffective or counterproductive.
3. Gain actionable ideas to build trust and promote two-way communication between schools and multilingual families.
4. Leave with tools and approaches to strengthen family-school partnerships that honor families' diverse languages, cultures, and experiences.
Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is a research-based approach that strengthens reading comprehension for all learners, with particular benefits for Multilingual Learners (MLs). It supports language development, builds academic vocabulary, and promotes higher-order thinking through structured collaboration. In this interactive session, participants will: Connect current reading strategies to CSR practices Explore the research and key components of CSR Engage in hands-on group practice using CSR routines and materials Participants will leave with practical tools, classroom-ready resources, and the confidence to implement CSR to support comprehension and language development.
This session explores how Snorkl can be used to provide immediate, actionable feedback on student speaking. Participants will see classroom examples of how Snorkl supports oral language practice, reflection, and growth. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for using Snorkl to monitor speaking development, build student confidence, and make speaking practice more accessible and low-pressure.
Let’s Play! is an interactive, in-person session designed for PreK–3 educators to explore the power of joyful learning for multilingual children. In this 90-minute workshop, participants will engage in hands-on activities, collaborative discussions, and real-world examples to better understand what play looks like for multilingual learners, why it supports language development, and how it can be meaningfully integrated into classroom practice. Educators will observe and reflect on examples of children at play, exchange ideas with peers, and consider how local contexts influence opportunities for play.
"The content area of social studies provides rich opportunities for ML students of all ages and levels to increase their proficiency in academic English while becoming more knowledgeable in the content area. Explore a variety of proven strategies and resources to capitalize on ML's background knowledge and scaffold the multimedia and literature-rich world of Social Studies to engage newcomers and experienced MLs in the secondary space.
This session engages participants in exploring static electricity through hands-on investigations and model-based reasoning. The session emphasizes student discourse, collaborative sensemaking, and alignment with grades 6–12 physical science standards.
In this session, participants will explore the components of the honors policy and learn how to assess current honors-level courses to ensure they meet the required depth and complexity. They will explore the Honors Level Course Development and Evaluation Tool, along with other resources. Additionally, participants will deepen their knowledge of advanced learning indicators and engage with best-practice instructional strategies that support honors-level coursework.
Explore practical strategies and classroom examples that help elementary educators integrate foundational computer science concepts across PK–5 subjects while building students’ problem-solving and computational thinking skills.
Elementary Computer Science, IT, and Technology Education Consultant
Natalie Hulbert currently serves as the Elementary Computer Science, IT, and Technology Education Consultant with the Office of Career and Technical Education at the NC DPI. Before taking this role, she was a K-5 STEM Specialist Teacher and Technology Facilitator for eight years in... Read More →
Come to experience an interactive presentation of practical and fun activities to work on writing, with the support of reading, and opportunities to use listening and speaking.
This interactive 90-minute in-person session explores practical ways to expand reading instruction to better support multilingual learners. Participants will engage in discussion and hands-on activities to build on their current teaching practices, deepen their understanding of how multilingual learners develop reading skills, and explore strategies that foster meaningful interaction and engagement.
Emerging multilingual learners at WIDA Levels 1-3 often face a gap between rigorous academic content and developing English proficiency. This interactive session demonstrates how artificial intelligence can serve as a linguistic scaffolding partner—helping teachers make grade-level learning comprehensible without reducing cognitive demand. Participants will learn a practical system for using AI to analyze language demands, adapt academic texts, and generate structured support aligned to WIDA English Language Development Standards. Through guided practice, attendees will apply ready-to-use prompts to create scaffolded explanations and academic language supports while maintaining rigor. Educators will leave with replicable prompts, classroom examples, to implement in their classrooms.
In this interactive session, participants will move beyond rote memorization to experience mathematics as a journey of discovery. Through hands-on tasks, peer collaboration, and structured reflection, we will explore five key instructional shifts that prioritize conceptual reasoning over speed. Attendees will gain practical strategies for embedding differentiated scaffolding into their daily practice, ensuring that rigorous problem solving is accessible and empowering for every learner.
Amanda Berry, M.A.Ed., serves as a Title III/ESL Coordinating Teacher for the Wake County Public School System, bringing 25 years of specialized experience to the field of Elementary Education. A former ESL teacher, Amanda now leads district-wide initiatives to integrate language... Read More →
Tuesday June 23, 2026 2:45pm - 4:15pm EDT Media Center
This session engages participants in exploring static electricity through hands-on investigations and model-based reasoning. The session emphasizes student discourse, collaborative sensemaking, and alignment with K–5 science standards.
