TUESDAY MORNING 10:15 am – 11:30 am

Transformative Education: Cultivating a Christ-Centered School Culture – Nathan Holton
In a world that often prioritizes performance over transformation, Christian schools are uniquely called and positioned to shape not just minds but hearts. This session will explore how school leaders and educators can intentionally cultivate a Christ-centered culture that permeates every aspect of school life. We will discuss practical strategies for integrating faith into academics, relationships, and institutional practices while fostering a community of discipleship and grace. Through shared insights and real-world examples, participants will gain tools to equip teachers and staff to authentically live out their faith, ensuring that students experience an education rooted in Christ and a culture that reflects His love.

Sticky Content in the Classroom – Melinda Geiser
This session will utilize ideas from the book “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath. Participants will learn how to make lessons memorable and influential. Teaching with Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotionality, and Stories will expand an educator’s “bag of tricks” and cause students to remember content for years to come. Combining these teaching strategies alongside consistent classroom management will keep students engaged and at ease in your classroom and in your schools.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm

Exploring Canva: Elevate Your School with Creative Design – Tyler Warfel
This presentation explores the practical uses of Canva, a powerful and user-friendly graphic design platform, in schools. Attendees will learn how Canva can be utilized to create visually compelling educational resources such as classroom posters, student presentations, infographics, social media content for school and athletic events, as well as the creation of a full professional quality yearbook. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to incorporate Canva into their classrooms and schools and will also receive free, ready-to-use templates, allowing educators to quickly implement designs without starting from scratch.

Key Structures and Principles for Successful School Leadership – Duane Miller
While the personality and attitude of the Head of School and other leaders play a huge role in the culture, success, and consistency of a school, having key committees, policies, and programs in place can have a major impact as well. In this session, we will explore what some of those elements are that we have found lead to success. The process of hiring, disciplining, and welcoming new families will all be included in our discussion with stories and examples you’ll be able to put to use in your own schools.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON 2:45 pm – 4:00 pm

School Discipline that Works – Eugene Miller
I began my administrative career by developing a strong merit/demerit system of school discipline. It was clear and well-defined. It was efficient and very black and white. I hired someone to run it who was as consistent as possible and very detailed in his record keeping and unwavering in his implementation. It was fear-based and had little or no grace. It just broke a lot of relationships and did little to change behavior. I then attempted to implement a Restorative Justice system. It was very compassionate but very time-consuming. It consumed a lot of time and would need a lot of training for my staff, which was accustomed to a merit/demerit system. Frustrated, I then brought discipline into my office and developed a system that worked for me. This is the simple system I will be sharing, why, and how it worked for us. It is the system that I used at Central Christian School.

Reading Strategies for Struggling Readers within the Regular Classroom – Michelle Mast
Struggling students often do not get enough reading practice to improve or catch up. This presentation will include research-based methods that can be used to help all students improve their reading fluency. The session will include a demonstration of Dibels testing, the use of high frequency words, repeated readings, audio-assisted reading and background knowledge activation skills.

WEDNESDAY MORNING 10:00 am – 11:15 am

Pathways of Learning – Phyllis Swartz
What happens when the mind of a teacher doesn’t match the mind of a student? Actually, not much. So it’s good for teachers to understand the various paths students take to learning. The theory of multiple intelligences is important because it capitalizes on different types of mental strengths and abilities. When teachers make way for diverse learning experiences, they invite more students to actively learn more of the time. Come to this presentation to walk down these several pathways.

Teaching Creativity in the Classroom – Sarah Landis
Utilizing creative methods in the classroom is extremely beneficial to a student’s learning and understanding, as well as to their social and neural development. In this session, we will briefly discuss the science and available research that supports this claim, and spend the majority of our time exploring different ways to implement creative elements (such as fine art, role playing, constructing models, and more) into the classroom, across all subjects and grade levels.