GETCA 2025

Creating a neurodiverse-affirming classroom encourages students to work with their brain instead of working against it. When we facilitate neurodiverse-affirming classrooms, we create environments that include neurodiverse students instead of alienating them. Accommodations and modifications can become the norm without adding to our already significant workloads. This session will combine opportunities to learn about what it means to create a neurodiverse-affirming classroom and opportunities for discussion around how we can do this in our classrooms practically and realistically.

We’ve all had those ADHD brains in our classroom who can’t motivate themselves to work without a significant fire under their butt. But we don’t have the time to stand over a child or the energy to intimidate them into finishing their work. Stop taking away recess, begging or pleading, or sending work home (where it never gets finished anyway). Lean into what actually motivates the ADHD brain to complete tasks. We’ll discuss ways to work with the ADHD brain instead of fighting against it. You’ll empower kids to leverage the skills they do have without adding hours to your own workload.

Much of the work on trauma informed practices seems to focus on elementary students; however, the bigger kids feel the effects of trauma just as much...they just show it differently. Changing classrooms, large class sizes and increasing demands on teachers make identifying and supporting students affected by trauma very difficult in Junior High and High School. This session is focused on providing teachers with concrete strategies and approaches to make our classrooms a safe place where students feel supported and can be successful.

With the ever-increasing demands of standardized testing, test anxiety is becoming more and more prevalent. Students who struggle with test anxiety are unable to effectively and accurately demonstrate their understanding of topics covered, resulting in frustration and disillusionment with school. This session will provide a basic understanding of the psychology behind test anxiety as well as tools and strategies to help mitigate the effects of test anxiety. Whether participants are working with individuals or a whole class, this step-by-step plan can be used to help students reach their potential.

AI tools like Gemini, Diffit, ChatGPT, and Magic School offer incredible potential, but responsible use requires a critical eye. Educators need to understand how these biases manifest and, more importantly, how to challenge and disrupt these biases when using AI for learning.This session empowers you to identify and mitigate bias in AI, ensuring equitable outcomes for all students. We'll explore how societal biases infiltrate AI systems, examine real-world examples (gender bias in images, racial bias in facial recognition, skewed language outputs), and introduce anti-oppression frameworks to guide ethical AI integration. Learn to: -Understand the sources of AI bias. -Critically evaluate AI-generated content. -Apply anti-oppression principles to AI use. -Use prompting techniques to reduce bias. -Verify information and incorporate diverse perspectives. -Move beyond AI fluency and develop critical thinking skills needed to leverage AI effectively and ethically in your teaching.

My presentation introduces the stories of international, ESL, and immigrant students, often referred to as 1.5 generation, Third Culture Kids, and global nomads. It highlights their challenges in academics, relationships, and mental health and provides suggestions for teachers on how to support these students effectively in the classroom.

We are all mathematicians at birth, intrigued by the recognition and manipulation of quantity from the very earliest of days, yet by the time students enter grade school noticeable anxieties are evident. An infection that only becomes more severe and widespread each grade level. There is however, a cure, and it's name is "Presentation". Join us for a lively, insightful, and inspiring exploration of simple, proven methods to captivate your math classrooms, from the beginning to the end of the academic year. Walk away empowered with case studies, approaches, turnkey activities to immediately transform the experience and performance of your classroom community.

Are you looking for ways to push your athletes or teams to the next level? Have you watched your star athlete miss an easy shot in a high-pressure situation? There is an increasing body of evidence that training the mind of an athlete is as important, if not more so, than traditional physical preparation. This session will explain the basics of sport psychology by examining the importance of setting goals, establishing routines and the use of guided imagery to increase an athlete’s likelihood of success. Regardless of the sport, these suggestions will provide coaches and teachers with simple strategies to give their athletes the skills to reach their potential.

Self-Harm continues to be an issue of great concern in schools at all levels; yet people are still reluctant to discuss this topic in schools. More often than not, supports and training are put into place after several incidents have been identified in a school community. This session aims to take a proactive approach, by providing teachers with a plan to educate the students, teachers AND parents in a school community about the nature of self-harm. Participants will look at myths associated with self-harm, empathetic ways to react to disclosures and barriers to students seeking help. The goal? If people are educated about self-harm, they will be able to encourage more positive methods of coping and respond appropriately when faced with a student engaging in this behaviour.