ISABC 2026 Professional Development Day
February 13, 2026
The ISABC is proud to announce our upcoming 2026 Professional Development Day, “EmpowerEd: Connect. Inspire. Empower.” This one-day, in-person event is set to take place on February 13th, 2026, across several satellite locations, bringing together educators from all corners of the Independent Schools Association of British Columbia.
This year’s conference is designed to foster deep connections among our educators. The theme “EmpowerEd” underscores our commitment to empowering educators with the tools, knowledge, and collaborative opportunities necessary to navigate and shape the future of education.
We are thrilled to have the following satellite schools hosting with these areas of focus:
* St. George’s School – Artificial Intelligence in Education (Mainland Venue)
* Mulgrave School – Teaching and Learning
* Vancouver Talmud Torah School – Mental Health and Wellbeing
* Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School – Universal Design
* Meadowridge School – Indigenous Education and Connection to Land
* Fraser Academy – Thinking Classrooms
* Pearson College – Artificial Intelligence (Island Venue)
Please view the school tabs above for more information on each session.
Registration and Fees
The registration fee includes access to all sessions, lunch, and refreshments throughout the day. Schools will be invoiced after the conference.
- For ISABC School Members: $35 per attendee
- For External Attendees: $85 per attendee
Conference Objectives
Registration opens on January 14th, 2026!
St. George’s School
Artificial Intelligence in Education
About this Session:
Time: 8:00am – 3:00pm
Location: St. George’s Senior School
AI: A New Tool in Education
This conference examines how artificial intelligence can be used as a practical tool across teaching, learning, and school operations. The day will begin with a keynote exploring the psychology of AI, focusing on how humans think, feel, and behave when working with AI systems. This presentation will include discussion around attention, memory, trust, human–AI relationships, and the long-term effects of AI use on learners and society.
During the day attendees will be able to choose from five applied focus areas:
1. Visual Learning
2. Data Science
3. Languages, including tools such as Gemini and Notebook LM
4. Research, with links to literacy, social studies, and both teacher and student inquiry
5. Administration
Each area is paired with two cross-cutting strands:
• Assessment and curriculum planning
• Support for students with learning differences
Sessions concentrate on concrete ways AI can enhance classroom practice, improve workflow, and support diverse learners. Attendees work directly with AI tools, collaborate with colleagues, and leave with strategies they can apply immediately in their own school settings.
Facilitator & Session Details Coming Soon!
Pearson College UWC
Artificial Intelligence in Education
About this Session:
Time: 8:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Pearson College School (Vancouver Island)
Digital Literacy and the use of AI in Education
Ethical, responsible, and safe use of AI in K-12 education requires a human-centered approach that prioritizes meaningful learning experiences. The integration of AI, when thoughtfully applied, has the potential to enrich our education system by streamlining administrative tasks, enhancing efficiency, and enabling a dedicated focus on student-centered activities. While AI can act as a supplementary tool and offer enrichment and depth to classroom practices, choices about the use of AI in the classroom are ultimately made by teachers based on the needs of the students.
Education, by its nature, is relational, especially when emphasizing the irreplaceable and integral role of human connections in the learning process. While AI can provide valuable support, ongoing human interaction remains fundamental for fostering meaningful relationships among educators and students, as well as within the school community. Therefore, AI tools should be viewed as complements to human processes. (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/administration/program-management/ai-in-education)
At this workshop you will be hearing from Pearson College Alumni and other AI enthusiasts to assist in your understanding and use of this new tool.
Facilitator & Session Details Coming Soon!
Mulgrave School
Teaching and Learning
About this Session:
Time: 8:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Mulgrave School
Workshop 1: Setting goals & Structuring lessons (morning only)
Workshop 2: Explicit teaching
Workshop 3: Worked examples
Workshop 4: Collaborative learning
Workshop 5: Multiple exposures
Workshop 6: Questioning & Feedback (afternoon only)
Workshop 7: Metacognitive strategies
Workshop 8: Differentiated learning
Meet your Workshop Facilitators:
Diane Rutherford – Education Lead at Future Design School
Diane empowers individuals to reach their full potential. With over a decade of experience as a facilitator and certified educator, she has worked with thousands of school leaders, teachers, and students worldwide. Diane is an expert in pedagogy and assessment, designing and delivering customized workshops that foster student-centered learning, foundational skills, and measurable growth. She integrates AI-enabled learning experiences to keep educators and students current with emerging technologies.Working alongside FDS Senior Strategists and school leaders, Diane analyzes school data to provide insights for strategic planning and develops curriculum resources that create meaningful, future-ready learning experiences. She is a trusted advisor for schools seeking to drive innovation, enhance teaching and learning, and prepare students for the challenges of tomorrow.
Zach Groshell, PhD – Teacher, Instructional Coach, Educational Consultant
Zach began his career as an elementary school teacher and, through diverse teaching experiences, developed a passion for research-backed strategies. He is now an internationally recognized consultant, supporting schools in explicit instruction, instructional coaching, and school improvement.
Stephanie Dodier: Teacher, SFU Sessional Instructor, Educational Consultant
Stephanie Dodier has over fifteen years of experience teaching secondary science (IB & MYP) across Canada. As a sessional instructor at SFU and education consultant, she supports educators from all fields, helping them improve their practice and reach their full potential.
Her mission is to translate evidence-based educational research into practical strategies, bridging the gap between academia and classroom practice. With a science background, she makes the latest findings in cognitive science, educational neuroscience, and the science of learning accessible and actionable for teachers.
Stephanie holds a Master’s in Education (SFU) and a specialization in Educational Neuroscience (UQAM). Combining her theoretical knowledge with extensive teaching experience, she offers a holistic perspective on education that empowers educators and enhances student learning.
Erin Kline: Executive Director, FAx (Fraser Academy Outreach Centre)
Erin Kline is the Executive Director of Fraser Academy’s Outreach and Training Centre (FAx) and an educator, leader, coach, and consultant with over 25 years of experience advancing inclusive learning. She is dedicated to ensuring that every child — especially those with language-based learning differences — has equitable opportunities to thrive. Erin teaches evidence-based practices in Differentiated Instruction, Using Data to Inform Instructional Practice, Executive Function, and competency-based IEP design, supporting educators in translating research to meaningful classroom practice. She has partnered with districts, schools, Indigenous and northern communities to help integrate inclusive frameworks and responsive instructional design. Across all her work, Erin’s mission is to empower teachers to create classrooms where every learner can flourish.
Workshop Descriptions:
Workshop 1 – Setting Goals & Structuring Lessons
Led by Diane Rutherford
Clarifying purpose and designing intentional learning sequences.
When learning intentions are clear, students are more engaged and better able to self regulate. This workshop explores how clarity of goals and purposeful lesson structure can transform teaching and learning. Educators will examine how to communicate success criteria, scaffold learning effectively, and design flow within lessons and units to deepen conceptual understanding.
Participants will:
- Define and communicate clear learning goals that are measurable and student-friendly.
- Design lesson structures that support conceptual progression and cognitive engagement.
- Connect learning objectives to assessment and feedback strategies for coherence.
- Apply practical planning tools to align instruction, learning outcomes, and reflection
Workshop 2 – Explicit Teaching
Led by Zack Groshell
Every Kid Deserves a Turn: Whole Class Engagement Techniques
Traditional classroom participation methods—such as hands-up questioning—often result in passive learning, inequitable engagement, and off-task behaviour, leaving many students overlooked. Drawing on his experience as a classroom teacher, the presenter explores the limitations of these conventional techniques through the lens of learning science and explicit instruction, emphasizing the need for inclusive strategies that promote active thinking for all learners. Grounded in both research and real-world practice, this session introduces high-leverage, practical techniques the presenter has successfully implemented to maximize student participation and accountability.
Participants will:
- Examine methods such as cold calling, think-pair-share, mini whiteboards, and the execution of universal response systems—tools that have transformed classroom dynamics and increased engagement across diverse learners
- Analyze video from some of the world’s best teachers
- Gain hands-on experience and leave better equipped with strategies to implement equitable participation routines that foster deeper engagement, improved retention, and a classroom culture where every student’s voice is valued and heard.
Workshop 6 – Questioning and Feedback
Led by Diane Rutherford
Using dialogue and response as engines for growth.
This session investigates how to use questioning and feedback as intentional teaching strategies that deepen learning. Educators will engage in activities that model effective questioning techniques, practice feedback protocols, and consider how to cultivate student response and ownership in the feedback cycle.
Participants will:
- Identify different types of questions and when to use them to elicit deeper thinking.
- Explore feedback that promotes student agency and intrinsic motivation.
- Practice methods for creating feedback loops where students respond, reflect, and act.
- Develop strategies to embed questioning and feedback into everyday classroom routines.
Workshop 7 – Metacognitive Strategies
Led by Stephanie Dodier
Leveraging Neuroplasticity to Deepen Metacognition
This interactive workshop explores how understanding the brain can strengthen
metacognition, motivation, and student agency. Participants will examine key principles of
neuroplasticity and why learning often feels counterintuitive for students.
Through collaborative activities and practical examples, educators will learn how to:
- Teach students about how the brain learns
- Support goal-setting, monitoring, and self-evaluation
- Model and scaffold effective metacognitive strategies
- Apply spacing, retrieval, and other evidence-based study techniques
Teachers will leave with a set of research-based strategies they can implement
immediately to make learning more intentional, accessible, and engaging for all students.
Workshop 8 – Differentiated Learning
Led by Erin Kline
Informed, Intentional, Inclusive: Differentiation for All Learners
When educators use data, responsive assessment, and intentional design, differentiation becomes a powerful pathway to equity and engagement. This workshop explores the core principles of differentiation and demonstrates how purposeful planning, informed by assessment as, for, and of learning, can create inclusive structures that meet learners where they are. Educators will examine how to apply the Three-Tier Classroom Plan, adjust content, process, and product, and design learning experiences that support access, challenge, and belonging for all students.
Participants will:
- Identify and apply key principles of differentiation to adjust content, process, product, and learning environment.
- Use classroom data and assessment for learning to understand learner readiness and guide instructional decisions.
- Distinguish between assessment as, for, and of learning, emphasizing how these support differentiated and inclusive practice.
- Use the Three-Tier Classroom Plan to design universal strategies and targeted support within everyday lessons.
- Collaboratively analyze classroom scenarios and co-design differentiated strategies through structured group activities.
Details on other workshops coming soon
Vancouver Talmud Torah
Mental Health and Wellbeing
About this Session:
Time: 8:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Vancouver Talmud Torah
Empowered Learning and Wellbeing in Schools: Practical Strategies for Educators
This conference gives educators a practical look at how mental skills and nourishment shape student learning, behaviour, and overall school culture. Sessions combine discussion, real classroom examples, and hands-on activities to show how emotional regulation, focus, communication, and daily wellbeing routines support both student development and staff wellness. Educators will explore how mental skills connect to BC’s Core Competencies and how nutrition and stress influence the nervous system, attention, and readiness to learn. The focus is on simple, actionable approaches that build confidence, resilience, and positive classroom energy without adding to workload.
Learning Outcomes:
Educators will leave with:
• Techniques to build emotional regulation, perseverance, goal-setting, and values-based communication in students.
• Strategies to integrate focus, self-regulation, and mental skills into everyday teaching.
• A clear understanding of how nourishment affects mood, attention, stress, energy, and learning.
• Practical routines to support educator wellbeing during the school day.
• Hands-on activities they can use immediately, such as nervous system resets or simple functional-fuel demonstrations.
• Ideas for modeling healthy behaviours in authentic and inclusive ways.
• A refreshed perspective on how small, consistent wellness practices shape stronger school culture.
Meet your Morning Facilitator:
Lauren Ritchie (MEd, BA, ESFCC)
Mental Training & Leadership Consultant
Meet your Afternoon Facilitators:
Golnaz Mindell & Emily Schach
Co-Founders of Nourished Ed
Golnaz and Emily, Co-Founders of nourishEd, combine nutrition expertise, wellness industry experience, and lived parenting insights to support families and schools in building healthy eating habits.
Golnaz is a Registered Nutritionist with a background in Consumer Packaged Goods and former Marketing Manager at General Mills. Her work with families, along with navigating her own son’s severe gut issues and supporting three young athletes, shaped her hands-on approach to kids’ nutrition education. She develops practical strategies for schools and food service teams and stays active through hiking, ocean swimming, and ongoing study in health and longevity.
Emily has over 15 years of experience in the wellness sector. Her interest in real, minimally processed foods began as a varsity athlete managing an autoimmune condition. After more than a decade at Lululemon, she co-founded Glory Juice Company to expand access to plant-based options in Vancouver. As a parent of two active kids, she focuses on accessible, allergy-friendly cooking and simple daily habits that support performance and well-being.
Together, they help children and families understand how nourishing food can support energy, learning, and long-term health.
Meadowridge School
Indigenous Education and Connection to Land
About this Session:
Time: 8:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Meadowridge School
Meadowridge School is offering bus transport to and from the school campus from Coquitlam Central Station (Millenium Line terminus). Pick-up will be 7:45am and the return will be 4:00pm. Further details will be provided upon registration, prior to the conference.
Indigenous Perspectives for a Regenerative Future.
This conference invites educators to reimagine teaching and learning as acts of reciprocity—where knowledge, like the gifts of the land, is shared in gratitude and care. Together, we will explore how Indigenous wisdom and Western ways of knowing can be braided together to nurture mutual flourishing for students, communities, and the living world.
Educators attending this session will hear from experts in their field and have the opportunity to select from an array of workshops that will engage participants in learning, reflection, and actionable steps toward more regenerative teaching and living.
You can expect to leave Meadowridge School with enhance learning in the following areas:
* Indigenous land stewardship
* Cultural revitalization
* Sustainability education
* Place-based education
Meet your Morning Facilitator:
Dr. Vicky Kelly
SFU Associate Profession, Faculty of Education
Dr. Vicki Kelly is a therapeutic eurythmist trained in holistic hospitals in Europe, with experience in both general medicine and psychiatry. She has presented widely on complementary medicine and art therapy and, between 1991 and 2002, supported the development and training of therapists, educators, and doctors across North America. During this time, she also helped establish an integrative arts curriculum for grades 2–8 and collaborated on creating the first Care Circle for Special Education at the Toronto Waldorf School.
Her work brings together Indigenous knowledge practices, arts-based inquiry, and ecological education. She integrates oral tradition, storytelling, performance, and native flute playing as ways of teaching and translating knowledge across contexts. Dr. Kelly’s research focuses on Indigenous epistemologies, holistic learning, ecological and art-based practices, and approaches such as Two-Eyed Seeing. She teaches in the areas of Indigenous education, art and ecological education, holistic learning, and integrative arts and therapy.
Beyond Blankets: A Stó:lō Lands Exercise
Special Workshop Experience from the University of Fraser Valley’s Peace and Reconciliation Centre (PARC)
This 2 hour immersive and transformative learning experience was developed by Dr. Keith Thor Carlson at the University of the Fraser Valley’s (UFV) Peace and Reconciliation Centre (PARC) in response to a request from Xwiyolemtel (Grand Chief Clarence “Kat” Pennier). Xwiyolemtel wanted an experiential learning exercise that would foster understandings of Stó:lō culture, history, and connection to the land, while highlighting the impacts of settler colonialism, and still celebrating Stó:lō resilience. Inspired by a wide range of Stó:lō Elders and Knowledge Keepers (past and present) many of whose voices are quoted in this exercise, Beyond Blankets is uniquely designed to help lay a foundation upon which people can begin contributing directly to Stó:lō cultural and political resurgence and genuine Stó:lō-settler reconciliation.
This hands-on exercise encourages reflection, builds cultural awareness, and helps participants understand the lasting impacts of colonization. Our goal is for participants to leave inspired to take meaningful steps towards building reconciliation. This exercise will be available to participants and can be selected during registration.
Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School
Universal Design
About this Session:
Time: 8:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School
Universal Design – The Three Block Model
UDL can empower educators with the knowledge, skills, and confidence required to teach diverse learners in the same classroom – including those who have previously been excluded. Ultimately, it is about creating classrooms and schools that heal by teaching to the heart, mind, and spirit of every student. The Three-Block Model of UDL combines the work of CASEL on SEL, the work of CAST on UDL, and Indigenous perspectives on inclusive education to create a framework for the practical implementation of inclusion in classrooms K-12. Block one addresses the social-emotional and mental health needs of students and staff, in ways that can be delivered by teachers in their classrooms and school leaders with staff. Block two addresses evidence-based practices for curricular instructional, assessment, and evaluation of diverse learners. Finally, Block three addresses the systems and structures aspect of equitable, inclusive education. In this series, Dr. Katz discusses the origins, research, philosophy, and framework of both CAST’s model of UDL and the Three-Block Model, and how they can be used to design inclusive learning communities.
Educators attending this session will:
- Analyze a variety of definitions of inclusive education, and the policies and research evidence related to them
- Develop skills and understandings as to how to create a positive classroom climate, integrate social and emotional learning, and support mental health in diverse, inclusive classrooms
- Implement universally designed, trauma informed practices
- Universally design instructional activities K-12, including challenging gifted learners, for teaching diverse learners in an inclusive classroom.
- Utilize five frameworks for planning and implementing curricular units that are accessible to ALL learners
- Differentiate assessment, evaluate, and report student learning for diverse, inclusive classrooms
Meet your Facilitator:
Dr. Jennifer Katz
UBC Profession, Author
Dr. Katz received her PhD in 2008 from the University of British Columbia in inclusive education. She is the author of “Teaching to Diversity: The Three Block Model of Universal Design for Learning” and “Resource Teacher: A Changing Role in the Three-Block Model of UDL”. Her third book “Ensouling Our Schools”, written with Indigenous educator Kevin Lamoureux, was released in 2018. Dr. Katz has been a successful sessional lecturer, educational consultant, classroom teacher, resource teacher, special educator, editor, and guidance counselor. She taught in diverse classrooms from K-12 in Winnipeg and Vancouver for 16 years where she developed the Three-Block Model, including special education classrooms, inclusive classrooms, youth centres, and alternative high school programs. Her work as an advocate of inclusive education and universal design for learning (UDL) has spanned several countries, provinces and territories, and multiple audiences, including university courses, academic conferences, parent advocacy groups, educational conferences, school and division based professional development workshops, and most importantly, direct work with children and youth in schools and alternative settings. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia where she teaches courses and conducts research related to inclusion and the Three-Block Model of UDL.
Fraser Academy
Thinking Classrooms
About this Session:
Time: 8:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Fraser Academy
Building Thinking Classrooms
Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into a set of 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep learning to occur. When combined, these unique research-based practices create the optimal conditions for student-owned deep thinking and learning, and have the power to transform classrooms like never before.
The goal is to enhance teacher’s ability to build thinking classrooms, where students are challenged to think deeply about novel and challenging problems tackled in small groups. This is fostered in how you design the tasks, the space, and how you facilitate the students working through the process.
Educators will develop a deeper understanding of how to build thinking classrooms through:
* Designing student-owned sequential thinking tasks
* Designing the groups and fostering collaboration
* Designing the space to foster thinking and collaboration
* Skills around facilitating effective environments
Meet your Facilitators:
Dr. Judy Larsen
Building Thinking Classrooms Team Lead & Consultant
Dr. Judy Larsen (she/her) is an associate professor at the University of the Fraser Valley whose work centres on Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC). She completed her MSc (2013) and PhD (2019) in Mathematics Education under Peter Liljedahl, contributing to BTC research and supporting numerous professional development workshops. She has implemented BTC with pre-service teachers, adult learners, and in K–12 classrooms.
At UFV, she embeds BTC principles in her mathematics and mathematics education courses. Her teaching has been recognized with the D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and UFV’s Teaching Excellence Award. She presents BTC workshops and talks across Canada and internationally for K–12 and post-secondary educators.
Her research focuses on learner experiences in mathematics, possibilities for decolonizing mathematics classrooms, and effective teacher professional learning. She continues to tailor BTC-focused workshops and presentations, drawing on her work in schools, ongoing collaboration with Peter Liljedahl, and her commitment to improving mathematics teaching and learning.
Maegan Giroux
Building Thinking Classrooms Consultant
Maegan Giroux (she/her) is an instructional coach and K–7 educator with deep experience in literacy, numeracy, and Building Thinking Classrooms. She has worked across Kindergarten to Grade 12 and has supported more than 60 classrooms in diverse school communities, helping teachers design dynamic, student-centred learning environments grounded in growth mindset and productive struggle.
As a member of the BTC Canada team, Maegan leads workshops and presentations across North America, sharing practical strategies for strengthening classroom thinking routines. She is completing her master’s thesis at the University of Regina, where she studies power dynamics in mathematics classrooms.
Maegan is also the co-author, with Peter Liljedahl, of Mathematics Tasks for the Thinking Classroom, Grades K–5 (Corwin, 2024), reflecting her commitment to advancing innovative, research-informed practices in education.
