MCTE Fall 2026 Conference: Full Schedule

Welcome to MCTE’s Fall 2026 Conference!

5:30pm EDT

Pre-Conference

Thursday October 15, 2026 5:30pm - 8:00pm EDT

Did you know that Michigan is second only to California as the state with the most National Writing Project sites? At this pre-conference workshop, attendees will join in roundtable discussions led by writing project leaders from across the state. The roundtable discussions will highlight new initiatives in the teaching of writing.Trixie Smith, Director of the Red Cedar Writing Project and Jill...
See More →

Presenters

Troy Hicks

Professor of English and Education, Central Michigan University

Dr. Troy Hicks is a professor of English and education at Central Michigan University. He directs the Chippewa River Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, and teaches masters and doctoral courses in educational technology. During the 2020-21 school year, he is serving... Read More →

Trixie Smith

Director, Michigan State University--Red Cedar Writing Project

Trixie Smith is Director of the graduate program in Rhetoric and Writing, Director of the Red Cedar Writing Project, and Director of GALE (Global Alliances in Literacy and Engagement) all at Michigan State University. She is faculty in Writing, Rhetoric & Cultures and the Center for... Read More →

Angela Knight

English Ed instructor, EMU

Kel Sassi

Professor, Northern Michigan University

Lindsay Ellis

Jonathan Bartels

Associate Professor of Education, University of Michigan-Flint

Teacher Educator, New Literacies Researcher, Writing Project-er, Traveler.
OGWP: https://oakgenwp.wordpress.com/

Jill Hoort

Literacy Consultant, Eaton RESA

After 25 years in public education, my passion and dedication to do what is best for students and teachers continues to grow. I have experience teaching in traditional and Montessori classrooms, was a reading teacher, literacy coach, and now literacy consultant. I have been with Red... Read More →

Leah Barnett

Tyler Detloff

Thursday October 15, 2026 5:30pm - 8:00pm EDT
Red Cedar A/B

Appropriate for All Levels

7:00am EDT

Exhibitor Space

Friday October 16, 2026 7:00am - 3:00pm EDT

Centennial Room C

Join us in the Exhibitor Space all day long! Centennial Room A is located across from Big Ten.Schuler BooksSchuler Books is an independent bookseller with four locations across Michigan. Even though our four stores are larger than the average independent bookstore, we’re still small independent booksellers at heart. We value our relationships with the communities we serve and with our local and...
See More →

Friday October 16, 2026 7:00am - 3:00pm EDT
Centennial Room C

Exhibitor Space

7:30am EDT

Land Acknowledgement, Membership Meeting, Welcome, and Continental Breakfast

Friday October 16, 2026 7:30am - 8:25am EDT

Big Ten A

Registration will open at 7:00 am. Grab a pastry and a warm beverage and join us for the kick-off of #MCTE26!

Presenters

Kel Sassi

Professor, Northern Michigan University

Benjamin Woodcock

Tyler Detloff

Friday October 16, 2026 7:30am - 8:25am EDT
Big Ten A

Appropriate for All Levels

8:30am EDT

Keynote: title tbd

Friday October 16, 2026 8:30am - 9:30am EDT

Big Ten A

tbd

Presenters

Rob Montgomery

Rob Montgomery is a Professor of English and English Education at Kennesaw State University. A former high school English teacher and fellow of the South Coast Writing Project (Santa Barbara, CA), his research interests include place-based writing and multigenre research. He has also... Read More →

Amanda Montgomery

Amanda Montgomery is a teacher at Park Street Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia. She taught 3rd and 4th grade for ten years and has enjoyed the transition into her role for the last three years as a Reading Specialist, where she combines the Science of Reading with her passion... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 8:30am - 9:30am EDT
Big Ten A

Appropriate for All Levels

9:50am EDT

Amplifying New Voices: The Future is Now! Exploring 21st – Century Teaching Ideas with the Next Generation of English Teachers

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Heritage Room

“The Future is Now” roundtable session provides space for undergraduate/graduate students and new teachers to share their innovative classroom research and creative teaching ideas. Attendees will hear 2-3 presentations and participate in a discussion on the topic(s). An inviting, inclusive space that highlights the newest voices in our field.

Presenters

Amanda Stearns-Pfeiffer

Professor, Oakland University

I teach English Education and literature courses at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Talk to me about ELA teaching methods courses, girls-in-sports young adult literature, and incorporating young adult literature in your classroom.

Allen Webb

Western Michigan University

Former high school English teacher in Oregon, currently professor of English education at Western Michigan. I am interested in critical pedagogy, developing meaningful curriculum, and teaching about the climate crisis in English.

Katie Sluiter

ELA Teacher, Wyoming Public Schools

I have been an ELA teacher in Wyoming Public Schools for over 20 years. My current position is teaching 8th grade ELA. I also hold a Ph.D. in English Education from Western Michigan University

Lindsay Ellis

Danielle Alexander

Graduate Student, Oakland University

Greg Bartley

Assistant Professor, Oakland University

Joanne Marciano

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Heritage Room

Appropriate for All Levels

9:50am EDT

Keynote Follow Up: Title TBD

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Big Ten A

tbd

Presenters

Rob Montgomery

Amanda Montgomery

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Big Ten A

Appropriate for All Levels

9:50am EDT

Mindfulness Space

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 104B

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 104B

Appropriate for All Levels

9:50am EDT

Picture Pathways: Writing—and Righting—the Places We Call Home

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

tbd

Come explore a few ideas I’ve stolen and adapted over the years that help students understand how others write and adopt some of the strategies as students write in your class. This will be an interactive session where we review S.T.E.A.L. characterization, tell T.I.M.E. with poetry and play ELI’s game.

Presenters

Anna J. Small Roseboro

Educator, Mentor and Author, Grand Rapids, Michigan Retired, Calvin University, GVSU,, The Bishop's School

Anna J. Small Roseboro, Past CATE President (2002-2004) NBCT, author and educator with decades experience teaching English and Speech to students in middle school, high school and college in public, private, and parochial schools in five states, now mentors early career teachers in... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
tbd

Appropriate for All Levels

9:50am EDT

Using Place-Based Learning as a Conduit to Disciplinary Literacy

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 102

This session describes our journey in supporting instructional coaches as they developed a deeper understanding of the Disciplinary Literacy Essentials through local stories, histories, and contexts. Participants will explore our approach, including values, speakers, materials, and our place-based meeting structure, designed to support coaching by centering place-based and adolescent pedagogies.

Presenters

Laura Gabrion

Literacy Consultant, Wayne RESA

Laura Gabrion is an Literacy Consultant for Wayne RESA. In 2017, Laura defended her dissertation in Reading Education with an emphasis on improving student writing. Her current projects and interests involve disciplinary literacy, literacy coaching, family/community engagement, self... Read More →

Dr. Rosalyn Shahid

Literacy Consultants, Wayne RESA

Dr. Rosalyn Shahid is a literacy consultant, an adjunct instructor, a lover of books, and a social justice advocate. She is a native Detroiter, graduate of thee Cass Technical High School, and a former Detroit high school English teacher, which grounds her work. The primary aim of... Read More →

Jeffrey Austin

Literacy Consultant, Wayne RESA

Since 2006, Jeffrey has been a middle school and high school classroom teacher, an instructional coach, a building-level and district-level department chair, a secondary school writing center director, a county-wide literacy consultant, a project, problem, and place-based learning... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 102

Appropriate for All Levels

9:50am EDT

College as a Foreign Language: Teaching Academic Discourse for Success

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 61

This interactive workshop applies TESOL principles to college-preparatory and first-year college writing instruction, addressing how academic language barriers prevent students from successfully transitioning to higher education discourse. Participants will collaboratively define academic vocabulary to help 11th-14th grade students navigate college-level writing expectations and claim agency in...
See More →

Presenters

Melanie Rabine-Johnson

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 61

High School (Grades 9-12)

9:50am EDT

Examining Opportunities and Challenges in Teaching Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) in the ELA Classroom

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Michigamme Room

This presentation examines how English teachers may incorporate Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) in curriculum and teaching. Attendees will consider how they may enact specific YPAR lessons and discuss opportunities and challenges they may encounter in this work. Presenters include ELA teachers involved in an ongoing YPAR Professional Learning Community.

Presenters

Natalie Herman

Teacher, Okemos High School

Vaughn W. M. Watson

Associate Professor, Michigan State University

Vaughn W. M. Watson is an Associate Professor of English Education. His research renders visible the creative and artistic literacy and learning practices of Black African immigrant youth across contexts of schools and communities in the global African Diaspora. He is the author of... Read More →

Joanne Marciano

Lara Slee

Benjamin Woodcock

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Michigamme Room

High School (Grades 9-12)

9:50am EDT

Write 313: Cultivating Detroit Writing Teacher Identities through Multiliteracies, Space, Place, and Joy

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 103B

This teaching demonstration will showcase the work of the Detroit Writing Project, a collective of Detroit secondary teachers and administrators and WSU literacy faculty as they foster joy, multiliteracies, space, and place through writing instruction. Attendees will practice writing engagements to be adapted for their classroom setting(s).

Presenters

Janikka Winfree

9-12 Curriculum Leader, Detroit Writing Project Co-Director, Detroit Public Schools Community District

Janikka is a proud Detroiter whose love for her city is woven into everything she does. A lifelong learner, she has dedicated more than 20 years to education—showing up each day with the same passion and purpose that first called her to the classroom. She believes deeply in sch... Read More →

Mary Neville

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 103B

High School (Grades 9-12)

9:50am EDT

Neuroplasticity, Literacy, and Humane Classrooms

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 110

This interactive session explores adolescent brain development, executive functioning, literacy instruction, and translanguaging through the lens of culturally sustaining and anti-racist pedagogy. Participants will consider and weigh routines and strategies that support students’ emotional well-being, identity development, reading, writing, and sense of belonging during this critical period of...
See More →

Presenters

Sara Diana

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 110

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

9:50am EDT

Stories Rooted in Place: Indigenous Mentor Texts for Authentic Writing Instruction

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 103A

Using Indigenous children’s literature as mentor texts, this session explores how educators can foster authentic writing through place-based learning and connections to the land. Participants will discover opportunities to honor Indigenous perspectives, strengthen student voice, and inspire meaningful writing experiences rooted in Michigan’s communities, landscapes, and stories.

Presenters

Caitlyn Schmitigal

Jamie Johnson

Daniel Comps

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 103A

Pre-K through Early Elementary (Pre-K to Grade 2)

9:50am EDT

MCEE Meeting

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 104A

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 104A

Teacher Education

9:50am EDT

What Makes Me, Me? Exploring the Identities of Characters and Ourselves

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT

Room 62

Our presentation supports teachers in fostering a classroom environment where all identities are seen and valued. We will share strategies for modeling identity exploration with characters during read-alouds to support reading comprehension and contribute to students’ understanding of intersectionality in their own lives and the world around them.

Presenters

Allison Phillippe

Assistant Professor of Elementary Education, Grand Valley State University

Assistant Professor of Literacy

Friday October 16, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am EDT
Room 62

Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5)

10:50am EDT

Building Writing Identity Through Choice and Place-Based Writing at the Elementary Level

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 110

How can elementary students discover that their stories, communities, and voices matter? This session explores how place-based writing practices can strengthen writing identity and engagement for young writers in both classroom and after-school settings. Participants will experience authentic writing invitations rooted in students’ lived experiences, examine how free-choice writing nurtures...
See More →

Presenters

Lori VanHoesen

teacher, GLPS

Jill Hoort

Literacy Consultant, Eaton RESA

Miranda Shaffer

Paige VanAtta

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 110

Appropriate for All Levels

10:50am EDT

It’s All About Relationships! Collaboration and Connection in the Middle School ELA Classroom

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 104A

The presenters, a retired English Education professor and a seventh grade ELA teacher, describe their two-year alliance as team educators, providing detailed steps for developing similar initiatives. Participants are invited to engage with the presenters (and each other) to consider the unexpected, enriching collaborative, volunteer possibilities within their own communities.

Presenters

Dr. Karen Vocke

Samuel Gannon

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 104A

Appropriate for All Levels

10:50am EDT

Mindfulness Space

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 104B

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 104B

Appropriate for All Levels

10:50am EDT

Opening the Door: How Cooperating Teachers Help Student Teachers Build Classroom Relationships

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 104A

This session highlights how cooperating teachers can intentionally support student teachers in building strong classroom relationships. Through practical strategies and shared experiences, participants will explore how mentorship, structured opportunities, and gradual release of responsibility help student teachers establish trust, connection, and presence from the start.

Presenters

Allie Banfield

Kailey Buettner

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 104A

Appropriate for All Levels

10:50am EDT

Students Read and Write Climate Flash Fiction and Flash Memoirs

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Michigamme Room

Teachers will learn ways to make the climate crisis personal, local, and meaningful by reading and writing and flash fiction and memoirs. The approach addresses climate anxiety, as students develop awareness and discover how their writing can educate and motivate others.

Presenters

Allen Webb

Western Michigan University

Zenaida Castillo

Julian Carney

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Michigamme Room

Appropriate for All Levels

10:50am EDT

The Power of a Book: How Secondary Classroom Literature Can Be an Instrument for Racial Justice

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 102

Racial and ethnic injustices in education can seem difficult to combat. However, we can use the tools available to us as instruments for change. Considering challenges faced by students of color when choosing classroom literature can subvert institutional injustice, thereby helping students develop their identities in a structurally racist society.

Presenters

Anne Gere

Iffat Islam

Jenifer Rizo-Perez

Maci Wilcox

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 102

High School (Grades 9-12)

10:50am EDT

Understanding Artificial Intelligence through Environmental Advocacy

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 103B

In this session, participants will explore means of student environmental advocacy at the local level through the lens of AI’s impact. Strategies include place-based learning, integrating guest speakers from local environmental organizations, practicing professional writing through letters to state representatives, and methods to transform student practice into meaningful community action.

Presenters

Ashley Kluting

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 103B

High School (Grades 9-12)

10:50am EDT

Verse by Verse, Voice by Voice: Using Novels-in-Verse as a Collaborative Gateway to Student-Authored Historical Narratives

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 61

Two educators, along with a literacy consultant and published author, share how novels-in-verse serve as mentor texts for students crafting their own verse novels on self-selected historical topics. By centering student autonomy, this collaborative model helps students discover voice, explore perspective, and write stories history has overlooked.

Presenters

Dana VanderLugt

Secondary Literacy Consultant, Ottawa Area ISD

Dana VanderLugt is a writer and literacy consultant for the Ottawa Area ISD who has taught reading and writing in middle school, high school, and college classrooms.

Her first book, Enemies in the Orchard: A World War 2 Novel in Verse was published by Zonderkidz in September 2023... Read More →

Corrinne Mielke

Valerie Davies

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 61

High School (Grades 9-12)

10:50am EDT

When Nature Speaks Back: Shakespeare, Climate, and Place-Based Teaching

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Heritage Room

This interactive session explores Shakespeare through ecology, climate, and place-based teaching. Participants will analyze how storms, landscapes, and environmental disruption shape plays, such as Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest while pairing the Bard with contemporary eco-literature and Michigan-centered classroom activities connected to land, storytelling, and environmental imagination.

Presenters

Sheridan Steelman

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Heritage Room

High School (Grades 9-12)

10:50am EDT

Where We Stand: Creating community partnerships for teaching place based justice

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 62

This presentation explores a partnership between a local school and a tribal historian where students gained insight into Native experiences in their community. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for developing lessons and finding resources that encourage students to grapple with the hard histories connected to their own communities.

Presenters

John Lennon

English Teacher, Petoskey High School

Eric Hemenway

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 62

High School (Grades 9-12)

10:50am EDT

Your Story is My Story: Using Graphic Novels to Explore Personal, Cultural and Historical Identities

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Room 103A

In this interactive session, participants will engage with personal, cultural and historical identities through the use of graphic novels (GN) focusing on international genocide. Participants will explore their own identity stories and connect those with GN characters and other session participants using identity maps and culturally responsive teaching strategies.

Presenters

Annette Kelly

Cat Weaver

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Room 103A

High School (Grades 9-12)

10:50am EDT

Grounding the Immigrant Teacher: Developing a Critical Transnational Pedagogy of the Commons

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT

Willy Room

This workshop explores critical transnational pedagogy to address the immigrant teacher's dilemma on occupied land. Synthesizing Freirean dialogue and Shiva’s ecological philosophy, I interrogate global capitalism and curricular monocultures. Through collaborative analysis of counter-mapping artifacts, this session equips educators to cultivate student agency, honor linguistic diversity, and...
See More →

Presenters

Amna Gilani

Friday October 16, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am EDT
Willy Room

Teacher Education

11:45am EDT

Luncheon

Friday October 16, 2026 11:45am - 1:00pm EDT

Big Ten A

Pick up your box lunch in Centennial A. Your nametag includes a letter (C, R, V) that indicates whether you selected a chicken wrap, a roast beef wrap, or a vegan wrap when you registered.

Friday October 16, 2026 11:45am - 1:00pm EDT
Big Ten A

Appropriate for All Levels

12:10pm EDT

Luncheon Address: tbd

Friday October 16, 2026 12:10pm - 12:50pm EDT

Big Ten A

tbd

Presenters

Kristin Arola

Kristin Arola grew in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, just like generations of her Ojibwe and Finnish ancestors before her. Currently, she serves as the Gillmor Endowed Professor of Professional and Public Writing, as well as the Director of the American Indian... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 12:10pm - 12:50pm EDT
Big Ten A

Appropriate for All Levels

1:10pm EDT

Mindfulness Space

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 104B

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 104B

Appropriate for All Levels

1:10pm EDT

"Make Every Day Meaningful:" Student-Centered Approaches to Teaching in a Youth Detention Center Classroom

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 61

This presentation showcases examples of humanizing, responsive, and place-based pedagogy within a youth prison. Specifically, the educators demonstrate how relevant texts, centering student voice, and authentic writing are supportive of incarcerated student learning. Teachers from all contexts will be able to implement humanizing classroom practices shared in this presentation.

Presenters

Mary McConnaha

Jerilyn Williams

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 61

High School (Grades 9-12)

1:10pm EDT

20 years of place-based writing: The benefit of returning to write in the same place year after year

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 102

What are the benefits of an annual writing marathon that draws writers outside to write at the same locations year after year? This presentation will offer two broad answers: noticing changes in the place, and noticing changes in the person. Participants will write about a single location across four seasons and brainstorm applications to K-12 contexts.

Presenters

Eric Wilkinson

West Ottawa Public Schools

Eric teaches on Michigan's beautiful West Coast. He loves running, reading, and talking about Project-Based Learning (PBL).

Lindsay Ellis

Kaley Obney

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 102

High School (Grades 9-12)

1:10pm EDT

Affirming Students’ Voice and Choice: Enacting Inquiry-Based Grammar Instruction in Culturally-Relevant Ways

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Michigamme Room

This session explores inquiry-based grammar instruction that affirms students’ existing language practices while fostering their curiosity about the relationship between their purposes, language choices and power as writers. Presenters share from two 10th grade ELA contexts, one with a majority of multilingual learners and another with predominantly White English speakers.

Presenters

Dr. Christina M. Ponzio

Assistant Professor, Grand Valley State University

Building from my previous experiences as a secondary ELA/ESL teacher, ESL program coordinator, and literacy coach in Metro Detroit and teacher educator at Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, I am committed to advancing equity, inclusion and... Read More →

Ian Striz

ESL Coordinator and Instructional Coach, Melvindale Northern Allen Park Schools

ESL Coordinator and Instructional Coach

Jennifer Collard

Secondary Teacher, English Language Arts, Melvindale Northern Allen Park Schools

Secondary Teacher, English Language Arts

Jocelyn Farkas

Instructional Coach - Literacy, Melvindale Northern Allen Park Schools

Jocelyn Farkas is an English Language Arts educator and instructional leader dedicated to strengthening literacy practices in grades 6–12. She is passionate about aligning standards-based instruction with engaging, student-centered learning experiences that build strong readers... Read More →

Kallie Crouch

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Michigamme Room

High School (Grades 9-12)

1:10pm EDT

Beneath Our Feet, Above the Horizon: Using Local History and Science to Drive Student Writing

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 103B

What stories live beneath our feet and in the stars above? Discover how place-based writing connects history, science, identity, and student voice using Michigan history and Anishinaabe star knowledge. This session offers ready-to-use, interdisciplinary strategies for all grade levels, leaving participants with tools and projects to use in their classroom.

Presenters

Courtney McCampbell

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 103B

High School (Grades 9-12)

1:10pm EDT

Shared Values, Shared Voices

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Heritage Room

Effective assessment helps students understand and take ownership of their learning. It’s important to recognize that students enter classrooms with long histories shaping how they value language. Our challenge as teachers, then, is to consider how assessment practices can help us and our students align our values together.

Presenters

Derek Miller

Danielle Alexander

Graduate Student, Oakland University

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Heritage Room

High School (Grades 9-12)

1:10pm EDT

What Campbell Can't See: Placing Indigenous Narrative Alongside the Hero's Journey in Secondary ELA Classrooms

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Willy Room

What stories do we teach, and which do we overlook? By placing Leslie Marmon Silko's Yellow Woman stories alongside Campbell's Hero's Journey, participants will examine what becomes visible when a narrative model often treated as universal encounters a different storytelling tradition. Participants will leave with classroom-ready resources and discussion strategies.

Presenters

John Duffy

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Willy Room

High School (Grades 9-12)

1:10pm EDT

Whose Stories Travel Here? Route Maps to Narrative Vignettes

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 103A

In this interactive session, conference participants map a familiar, shared, or imagined route; study place-based mentor texts; and draft a narrative vignette. This middle school writing sequence uses routes and public places to teach craft while helping students examine whose stories, languages, movements, and memories are centered in everyday places.

Presenters

Stefania Morelli-Hutchins

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 103A

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

1:10pm EDT

Literacy Justice in Action: Reimagining Early Intervention Through Family and Community

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 62

In response to the literacy crisis, this session is a Teacher-led literacy justice pilot program grounded in culturally responsive teaching, family partnership, and relationship-centered literacy instruction. Participants will examine how individualized family communication, identity-affirming texts, and home-school literacy practices increased engagement, confidence, and reading growth among...
See More →

Presenters

Antoinette Bowen-Debardelaben

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 62

Pre-K through Early Elementary (Pre-K to Grade 2)

1:10pm EDT

Writing/Righting AI: Critical Literacy, Place, and the Myth of Neutral Technology

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 110

In this interactive session, participants will examine how generative AI represents Michigan places, communities, and language practices. Through a place-based AI audit and writing activity, participants will develop classroom strategies that can help students critically read technology, challenge deficit narratives, and write toward more just representations of their homeplaces.

Presenters

Jonathan Bartels

Associate Professor of Education, University of Michigan-Flint

Teacher Educator, New Literacies Researcher, Writing Project-er, Traveler.
OGWP: https://oakgenwp.wordpress.com/

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 110

Teacher Education

1:10pm EDT

Claiming Place and Voice: Decolonizing Literacy Instruction in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT

Room 104A

This session examines decolonizing and critical literacy pedagogies that support upper elementary students’ place-making and voice through writing/righting. Drawing on BIPOC picture books as mentor texts, participants analyze writing practices that foreground storytelling, counterstorytelling, and the disruption of stereotypes historically reproduced within conventional Language Arts curricula.

Presenters

Michelle Grace-Williams

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 104A

Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5)

2:10pm EDT

DIJE Equity: Title TBD

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Room 104A

tbd

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 104A

Appropriate for All Levels

2:10pm EDT

DIJE Inclusion: Title TBD

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Michigamme Room

tbd

Presenters

Karen Rayner

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Michigamme Room

Appropriate for All Levels

2:10pm EDT

Mindfulness Space

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Room 104B

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 104B

Appropriate for All Levels

2:10pm EDT

Constellations of Care: Humanizing the English Curriculum

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Room 61

In this session, attendees will explore a theory of identity and a humanizing approach to curriculum known as “Constellations of Care.” Attendees will be able to learn and collaborate new writing strategies, approaches to their curriculum, and develop their own understandings of their respective constellations of care.

Presenters

Jason Westra-Hall

Ph.D Student in Educational Studies, University of Michigan

Jason Westra-Hall is an award-winning English and Journalism educator who is a current graduate student in the Educational Studies program at the University of Michigan. He is the 2024 recipient of the ALAN Bill Konigsberg Award and a 2025 30 under 30 literacy scholar from the International... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 61

High School (Grades 9-12)

2:10pm EDT

Rooted in Identity, Grounded in Place: Using Intersectionality to Rewrite the Narratives Our Students Inherit

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Heritage Room

This workshop grounds identity work in place-based pedagogy. Using the Social Identity Wheel, media literacy analysis, and a “Rewrite the Narrative” writing activity, participants examine how intersecting identities — race, gender, sexuality, ability — shape how students are seen in their communities and classrooms, and practice writing more liberatory, place-affirming student stories.

Presenters

Jessyca Mathews

MI Region 5 Teacher of the Year, 2019-2020, Carman-Ainsworth High School

Jessyca Mathews is a language arts teacher at Carman-Ainsworth High School and a Racial, Environmental Justice, and Institutional Racism activist. In 2017, Jessyca was named a finalist for the NEA's Social Justice Activist of the Year for her work on the Flint water crisis. Jessyca... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Heritage Room

High School (Grades 9-12)

2:10pm EDT

Teachers at the Helm: Building Sustainable School Culture Through Teacher Inquiry

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Room 110

This practitioner inquiry examines staff morale and school culture within an urban Detroit high school through anonymous surveys and participatory reflection activities. Centering educator voice, the session looks at how structured and informal feedback practices can surface tensions that are often not spoken directly, while also making space to rebuild trust and strengthen relationships among...
See More →

Presenters

Courtney Parker

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 110

High School (Grades 9-12)

2:10pm EDT

There's No Place Like Home: Poetry as Sanctuary

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Room 103A/B

How do we cultivate a sense of sanctuary in an era of displacement? This interactive workshop explores how to use place-based poetry to help students navigate identity and belonging. Drawing on the power of indigenous and nature-based poets, participants will learn strategies to transform writing classrooms into sanctuaries.

Presenters

Ylisse joell Yepez

Teacher/Educational Consultant, Blissfield Community Schools

I am a Latinx educator who has spent 39 years reimagining education with my high school writers and readers. My Masters is in Secondary Curriculum Design from Siena Heights University where I was also a member of the teacher education faculty for 13 years. I am active in the Michigan... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 103A/B

High School (Grades 9-12)

2:10pm EDT

Who Gets to Go Off Script? Positionality, Place, and Antiracist ELA Teaching Writing

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Room 102

This interactive session invites ELA teachers to examine how positionality shapes who can adapt, question, or resist prescribed curricula. Drawing from a high school English case, participants will analyze pedagogical privilege, identify local curricular tensions, and design antiracist discussion moves, text pairings, or writing prompts for their own classrooms.

Presenters

Rebecca Lee

As an experienced educator and teacher-researcher, I am interested in exploring practice-based approaches to teacher education and developing dialogic instructional approaches that are student-centered, culturally sustaining, and supportive of adolescents’ critical thinking, learning... Read More →

Jeff Savage

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 102

High School (Grades 9-12)

2:10pm EDT

Centering Transnational Students’ Voices and Affirming Their Assets Through Visual Storytelling in ELA

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT

Willy Room

In this session, you will explore some visual composition approaches centering the histories, memories, and voices of marginalized transnational students’ and their connections with lands. Approaches include “artifactual storytelling”, centering non/immigrant students’ voices through artifacts connecting them with their places, ways-of-knowing and memories, and “inside-outside...
See More →

Presenters

Jeevan Karki

Friday October 16, 2026 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT
Willy Room

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

5:30pm EDT

7:00am EDT

7:30am EDT

8:30am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

9:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

10:50am EDT

11:45am EDT

12:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

2:10pm EDT

Get help with the event