ENGAGE 2025 Professional Learning Conference

Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahl is a research-based teaching framework designed to foster deep thinking, collaboration, and engagement in students. It shifts traditional, passive learning to an active, inquiry-based approach where students work together to solve problems. By using vertical non-permanent surfaces (like whiteboards) and randomized groupings, it increases student participation and encourages critical thinking. This strategy transforms boring lessons into interactive experiences, getting kids up and moving while promoting discussion, problem-solving, and deeper understanding. Applicable to all content areas, Building Thinking Classrooms provides educators with practical strategies to create dynamic, student-centered learning environments.

Join us for an engaging session on disciplinary literacy and the power of writing across all subjects!

Together, we'll explore what disciplinary literacy looks like in practice, align with district expectations, and hear directly from students about their experiences. We'll also celebrate the great work already happening in our classrooms and discover new ways to deepen student engagement through questioning and writing opportunities using Depth & Complexity icons.

This session is designed for educators across all grade levels and content areas—everyone is welcome! Let’s learn, collaborate, and grow together. We can’t wait to see you there!

Participants will explore the benefits of small group interventions and how they can support student learning. They will learn how to structure 15-minute rotations within a 45-minute class period and will also cover strategies for keeping students engaged during small groups using methods for monitoring progress.

You will learn how to use data to build your lessons, how to incorporate music to create moments in your classroom and improve writing, how to rebrand what you already do to increase enragement within your class, and how to win the day and be what students talk about beyond your classroom. Essentially I’ll briefly go over Data Driven planning, hooks, teaching writing/real world application practices, and build memorable lessons that benefit all levels of students at the same time.

In a language classroom, there are high frequency verbs that all students should know to discuss a variety of topics and to help them stay in the target language.  We will be exploring those verbs and looking at what topics students will be able to explore with them.  Additionally, conducting a class at 90% in the target language is achievable and we will be looking at how, using the technique of sheltering vocabulary.  

Discover ways to record your lessons using Annotate. Use these videos to post on your Canvas, make review and correction videos, and so much more.