Retirement Overview

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m. and 4:45–5:45 p.m.

Session description coming soon.

Let’s Make Learning Fun!

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m.; Friday, 9:00–10:00 a.m. 

What if learning could be both rigorous and fun? Explore how everyday lessons can become engaging, high-impact learning experiences through gamification, simulations, hands-on design challenges, makerspace activities, and virtual or in-person field trips. Participants will experience ready-to-use strategies that increase motivation and participation while maintaining meaningful learning outcomes and alignment to standards.

Leave with adaptable templates, practical tools, and new ideas for transforming existing lessons into interactive experiences that deepen comprehension, strengthen critical thinking, and make learning more memorable for all students.

Math Routines + Game Time = Fun Learning!

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m.; Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.

Make math time the best part of your K–2 day! Learn easy routines and engaging games that build number sense, promote student talk, and encourage problem-solving, all while keeping learning playful and fun.

While You Teach: Meaningful Literacy Tasks That Protect Small-Group Intervention

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m.; Friday, 9:00–10:00 a.m. 

What are your other students doing while you provide targeted reading intervention? In this interactive session, you will experience practical literacy tasks that keep students engaged in meaningful learning while Reading Success Plan small groups meet. We will share the routines we use to teach independence and help students move smoothly from required tasks to purposeful choices. You will engage in examples such as partner fluency, phonics games, errorless tasks, vocabulary application, and knowledge-building reading. Together, we will examine how these tasks reinforce whole-group instruction, provide repeated practice, and reduce interruptions during intervention. You will leave with adaptable task ideas, management routines, and a planning framework you can use immediately in your own K–5 classroom, without depending on constant screen time or creating endless prep for the teacher.

Reclaim Time and Renew Joy

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m. and 4:45–5:45 p.m. 

Tired of losing valuable class time to behavioral disruptions and feeling the weight of burnout? Discover how Prosocial Education empowers you to transform classroom dynamics without adding a single item to your packed schedule. ProsocialEd is an evidence-based approach researched at the University of Missouri alongside local teachers.

Vocabulary Strategies for All

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m.; Friday, 9:00–10:00 a.m. 

This session explores ways that intentional vocabulary scaffolding can boost student success across all content areas and grade levels. Participants will learn practical, research-based strategies for introducing and reinforcing academic language through tiered vocabulary, visual supports, context-rich instruction, and collaborative learning techniques. Designed to support all learners, including English learners and struggling readers, these approaches help build comprehension, critical thinking, and confidence in all academic content areas. You will leave with ready-to-use ideas, games, and more to enhance instruction and make academic language accessible for every student!

Show Me the Money: Grant Writing for Teachers

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m.

Have a great classroom idea but not the funding to make it happen? This session is for you! Discover how grants can help turn classroom needs, creative ideas, and student opportunities into reality.

Hop on the DE-Escalator: Steps and Strategies for De-escalation

Scheduled Thursday, 3:30–4:30 p.m.

When students become dysregulated, the right response can help move them from escalation toward regulation. This session will focus on different escalation levels, how to support behaviors that have manifested, and the different brain functions during the cycles of dysregulation. They will discuss ways to regulate during and after outbursts in the classroom. Attendees will be encouraged by Jennifer’s own classroom experiences in working with intense, chronic behaviors and the success stories of their students. The presentation will be beneficial to all teachers.

Intentional Teaching: Designing Engaging Lessons for Diverse Learners

Scheduled Thursday, 4:45–5:45 p.m.; Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m. 

Discover practical strategies to design engaging, accessible lessons that reach every learner. Learn how to transform worksheets, quizzes, and activities through differentiation and meaningful reassessment. While examples come from a middle school science perspective, strategies apply to all grades and subjects. Bring a lesson or assignment you’d like to refine and leave with ready-to-use ideas.

Connecting Classrooms & Libraries for Powerful Learning

Scheduled Thursday, 4:45–5:45 p.m.; Friday, 9:00–10:00 a.m. 

Literacy doesn’t belong to one classroom, one content area, or one educator. This interactive session will explore how to design rigorous, relevant learning experiences that support ELA, social studies, and science standards using Missouri’s new DESE Instructional Guidance for School Librarians and Missouri Learning Standards crosswalks. These resources offer librarians and educators opportunities to intentionally connect library instruction with classroom learning.

Project Based Learning My Way

Scheduled Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m. and 9:00–10:00 a.m. 

Transform your classroom from teacher-led instruction to dynamic, student-driven inquiry. In this practical workshop, participants will explore how to design and execute authentic Project-Based Learning (PBL) units that connect curriculum to real-world challenges. Moving beyond standard craft projects or rote assignments, you will learn how to foster high-level critical thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration, and public student deliverables.

Forged in Fire: Classroom Hacks and Strategies Developed Through Trials and Tears

Scheduled Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.

I learned some things the hard way, so you don’t have to! This teacher toolbox is full of strategies and hacks you can use in your classroom immediately, including ideas for early finishers, classroom management, meaningful engagement, review, feedback, and grading.

These strategies were forged in the fires of real classrooms and tested in the chaos of everyday teaching. Now they’re yours to take, adapt, and make your own.

Breaking Down the Walls: Building Stronger Family-School Partnerships

Scheduled Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.

Effective communication can be a powerful tool for bridging the gap between families and the school system. Jennifer Moore, Project 180 Coordinator and the At-Risk District Lead at the Union R-XI School District, will focus on effective parent contact as a way to bridge that gap. Participants will explore strategies for building positive, respectful, and meaningful communication with parents and caregivers. The presentation will highlight how consistent communication can strengthen trust, address concerns early, and create a collaborative support system for students. The goal is to empower educators and families to work together to promote student success both in and outside of the classroom. Attendees will hear about Jennifer’s classroom experiences working with intense, chronic behaviors and success stories from students’ journeys through connecting with families.

From Burnout to Balance: Building Habits that Support Educator Well-Being

Scheduled Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m. and 9:00–10:00 a.m. 

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Session details to come

Scheduled Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.

Session title and description to come.

Phases of a Teacher: Practical Ways to Thrive as a Teacher Throughout the Entire School Year

Scheduled Friday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.

It’s November and you are exhausted. The anticipation and excitement of the beginning of school is over. How will you not just survive, but thrive for the rest of the school year? Come and learn practical strategies for your classroom and yourself to quickly implement during the different phases every teacher goes through during the school year.

Curating a Life Worth Living

Scheduled Friday, 9:00–10:00 a.m.

After the tragic loss of our 15-year-old son, Dalton, who took his own life in May 2020, we have found sharing about mental health profoundly necessary in schools. Suicide prevention doesn’t begin when crisis strikes. It begins with youth learning social-emotional tools to help them navigate the world with psychological flexibility. We live in a world full of struggles and pain at times. Knowing how to face those is key. Our presentation shares truths we wish we could have said to support Dalton through the dark valley he was facing. Using our own mental health journeys in grief, participants will hear honest truths about the natural human desire to end emotionally painful circumstances, but also learn that there is a healthy way forward to manage even the toughest situations with the help of loving, supportive people. Strategies for holding realistic expectations, managing emotions, seeking support, finding purpose, creating a personal safety plan, and more are provided to attendees. Our hope is that educators can use our experience to build relationships with students, offer them realities that encourage and support students whatever they are facing, and educate them about brain science as it relates to students’ struggles. Feelings of pain and despair are not permanent. Life’s struggles and successes can coexist. We are living proof that it really is possible to build a life worth living even in the face of intense trauma.

Virtual Coaching Panel: Real Questions. Real Solutions. Real Time.

Scheduled Friday, 9:00–10:00 a.m.

Struggling with student behaviors or looking for ways to boost engagement? Bring your toughest classroom challenges to this interactive session featuring three of MSTA’s virtual instructional coaches. Ask questions openly or submit them anonymously and receive personalized, practical strategies you can put to use right away. No canned presentations—just real conversations, real support, and solutions for the challenges you’re facing!