The Educators' Institute 2025 Program
August 19-20, 2025

August 19, 2025 9:00am - 12:30pm

Workshop 1:
Self-Advocacy: Empowering Students with Learning Disabilities
Presenters: Alison Parker & Beth Pollock

Self-advocacy is a vital skill for students with learning disabilities (LD) to thrive in school and beyond. However, many students with LD find this to be a challenging skill to develop. Self-advocacy isn't just one tool or ability; it's the culmination of several key building blocks that come together to form a foundation for advocacy. Students need to understand their disability, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, know their rights, understand why they have accommodations, and know when and how to use them. In addition to this knowledge, students have to see themselves as worthy of support, appreciate that they are capable learners, and have the resilience to persevere if things don’t go according to plan. These skills and attitudes take time to develop and must be honed with practice and experiences of success. In this presentation, we will explore the building blocks of self-advocacy and what they look like at different points throughout a student’s educational journey. We'll share resources and programs that promote the development of skills and abilities that underlie self-advocacy, and discuss how they can be implemented as part of intentional transition planning as students move from elementary to secondary to postsecondary education and beyond.

Workshop 2a:
Self-Advocacy: Transforming Classrooms: UDL to Support All Students
Presenters: Evan Loreto-Lee & Leni Kyriakou

This session will explore the foundational principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines 3.0 and Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy (CRRP), with a focus on enhancing inclusive and accessible instructional practices for K-12 educators.

Participants will explore various strategies, assistive technologies and digital tools to create identity-affirming learning environments and elevate student engagement, boost academic achievement, and foster learner agency.

Workshop 2b:
Using Financial Literacy to Build Numeracy Skills:
Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities
Presenters: Deborah Benhamu Nehmad

Although the financial literacy strand was introduced in the K-8 Mathematics Curriculum in 2020, most of the resources available to teachers today still approach this strand through a one-size-fits-all approach. This approach does not meet the needs of all of our learners. Current trends in financial literacy research education are calling for teaching approaches that promote the development of numeracy skills and help students use mathematical concepts to understand the world and engage in social life. Further, the goal is to move away from conventional one-size-fits-all pedagogies to create learning opportunities that support all learners through differentiation and inclusive teaching practices. Financial literacy is a strand in our mathematics curriculum that naturally engages students because of its real-life connections. As such, it provides a valuable opportunity to support learners in developing numeracy skills while connecting to their prior knowledge.

Through this session, teachers will learn about and participate in hands-on, classroom-ready financial literacy activities designed with UDL principles to engage all learners in inclusive classrooms. Participants will explore engaging tasks such as analyzing different currencies and examining inflation, while also discussing how to structure financial literacy lessons to provide multiple access points, scaffold learning through differentiation, and integrate meaningful assessment strategies.

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August 20, 2025 9:00am - 12:30pm

Workshop 3:
Scaffolding Success: Enhancing Literacy with Tier 2 Instruction
Presenters: Ines Bijl, Melanie Gravel, & Bobbie Chatha

As part of the Waterloo Region District School Board’s ongoing learning journey, we are committed to strengthening literacy instruction through a structured and responsive approach. This session will highlight our shared progress, key insights, and next steps in enhancing Tier 2 support to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed.

We will explore the essential components of Tier 2 literacy instruction and its role in supporting struggling readers within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Educators will learn how to implement evidence-based strategies that target specific reading challenges, using data to refine instruction and maximize student growth. Whether you're a classroom teacher, administrator, or Reading Resource teacher, this session will provide actionable insights to strengthen literacy outcomes for at-risk students.

Workshop 4a:
Integrating VEXCode Virtual Robotics to
Support Students with Learning Disabilities
Presenters: Michael Frankfort

In this Skills Ontario session, participants will be introduced to the VEX Code Virtual Robotics platform. This workshop will provide foundational information about the platform and discuss pedagogical strategies for integrating coding into classroom instruction, specifically tailored to support students with learning disabilities (LDs).

Participants will explore various virtual playgrounds within the VEX Code platform, discovering how these tools can be applied across different areas of the curriculum and grade levels. The session will highlight how coding and robotics can be used to create adaptable, inclusive classrooms that respond to the unique strengths and needs of students with LDs. Educators will gain practical insights and strategies to empower students, promoting success and inclusion in their learning environments.

Join us to learn how to leverage VEX Code Virtual Robotics to enhance engagement, foster critical thinking, and support the diverse learning needs of students with LDs.

Workshop 4b:
Maximizing Mattering: Empowering Students to
Learn, Grow and Adapt to Challenges
Presenters: Dr. Sue Ball & Dr. Gordon Flett

Everyone needs to matter to the people in their lives, and a sense of mattering to others can be a great source of adaptability and resilience. Unfortunately, too many young people feel like they don’t matter; they can feel like they are insignificant, invisible, and without voice at school or in life in general.

The current presentation focuses on describing mattering and its role in learning, motivation, and adjustment for all students and particularly for students with learning disabilities, ADHD, and neurodiverse profiles. A central theme is the need to promote a sense of mattering as a core support. Discussion will include some strategies to build a sense of mattering.

Closing Keynote:
Resilience in Action: Belief, Belonging, and the Power of Possibility
Presenters: Michayla Del Guidice

In this inspiring closing keynote, Michayla shares her lived and professional journey—highlighting the transformative power of belief, the barriers created by misbelief, and the impact of tailored supports.

Drawing on her experience as a student, advocate, and leader in postsecondary education, Michayla will reflect on the role of educators as catalysts for change, challenge assumptions about learning disabilities, and offer a vision of success rooted in belonging, strength, and possibility.

A powerful and hope-filled message to end the Institute on a high.

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The Educators' Institute 2025

The Educators' Institute, Supporting Educators, Empowering Students with LDs, provides educators with interconnected tools and strategies to promote success and inclusion. This year, we will focus on creating adaptable, inclusive classrooms that respond to the unique strengths and needs of students with learning disabilities (LDs), equipping educators to support and empower students to reach their full potential.

Join hundreds of other teachers, principals, and other education professionals who are seeking to make a difference in Ontario classrooms, on August 19th & 20th, 2025.

About the Annual Educators' Institute

The Educators’ Institute is a two-day bilingual conference aimed at providing Ontario educators with relevant and practical information and strategies to support their students with learning disabilities. In 2025 the conference will be held virtually.