Reimagining Education: Innovative Strategies to Connect, Engage, and Inspire School Communities
Election Day Professional Development Conference
Theme: Reimagining Education: Innovative Strategies to Connect, Engage, and Inspire School Communities
Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Location: Foxwoods Resort Casino
About the Event
The Connecticut Education Association (CEA) invites proposals for 75 minute sessions at our 2026 Election Day Professional Development Conference. This year’s theme, Reimagining Education: Innovative Strategies to Connect, Engage, and Inspire School Communities, highlights the transformative power of creativity, connection, and human-centered learning in today’s classrooms and schools. We are excited to announce that this year’s key note speaker will be Gerry Brooks. If you don’t know the name, we encourage you to check him out on social media.
We welcome proposals from all grade levels and content areas—Pre-K through Grade 12—that showcase innovative approaches to teaching, learning, leadership, and engagement. Whether through play-based practices, relationship-centered school leadership, authentic family partnerships, or technology used with intentionality and care, we aim to spotlight strategies that uplift and energize entire school communities.
This one-day conference will bring together educators, administrators, and thought leaders to explore how reimagined learning environments support academic growth, social-emotional well-being, educator joy, and thriving school cultures.
Desired Session Topics
Proposals should connect to the central theme and may address, but are not limited to:
- Connecting & Engaging Students Through Innovative Instruction
- Strategies that make learning fun, meaningful, and interactive
- Project-based, experiential, or inquiry-driven approaches
- Gamification, makerspaces, and hands-on problem solving
- Creative methods for boosting student voice, confidence, and curiosity
- Human-Centered Approaches to Technology
- Bringing humanity back into digital and AI-powered learning
- Technology that enhances—not replaces—relationships and creativity
- Digital wellness and responsible use in schools
- Leveraging tech tools to deepen connection, collaboration, or communication
- Play, Joy, and Imagination in Learning
- Play-based pedagogies for all grade levels
- Arts integration, storytelling, and movement-based learning
- Outdoor learning and exploration-driven environments
- Leadership for Thriving School Cultures
- Strategies for administrators to support healthy, engaged, joyful school climates
- Staff morale, wellness, and collective leadership practices
- Restorative approaches, community-building structures, and positive behavior supports
- Innovative Approaches to Assessment & Accountability
- Alternatives to traditional testing that honor diverse ways of learning
- Performance assessments, exhibitions, and portfolios
- Reducing test anxiety and supporting student confidence through assessment reform
- Family & Community Partnership Strategies
- Creative ways to connect with parents and caregivers as true partners
- Culturally responsive communication and relationship-building
- Community organizations as catalysts for engagement and enrichment
- Equity-Centered Innovation
- Strategies to ensure all students—including multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and historically marginalized groups—benefit from innovative learning opportunities
- Approaches that disrupt inequities and increase access, belonging, and representation
Audience
Sessions should be designed for one or more of the following groups:
- Classroom educators (Pre-K–12)
- School administrators and district leaders
- Para-educators and instructional support staff
- Specialists (art, music, PE, library/media, special education, ELL, CTE, STEM)