2026 Transformative Teaching Conference

The Center for Transformative Teaching at Crystal Springs Uplands School is currently accepting applications for the Transformative Teaching Conference 2026 (TTC), which will be held in Belmont, CA, on March 21, 2026.

The 2026 TTC Executive Committee is seeking teachers, innovators, moderators, panels, and thought leaders to submit proposals for presentations. 

This year's theme, Human in the Loop, centers on the critical intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in education. We aim to explore how educators can leverage emerging technologies, particularly AI, to create more equitable, inclusive, and effective learning environments, while always prioritizing the essential role of human connection, empathy, and critical thinking.

2026 Conference Tracks and Sessions

AI as a Tool for Equity

List of 4 items.

  • Data Literacy for All: A Culturally Responsive Approach to Fostering Critical Literacy in an Age of AI

    Presenter: Ashley Zanca, Crystal Springs Uplands School

    Summary: In an age of AI where data drives decision-making, educators are striving to equip themselves and others to understand, analyze, and critically evaluate data across disciplines. Everchanging tools and information, lagging policies, and ethical conundrums add further complexity to finding our next step. Some may wonder what comes first? And how to act with confidence?

    This session is delivered with the lens of optimistic realism. This interactive workshop is uniquely positioned for people who actively engage with AI or not. It aims to empower people to bring data literacy (including consumption, creation, distribution, and interpretation) into their classrooms and communities. The workshop provides multiple entry points for educators of various backgrounds and expertise levels, ensuring accessibility while challenging conventional approaches to data interpretation.

    Through hands-on activities and collaborative exercises, participants will explore practical strategies for helping students interpret the stories behind the data and unmask hidden biases in data collection, analysis, and representation. Participants will engage with real-world examples, digital tools, and ready-to-use resources that promote engagement and critical thinking.

    Additionally, by emphasizing the intersection of data literacy and human connection, this workshop helps educators cultivate effective problem-solvers and lifelong-learners who will contribute positively to society, in an age of AI. Attendees will leave with language and a toolkit for integrating data literacy into their work and practices. They will also leave with a deeper understanding of what it means to be mindful data consumers and contributors in our rapidly evolving digital world.

  • Supreme Pressure: Using Generative AI to Increase Student Comfort with Performance Based Assessments (Mock Trial Practice).

    Presenter: Nicholas Calabrese, Crystal Springs Uplands School 

    Summary:  Generative AI has the potential to support the affective component of the learning process by allowing students to rehearse oral presentations and simulate scholarly discussions prior to group presentations or discussion based assessments. In this presentation I will detail an assessment where AI was prompted to act as a Supreme Court justice during oral arguments, and how this helped students overcome anxiety and/or fear about public speaking by allowing them to practice in a low stakes environment. Students were able to upload their oral arguments to the AI bot, who then responded with questions that closely simulated the ones they would face from guest judges during the actual assessment. Students reported that the ability to practice without a teacher, parent, or fellow group member present was helpful at overcoming their fears around public speaking. In the end I propose that using AI in this way can increase equity in the classroom by helping to alleviate the emotional aspect of public speaking.

  • The L.E.A.D. Project: Empowering Student Voices in a Digital Age

    Presenter: Dara Zukoski, St. Matthew's Parish School

    Summary:     In a time when AI can generate instant arguments and pre-written opinions, helping students develop their own authentic voice is more important than ever. The L.E.A.D. Project (Learn, Evaluate, Argue, Deliver) is a mission-driven capstone unit that blends literature, debate, and civic action to foster critical thinking, empathy, and confident communication in grades 5–8.

    Grounded in literature, research protocols, and structured academic discourse, the project asks students to engage deeply with complex contemporary issues while considering multiple viewpoints and evaluating evidence with care. By preparing both sides of a resolution, students learn to analyze evidence deeply, listen actively, and approach complex issues with flexibility and compassion - skills that safeguard human reasoning in the age of algorithmic shortcuts.

    The unit culminates in the “Leadership in Action Expo,” where students translate academic learning into real-world advocacy through letters, op-eds, podcasts, and student-led debate exhibitions that demonstrate their growth as thoughtful communicators and emerging leaders.

    This presentation will outline the unit arc, instructional scaffolds, and student outcomes, offering a model for cultivating authentic student voice in an AI-mediated world.

  • Using AI to Support Inclusive and Equitable Language Learning in Multi-Level Classrooms

    Presenter: Hope Tsai, Menlo School

    Summary:     As language classes increasingly serve learners with widely varying proficiency levels, backgrounds, and learning needs, educators face mounting challenges in providing equitable instruction and usually preparation time are x times more than class time. In this session, I will share my firsthand experience using AI-powered online tools to support differentiated teaching, accessible content creation, and personalized practice opportunities for students in a multi-level language classroom. This presentation highlights practical approaches that teachers can adapt to their own contexts. Participants will see real examples of how AI can streamline lesson preparation, generate leveled materials, assist with feedback, and offer students individualized practice pathways—while maintaining the essential human elements of relationship-building, cultural awareness, and instructional judgment. 

    Hope Tsai, Menlo School 

Culturally Responsive AI Tools

List of 3 items.

  • Data Literacy for All: A Culturally Responsive Approach to Fostering Critical Literacy in an Age of AI

    Presenter: Ashley Zanca, Crystal Springs Uplands School

    Summary:     In an age of AI where data drives decision-making, educators are striving to equip themselves and others to understand, analyze, and critically evaluate data across disciplines. Everchanging tools and information, lagging policies, and ethical conundrums add further complexity to finding our next step. Some may wonder what comes first? And how to act with confidence?

    This session is delivered with the lens of optimistic realism. This interactive workshop is uniquely positioned for people who actively engage with AI or not. It aims to empower people to bring data literacy (including consumption, creation, distribution, and interpretation) into their classrooms and communities. The workshop provides multiple entry points for educators of various backgrounds and expertise levels, ensuring accessibility while challenging conventional approaches to data interpretation.

    Through hands-on activities and collaborative exercises, participants will explore practical strategies for helping students interpret the stories behind the data and unmask hidden biases in data collection, analysis, and representation. Participants will engage with real-world examples, digital tools, and ready-to-use resources that promote engagement and critical thinking. Additionally, by emphasizing the intersection of data literacy and human connection, this workshop helps educators cultivate effective problem-solvers and lifelong-learners who will contribute positively to society, in an age of AI. Attendees will leave with language and a toolkit for integrating data literacy into their work and practices. They will also leave with a deeper understanding of what it means to be mindful data consumers and contributors in our rapidly evolving digital world.

  • Elevate Data as a Culture Builder: Iterative Teaching Practices that Support Student Belonging

    Presenter: Dr. Britt SchlaeGuada, The Athenian School 

    Summary: Elevate, a culturally-responsive program for teachers to measure and build classroom conditions that catalyze engagement and learning, was developed by PERTS in partnership with the National Equity Project and is supported by over 30 years of synthesized educational research.

    The Athenian School (Danville, CA) has been successfully implementing the PERTS Elevate program since the Spring of 2022 through a multi-phase pilot, recognized as both highly-effective and meaningfully-integrated into school culture by our WASC accreditation team in the Spring of 2025. Implementation of Elevate at Athenian has created a wave that is shifting the culture of student-driven feedback and pedagogical iteration based on data; the data itself is rich and can be disaggregated by student-disclosed identifiers (race, ethnicity, gender) to see equity gaps.

    Additionally, the research-based strategies compiled and offered by PERTS Elevate are in a digestible format for educators that instill confidence, allowing teachers to work in collaboration with their students to improve the class experience, impacting student engagement, academic achievement, and overall well-being.

    This interactive workshop will share what our school has learned in the implementation process (from pilot to 6-12 adoption) and give participants a chance to engage with real data and provide insight of what the PERTS Elevate program offers educators. This session is intended for teachers and school leaders who are interested in utilizing data from student feedback to improve student’s sense of belonging.

  • Maintaining Mission and Culture Alignment When Responding to AI

    Presenter: Josie Rodberg, Urban School of San Francisco

    Summary: How do we maintain our focus on our learning goals, our school’s mission, and school culture when redesigning teaching and assessment in the age of AI?

    I will use lessons learned from the Urban History Department as we redesigned writing assignments this year to increase AI-resistance. Some of our redesigned assessments improved learning, while others presented unreasonable challenges for both students and teachers. Those that succeeded leaned into our longstanding emphasis on the writing process, evidence-based argumentation, and deep analysis, while other assignments veered too far from our prior practices and school culture.

    Perhaps most importantly, the assignments that succeeded built on deep connections between teachers and students by gaining students’ trust that we were implementing new practices for the sake of meaningful learning rather than to “catch them cheating.”

Developing Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI

List of 5 items.

  • Student-Centered AI for Personalized and Inclusive Learning: Insights from Marin Academy’s Mindprint Pilot

    Presenters: Yea Flicker & Moriah Buckley Fernández

    Summary: How can artificial intelligence strengthen—rather than supplant—the human connection at the heart of learning? At Marin Academy, we are exploring this question through our Mindprint Pilot, a project that integrates cognitive insight, metacognition, and emerging technologies to support personalized and inclusive learning.

    Mindprint provides students with individualized learner profiles based on engaging, game-like tasks that assess reasoning, memory, processing speed, and attention—skills strongly linked to academic success and self-awareness. Through guided “Lunch + Learn” sessions, executive function coaching, and peer mentorship, students translate these insights into meaningful reflections on how they learn best. As they build metacognitive awareness and self-advocacy, teachers gain a deeper understanding of how to differentiate instruction, support diverse learners, and design more accessible learning experiences.

    Our next step is to connect these human insights to AI-based adaptive learning tools, using data not as a replacement for teacher expertise, but to illuminate how students learn most effectively. This session will share the design and emerging outcomes of the pilot, illustrating how we can use AI to promote equity, curiosity, and belonging when guided by reflective practice.

    Together, we’ll explore how schools can thoughtfully balance innovation and connection to ensure that technology amplifies, rather than replaces, the relationships that make learning transformative.

  • Teaching in the Age of AI: Strategies, Tools, and Integrity Practices from UC Settings for K-12 Educators

    Presenter: Dr. Angela Birts

    Summary: Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing learning and assessment, yet both K–12 and higher education are still figuring out how these tools fit into teaching and academic culture. At UC campuses and across universities, faculty are actively grappling with AI’s challenges—from academic integrity to privacy, while still choosing to move forward with thoughtful tool use rather than avoiding it entirely.

    This interactive workshop shares what higher education is learning in real time and translates those insights into practical strategies for K–12 classrooms. Participants will explore tools and other approaches that support transparency, student process, and responsible AI use. We will discuss emerging policies, integrity frameworks, and privacy considerations, along with the questions schools should be asking as they adopt AI.

    Attendees will leave with concrete strategies, adaptable resources, and conversation starters to help students use AI ethically and effectively while the landscape continues to evolve.

  • Teria Observatory: An AI-Augmented Roleplaying Activity

    Presenter: Byron Philhour, The Nueva School

    Summary: I will share a semester-long, fully immersive role-playing project for my Astrophysics elective students centered around an alternate history based on human(oid) evolution on another world. Students have access to high-quality, realistic data from different eras in history and can make their own scientific discoveries as they try to figure out what's going on.

  • The Memory That Stay With Us

    Presenter: Jackson Kuong, Crystal Springs Uplands School

    Summary: Over the years in the math classroom, the Moser Circle problem has captured my attention. At first, the pattern of doubling regions—2, 4, 8, 16—seemed straightforward, until it unexpectedly broke. I spent late nights drawing, counting, and reasoning through the problem, consulting online explanations, but true satisfaction came only when I returned to it on my own, slowly piecing together the reasoning and claiming ownership of the solution. This experience reminds me that my motivation to learn math stems not from finishing quickly, but from grappling with complexity and gaining an understanding over time.

    We live in a world of powerful technology: advanced calculators, computers, and self-learning machines. Human civilization advances due to our insatiable hunger for knowledge, yet these technologies are transforming the landscape of learning. As educators, where should we stand in the push and pull between technological efficiency and the human desire to explore, reason, and understand?

    Equally important is the learning that happens together. How do we create classrooms that are fun, memorable, and motivating? How can we encourage curiosity, sustain engagement, and support students through productive struggle? What role do humor, collaboration, and teacher modeling play in fostering a love of learning? How do we balance AI and technology with opportunities for reasoning, creativity, and agency?

    In this session, we will explore strategies to sustain intrinsic motivation, nurture critical thinking, and design experiences that allow students to experience both the rigor of individual struggle and the joy of learning together.

  • What is called Thinking Out Loud?

    Presenter: Adam Feldmeth, Polytechnic School

    Summary: We come to know what it means to think when we ourselves try to think. If the attempt is to be successful, we must be ready to learn thinking. As soon as we allow ourselves to become involved in such learning, we have admitted that we are not yet capable of thinking.” (Martin Heidegger, What is Called Thinking?)

    What does it mean to think out loud? In this session, attendees will engage in an open discussion on the relevance of critical inquiry and synthesis as fundamental features of the human intellect during this transformative moment in which artificial intelligence is being integrated within domains of learning. How could we approach these circumstances not from a place of “thinking about…” but in thinking of and with? Together discussants will gather ideas on how to support spaces of mutual consideration within their respective school communities through reflecting on what it means to think out loud.

    This workshop models the faculty-initiated, faculty-sustained Thinking Out Loud (TOL) program at Polytechnic School for discursive gatherings among colleagues with the goal of identifying areas of common inquiry and generating collegial collaboration towards interdisciplinary and mutually-invested approaches. In the Fall of 2025, groups commenced discussions with prompts culled from faculty interest including: Incorporating and Integrating Research Projects into Courses, Teaching and Learning with AI, and Collaborating for Ultimate Student Performance and Success.

Fostering Human Connection in the Age of AI

List of 5 items.

  • Answers are Cheap, Questions are Gold: Developing Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI

    Presenter: Fred Jaravata, St. Francis Catholic High School, Sacramento

    Summary: Answers are cheap; questions are gold.

    AI can generate answers instantly. That part is no longer difficult. What is difficult—and increasingly more important—is helping students think deeply, ask better questions, and make meaningful choices.

    This session explores a simple, human-centered framework I use in my teaching—the Chef/Sous-Chef metaphor—to develop critical thinking and creativity in an age of AI. In this model, students and teachers remain the chefs: the thinkers, creators, and decision-makers.

    AI plays the role of the sous-chef: helpful, fast, and supportive, but never in charge.
    Rather than focusing on tools or student dependence on AI, this session highlights classroom routines where AI is used to reveal thinking instead of replacing it.

    Participants will see examples where assumptions surface, reasoning becomes visible, and creativity deepens because judgment stays human.

    Educators will leave with simple, yet impactful strategies they can adapt to any subject to help students think deeply, find their beautiful questions, and maintain ownership of learning.     

  • Cultivating Human Connection and Critical Thinking with AI

    Presenter: Ling Lam, Jamie Sullivan, Jennifer Gaspar-Santos    Helios School and Castilleja

    Summary: In an era where AI can provide instant answers, there are concerns that AI hinders students’ critical thinking, creativity, relationships, and ability to navigate ambiguity. This session reframes the AI as more than a content-delivery tool. We will explore how AI can be strategically leveraged as a powerful partner to help students navigate complexity and foster deeper human connections.

    To demonstrate this approach, we will showcase various ways to utilize AI resources (e.g. AI-powered “personal coach” for empathy building), focusing on one of the Design Thinking processes. This tool helps students refine interview questions, test personas, and clarify objectives before they engage in the time-intensive human interaction. By enhancing and offloading these time-intensive activities, teachers can focus on what matters — the close interactions with students and conducting the human interviews with deeper and more valuable insights.

    This presentation will provide actionable strategies for achieving these goals, specifically addressing three core objectives:

    - Personalized and Inclusive Scaffolding: Educators use AI to create custom learning pathways, ensuring every student receives tailored support to tackle complex ideas.
    - Navigating Ambiguity: Educators use AI to navigate and simplify abstract concepts for different types of learners like Design Thinking, demonstrated through the AI personalized coach for the Empathy Map.
    - Fostering Human Connection: Educators design AI-supported workflows that focus students’ time on high-level discussion, mentoring, and strengthening essential bonds during the interviewing process.

  • Hands-On Learning: Play, Creativity and Relationship Skills in the age of AI

    Presenter: Marion Valentin, Crystal Springs Uplands School

    Summary: As the use of generative AI becomes more prominent in our schools and classrooms, many educators worry about how to preserve authentic human connection in learning.

    In this interactive session, we will first explore the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Framework (CASEL), with an emphasis on relationship skills building. We will then explore and share examples of hands-on projects promoting community and collaboration in multiple subject areas.

    Finally, participants will take time to think about and start designing hands-on activities that apply to their subject area and learning goals. In creating mainly AI/tech-free activities for our learning space, our objective is to think of ways to foster connection across any subject area, as well as promoting creativity, curiosity and critical thinking in our students with a limited use of AI tools.

    Through shared stories, reflection, and mini-activities, we will focus on how play and building relationship skills can re-center the human element of learning. This session invites educators to take a deeper dive in what makes learning inherently human: the warmth of collaboration and the simple act of doing something together.

  • Marrying Human Empathy & Literary Analysis through AI

    Presenter: Tom Garvey, Menlo School

    Summary:     In my Junior Honors Literature class, I often struggle to find the exact right poem to fit my needs at any particular moment. Like most people, I often turn to an internet web search for assistance in sifting through the overwhelmingly massive corpus that is English literature. Nine times out of ten, I strike out even with that "help." One day, it dawned on me: Why not ask a chatbot to generate custom material that perfectly suits my needs? Could it really be that simple, or was this too good to be true?

    Given the right prompt, I've been able to coach soulless LLMs into producing profoundly human content that both employs a wide range of literary techniques and subtly guides students toward perspective-taking and empathy building. I propose to share my journey, provide several pointers on how to get a chatbot to do what you want, and then challenge participants to explore this technique's potential for expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom by generating custom-made material that will suit their specific contexts.

    In addition, I thought it would be fun to present several poems, have participants work in small groups to analyze them, and then see if they can tell which was composed by a human, and which by a bot.

  • Voice & Storytelling: A Workshop exploring Human & AI tools for creativity and self-expression

    Presenter: Michelle Haner, International School of San Francisco

    Summary: This laboratory-workshop explores voice and storytelling in a tech-free “analog” spirit, then with the integration of AI-enabled “digital” tools – Voice Generators and LLMs (ChatGPT). This playful, hands-on workshop engages theory, practice, exploration, and reflection. It asks: to what extent can AI amplify, enhance, or complement core human tools of self-expression, communication, and connection? If they can be helpful, exciting or liberating, what may maximize their positive impact? If there are downsides, how can these be named and mitigated?

    We’ll start with a quick overview of the mechanics and dynamics of the human voice & the social and biochemical benefits of storytelling. Then, after a quick warm-up, we’ll use prompts to generate and share some short stories and anecdotes. We’ll share and reflect on this material, then explore it playfully using two AI tools: ElevenLabs, to generate/clone voices ChatGPT, to hone or expand their story. Explorations, for example, may include integrating multiple voices or quickly experimenting with story formats or styles. Explorations will be shared back in groups of 4-6 (two duos or trios).

    This will then be a springboard for small group conversation and reflection. What were differences in experience, as an original creator and as an experimenter? As a receiver or audience member? What was gained by the integration of these AI tools and how might they be useful (in the classroom, school, other settings)? What creative, playful, generative or time-saving uses might these tools have? What may be lost or diminished with the integration of such tools? What students or projects may most benefit (or be limited by) such tools? What social and ethical issues may also come into play?

Equitable Access and Digital Divides

List of 3 items.

  • Fluency for All: AI Supports That Work in Real Classrooms

    Presenter: Malia Rubens, Sterne School

    Summary:     Reading fluency, often described as the “most neglected reading skill,” is foundational to comprehension and overall reading success. Defined by the National Reading Panel as the ability to read “quickly, accurately, and with proper expression,” fluency develops through meaningful, repeated practice. Yet many educators and families are unsure how to build it effectively or equitably, especially for students who struggle.

    This session explores how AI can enhance and expand fluency instruction by making practice more accessible, joyful, and individualized, particularly for our older elementary and middle school students. We will demonstrate practical, research-aligned strategies used in real classrooms, and show how some different AI tools can amplify these practices.
    Participants will see how AI can provide instant modeling, expressive read-alouds, personalized practice scripts, and low-stakes opportunities for students to record, rehearse, and reflect on their reading.

    When paired with human encouragement and playful incentive structures, AI becomes a powerful equity tool: meeting every reader where they are and helping them build confidence, rhythm, and voice. Attendees will leave with classroom-ready ideas that they can share with families that will work across ages, settings, and skill levels.

  • From Calculators to Chatbots: Building AI Understanding Through Familiar Tools

    Presenters: Annie Phan, Charles Armstrong School

    Summary:     How do we make thoughtful decisions about AI integration when the technology feels unfamiliar and the research landscape is still emerging? This interactive workshop demonstrates that educators already possess the wisdom needed—we just need to make it visible and transferable.

    Participants will begin by examining familiar learning tools like calculators, graphic organizers, and speech-to-text software, exploring the decisions we already make about timing, over-dependence, and student readiness. Through facilitated discussion, we'll extract the principles underlying these everyday choices and discover how they translate directly to AI decision-making.

    Drawing on recent research in learning differences education and cognitive development, we'll explore how the concrete-representational-abstract framework—commonly used in math instruction—can guide community-wide AI literacy development. Participants will work through realistic AI scenarios using the Learning Tools Philosophy framework developed at Charles Armstrong School, a specialized school serving students with dyslexia.

    Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all AI policy, this workshop equips participants with a replicable process for developing context-specific approaches grounded in their own school's mission and values. Attendees will leave with practical tools for facilitating similar conversations at their schools and a framework that positions educator expertise—not technological hype—at the center of AI integration decisions.

  • Leveraging AI to Level the Playing Field: Intentional Exploration of Age-Old Questions

    Presenters: Hannah Maluth, Alexis Teter, Svetlana Goldenberg, Ashley Zanca, Crystal Springs Uplands School

    Summary: In this workshop, four presenters share their exploration, inspiration, and cautionary tales from classroom-tested strategies in response to important time-old questions and opportunities created by AI.
    Specifically, this workshop offers valuable reflection and ready-to-implement strategies across four interconnected areas: efficient, equitable, authentic assessment that feels encouraging rather than punitive and provides clear, actionable data ; AI scaffolding that democratizes programming access by removing traditional barriers; equitable assessment design with increased regard for student learning differences; and metacognitive practices that develop literacy and critical evaluation skills.

    We demonstrate how to employ AI as a powerful equalizer to expand access to rigorous learning, personalize assessment, scaffold complex skills, and empower students as critical technology users.
    Through interactive, reflective, and collaborative exercises, participants will explore how AI-stimulated experimentation can be implemented in their own classrooms across any subject.

    We will explicitly address ethical considerations and practical strategies for maintaining essential human elements while leveraging AI's capacity to personalize and differentiate. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to implement (with or without the use of AI), a deeper connection to their craft, and tools to continue their own experimentation around learning, accessibility of lessons, reliability of resources, and effectiveness of assessments.

List of 4 items.

  • AI: Moving from Artificial Intimacy to Authentic Connection

    Presenter: Shafia Zaloom

    Summary: This session will provide up-to-date information on how digital media is shaping the ways in which young people connect and communicate, as well as the correlation between the rise in Artificial Intelligence and artificial intimacy. We will workshop case studies that capture the "in-between" moments in learning communities (think recess, lunch rooms, passing periods, etc) to provide concrete language and strategies for how to cultivate healthy sexuality and relationships for students with care, love and affirmation vs. fear, avoidance and shame. All of the case studies will be from Shafia's new book: Getting Real About Sex Ed: What Today's Students Need by Harvard Education Publishing Group. Official publication date: 3/17/2026

  • How to Speak Tween: Connecting with Adolescents Through Advisory, Google Forms, 1:1s, and Post-Its

    Presenter: Tristen Chang, Red Bridge 

    Summary:     While most students in middle school now have phones, authentic real-world connections remain more important than ever. Teachers need multimodal strategies to build relationships with students and foster meaningful conversation and connection. In this workshop, educators will explore ways to facilitate communication in just a few minutes, as well as programmatic systems designed to support human connection in the age of AI.

  • More Than Machines: Humanizing Chinese Language Education Through Relationships, Culture, and Real-World Immersion

    Presenter: Catherine Lu, The Athenian

    Summary: In an era where AI tools are increasingly integrated into language learning, maintaining human connection remains essential for deep, culturally grounded instruction. This presentation explores how Chinese language classrooms can thoughtfully integrate technology while prioritizing authentic human interaction, empathy, and cultural immersion. Drawing from my program’s multi-layered approach, I highlight how structured interactions with native-speaking Teaching Assistants—including required bi-weekly free-talk sessions and thematic interviews—create meaningful opportunities for linguistic growth and interpersonal connection. Students engage directly with Chinese international boarders to explore topics such as city life, travel, education systems, and parenting styles in both China and the U.S., fostering nuanced, cross-cultural understanding. Beyond the classroom, a series of localized cultural field trips—including visits to Ranch 99 Market, Chinese restaurants, San Francisco Chinatown, and Angel Island’s immigration site—offer experiential learning tied to curricular units. The program culminates in immersion trips to mainland China and Taiwan every three years, reinforcing global citizenship and intercultural competence.

    Through these layered experiences, I argue that while AI can support practice and feedback, it cannot replace the relational learning, cultural empathy, and community connection that human interactions provide. This session offers concrete strategies for educators seeking to balance technological innovation with the irreplaceable human dimensions of language education.

  • The Human Edge: Cultivating Human Connection and Critical Thinking with AI

    Presenter: Ling lam, Helios School

    Summary: In an era where AI can provide instant answers, there are concerns that AI hinders students’ critical thinking, creativity, relationships, and ability to navigate ambiguity. This session reframes the AI as more than a content-delivery tool. We will explore how AI can be strategically leveraged as a powerful partner to help students navigate complexity and foster deeper human connections.

    To demonstrate this approach, we will showcase various ways to utilize AI resources (e.g. AI-powered “personal coach” for empathy building), focusing on one of the Design Thinking processes. This tool helps students refine interview questions, test personas, and clarify objectives before they engage in the time-intensive human interaction. By enhancing and offloading these time-intensive activities, teachers can focus on what matters — the close interactions with students and conducting the human interviews with deeper and more valuable insights.

    This presentation will provide actionable strategies for achieving these goals, specifically addressing three core objectives:

    - Personalized and Inclusive Scaffolding: Educators use AI to create custom learning pathways, ensuring every student receives tailored support to tackle complex ideas.
    - Navigating Ambiguity: Educators use AI to navigate and simplify abstract concepts for different types of learners like Design Thinking, demonstrated through the AI personalized coach for the Empathy Map.
    - Fostering Human Connection: Educators design AI-supported workflows that focus students’ time on high-level discussion, mentoring, and strengthening essential bonds during the interviewing process.

2026: CTT Conference Info

Presenters

List of 28 items.

  • Adam Feldmeth

    Polytechnic School
    Adam Feldmeth teaches Film and Media Studies at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, CA where he also helps coordinate the Outdoor Education program, facilitates the Back to the Big Screen film series, co-leads the Climate of Change study group, and is a co-creator of the Community Forum and Thinking Out Loud initiatives. He is currently pursuing a cross-disciplinary PhD in Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought at the European Graduate School and bakes sourdough bread weekly for his colleagues.
    Read More

  • Annie Phan

    Charles Armstrong School
    Annie Phan, EdD (she/they), is Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion & Dean of Student Belonging at Charles Armstrong School in Belmont, CA, where she leads AI policy development for students with learning differences. Their EdD research examined how educators of color navigate trust in schoolwide restorative justice reform, insights that inform her approach to "moving at the speed of trust" in AI implementation. Annie has been using AI tools in their professional practice for several years and is passionate about ensuring equity considerations remain central to technology adoption decisions in schools serving vulnerable student populations.
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  • Ashley Zanca

    Crystal Springs Uplands School
    Ashley’s experience as a Math and Computer Science Teacher, mentor, coach, advisor, and more spans 20 years with a focus on holistic student learning and engagement. Ashley completed undergraduate studies in Mathematical and Physical Sciences, earned a NY State Secondary Education Teaching Certification, and completed her graduate studies in Applied and Computational Mathematics.

    Ashley has strength in bringing vision to reality. As an employee of several schools and an independent contractor, she has taken students, schools, and programs through their introductory stages of acting upon their vision by guiding them to identify and take their first steps. Currently, she works at Crystal Springs Uplands School as an Upper School Math Teacher and is Chair of (and Teacher in) the cross-division Computer and Data Science Department.
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  • Catherine Lu

    I was born and raised in Beijing, China, and earned my undergraduate degree in Chinese Language and Literature and my graduate degree in Linguistics. I began my career as a translator and editor before moving into education, where I have taught Chinese language at both the university and high school levels.

    My teaching experience includes work in an international school in Beijing and, later, in an independent school in the United States. I am passionate about fostering meaningful cultural connections and helping students engage deeply with the Chinese language and its communities.

  • Dara Zukoski

    St. Matthew's Parish School
    Dara Zukoski is a middle school English and History teacher and Debate Coach at St. Matthew’s Parish School in Pacific Palisades, CA, where she designs interdisciplinary learning experiences that integrate literature, history, and creative expression. She holds a Master of Arts in the Teaching of Social Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University, and recently completed the Certificate in School Leadership and Management through Harvard Business School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

    Dara is committed to cultivating empathetic, confident, and articulate student leaders through inquiry-driven learning, structured academic debate, and authentic community engagement. Her work is grounded in the belief that young people are capable of meaningful intellectual contribution and societal impact when they are provided the structure, support, and space to develop their own voices.
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  • Douglas Kiang

    Menlo School
    Douglas Kiang is a veteran educator, speaker, and AI curriculum designer. He teaches AI Literacy at Menlo School and has authored curriculum for Apple and Harvard. His work blends technology, ethics, and creativity, empowering students to lead in an AI-driven world.
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  • Dr. Angela Birts

    Crystal Springs Upland School
    Angela Birts, Ed.D., Chief Culture and Inclusion Officer, returned to Crystal in July 2025 after previously serving as the school’s interim Chief Culture and Inclusion Officer in 2018. Dr. Birts brings extensive experience as an educator, diversity consultant, and leader dedicated to advancing equity and creating inclusive environments.

    Her career spans both independent and public schools, including six years (2012–2018) as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Menlo School. Since 2018, Dr. Birts has served as a continuing lecturer at John R. Lewis College, University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches courses on social justice. Dr. Birts earned her B.A. in English and Communications from Lake Forest College and her M.A. in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies from Stanford University.

    In 2017, she became the first African American to earn an Education Doctorate from San José State University, where she was recognized with both the Education Doctorate Leadership Program Award and the Phyllis H. Lindstrom Award for leadership excellence.
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  • Dr. Britt SchlaeGuada

    The Athenian School
    Dr. Britt SchlaeGuada is a white, trans-nonbinary, queer, K-12 educator who has been teaching science for over 12 years, and has been working in independent schools the last 6 years. As an experienced facilitator and developing school leader, they find joy in development of new systems/structures for equity, leading new initiatives within their school context, while also staying current on educational research and best practices.

    Britt earned their Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice in 2022 from California State University, East Bay; their dissertation research was focused on critically examining the intersection of educators’ white and queer identities and how these identities/life experiences inform the critical/antiracist pedagogy they strive to use in their classrooms. Britt has spearheaded several different DEIS initiatives at their current school and currently leads the school's PERTS Elevate program.
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  • Ellen Devine

    Choate Rosemary Hall
    Ellen Devine has been a faculty member at Choate Rosemary Hall since 2005 and currently serves as Director of Studies. In this role, she leads the development and implementation of academic policy and practice, working closely with faculty and administrators to ensure that Choate’s program remains rigorous, dynamic, and student-centered.

    A veteran English teacher and former department head, Ellen brings to her leadership a strong foundation in curriculum design and classroom practice. Her work reflects a deep commitment to equity and inclusion, a joyful spirit of inquiry, and an appreciation for the value of revision and collaboration—principles that shape her approach to leadership and to generative AI.

    As Chair of Choate’s Generative AI Steering Committee, Ellen led a collaborative process to craft ethical, pedagogically sound guidelines for AI use. She now serves on the school’s AI Policy Group, helping to ensure that Choate’s practices remain responsive to both technological change and community needs.

    Ellen sees AI as a transformative moment for education that demands both critical scrutiny and creative potential. She holds degrees in English from Cornell University and the University of Connecticut. Her creative writing has appeared in publications such as The Long River Review and My Little Red Book, and she is a contributor to Choate’s Alumni magazine, The Bulletin. 
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  • Fred Jaravata

    St. Francis Catholic High School
    I'm a K–12 educator with 26 years of classroom experience teaching students from kindergarten through AP Computer Science. I've worked as a classroom teacher, computer teacher, EdTech specialist, and makerspace designer, helping students develop curiosity, confidence, and critical thinking.

    I spent 18 years at Convent & Stuart Hall in San Francisco and has taught AP Computer Science at Sacramento Country Day and now at St. Francis Catholic High School in Sacramento.
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  • Hannah Maluth

    Crystal Springs Uplands School
    INFO TBA
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  • Jackson Kuong

    Crystal Springs Uplands School
    I am passionate about sharing my love of mathematics with students. I strive to connect their prior knowledge with new concepts, design natural pathways for building mathematical understanding, and model logical thinking through purposeful questioning. I continually seek rich problems and puzzles that spark curiosity and a genuine desire to solve.

    Through years of teaching (13 years in middle school classrooms, first at Woodland School and now at Crystal Springs Uplands School), I’ve learned that the heart of education lies in learning together. We create memories, share laughter, and support each other along the way. While the “eureka” moments of insight are deeply satisfying, the shared experiences of struggling through math together are what make the journey truly worthwhile.
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  • Josie Rodberg

    Urban School
    I am the Chair of the History Department at the Urban School. I have participated in the Bay Area AI Cohort with Eric Hudson for two years and have helped lead Urban’s response to AI. Prior to Urban, I was the Upper School History Department Chair at the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, NY, and I’ve also taught at Riverdale Country School and The Brearley School in New York City. I have longstanding interests in curriculum development, pedagogy, equity, grading, and alignment between desired learning outcomes, curriculum, and assessment.
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  • Justin Thompson

    Crystal Springs Uplands School
    Justin Thompson is the Science Department Chair and a Chemistry Teacher at Crystal Springs Uplands School. With 13 years of experience in secondary education and seven years at Crystal Springs, Justin is committed to designing student-centered learning environments. His work focuses on implementing equitable assessment practices and leveraging authentic student-teacher collaboration to enhance agency and critical thinking in STEM classrooms.
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  • Ling Lam

    Helios School and Castilleja
    Ling is currently the Director of Technology at Helios School. Ling was a K-12 educator with over 15 years of experience specializing in computer science and Maker education. She has a proven track record of building innovative programs and pioneering technology integration in schools globally, with experience in Hawaii, Princeton, NJ, and Lugano, Switzerland.

    In the Bay Area, Ling was a founding Computer Science and Maker teacher before expanding her impact as an AP Computer Science teacher, instructional coach, and EdTech/IT administrator. She holds an M.Ed. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is a respected international EdTech speaker, contributing her insights to conferences around the world.
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  • Malia Rubens

    Sterne School
    Malia Rubens is a Special Education teacher with 20 years of experience spanning environmental education as well as independent and public school settings. She has a deep passion for literacy. For the past 11 years, she has served as an Education Specialist supporting neurodiverse learners and now works as the English Language Arts Coordinator at Sterne School, where she leads the intensive dyslexia intervention program, Sterne READS. Trained as an Orton-Gillingham classroom teacher, Malia is committed to structured, joyful, and strengths-based instruction, empowering students to navigate challenges and coaching teachers in best practices for Structured Literacy. She believes learning should be active, engaging, and rooted in curiosity and connection.
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  • Marion Valentin

    Crystal Springs Uplands School
    With over 10 years of experience teaching languages in the US and abroad, I am fascinated by cultural diversity and how people interact and connect from one country to the next. Likewise, I love teaching my students about different social and cultural norms, and exploring ways to foster community in my classroom. 
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  • Moriah Buckley Fernández

    Marin Academy
    Moriah Buckley Fernández is a Spanish teacher and advisor at Marin Academy High School in San Rafael. She began her teaching career in Santiago, Chile, in 2001, shortly after graduating from college, and has been teaching, running, and dancing ever since. Moriah has also worked in learning services and served as the school’s liaison for Spanish-speaking families. She brings a deep passion for human-centered coaching, teaching, and equity-based practices to all aspects of her work.
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  • Nicholas Calabrese

    Crystal Springs Uplands School
    I have been a history teacher for the last 15 years at several independent schools in the Bay Area. My specialities are courses in American Government, and Global Politics and History. I believe in interactive and project based learning, and engaging students with humor and energy.
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  • Shafia Zaloom

    The Urban School & Shafia Zaloom Consulting
    Shafia Zaloom is a health educator, parent, consultant and author whose work centers on human development, community building, ethics, and social justice. Her approach involves creating opportunities for students and teachers to discuss the complexities of teen culture and decision-making with straight-forward, open and honest dialogue. Shafia has worked with thousands of children and their families in her role as teacher, coach, administrator, board member, and outdoor educator. She has contributed articles to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and numerous parenting blogs. Shafia’s book, "Sex, Teens and Everything in Between" has been reviewed as “the ultimate relationship guide for teens of all orientations and identities.” It is one that “every teen, and every parent and educator - and every other adult who interacts with teens - should read.” Shafia is currently a health teacher at the Urban School in San Francisco, teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and develops curricula and trainings for schools across the country. She was honored by the San Francisco Giants Foundation in 2018 for her work with Aim High, a program that expands opportunities for students and their teachers through tuition-free summer learning enrichment, and was recently granted CAHPERD’s Health Teacher of the Year Award for 2021. Her work has been featured by many media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, KQED, and PBS.
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  • Tom Garvey

    Menlo School
    I have taught students from ages 10 to 50 in contexts as varied as summer camps, college classrooms, and archaeological sites, but particularly love working with 8th-12th graders and geeking out over grammar and etymology across multiple languages.
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  • Valissa Thomas

    The Bishop's School
    I am an experienced educator and leader with over a decade of work in K–12 and higher education, specializing in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ). Currently serving as the Director of DEIJ at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, I design strategic initiatives that cultivate belonging, cultural competency, and student leadership.

    My background includes curriculum development, faculty training, and organizational culture work that bridges equity and academic excellence. I’m passionate about empowering educators and students to engage with complex social issues through empathy, reflection, and action
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  • Yea Flicker

    Marin Academy
    Yea Flicker is an executive functioning coach and the Associate Director of Learning Services at Marin Academy. Yea has spent the past 20+ years coaching, mentoring, teaching, and supporting students and adults in a variety of settings, from elementary schools to college campuses. Yea is passionate about helping people become the best versions of themselves through the development of executive functioning skills and life skills, such as creating new habits, setting and reaching goals, and finding your "north star."
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  • Douglas Kiang

     Menlo School
    Douglas Kiang is a veteran educator, speaker, and AI curriculum designer. He teaches AI Literacy at Menlo School and has authored curriculum for Apple and Harvard. His work blends technology, ethics, and creativity, empowering students to lead in an AI-driven world.
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  • Byron Philhour

    The Nueva School
    Over the last two and a half decades, Byron has taught astronomy, physics, and computer science to students of all ages and backgrounds. He aligns with the progressive, humanist and constructionist educational movements, understanding that human beings are capable of explosive, self-directed, experiential learning once obstacles to their well-being are removed. Byron earned his Ph.D. in physics from the Caltech with a focus on astrophysics and observational cosmology.
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  • Tristen Chang

  • Michelle Haner

    International School of San Francisco
     Passionate about the power of human connection in this digital era, Michelle works at the crossroads of international education, performing arts and community engagement. Michelle serves as the Head of the Creative & Performing Arts Department at the International School of San Francisco, and is the Artistic Director of its flagship theater company.

    From 2018-23, Michelle served as the school's founding Urban Engagement Coordinator, establishing a community-focused program including speaker salons, internships and partnerships. She works internationally with a range of professional and university programs in France and she has led workshops on collaboration, public speaking, story-telling and arts integration at AEP, NAIS, Innovate-Brazil, NET and a 2023-24 Visiting Scholar with the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education (CSEE).

    Her formal education and training embraces social science (BA-Harvard), international theater (University of Paris, UCLA) and educational leadership (Certificate in International School Leadership - Principal Training Center, PTC).
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  • Jamie Chiahui Gao

    The Nueva School
    Jamie Chiahui Gao is an educator and writer with over 18 years of experience teaching language arts, history, social studies, and literature in Mandarin immersion and advanced secondary classrooms on both the U.S. East Coast and in the Bay Area.

    A curious learner herself, she continually iterates on her practice and designs student-centered, project-based curricula that foreground authentic materials, social-emotional learning, and equitable access for diverse learners. Her classes often invite students to notice the “social justice in the everyday,” using language and storytelling to examine power, identity, and empathy in daily life. She currently teaches Mandarin and literature at The Nueva School’s Upper School, where she established the Taiwan Exchange Program and, for the fourth consecutive year, leads language and culture trips to Taiwan twice a year, building sustained, real-world contexts for intercultural learning.

    Born and raised in Taiwan, Jamie brings a global perspective shaped by travel to more than 20 countries. She is a published author of four children’s books, as well as short stories, essays, and poetry that have appeared in newspapers and magazines in Taiwan and the United States. In recent years, her perspectives on everyday DEI and social-justice themes have been featured on KQED. She has also served for over a decade as a story reader at the Burlingame Main Library, extending her passion for literacy and storytelling beyond the classroom.
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This is the start of Your Journey

Contact

Admission Questions:  admission@crystal.org

Middle School

10 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA 94002
650-645-1000

Upper School

400 Uplands Drive, Hillsborough, CA 94010
650-342-4175
Nondiscriminatory Policy: Crystal Springs Uplands School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Website Accessibility Statement: Crystal Springs Uplands School is committed to making this website accessible to visitors with disabilities and is continually working to increase its accessibility and usability. We are on a regular basis seeking opportunities to bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility. If for any reason, you cannot access any of the material on our website, please email webadmin@crystal.org and we will work to resolve the problem as soon as possible.