TC² Conference

Flourishing Together in Challenging Times: Nurturing Thinking and Inspiring Action

October 28, 2026 | Online

This full-day event brings together educators and leaders to explore practices that nurture quality thinking and inspire action in response to the challenges shaping our world. The conference will include multiple session options and French-language offerings. 

Featured Plenary Session: Courageous Inquiry for a Flourishing World

With TC² Director and author Dr. Maria Vamvalis and Mi’kmaw scholar Dr. Marie Battiste, this plenary draws on Courageous Inquiry: Educator Stories of Unlearning, Relearning, and Reconciliation, an upcoming TC² publication, and invites participants to consider the ongoing work of truth and reconciliation in education through educator stories, reflection, and practical approaches grounded in ethical and relational practice. 

Conference participants who purchase Courageous Inquiry through the conference registration page will receive complimentary shipping.

Learn more about Courageous Inquiry.

Registration Details

Join us via Zoom on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. Register early to reserve your spot at the sessions of your choice!

Cost:
Partner rate: $250 per registrant + GST/HST
Non-partner rate: $300 per registrant + GST/HST

Registration deadline: Monday, October 26, 2026

Registration instructions:
Step 1: Register and pay for the conference
Step 2: Upon receipt of your registration confirmation email, you will be able to register for each session you would like to attend.

Additional information:

• Presentation slides will be shared as PDF documents upon request.
• Recordings of sessions will be available.
• Registration fee is non-refundable.
• Conference registration cannot be shared between participants.

For conference registration inquiries, please contact Jacqueline Rajarathnam.

Interested in group registration for your team, school, district, or organization? Contact Victoria Campoli to explore options.

We hope to see you there! Please share this opportunity with colleagues who may be interested.

Facilitators

Learn more about our facilitators

Conference Schedule & Session Descriptions

Please note that all times are shown as Eastern Time (ET).

Session Descriptions

8:30 - 9:30 ET (sessions are repeated in the afternoon)

Thinking habits for a flourishing world: leading in the age of AI 
Maria Vamvalis
As AI becomes embedded in schools and workplaces, the risk of cognitive offloading, passive acceptance, and eroded critical judgment is real and urgent. Leaders must ask hard questions including: How do we best protect and deepen human thinking? To what extent does AI serve equity, well-being, and ethical purpose?
This workshop engages senior leaders and administrators in TC² 's seven transformative thinking habits as a strategic framework for institutional change. Through collaborative inquiry, participants will explore concrete strategies for embedding transformative thinking habits across school culture and leadership practice, cultivating environments where learners emerge more hopeful, discerning, and genuinely agentic.

Supporting secondary instruction, assessment and evaluation: how to support implementation of powerful practices in secondary schools 
Usha James
Instructional leadership in secondary schools is both challenging and rewarding. The potential to engage, inspire, empower and support young people in flourishing now and in the future compels all educators to work tirelessly to enhance teaching and learning for all students. Many leaders are asking: How can we navigate the significant challenges faced by students and families, the pressures of an overcrowded curriculum, strong beliefs about what’s best for students rooted in teachers’ own experiences, and long histories of practice that have served many (but not all) students?  How might we support meaningful and impactful implementation of powerful practices in secondary schools? In this interactive session, Usha will explore a thoughtful approach and concrete strategies to support the work of all leaders in secondary schools. 

Beyond resilience: helping learners succeed in the midst of chaos
Laura Gini-Newman
Today, the stressors learners experience are continuous, cumulative and multi-faceted. While the world changes at unprecedented speeds, creating situations of chronic stress, coping mechanisms have not changed. The traditional tools once used to build resilience are simply no longer enough. Whether you are a classroom teacher or in a leadership role supporting professional learning, join Laura in exploring the latest research on coping mechanisms and what that means for how learners need to experience learning. Practical ways to nurture resilience will be explored.

Former des élèves critiques à l’ère de la misinformation 
Pierre Ouellet
Comment développer chez les élèves les réflexes critiques nécessaires pour naviguer dans un monde saturé d'informations? Cet atelier propose des stratégies concrètes pour enseigner aux élèves à traiter l’information dans un monde marqué par la mésinformation, les contenus viraux et les « fake news ». Les participants exploreront des façons d’amener les élèves à ralentir leur jugement, à questionner la vraisemblance d’un contenu, à reconnaître les stratégies d’influence et à distinguer faits, opinions et interprétations. Des exemples d’activités transférables permettront de soutenir le développement d’une pensée critique en contexte scolaire et numérique.

10:00 - 11:00 ET

Encouraging active learning by de-fronting the classroom and teaching through embedded cognition 
Garfield Gini-Newman
A large study at OISE/University of Toronto is revealing important insights into the power of intentional classroom design and the use of instructional practices that promote active learning. During this session Garfield and Nikita will share helpful ideas for how classrooms can be intentionally designed to create optimal learning spaces so students can thrive. They will also consider how current neuroscience research can inform instructional decision with particular attention to how all sensory systems contribute to how we make sense of the world and therefore how creating full-body learning experiences can support student learning.

Courageous classrooms: fostering critical inquiry and ethical engagement for an inclusive democracy
Giovanna Longhi
How can classrooms remain vital spaces where critical thinking challenges inequality? How might educators create meaningful opportunities for students to contribute to a more inclusive and equitable society? This workshop explores classrooms as courageous spaces where ideas, practices, and narratives are examined, and where ethical civic and community engagement are promoted as essential for the continual development of an inclusive democracy. Drawing on the ideas of Hannah Arendt, Paulo Freire, and bell hooks, among others, participants will celebrate the transformative possibilities of education in fostering critical inquiry and individual and collective responsibility for contributing to a more inclusive, just and equitable society.

Monitoring progress: what should leaders pay attention to and how will we know if learning, implementation and improvement is progressing well?
Usha James   
How do we know if what we’re doing is making a difference and helping students and educators thrive? What, when and how should we monitor the progress of student learning or improvement planning in meaningful ways? Efforts to monitor progress can sometimes feel like a compliance exercise. Requirements to report on progress can feel like they take time away from doing the important work of instructional leadership. Monitoring efforts must be meaningful and helpful to the educators and staff they are supporting. As school, system and teacher leaders, we all need to find ways of understanding the impact of our leadership actions on meaningful implementation and on the learning of the students we serve. In this interactive session, Usha will offer practical processes and tools to support these efforts.

Intégrer l'IA à nos processus : comment le cadre TC² peut être une boussole dans le brouillard informatique
Jean-Marc Dupont
Cet atelier explore comment le cadre du Critical Thinking Consortium (TC²) peut guider l’intégration réfléchie de l’intelligence artificielle. Ensemble, nous examinerons les opportunités et défis de l’IA, en utilisant le cadre TC² comme boussole pour orienter des pratiques pédagogiques critiques et équitables contribuant à notre communauté de penseurs.

PLENARY
11:30 - 12:45 ET

Courageous Inquiry for a Flourishing World
TC² Team

This plenary draws on Courageous Inquiry: Educator Stories of Unlearning, Relearning, and Reconciliation, an upcoming TC² publication by Dr. Maria Vamvalis, developed with guidance from Mi’kmaw scholar Dr. Marie Battiste. Drawing on the voices of educators across Canada, the book invites educators to engage in the ongoing, often uncomfortable work of truth and reconciliation, supported by reflection and practical approaches grounded in ethical and relational practice.

Learn more about Courageous Inquiry.

1:00 - 2:00 ET

Critical thinking and the art of asking questions that matter 
Warren Woytuck
“There is such a thing as a “bad question” for questions elicit answers in their likeness.  Answers mirror the questions they rise to fall or meet.” (Krista Tippett)
Whether it’s in an overarching inquiry posed by a teacher to their learners, a reflective invitation offered by an instructional coach to an educator, or a prompt used by systems leaders to guide data analysis, a question can encourage engagement and inspire quality thinking or it can inhibit those very things. This interactive session examines practical ideas and approaches from the TC2 framework that can be used to enhance your question-asking skills, ultimately increasing your ability to ask questions that inspire and support thoughtful action in a complex and rapidly changing world.

Reaching back to grow student learning forward: simple tools for helping learners flourish through assessment
Laura Gini-Newman
Teachers are challenged every day with filling the significant learning gaps of their students. How can they ensure their students will flourish in the face of this challenge? One of the most powerful ways to provide differentiated learning opportunities is through assessment. When a teacher provides guidance, students make learning choices that best meet their needs and that draw on their strengths, leading to a better understanding of their next learning steps. If you are interested in learning about a few assessment tools that will make assessing more manageable for you, nurture greater student independence, and improve student learning, this is session is for you.  

Building inclusive classrooms: fostering belonging and supporting all students to thrive 
Giovanna Longhi
How can critical thinking be leveraged to engage all learners? How can educators foster an environment where every student feels supported in their growth and learning? In this workshop, we will explore how inclusive classrooms can be spaces of meaningful engagement, where all students are challenged to think critically, creatively and collaboratively. We will examine strategies and practices that scaffold learning to accommodate diverse needs, using thoughtful prompts and framing questions to stimulate rich discussions. Our focus will be building on students’ stories and strengths, rather than relying on a deficit model, and on cultivating student interest to enhance engagement and connection to lived experience. Inclusive classrooms serve as the foundation for a strong, inclusive democracy, where every learner can thrive.

Enseigner la pensée critique : outils et pratiques du cadre TC²  
Pierre Ouellet
Quels outils peuvent aider les élèves à mieux juger, comparer, justifier et nuancer leurs idées? Cet atelier offre une introduction au modèle TC² pour appuyer le développement de la pensée critique en salle de classe. Les participants découvriront des stratégies et des outils pédagogiques concrets qui encouragent les élèves à relever des défis critiques, à établir des critères de jugement et à considérer différentes perspectives. L’atelier mettra en valeur des pratiques facilement transférables entre les disciplines, afin d’aider les élèves à formuler des jugements éclairés et bien fondés.

2:30 - 3:30 ET

Flourishing by design: powerful practices to nurture cognitive agency
Garfield Gini-Newman & Laura Gini-Newman
Education is in an age of existential change causing us to question what is at the heart of learning and what role schools need to play to prepare children for an uncertain future.? To respond to the change, teachers need to put nurturing of cognitive agency at the core of their practice. In this session, Laura and Garfield will explore a predictive-generative-reflective-evaluative thinking model that harnesses curiosity, positions AI as a thought-partner, encourages metacognition and leads to sound judgment. The session is designed to provide clear and practical strategies and tactics teachers can infuse through their practice to help ensure all learners genuinely flourish. 

Critical inquiry and contentious conversations
Clarissa de Leon
Inside and outside of the classroom students contend with complex socio-political topics. Discussions about these topics can sometimes feel contentious because of the diverse positionalities, perspectives, and experiences we bring to them. In this session, Clarissa invites participants to consider how a critical inquiry approach can support students in learning how to navigate disagreements, tensions, and reactions that can sometimes surface during difficult conversations about equity-related topics. Together, we will explore thinking tools and other TC²  strategies and resources that can help foster nuanced discussions and learning communities grounded in accountability and relationality. 

Reimagining assessment through the lens of student well-being and Land-based learning
Maria Vamvalis 
Young people are navigating a mental health crisis alongside an ecological one; these concerns are deeply intertwined. This session explores how outdoor and Land-based learning can become a meaningful response to both by rebuilding students' sense of connection, agency, and belonging in a time of climate anxiety and uncertainty.

We'll critically examine the assumptions embedded in conventional assessment, including whose knowledge counts and what gets made visible. We will also explore approaches that honour diverse ways of knowing that support whole-child well-being.

Intégrer l'IA à nos processus : comment le cadre TC² peut être une boussole dans le brouillard informatique
Jean-Marc Dupont
Cet atelier explore comment le cadre du Critical Thinking Consortium (TC²) peut guider l’intégration réfléchie de l’intelligence artificielle. Ensemble, nous examinerons les opportunités et défis de l’IA, en utilisant le cadre TC² comme boussole pour orienter des pratiques pédagogiques critiques et équitables contribuant à notre communauté de penseurs.

4:00 - 5:00 ET (Repeat of morning sessions)

Thinking habits for a flourishing world: leading in the age of AI 
Maria Vamvalis
As AI becomes embedded in schools and workplaces, the risk of cognitive offloading, passive acceptance, and eroded critical judgment is real and urgent. Leaders must ask hard questions including: How do we best protect and deepen human thinking? To what extent does AI serve equity, well-being, and ethical purpose?
This workshop engages senior leaders and administrators in TC² 's seven transformative thinking habits as a strategic framework for institutional change. Through collaborative inquiry, participants will explore concrete strategies for embedding transformative thinking habits across school culture and leadership practice, cultivating environments where learners emerge more hopeful, discerning, and genuinely agentic.

Supporting secondary instruction, assessment and evaluation: how to support implementation of powerful practices in secondary schools 
Usha James
Instructional leadership in secondary schools is both challenging and rewarding. The potential to engage, inspire, empower and support young people in flourishing now and in the future compels all educators to work tirelessly to enhance teaching and learning for all students. Many leaders are asking: How can we navigate the significant challenges faced by students and families, the pressures of an overcrowded curriculum, strong beliefs about what’s best for students rooted in teachers’ own experiences, and long histories of practice that have served many (but not all) students?  How might we support meaningful and impactful implementation of powerful practices in secondary schools? In this interactive session, Usha will explore a thoughtful approach and concrete strategies to support the work of all leaders in secondary schools. 

Beyond resilience: helping learners succeed in the midst of chaos
Laura Gini-Newman
Today, the stressors learners experience are continuous, cumulative and multi-faceted. While the world changes at unprecedented speeds, creating situations of chronic stress, coping mechanisms have not changed. The traditional tools once used to build resilience are simply no longer enough. Whether you are a classroom teacher or in a leadership role supporting professional learning, join Laura in exploring the latest research on coping mechanisms and what that means for how learners need to experience learning. Practical ways to nurture resilience will be explored.

Former des élèves critiques à l’ère de la misinformation 
Pierre Ouellet
Comment développer chez les élèves les réflexes critiques nécessaires pour naviguer dans un monde saturé d'informations? Cet atelier propose des stratégies concrètes pour enseigner aux élèves à traiter l’information dans un monde marqué par la mésinformation, les contenus viraux et les « fake news ». Les participants exploreront des façons d’amener les élèves à ralentir leur jugement, à questionner la vraisemblance d’un contenu, à reconnaître les stratégies d’influence et à distinguer faits, opinions et interprétations. Des exemples d’activités transférables permettront de soutenir le développement d’une pensée critique en contexte scolaire et numérique.