WABE 2026 Annual Conference

Stop by Ballroom B to get your badge and sign into clock hours for the pre-conference workshop.

This year, you can sign into clock hours at the clock hours desk or using the QR code posted around the conference. 

Brilliance in teaching shouldn’t be reserved for a select few. It’s a practice—a way of showing up, seeing clearly, and crafting experiences that honor the full humanity of every student. In this interactive, three-hour session, we’ll unpack what “brilliant teaching” looks like in classrooms that serve linguistically and culturally diverse populations. We’ll explore how mindset, presence, and purpose—alongside tools for engagement and rigor—can transform everyday instruction into a platform for student empowerment. Special attention will be given to how educators can recognize and respond to the assets of multilingual families as part of a strategy for Equity and inclusion. Just as a painter creates on the medium of a canvas, a teacher creates through the medium of experience. Participants will leave with specific strategies and reflective tools for designing culturally responsive instruction that fosters voice, power, and purpose for every learner.

This session requires pre-registration. If you wish to add the pre-conference to your registration please email the WABE Registrar.

We all say we want to honor and collaborate with families, but the default approach in schools tends to position language as a barrier and family engagement as an extra task. What happens if we approach language as an asset and families as experts on their children’s learning, cultures, priorities and dreams? Come join Dr. Ann Ishimaru and Dr. Maria Lucero to learn strategies for equitably collaborating with multilingual families to transform student learning and wellbeing. Drawing on research-based principles and interactive activities, we will engage with real life scenarios, design spaces for centering family voice and transforming power, grapple with inherent tensions, and share everyday practices for fostering equitable collaborations with multilingual families.

This session requires pre-registration. If you wish to add the pre-conference to your registration please email the WABE Registrar.