Deeper Learning 2026

Physical, temporal, and technological contexts of schooling constitute the "third teacher" in education. Too often, these environments work against our learning goals. Authentic learning doesn’t respect the constraints of classroom walls. Community learning experiences get stymied by bureaucracy. Collaboration collides with regimented teacher and student schedules. Efforts to design active learning within traditional school structures face constraints of time, space, and technology. In this interactive workshop for teachers and school leaders, participants will explore creative strategies to break down these barriers. Drawing on XQ Design Principles and inspired by student testimonials and artifacts of learning, we engage in an intensive design process to uncover opportunities to adapt even the most rigid learning environment. Participants will leave with a plan to create space for innovation in any school.

Explore the strategies and resources NYC Outward Bound Schools is using to shift Crews and classrooms to be more student-led. The combination of establishing strong, predictable routines and prioritizing student-designed content creates the conditions for students to feel ownership and belonging in school. Grounding in NYC Outward Bound Schools’ Student Voice Spectrum and a multi-media case study of a student leader’s growth in her Crew class, participants will design their own mini-lessons using the same tools students use and will learn strategies to implement in their own school contexts to elevate student leadership. Ideal for educators looking to meaningfully elevate student leadership in Crew/Advisory and classrooms.

Note: This DL session also invites attendees from the National Summit on Improvement in Education to participate. Summit is a gathering and rallying point for a vibrant and diverse community of improvers who are working to create educational systems where all young people learn and thrive. In 2026, we're bringing together the powerful Deeper Learning and Improvement communities through select crossover sessions, culminating in a joint closing keynote. You are invited to dive deeper and make new connections at DL26. Check out our Summit and DL26 comparison to learn more.

What if students could be more engaged because they understood what you were assessing—and why? How do we keep middle schoolers truly invested in their learning? In this workshop, educators will explore how authentic, collaborative assessment—when connected to real-world challenges and student interests—can transform classroom culture and deepen learning. We’ll examine a middle school project that sparked curiosity, built essential skills, and led to meaningful work, while highlighting how student voice and choice played a key role in both the process and the assessment. Discover how inviting students into the assessment conversation can make their thinking more visible, foster ownership, and drive deeper engagement. You will leave the workshops with tools, strategies, and inspiration to co-create learning experiences that matter—to you and your students.

This session introduces Neighborhood Walks as a powerful entry point into a community-connected, place-based learning experience. Drawing on WPS Institute partnerships with urban schools in Massachusetts, we’ll engage with student voices that illuminate the dimensions of learning, connection, and engagement that can happen when young people step outside the classroom. Participants will then experience a Neighborhood Walk near the conference site, guided by simple lenses such as Making a Living or Being in Community. Along the way, you’ll practice skills that scaffold student confidence for learning in the wider world.
Together, we’ll identify the skills and mindsets students develop through these immersions, and leave with practical tools to create neighborhood walks for your own schools and communities.

Note: This DL session also invites attendees from the National Summit on Improvement in Education to participate. Summit is a gathering and rallying point for a vibrant and diverse community of improvers who are working to create educational systems where all young people learn and thrive. In 2026, we're bringing together the powerful Deeper Learning and Improvement communities through select crossover sessions, culminating in a joint closing keynote. You are invited to dive deeper and make new connections at DL26. Check out our Summit and DL26 comparison to learn more.

Place-based experiential learning or “fieldwork” sounds good on paper, but how do you implement a robust, meaningful fieldwork program without ample money, time, and people? In this session, we will venture off-campus to demonstrate how even a simple experience can spark learning, ground existing lessons, and support cross-disciplinary connections. Participants will be challenged to connect the experience to their own disciplines and communities, and to consider how low lift experiences can be just as impactful to students as elaborate ones. Hear directly from students about why fieldwork is worth it, and brainstorm with fellow school leaders and educators how to surmount real barriers. Teachers will leave the session with a draft of a fieldwork experience for their context. School/district leaders will leave with a plan on how to empower teachers to embed fieldwork in their courses.

Lunch is included in each deep dive.
LUNCH MENU
Greek Salad (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Cannelini Bean & Pasta Salad (Vegan)
Lemon Basmati Rice (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Mediterranean Spiced Chicken (Gluten-Free)
Tahini Dressing
Falafel (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Roasted Vegetables   Lemon Bars & Baklava

This session is for innovative educators looking to enhance engagement and develop students’ problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills. We will experience a gamified project addressing real-world issues such as eliminating poverty, combating climate change, and peacekeeping. In small groups representing different countries, you will create solutions, trade, form alliances, impose sanctions, and possibly engage in conflict to acquire resources.  Join us for this collaborative experience and take home this synergetic, gamified project that encourages students to learn and take action to improve themselves and the world. Throughout the session, you will hear from students who have completed the project, learning about their experiences and strategies. We will pause to reflect, brainstorm, and discuss how these instructional strategies can engage students in your schools.

Lunch is included in each deep dive.
LUNCH MENU
Greek Salad (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Cannelini Bean & Pasta Salad (Vegan)
Lemon Basmati Rice (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Mediterranean Spiced Chicken (Gluten-Free)
Tahini Dressing
Falafel (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Roasted Vegetables   Lemon Bars & Baklava

Experience Deeper Learning through the power of Project Based Learning & Design Thinking as we collaborate in groups to design & build models of sustainable habitats for living on another planet. This will be a fun and creative session aimed at teachers & administrators interested in experiencing best practices for designing & managing projects in the classroom and understanding how PBL and Design Thinking can create awesome, meaningful learning experiences in any context! This session has appeared at Deeper Learning before and is based on a project run by the facilitator multiple times at High Tech High with 11th graders. Our agenda includes a condensed version of the project (a "slice") as well as opportunities to take intentional pauses in order to step back and use our lens as educators to note and discuss the pedagogical practices undergirding the project while experiencing them in action.

Lunch is included in each deep dive.
LUNCH MENU
Greek Salad (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Cannelini Bean & Pasta Salad (Vegan)
Lemon Basmati Rice (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Mediterranean Spiced Chicken (Gluten-Free)
Tahini Dressing
Falafel (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Roasted Vegetables   Lemon Bars & Baklava

More than ever, schools need cooperative learning environments where students feel a sense of belonging and know their voice matters. This workshop is a hands-on professional learning experience that equips educators with practical, rhythm-based strategies to strengthen engagement, focus, and classroom community across all grade levels and subject areas.  We will explore how these approaches help students build focus, self-regulation, nonverbal communication, collaboration, and confidence.  These strategies channel energy in positive, focused ways, align with SEL goals, and can be used immediately—no music or dance background required.

Participants will experience stepping and body percussion activities and learn how to adapt them for classroom use as warm-ups, mindset training, focus resets, and collaborative learning tools. Each strategy is clearly connected to classroom application, with guidance on facilitation, differentiation, and classroom management—making the session valuable for general classroom teachers, arts specialists, and administrators alike.

Participants will also take part in a short step performance inspired by collegiate step traditions and examine how its structure can be scaled for different ages, spaces, and instructional goals.  Come ready to clap, stomp, and laugh your way into tools for creating a classroom where every student feels seen, valued, and part of the rhythm.



Lunch is included in each deep dive.
LUNCH MENU
Greek Salad (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Cannelini Bean & Pasta Salad (Vegan)
Lemon Basmati Rice (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Mediterranean Spiced Chicken (Gluten-Free)
Tahini Dressing
Falafel (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Roasted Vegetables   Lemon Bars & Baklava

This workshop explores the question “How can an authentic audience make projects more meaningful and impactful for students?” Participants will examine how connecting student work to real audiences can deepen engagement, improve language development, and strengthen the purpose behind project-based learning. In addition to authentic audience, participants will also consider authenticity in general, discussing real-world tasks, inquiry and disciplinary thinking. After collaboratively analyzing a sample project, participants will reflect on their own project plans and consider ways to more intentionally design for authentic purposes and audiences.

Build a values-first story kit students will join: a clear story, tagline, and simple visual. Works for classroom projects, school culture efforts, or community partnerships. Learn a step-by-step process you can teach tomorrow to help students and staff communicate for impact. Leave with a completed workbook kit plus an elementary/middle/high adaptation guide.

In this hands-on workshop, educators and school leaders experience the Movement Communications Design Framework (MCDF) using a printed workbook and a simple peer-feedback protocol. You will move through four short sprints—Values, Storyboard, Visual Motif, and Tagline—then assemble your mini communications kit.

Bring a real initiative (class project, student-led effort, school-wide priority, or community campaign), or choose a ready-to-use prompt if you are starting from scratch.

Are you ready to play? This session invites participants to reconsider the crucial role that play has in learning—not just in early childhood, but throughout adolescence. Together we will explore the research on adolescent learners, examine the impact of play on their engagement, creativity, and social-emotional development, and identify ways play can be meaningfully woven into middle school practice. Designed for teachers and school leaders, this session is both hands-on and practical, ensuring participants walk away empowered to play—with adolescents in mind!

What if your block was the best classroom you’ve never used? Drawn from the WPS Institute’s partnerships with urban schools in Massachusetts, this session introduces Neighborhood Walks as a powerful entry point into community-connected, place-based learning.

We’ll begin by engaging with student voices from Salem and Boston that highlight the learning, connection, and engagement that emerge when young people step outside the classroom. Participants will then experience a Neighborhood Walk near the conference site, guided by lenses such as Making a Living or Being in Community. Along the way, they will practice slow observation, photo documentation, and reflection protocols that scaffold student confidence for learning in the wider world. Together, we will identify the skills and mindsets students develop through these immersions and leave with tools to design neighborhood walks for their own schools and communities.

Note: This DL session also invites attendees from the National Summit on Improvement in Education to participate. Summit is a gathering and rallying point for a vibrant and diverse community of improvers who are working to create educational systems where all young people learn and thrive. In 2026, we're bringing together the powerful Deeper Learning and Improvement communities through select crossover sessions, culminating in a joint closing keynote. You are invited to dive deeper and make new connections at DL26. Check out our Summit and DL26 comparison to learn more.

In this workshop, you won’t just learn about social and emotional leadership skills—you’ll practice how to teach them. You’ll take part in activities that model strategies for helping students develop self-leadership skills like self-awareness, accountability, resilience, and integrity. Through focused protocols and collaborative exercises, you’ll experience how to guide students in building the skills for leading with others, including collaboration, communication, active listening, respect, and consideration. You’ll also design and test out lesson activities that encourage students to expand their leadership impact by cultivating visionary thinking, motivation, encouragement, and confidence. By the end of the session, you’ll leave with practical tools, ready-to-use strategies, and hands-on experience to bring back to your classroom.