Decatur ISD Eagle EdCon 2026

The session will be an open discussion about some of your favorite CTE lessons, labs and classroom management tips. Bring your favorite lesson and share with others what makes that lesson so successful or bring an idea and let your fellow CTE experts fill in the blanks.

Do your CTE courses use iCEV for curriculum or testing? Are you aware of the resources available in iCEV: ready-to-use lesson plans, interactive presentations and videos, teaching materials, and auto-graded assignments? Come learn some best practices for building enthusiastic engagement using iCEV!

Do your CTE courses use iCEV for curriculum or testing? Are you aware of the resources available in iCEV: ready-to-use lesson plans, interactive presentations and videos, teaching materials, and auto-graded assignments? Come learn some best practices for building enthusiastic engagement using iCEV!

Too often, our students are asked to recognize the correct answer rather than generate their own explanation. When students put their thinking into words, teachers gain a much clearer window into what students truly understand, misunderstand, and can apply independently. This professional learning session will explore practical, classroom-ready writing strategies—such as silent discussions, gist writing, summaries, brain dumps, and other low-stakes writing activities—that encourage students to process, organize, and communicate their learning. Participants will leave with engaging strategies that can be implemented across content areas to increase student thinking, participation, and depth of understanding. | Open to all content and grade levels that can write complete sentences.

“Students stop loving to learn when teachers stop loving to teach.”
– L. Watkins, Class of 2026

This session invites educators to reimagine secondary classrooms by bringing back the energy, creativity, and engagement often reserved for elementary schools. Inspired by a powerful student insight, “students stop loving to learn when teachers stop loving to teach,” this session challenges the idea that rigor and joy can’t be in the same room.
Participants will experience practical, high-impact strategies that infuse “magic” into secondary instruction without sacrificing academic depth or standards. From interactive routines, to choice, and celebration, each idea is designed to increase engagement, deepen learning, and build a stronger classroom culture.

Teachers will walk away with ready-to-use ideas, adaptable across content areas, that make learning feel meaningful, memorable, and fun. Because when teachers love to teach, students love to learn.