The 2026 Outside Pin Conference: Aiming for Equity
About this Event
This conference brings together The Outside Pins from across North America for the very first time to celebrate the power of intentionally focusing on those who are too often overlooked.
Throughout the day, The Outside Pins will share stories, strategies, and real-world impact of their work supporting students facing barriers to connection, belonging, and opportunity. By “chainging our aim,” we create stronger pathways for engagement, equity, and success — not just for a few individuals, but for entire communities. We hope you join our collective mission, through connection, sharing and learning.
Agenda
🕑: 08:30 AM - 09:30 AM
Strike up a Conversation and Check-In
Info: Grab your name tag, meet fellow attendees, and start building connections before the first frame begins. This is your time to settle in, network, and get ready for a day focused on equity, collaboration, and impact.
🕑: 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Opening Frame: Acknowledgement & Welcome by Dr. Shelley Moore
Info: Kick off the conference with an acknowledgement, opening remarks introductions to set the tone for a meaningful and energizing day.
🕑: 10:30 AM
The First Roll: Morning Sessions with The Outside Pins
Info: Your choice of 11 sessions offered by The Outside Pins who will explore strategies, stories, and ideas that help communities and organizations move closer toward equity.
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Fuel Between Frames: BBQ & Baked Potato Bar!
Info: Take a break, enjoy a hearty BBQ and baked potato lunch, and continue conversations with fellow attendees. Refuel, reconnect, and prepare for the next round of learning and collaboration. There will be a choice of a beef or veggie burger with gluten and dairy free options and a baked potato bar with ALL the toppings
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
Rolling Towards Equity: Afternoon Sessions with The Outside Pins
Info: With a choice of 8 sessions, you can build on the morning’s conversations with deeper discussions, interactive learning, and practical takeaways. Together, we’ll keep rolling forward toward more inclusive and equitable outcomes.
🕑: 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
The Final Frame: Closing & Connecting
Info: Wrap up the day by reflecting on key insights, celebrating shared experiences, and strengthening the connections made throughout the conference. The final frame is about leaving inspired and ready to take action.
🕑: 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM
The Victory Splash: First Annual Outside Pin Dunk
Info: End the conference with a bold and refreshing ocean dunk! A fun and memorable celebration of courage, community, and the collective energy we’ve built together throughout the day.
Morning Session Options
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM1: Measuring What Matters: Data-Driven Decisions for Inclusive Growth
Host: Dr. Shelley Moore
Info: How do we move from collecting data to making meaningful change? In this session, Shelley and Emily share a project where they gathered and analyzed data from two secondary schools and supported them to move inclusive practices forward. By setting goals and making data based decisions, these two schools are working to improve infrastructural conditions for all students and teachers. Attendees will leave with practical insights on using data to drive inclusive practices in their own contexts.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM2: Where Person, Environment, and Occupation Meet
Host: Hina Mahmood
Info: This session explores how inclusive, equitable classrooms are created when we intentionally align the person, environment, and occupation—the core components of the PEO model. Grounded in an occupational therapy lens, participants will examine how differences in sensory processing, motor skills, communication, and executive functioning can impact student participation across school contexts. Attendees will leave with concrete, easy-to-implement strategies rooted in the PEO model that promote belonging, reduce barriers, and support meaningful participation across diverse classroom and community settings. This session is ideal for educators, school-based teams, and service providers looking to move beyond access toward true inclusion by design.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM3: Connection to Ourselves, Our Learners and Our Community
Host: Laurie McIntosh
Info: Before we can pour into our students, we must first fill our own cups. In this reflective and restorative session, we’ll explore what it truly means to be a “good teacher” in today’s classrooms, redefining success, wellness, and balance. Teaching is about relationships with our students, families, and communities. In this session, we’ll explore practical strategies for building authentic connections, fostering collaboration, and creating classrooms that reflect and uplift the communities we serve. You’ll walk away with actionable ideas, ready-to-use tools, and renewed inspiration to strengthen the web of connection that supports every learner as you teach from a place of joy and authenticity.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM4: Nature Routines as an Equity Framework
Host: Lauren MacLean
Info: What if equity starts with simple, predictable routines? In this workshop, we’ll explore four core nature routines - circle, nature walk, sit spot, and nature journal - and how they can quietly transform access for all learners. These routines create a sense of structure and belonging while offering different ways for students to participate, whether that’s through talking, moving, drawing, or simply noticing. You’ll experience each routine in a quick, practical way and reflect on which learners benefit most and why. This session is all about making outdoor learning feel doable, supportive, and inclusive - without adding more to your plate.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM5: Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning in Middle and Secondary Schools
Host: Dr. Leyton Schnellert
Info: Discover how interdisciplinary project-based learning can transform student
engagement and deepen authentic learning experiences in middle and
secondary schools. This session highlights collaborative practices and
real-world projects developed with middle year and secondary teachers.
Participants will explore practical strategies for cross-curricular planning,
student-centered inquiry, and authentic assessment while gaining ideas they can immediately apply in their own classrooms and schools.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM6: Designing for Belonging: The Anti-Ableist Promise of UDL 3.0
Host: Dr. Carly Christensen
Info: The UDL 3.0 guidelines mark a significant shift in how we think about inclusive education. More than a framework for access, UDL 3.0 centers equity by confronting bias, systemic barriers, and ableism in schools. This session introduces key updates in UDL 3.0, including a stronger emphasis on learner variability, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and disability as a valued identity. Participants will explore how the updated framework challenges traditional special education models and offers practical ways to reimagine curriculum, relationships, and school culture. UDL 3.0 supports educators in designing learning environments where all students—especially those most often marginalized—can belong, participate, and thrive. This session provides a roadmap for putting those commitments into action.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM7: All of Us: Inclusion in Action at Ruby Bridges Elementary
Host: Cathi Davis
Info:
This session will include a documentary film preview sharing the story of Ruby Bridges Elementary, a fully inclusive school community. The film, “All of Us,” takes viewers inside the school community as they build, reflect and share from staff, student and family perspectives the impact of fully inclusive learning communities. After watching the film, there will be an open Q & A with Cathi Davis, the founding principal of the school.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM8: Sag̱aytg̱awdi: Grounding Assessment in Indigenous Knowledges for Equity
Host: Jo Chrona
Info: How can approaches to classroom assessment help create more inclusive
environments where all students can achieve and thrive, while respecting and celebrating their unique identities and cultures? This session shares a framework of how Indigenous knowledges can inform assessment for learning strategies to create responsive learning experiences grounded in relationship, identity, and authenticity.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM9: From Polarization to Pluralism: Creating radical belonging
Host: Brent Saccucci
Info:
We are told polarization is tearing school communities apart, leaving people to double down, cancel out, or avoid one another altogether. Drawing on research with 2SLGBTQ+ and religious communities, this session examines how culture wars emerge in education and asks a deeper question: How can we build pluralism without abandoning our convictions, but instead holding them with greater compassion? Participants will leave with practical strategies to foster dialogue across differences and cultivate authentic belonging among colleagues, students, and families.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM10: Hope in Complex Times
Host: Sarah Adomako-Ansah
Info: Global crises and equity issues are increasingly entering classrooms, often
leaving students and educators overwhelmed. This session explores how to
encourage students to become upstanders and how related approaches can
support meaningful dialogue, build courageous classroom cultures, and use
project-based learning to help students develop hope, agency, and skills
to take action.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
AM11: Side by Side: A comparative look at inclusion
Host: Katie Jameson
Info: This session chronicles the story of Kenzie & Wally. Twins navigating the same school system, but Kenzie, who has Autism and Down Syndrome, is navigating a very different journey. Witnessing these two has defined and redefined what inclusion means for them as a family and how different that
sometimes looks in the school system. Join Katie as she shares her family’s
story of the impact of mindset and how they are navigating the barriers in
today’s educational system.
Afternoon Session Options
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM1: From Intuition to Intention: Inclusive Planning Frameworks to Support
Host: Dr. Shelley Moore
Info: In this session Dr. Shelley Moore and Laurie McIntosh come together to co-design an inclusive, cross-curricular literacy and numeracy unit grounded in high-impact Universal Design for Learning (UDL) strategies. We will highlight how we created accessible learning experiences without compromising learning standards, ensuring all students are meaningfully challenged and supported. Participants will explore how intentional design can remove barriers, amplify student strengths, and provide multiple ways for learners to demonstrate their understanding. Join us to see how equity-driven planning can lead to rich, inclusive learning for every student.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM2: When Demands Feel Unsafe: Understanding PDA
Host: Hina Mahmood
Info: This session explores Pathological Demand Avoidance / Persistent Drive for
Autonomy(PDA) within autism from a neurodiversity-affirming and occupational therapy-informed perspective. Designed for educators, school staff, and caregivers, the session will move beyond traditional interpretations of “opposition” or “non-compliance” to better understand how anxiety, nervous system overwhelm, sensory processing, autonomy, and perceived demands can impact participation and regulation. Participants will gain practical strategies to support autistic children and youth with PDA profiles in ways that prioritize safety, connection, flexibility, and collaborative problem-solving. The presentation will also examine how school environments, communication styles, and expectations can either increase or reduce stress and demand-related distress.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM3: Flocking Together - Inclusive Outdoor Learning Through Birding
Host: Lauren MacLean
Info: Birds don’t all move, sound, or behave the same way - yet they share space,
respond to one another, and belong within the same ecosystem. What might it look like to design learning spaces that honour this same kind of diversity? In this session, let’s explore how investigating our local birds can become powerful entry points for inclusive outdoor learning. Grounded in a land-based perspective - where ecology means “home” - this workshop invites educators to rethink participation, competence, and belonging. We will leave with practical strategies where variability is expected, strengths are visible, and every student has a place in the learning.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM4: Boyhood & Belonging
Host: Brent Saccucci
Info: This workshop explores how schools and families can unintentionally shape young boys’ understanding of what it means to “be a man” through the hidden curriculum. Participants will examine the intersections of masculinity with religion, culture, and sexuality, and consider how these dynamics influence identity, inclusion, and belonging. The session will also provide space to discuss pedagogical strategies that foster allyship, critical reflection, and healthy expressions of masculinity in young men and boys.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM5: Designing Schools Where Everyone Belongs
Host: Cathi Davis
Info: This session explores the leadership and practical implementation of a fully inclusive elementary school. Participants will reflect on the design and leadership decisions
needed to create belonging-centered learning environments for diverse learners,
including students with extensive support needs. The session highlights systems
that support and sustain inclusion, including master scheduling, flexible service
delivery, collaborative planning and teaching, and universally designed instruction
and supports within general education settings. Participants will leave with leadership
tools and practical strategies for creating schools where every student belongs and every staff member contributes to a collaborative community of practice.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM6: Side by Side: A comparative look at inclusion (repeat)
Host: Katie Jameson
Info: This session chronicles the story of Kenzie & Wally. Twins navigating the same school system, but Kenzie, who has Autism and Down Syndrome, is navigating a very different journey. Witnessing these two has defined and redefined what inclusion means for them as a family and how different that sometimes looks in the school system. Join Katie as she shares her family's story of the impact of mindset and how they are navigating the barriers in
today’s educational system.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM7: Sag̱aytg̱awdi: Grounding Assessment in Indigenous Knowledges (repeat)
Host: Jo Chrona
Info:
How can approaches to classroom assessment help create more inclusive environments where all students can achieve and thrive, while respecting and celebrating their unique identities and cultures? This session shares a framework of how Indigenous knowledges can inform assessment for learning strategies to create responsive learning experiences grounded in relationship, identity, and authenticity.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
PM8: Hope in Complex Times (repeat)
Host: Sarah Adomako-Ansah
Info: Global crises and equity issues are increasingly entering classrooms, often leaving students and educators overwhelmed. This session explores how to encourage students to become upstanders and how related approaches can support meaningful dialogue, build courageous classroom cultures, and use project-based learning to help students develop hope, agency, and skills to take action.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
CAD 12.58 to CAD 225.05
