Memphis teacher residency university

“MTRU” Fall Conference

November 15, 2025

DATE

8:30am - 1:00pm

TIME

MTR Offices
Crosstown Concourse (1350 Concourse Ave. Suite 366)

LOCATION

WHAT TO EXPECT

Join MTR for a day of teachers leading and learning together! You’re welcome to bring and share with teacher friends who did not do MTR — this is open to any Memphis local teachers. Please feel free to come as casual as you’d like. Light breakfast and a grab-and-go lunch will be provided.

Sign up today & see sessions
and presenters below!

Register here!

Armani Alexander,
MTR Class of 2018

Transitioning from Classroom to School Leadership

Audience: k-12 SCHOOL LEADERS

Stepping out of the classroom and into school leadership is both exciting and challenging. This session will explore the essential mindset shifts, skills, and strategies needed to successfully navigate the transition from teacher to leader. Drawing from practical experiences and research-based practices, participants will gain insights into building credibility, fostering collaboration, and leading with confidence—while staying grounded in the heart of education: supporting students and teachers.

Lucero Amador,
MTR Class of 2024

Working with Hispanic Families in Memphis, Creating a Culture of Awareness

Audience: K-12 TEACHERS, ALL SUBJECTS

The latinx population in Memphis is growing and the number of students that speak Spanish and are immigrants is growing drastically as well. In order to forge better relationships with our students and families, there needs to be an understanding and awareness of the culture that lies within our schools. Attendees will learn about the latinx population in Memphis and how to be more culturally aware. This session will also explore ways to connect with students and families in the heavily hispanic populated areas. Resources about different organizations in Memphis will be shared.

Laura Bretscher,
MTR Class of 2023

Motivational Design for Learning

Audience: 6-12 teachers, math & science

Every teacher dreams of having a motivated classroom, but how do we get there? In this session, we will discuss Ilana Horn’s Framework for Motivation that will provide inspiration and direction to bring this dream to life.

Kamie Cowan,
MTR Class of 2012

They're Not at School, What Can I Do? (Attendance for Leaders)

Audience: k-12 SCHOOL LEADERS

The most recent federal data show that in the 2020-21 school year, at least 14.7 million students nationwide were chronically absent. This means that chronic absence has almost doubled from the more than 8 million students, pre-Covid-19, who were missing so many days of school that they were academically at risk. Attendees will look through their own schools attendance data and gather tools to support attendance throughout this school year and beyond.

Jeremy Griffin,
MTR Class of 2021

Building Relational Capacity: The Fred Rogers Way

Audience: k-12 teachers, ALL SUBJECTS

Students learn best when their relationships with teachers are strong. Have you ever wished for practical ways to strengthen those connections? Whether it’s through meaningful small talk or by embracing student interests, this session encourages educators to think more intentionally about the daily interactions that shape classroom culture. Drawing from the Fred Rogers Institute’s Educators Neighborhood Initiative, participants will explore artifacts from Rogers’ research, episodes, and personal stories to discover practical strategies for building relational capacity and creating classrooms grounded in trust and curiosity—the hallmarks of the Fred Rogers Way.

Neven Holland,
MTR Class of 2015

Why Students Forget—and What You Can Do About It

Audience: k-12 teachers, all subjects

This session focuses on how learning actually works to help your teaching stick. We’ll unpack persistent myths about memory and explore research-based strategies that support long term retention and transfer, including retrieval practice, spacing, and dual coding. Through real classroom examples and collaborative reflection, we’ll connect cognitive science principles to everyday teaching and professional development.

Rachel Moss,
MTR Class of 2024

Long-Term Backwards Planning

Audience: K-5 teachers, all subjects

This session will make backwards planning happen in a practical way. I will guide attendees on how to create a pacing calendar for the year that lessens the mental load when determining what lessons to plan weekly. Attendees will learn how to create a spreadsheet calendar with their school's events embedded, how to determine the pace of their year (i.e. what lessons to teach and when to teach them), and how to plan for unexpected days and reteach days. I will provide a one-pager with steps on how to do this effectively as well as my personal pacing calendar from this year to provide a visual example.

Anne Pingel,
MTR Class of 2017

Closing the Loop (Without Losing Your Mind): Communication Lessons for Educators

Audience: K-12 SCHOOL LEADERS

In the fast-paced school environments, educators and leaders are inundated with communication from every which way, – emails, texts, Class Dojo, Slack, car-line chats, and even a note on the torn corner of paper to call ASAP! Every message requires attention, prioritization, and action, while also juggling a dozen other tasks.

With so many channels and so little time, things get lost in translation: intentions are misunderstood, messages fall through the cracks, and someone inevitably misses the memo that today’s schedule changed.

In this session, we will discuss the common communication pitfalls that impact all stakeholders. Through shared stories and practical insights, we will unpack what we have learned (sometimes the hard way) and how we can refine our communication to keep the focus where it belongs- on supporting students and building strong school communities.

Meili Powell, MPP
Assistant Director of Advocacy & Engagement for EdTrust-Tennessee

Education Policy and Advocacy 101

Audience: K-12 TEACHERS, LIFE TRACK

In this interactive session, EdTrust–Tennessee will provide educators with a foundational understanding of how state education policy is made in Tennessee and why their voice matters in shaping it. The session will break down the legislative process, highlight key equity issues to watch in the upcoming legislative session and elections—such as funding, access, educator diversity, and student supports—and offer practical tools for engaging with policymakers and advocating for change in both local and state contexts. Whether you're new to advocacy or looking to deepen your impact, this session will equip you with resources to be a more confident and informed advocate for equity in Tennessee’s schools.

Bridget Riley, Facing History and Ourselves

Fostering Civil Discourse: Navigating Crucial Classroom Conversations in a Diverse Democracy

Audience: 6-12 teachers & leaders

How we discuss controversial issues in history and society matters, but teachers are not always equipped for these conversations. We may be able to share our views easily with those who agree with us, but how do we express our opinion while leaving room for someone else’s viewpoint? How can we seek out or listen to those who hold beliefs that are different from ours? How can we ensure that our discussions are rooted in reliable information and that we treat each other with dignity and respect while discussing potentially contentious topics? This session will focus on tools and strategies from Facing History & Ourselves to help classroom teachers hold conversations with their students on public policies, societal issues, and current events.

Caitlin Skiba,
MTR Class of 2021

Adapting Your Skills Curriculum to Enhance Reading Fluency Development

Audience: K-5 teachers, ela, mll & sped

Attendees will learn how to support students' fluency development at the letter-sound, word, phrase, sentence, and passage-level by making the following low-prep adaptations to whatever skills curriculum they're already using: intentional phoneme manipulation practice (phonemic awareness and chaining), rime fluency drills, adding OTRs for decoding/encoding, backwards planning the skills lesson using a decodable reader, explicit tricky word pronunciation guidance, sentence pyramids, direct instruction on phrasing (prosody), using sentence-builder charts to support sentence-level comprehension/prosody, building background/vocabulary before reading the decodable text, and scooping phrases to ensure fluent reading in the decodable text.

Jon Tobin,
MTR Class of 2013

Tools for Digital Media Literacy and Spotting Dis- and Misinformation

Audience: 6-12 teachers, ELA & history

Today, students and teachers need tools for making sense of their place in the digital and media literacy landscape, including critical thinking skills, spotting dis- and misinformation and propaganda, and understanding their roles as producers and consumers of content. Attendees of this session will learn about current trends and realities when it comes to digital and media literacy, practice analyzing sources for reliability and credibility, become familiar with some available tools and resources, and plan for incorporating those tools into their practice.

Addie Willis,
MTR Class of 2014

From Overwhelmed to Organized: Time + Task Management Strategies for Teachers

Audience: K-12 teachers, all subjects

Teaching comes with a never-ending to-do list, and it's easy to feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day. In this session on Time + Task Management, we'll dive into practical strategies to help you work smarter, not harder. We'll explore different tools that can be used to help you stay organized and on top of your to-do list. By the end, you'll walk away with routines that make your week feel more manageable - so you have time and energy for life outside the classroom.

Alexia Young,
MTR Class of 2015

Data-Driven Instruction + Decision Making

Audience: k-12 school LEADERS

In today’s classrooms, data is more than just numbers on a spreadsheet, it’s the story of our students’ learning journeys. This interactive session will empower educators to confidently interpret assessment results, progress monitoring, and classroom trends to make intentional, data-driven decisions. Together, we’ll explore practical strategies for transforming raw data into meaningful insights that inform instruction, drive equity, and accelerate student growth. Participants will engage in real-world scenarios, collaborate with peers, and leave with actionable tools to strengthen their practice. By the end of this session, teachers will not only understand the “why” behind data-driven decision-making, but also gain the “how” to apply it in ways that directly impact student success.