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| John Braga - Teacher - F.G. Miller Jr/Sr High School, St. Paul Education John Braga earned his B.Sc. (Hons.), Physics from the University of Alberta and B.Ed. from the University of Calgary. Afterwards, he returned to his hometown of Elk Point, Alberta, where he has taught junior high math at F.G. Miller Jr./Sr. High School for the last eleven years. For the last two years he has been on the school leadership team implementing Collaborative Response at F.G. Miller. Colleagues affectionately tease his ability to answer any question with a spreadsheet. |
| Colin Bjorkman - Principal - F.G. Miller Jr/Sr High School, St. Paul Education Colin Bjorkman earned his combined B.Sc./B.Ed, from the University of Alberta. Afterwards, he returned to his hometown of Elk Point, Alberta, where he taught junior and senior high math and physics at F.G. Miller Jr./Sr. High School. After ten years of teaching, he then completed his masters of education at the University of Alberta and entered administration at F.G. Miller School. |
| Our Journey Towards Collaborative Response at F.G. Miller Jr./Sr. High School F.G. Miller Jr./Sr. High School began adopting the Collaborative Response framework in August 2023 as part of a school board wide initiative. This session invites you to share our journey towards Collaborative Response, as we progressed through five stages that can best be described as: Initial Skepticism, Cautious Optimism, Increasing Buy-In, Refreshed Commitment, and Growing Complexity. At each stage we will share our major successes (with accompanying resources) and difficulties (with suggestions to avoid our mistakes). | |
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| Keri Card-Esau - Principal, H.W. Pickup, Wild Rose School Division Keri Card-Esau has been a school leader for ten years both within Wild Rose School Division and as principal of a local First Nation School. Keri earned her Master's degree from the University of Calgary with a focus on Instructional Leadership and Inclusive Practices. She believes that purposeful and planned collaboration is the key to unleashing potential for student success through teacher expertise and the power of the team. Keri believes that the leader's role is to clear the path of obstacles that can get in the way of the team and to lead collaborative processes by example. Kim Wedman - Learning Services Coordinator, Wild Rose School Division Kim Wedman is the Learning Services Coordinator with Wild Rose School Division. She is an instructional specialist and has supported schools and districts with a wide range of experience in instruction and assessment through the lens of literacy, numeracy, English as Additional Language Learners, inclusive education, and curriculum. Kim has over 25 years experience with her masters in Leadership and Design Thinking. She is passionate about community connections and building collaborative learning environments for all stakeholders. Kim lives in Rocky Mountain House and has two amazing boys and husband who support her in all of her endeavors. Along with Kim’s passion for education, she loves to be outdoors hiking and camping with family. |
| Unleashing the Power of the Team Being a school leader is a daunting task. Leaders are innovators, problem solvers and in many ways the heart of their schools. Creating a school environment where purposeful collaboration is the driver of instruction, assessment, inclusion and school culture is of utmost importance. The journey to the creation of a robust and purposeful collaboration plan can be fraught with messiness, creativity and learning for everyone. Come join us as we take a candid look at how collaboration can support you as you draw together the power of your team to meet the needs of your students at all levels- whether in your classrooms, as a school, or at divisional level. | |
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| Bev Cotton - Director of Learning Supports - Northern Gateway Public Schools Bev Cotton is the Director of Learning Supports for Northern Gateway Public Schools. With over 30 years in the Division, she has been involved in supporting students in many roles, including teacher, department head, Inclusive Education Facilitator, and eleven years as a system leader. She has worked over the years to ensure students and have a continuum of support using the division's Quality Learning Environments and Collaborative Response. Aligning a Vision within a Division Northern Gateway Public Schools has been using Collaborative Team Meetings and Collaborative Response for many years, but recognized they needed to align the roles and responsibilities of Inclusive Education Facilitators (IEF) within our school division. This session will describe 1) how NGPS began the alignment within the division, using Collaborative Response as our basis, 2) how NGPS have used Collaborative Team Meetings to support the Inclusive Education Facilitators and 3) how they continue to build robust supports for students. |
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| Darrin DeForge - Educational Consultant Darrin DeForge has been a principal with Edmonton Catholic Schools for 17 years and has opened three new schools, in 2017, 2020 (Genesis online school) and 2023 where he currently retired as principal of Joan Carr Catholic Elementary/Junior High. He has been Director of Inclusive Education and co-lead division projects in Assessment and Reporting as well as developing interview questions and scoring tools for teachers new to the division in conjunction with Human Resource Services. He is research focused when developing school priorities and culture and is a strong proponent of Visible Learning, Collaborative Response and the importance of Self and Collective Efficacy. Building School Culture Through Collaborative Response Creating a thriving school culture requires more than isolated initiatives—it demands a collective commitment to shared values, purposeful collaboration, and strategic leadership. This session explores how Collaborative Response can serve as a powerful framework to foster a positive, inclusive, and high-performing school culture. Discover how Collaborative Response can transform school culture by fostering collective efficacy, trust, and shared leadership. This session offers practical strategies to build inclusive, high-performing environments through clear communication, aligned priorities, and collaborative structures that support every learner. |
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| David Dyck - Education Director - Calgary Board of Education David Dyck is an Education Director in School Improvement with the Calgary Board of Education. In addition to supporting schools in Area 7, he leads the system portfolio of Well-Being. David values opportunities to work closely with principals and assistant principals both in the Area and system contexts centered on developing effective teams and partnerships to improve both practice and student achievement. The Well-Being portfolio includes providing system leadership to: student well-being; the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) team, and related curriculum areas. |
| Chris Radu - Education Director - Calgary Board of Education Chris Radu is an educator with over 20 years of experience in the Calgary Board of Education serving in various roles, including as a teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and System Principal. Currently, Chris is an Education Director with the Calgary Board of Education in School Improvement. Chris currently leads the Inclusive Education portfolio, which includes Strategists, Specialists, and System Principals, as well as the essential services of Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech-Language. Chris also supports over 200 Specialized Classes across the CBE, as well as a number of Unique Settings. |
| Collaborative Response – Implementing a Systemic Vision (Year 2) The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) initiated a partnership with Jigsaw learning in 2020 and continues on a journey to implement Collaborative Response as strategic support for every student across every CBE school. In creating a systemic vision, we looked at what layered structures would be required for a successful rollout. This included clarifying and communicating our vision, creating professional learning sessions, and developing CBE defined documents to aid in bringing cohesion to the work being taken up in schools. A key consideration for us was the current context in schools related to effectively determining goals, timelines, and communication for this work to gain traction in our schools. In this session, we will share what we have learned along the path of enacting our vision in both our first and second years of systemic implementation. | |
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| Helene Hewitt - Principal - Sherwood Heights Junior High, Elk Island Public Schools With 23 years in education, Helene is passionate about ensuring student success in learning, particularly in reading! I believe that a regular review of educational research is key in aligning theory and practice. I value working in collaborative teams where our collective knowledge spurs innovation. Relationships are at the core of our work to nurture children in partnership with families. To do our best work, we must invest in our own health, passions and emotional well-being. While being a teacher is one of my passions, my other areas of interest include singing, crochet Amigurumi, and little dog named Mochi. |
| Stacy Siminick - Elk Island Public Schools Stacy Siminick is an energetic and positive Elementary school teacher with over 20 years of experience. She has taught over 10 years in kindergarten and the past 4 years in Grade one. Her passions include early literacy and building strong connections with students and parents. I believe strongly in the power of teamwork and the positive effect it has on our students. When not at school she enjoys reading, walking, and watching her 2 daughters play hockey. |
| You’re Kidding! They’re ALL my Kids? The Power of Shared Ownership As we complete our third year of implementing Collaborative Response, we have learned many lessons. Join us to learn how Collaborative Response can support a shift from a "me and mine" perspective to "us and ours" world view. Learn about the challenges we overcame and the innovative solutions that we implemented as a result of teacher collective efficacy. We will share how great things can happen when teachers trust each other and care about all of the students in their grade level. While we have not yet figured it all out, we are happy to share some examples of how high levels of trust, coupled with a shared passion for student success leads to calculated risk taking that benefits all students. | |
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| Melissa Rogers - Principal - École James S. McCormick School, Wolf Creek Public Schools Melissa has served as an educator in various roles from Kindergarten to Grade Twelve over the last 21 years, including administration, classroom teaching, physical education, coaching, and committee membership. Melissa is a passionate educator who considers it a privilege to make a difference in the lives of others through fostering strong, authentic relationships. Melissa is grateful to Wolf Creek Public Schools and her school, École J.S. McCormick for fully embracing Collaborative Response and understands how impactful this process can be in supporting the needs of all students. |
| Kacey Oehlerking - Assistant Principal - École James S. McCormick School, Wolf Creek Public Schools Kacey Oehlerking is the Assistant Principal at École James S. McCormick School in Lacombe, Alberta, with 26 years of experience in education. Her career has focused on primary grades, including roles as an Elementary Music Specialist and French Immersion teacher. She currently also teaches Kindergarten in a French Immersion classroom. Kacey has served as a division-level coordinator with Wolf Creek Public Schools, supporting Elementary Literacy, English as an Additional Language, Pre-Kindergarten Programming, and French Immersion initiatives, along with new curriculum implementation. Passionate about the development of the whole child, Kacey enjoys building connections with students and helping them realize their potential. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, running, cooking, and reading with her family. |
| Nurturing Executive Functioning for Academic Success The high demand for social-emotional support is leading to academic and behavioural challenges in elementary school settings. We understand that students cannot learn effectively if their basic needs are unmet, as emotional stability is essential for learning and overall well-being. To address this, we are collecting data on the effectiveness of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 strategies in fostering executive functioning for all students. This involves classroom observations, supervisory visits, discussions during PD, CTM and Intervention team meetings with teachers and support staff. By intentionally embedding Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports into our daily practices and deepening our understanding of executive functioning we aim to provide more effective supports to meet the needs of our students. Embracing a team mindset; recognizing that it truly takes a village to raise a child, ensures that we can holistically support our students' growth and success. | |
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| Trevor Van Someren - WeCollab Lead, Jigsaw Learning Trevor Van Someren has been an educator for 25 years and has spent his last 13 years as a Principal in various schools in WRPS. He has worked with his fellow leaders to implement and embed a collaborative learning culture to help build strong teams. With an Early Childhood Education focus in his Bachelor's Degree, and a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, both from the University of Alberta, Trevor brings a wide range of experience to supporting student learning. Trevor is a strong advocate for Collaborative Response as he has found it to be transformative in helping teachers to improve and strengthen their instructional practices as teammates. |
| Using WeCollab to Enhance Your Collaborative Response Efforts Trevor Van Someren joined Jigsaw Learning in August 2025 as a WeCollab Lead and is excited to share the WeCollab software! This session will offer an overview of the WeCollab platform and it's features, demonstrating the boards and team meeting features, and will answer any questions about the WeCollab platform, including how it can support collaboration in your school or district. As an experienced WeCollab user as a school principal, he is able to offer first hand experience and advice on how to optimize collaboration using WeCollab to augment and support Collaborative Response. | |
