Deeper Learning Canada: Full Schedule

Save The Date! July 2nd - 4th 2026

You will be able to validate your attendance (Check-In to sessions) using your personal schedule.

9:00am PDT

Deep Dive - Agency in Action: Relationships and Real-World Learning Spark Ownership

Friday July 3, 2026 9:00am - 11:30am PDT

This energizing, student-powered professional learning session explores what agency can look like when classrooms are built around identity and belonging, valuing student voice, integrated disciplines, and inspired authentic learning. Grounded in the BC Curriculum and Shane Safir’s Agency Model, the session examines how clear learning goals, strong relationships, purposeful inquiry, and assessment for learning work together to spark curiosity, commitment, and genuine ownership.

Drawing on examples from a course called AP Passion to Action, an integrated Grade 11–12 course weaving English First Peoples, AP Seminar, Social Justice, Careers and Capstone, land-based learning, and partnerships with local Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers, participants will see how interdisciplinary design invites students to pursue questions that matter to them and their communities.

Co-designed and co-led by students, the session includes candid student perspectives on what makes learning feel challenging, human, and worth the effort. Educators will hear directly how building strong, caring relationships with and between students, co-creating criteria, and building brave learning spaces supports risk-taking, belonging, and academic excellence.

Participants will discover that agency is not a free-for-all. It is the product of intentional design: rigorous expectations, authentic audiences, real-world problems, and integrated pathways that honour student identity and voice. Educators will have time to interact with students, build collective knowledge, and collaborate with each other. They will leave with concrete strategies and a renewed momentum to create classrooms where students do more than comply. They participate. They think deeply. And they show up.

Integrated Disciplines: This Deep Dive welcomes educators of all grades and subject areas who are curious about how integrated learning designs can strengthen student agency, as well as teacher-leaders and school administrators building innovative cultures and district-level teams committed to system-wide transformation.

Collaborative Care: This Deep Dive will be grounded in collaborative care and shared inquiry, immersing educators in relational learning experiences that mirror the cultures of trust and belonging we want students to experience every day.

Inspired Authentic Learning: Educators won’t just hear about the strategies; they’ll live them. Through guided experiences, rich dialogue, and collaborative planning, participants will co-create knowledge and leave with ideas ready to implement in their own contexts.

Speakers

Marnie Birkeland

Teacher, Central Okanagan Public School District #23 - George Elliot Secondary School

Marnie Birkeland is a secondary teacher at George Elliot Secondary School and a teacher with the Learning and Innovation team, where she works alongside students and educators to design learning that is rooted in relationship, curiosity, and purpose. Her practice centers student voice... Read More →