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NOVEMBER 2-3, 2025 | GIRLS PREPARATORY SCHOOL | CHATTANOOGA, TENN.
   
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About Our Strands
Six content strands will thread throughout our Annual Conference programming, tying each session back to our broader theme of "reorienting." As part of the proposal process, submitters will select one strand for which their proposed session will be evaluated. Learn more about each strand below.
Classroom Toolkit
This strand equips classroom practitioners with immediately applicable tools and strategies for instruction and curriculum design. These tools are particularly supportive of authentic student engagement, core skill-building, critical thinking, utilization of AI and other innovative mediums, and real-world application. Classroom Toolkit sessions span all content areas and learning levels. For cross-curricular lessons and projects, consider “Unexpected Collaborations.”
Whole-Child Communities
This strand recenters us and emphasizes our commitment to school communities that foster human flourishing. Sessions push us beyond academic and cognitive development and into actionable frameworks for school counseling and psychology, learning services, social-emotional learning, DEIBJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Justice), physical health and nutrition, employee well-being, and safety.
Unexpected Collaborations
This strand highlights the richness of paths converging, challenging traditional boundaries, and/or bringing together diverse disciplines, departments, stakeholders, or sectors. Unexpected Collaborations sessions will peer into the conceptualization, design, implementation, and evaluation of such initiatives and inspire attendees to leverage these spaces between.
Strategic Directions
This strand positions visionaries and leaders to harness shifting landscapes and plan for a purposeful future. With an emphasis on schoolwide and policy-level initiatives, Strategic Directions sessions are marked by the following: authentic illustrations of strategic initiatives; clear mission-, strengths-, and/or needs-based entries; relatable leadership reflections; and a willingness to share transferrable and actionable structures.
Early Career Teachers
This strand offers targeted support and resources for navigating the first five years of an independent school teaching career. Sessions highlight tools for understanding independent schools, fostering parent partnerships, and establishing classroom management. Conversations may also focus on collaboration with colleagues; mentors, coaches, and sponsors; work-life balance and stress management; or career advancement and retirement planning. Sessions on content-specific instructional practices will likely best align with the “Classroom Toolkit” strand.
Emerging Research
This strand enriches our network by showcasing meaningful studies, insights, data, and evidence. Emerging Research presenters will not only share findings but also clearly connect those implications to TAIS schools and serve as thought-partners for audience members in making meaning for their own contexts.
About Our Strands | About Our Formats | Important Dates
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Projected Professional Development Hours
Attendance for both days = 11 hours
Attendance on Monday only = 7.5 hours
TAIS Board-Approved Cancellation Policy
Attendees will receive a full refund for an in-person conference if they cancel up to six weeks prior to the event and a 50% refund up to four weeks before the event. Refunds are not possible after four weeks prior to the event due to the costs incurred for food orders, hotel contracts, venue costs, and other administrative and setup fees. All refunds will reflect a 15% administration fee.
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