EmpowerEd Weekend
A weekend learning experience where Michigan educators come together to deepen practice, share innovation, strengthen communities, and shape the future of education.
Innovation & Creativity in Education
Designing AI That Works
This session is a hands-on design studio where educators move beyond AI demos and into real classroom application. Participants bring a current instructional or student-support challenge—such as differentiation, accessibility, planning efficiency, or progress monitoring—and collaborate with peers to design an AI-supported workflow aligned to their context.
Using classroom-tested examples from Michigan schools, participants will experiment, revise, and reflect with guidance focused on ethical use, instructional alignment, and impact. The session prioritizes collaboration and practical decision-making over presentation. Participants leave with a ready-to-use AI plan they can implement immediately.
Facilitator Information
Heather Gauck
Heather Gauck is an elementary special education teacher, instructional leader, and AI facilitator with over 31 years of classroom experience in Michigan public schools. She has presented on AI-supported instruction at the Michigan Virtual AI Summit, facilitated ongoing AI professional learning for school staff, and led webinars for MagicSchool AI focused on inclusive, ethical classroom implementation. Heather is a Teach Michigan Educator Policy Fellow and has completed over 45 hours of NEA professional learning focused on artificial intelligence, equity, and responsible use in education. As a Teach Plus Leading Edge Fellow, she engaged in a year-long exploration of AI, policy, and instructional practice, supporting educators in designing AI workflows that save time, increase accessibility, and center student needs.
Extend Your Coaching Reach
Instructional coaches and leaders are being asked to provide high-quality, responsive support to educators—while managing large caseloads, multiple initiatives, and limited time. The result: coaching that often feels reactive rather than strategic.
This highly interactive working session is designed specifically for instructional coaches and instructional leaders (K–12) who are responsible for strengthening teaching and learning systems in their schools or districts. Participants will bring a real coaching challenge from their own context and spend the majority of the session building a practical support artifact they can use immediately.
Using Nisa—a coaching support platform designed to extend (not replace) human coaching capacity—participants will create a draft coaching plan, feedback tool, or deliberate practice resource for an actual teacher they support. Leaders will explore how extended coaching workflows can increase visibility and coherence across a system without adding reporting burden.
Participants will leave with:
- A free Nisa coach account
- A draft coaching artifact for a real educator
- A clearer workflow for extending coaching capacity
- Awareness of additional free tools that can complement their coaching systems
- Concrete next steps for implementation
This session connects directly to Michigan’s priority of ensuring high-quality instructional support so that teaching improves—and student learning outcomes follow.
Facilitator Information
Sarah Tierney
Sarah Tierney is a senior leader at Teaching Lab Studio with over 16 years of experience in K–12 education, spanning classroom teaching, instructional coaching, content development, system-level strategy, and organizational leadership. She specializes in designing and scaling high-quality professional learning and integrating innovative tools into district and school systems in ways that strengthen—not replace—educator expertise. Prior to joining Teaching Lab, Sarah served as Managing Director of System Advising at Achievement Network, where she partnered with district leaders, state departments of education, and CMOs to design and implement comprehensive strategies for assessment, curriculum, and professional learning. She also led the launch of new regional partnerships across California, Massachusetts, and Tennessee and spearheaded the creation of Lessons from the Field, an open educational resource advancing equitable outcomes for students.
Write to Engineer
STEM challenges can do more than build towers, they can build confident thinkers, writers and problem solvers. In this interactive workshop, participants will experience ready-to-use STEM lessons that intentionally integrate engineering design with both narrative and expository writing. Each challenge is structured to increase participation, build cross-curricular skills, and ensure that all learners (especially those historically underrepresented in STEM) have opportunities to lead, explain and reflect.
Participants will:
- Engage in hands-on engineering tasks
- Write a brief narrative from the perspective of a designer or problem-solver
- Develop an expository explanation using the Engineering Design Process
- Use an Equity Reflection Tool to analyze voice, participation and belonging
Attendees will leave with complete lesson outlines, writing prompts, assessment rubrics and facilitation language they can implement immediately in their elementary classrooms.
This session moves beyond theory and demonstrates how small design shifts in task structure and language can transform who participates, who speaks, and who sees themselves as capable in STEM.
Facilitator Information
Lori Hall
Lori Hall is a veteran STEM educator with 30 years of experience in Saginaw Public Schools. She currently serves as an elementary STEM teacher and Camp Invention Director, specializing in equity-centered, hands-on learning experiences for all students — especially those with disabilities, girls, and BIPOC youth. Lori is a National Board Certified Teacher (Middle Childhood Generalist) and Teach Michigan Fellow, and was named a Mi-STEM Great Lakes Bay Region STEM Star in 2024. She is also a recipient of the Elementary Science Teaching Award from the American Chemical Society.
A former middle school science and math teacher, Lori has contributed to Mi-STAR curriculum development, led teacher mentoring through the MEA, and presented at MSTA, the Robert Noyce Conference, and ASCD. She is also a published co-author in the Journal of Teacher Action Research. Lori is committed to ensuring every learner sees themselves as a capable, valued STEM thinker — and that educators are empowered to build inclusive classrooms that reflect that.
Wendy Loper
Wendy Loper has dedicated 28 years to Saginaw Public Schools, bringing extensive experience across multiple grade levels and subject areas. Her teaching background includes 6th–8th grade math and science, as well as 4th and 5th grade self-contained classrooms. She currently serves as an elementary Title I math teacher, working with Kindergarten through 5th grade students, and Summer School Math Coach. In addition, she is the School Improvement Team Chairperson, Co-Chair of the Family Engagement Team, and a former mentor teacher.
Wendy plays a vital role in fostering student achievement and community involvement. She leads the planning and implementation of monthly Family Engagement events, including STEM Nights, and contributes to the design and delivery of professional development initiatives to support staff growth and instructional excellence.
Now in her second year as an Aspiring Leader – Teacher Leader Fellow through TeachMichigan, Wendy continues to strengthen her leadership capacity. Her work emphasizes equity, inclusive voice, empowerment, leveraging individual strengths, and addressing social barriers that impact both staff and students. She is deeply committed to cultivating a diverse and inclusive school community, ensuring that all students—particularly those who are underserved—are supported, valued, and empowered to succeed.