CATCA 2025

ATA President Jason Schilling welcomes teachers from across the province to Convention 2025.

How do you transform your fears, chronic stress and burnouts from energy-draining experiences into fuels for your passion and purpose?
This is the question Chidi Iwuchukwu has asked thousands of people, and the responses gives true insights into what makes us resilient ,optimistic and persistent.
This keynote is crafted to help learners in educational settings see difficulties as opportunities for personal and professional growth. By harnessing humor, engaging storytelling, insightful questions, and actionable advice, Chidi aims to inspire educators to navigate life's pressures with optimism and confidence.
Kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom, Chidi Iwuchukwu lives to share his remarkable journey from overcoming harrowing life experiences to become “The PRO Guy- Persistent, Resilient and Optimistic” and it rings true in every sense of the words. His amazing story of survival and thriving will wow your audience.

Watch as he uses impactful story telling, insightful questions, and engagement on your stage to share on staring terror, trauma and torture in the face, coming back from the brink, imperatives of self-care, actionable insights to transform self-care ideas into reality, and practical and battle-tested strategies to build resilience. Chidi will rock your stage with his presence, passion, purpose. Chidi’s vulnerability, openness and insights not only inspires but transforms an audience! As an experienced Toastmaster, he meticulously crafts every winning performance in order to make a difference with his message. His dynamic aura on stage turns to dynamite instantly! He knows how to build motivation, amp up his audience through emotional rollercoasters with laughing, crying and reflecting together to deliver lasting results. If Chidi can survive and thrive given all life has thrown at him, anyone can overcome and soar. Arriving at this self-evident truth will take a soul-searching and self-reflective journey from stories he shares from the stage.

This is not just a keynote. This is an immersive performance.

As Canadians and Indigenous People, we all inherited a history together. Cadmus Delorme provides a message of hope, truth, understanding, and strategy as we all embark on a Truth and Reconciliation journey.

This presentation is designed specifically for teachers that have recently joined the plan. It provides a general overview of the plan, including information about pension contributions, maintaining your spouse/beneficiary information, the eligibility requirements for a pension, purchasing leaves of absences and substitute service, and transferring service with another pension plan.

During convention you have the opportunity to stop by your RDP Coat Check and chat about anything regarding the ATA local found in the Arts Centre. This area will be shared among all 5 Central Alberta Locals.

Stop by these four tables that will be found near Tim Hortons in the Forum and they will discuss RDP opportunities for educators to help with their students.

The YMCA has a number of Programs and Services that it offers to the residence of the City of Red Deer and Area. This session will provide as an overview of the services that we offer from Youth Programming at the Northside Community Centre, to our community outreach programs that include the Youth and Transitions Program (YTP), Alternative Suspension (AS), Youth in Facilities (YIF), and Homeward Bound (a community housing initiative). Come see how these resources may impact families in your school, students in your classroom or you as a citizen in Central Alberta.

This session will outline the new discipline process in place relating to complaints of unprofessional conduct and incompetence. Teachers will learn about the stages of the new discipline process, new requirements in the Code of Professional Conduct and some strategies to avoid being the subject of a complaint.

Interested in a short-term exchange with a colleague in Spain, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Iceland or with one of Alberta’s International Accredited Schools across the globe?

Come to this session and learn how to build your own teaching or leadership adventure with an exciting in-person short term (1-2 week) exchange or a virtual one (4 week). Carolyn Freed will be your guide in this fantastic new world! The experience and realities of teaching and school leadership are constantly in transition- an exchange can bring a wealth of insights to the work you do here in Alberta.

Exchanges are a unique professional peer-to-peer development opportunity for teachers and school administrators to collaborate within their profession. Open the door and get out of your comfort zone, engage in meaningful and critical conversations, and experience first-hand how your peers engage with best practices.

Are you interested in learning how to communicate the story of your teaching career and showcase your educational, professional, leadership and volunteer experience to pique employers’ interest? In this session, the presenter will share advice on how to edit your resume and write a strong cover letter to improve your chances of getting an interview.

This presentation is designed for teachers who are planning to retire during the current year or within the next few years. It provides detailed information about deciding to retire, the Steps to Retirement process and forms, the pension options, and post-retirement considerations.

Once you know the principles of lasting happiness you can apply these truths to everyday practices and teach them to your students. Discover how you and your students can nurture happiness when overwhelmed by the challenges of school and life. These happiness principles are based on anecdotal experiences and a plethora of positive psychology research. This session will illuminate helpful strategies for nurturing wellness, joy and lasting happiness. Come laugh, decompress, and learn some self-care.

Adapting a process for collecting data on hours of work, both instructional and assignable, defining assignable time, and monitoring time assignments.

Do you feel overwhelmed? How does a teacher keep up with lesson preparation, engaging and managing students, grading, progress reports, parent conferencing, meeting diverse learning needs, not to mention evaluations and dealing with school administration? How can one remain enthusiastic, happy, and well-balanced when overwhelmed by these responsibilities? This hopeful session introduces principles of survival in the classroom and a medley of practical strategies for coping with challenges. Come laugh, decompress, and learn some self-care. These tried-and-true, evidence-based tips will provide hope and make your job easier.

Over many years the Association has been able to construct a safety net for teachers and their families. This presentation provides an overview of what teachers have in regard to sick leave and other leaves through the collective agreement, extended disability, life insurance, other benefit plan provisions, as well as pension and death benefits. This is a light-hearted presentation that is intended to be presented to local teachers in order to provide very relevant and necessary information on existing entitlements.

How can we integrate the goals and activities of education, while understanding the ways people’s stories (traumas)impact their learning and behaviours? We become “Trauma Informed.” Learn the 5 key principles of Trauma Informed Schools and how to create safe spaces for learning and growing. This Session will help us to become aware of the dynamics of trauma, shift perspectives in how best to support these dynamics, and identify ways to respond with compassion to students and/ or colleagues in crisis.

Understanding extended disability and long-term disability benefits can be challenging. The session provides an overview of this benefit and its eligibility, a review of best practices on applying for the benefit and outlines supports the Association offers to members during the application and, potentially, the appeal process.

Going through the motions isn't working for anyone. The secret to living and working in technicolour is right under your nose. Creativity isn't just for artists, it's the key that will help you reconnect to your passion for teaching, and unearth the unique strengths in each student. If you want things to be different, you need to think differently.Everyday creativity is a spark that, once rekindled, transforms how you approach everything. It brings more joy, confidence in uncertainty, and the courage to share your unique perspective. Tackle new challenges with gusto and find new opportunities hiding in plain sight.Creative shifts start with daily, simple acts like making a meal, building a pivot table, or sneaking vegetables in smoothies. Studies show that these small creative acts impact your well-being, leadership skills, adaptability, and problem-solving prowess. Feel like you’ve heard it all before? Try this unconventional and evidence-based approach that links the dots between creativity, tolerance of ambiguity, and well being, to boost your mood and find new solutions to old problems. In this “light delivery, deep message” keynote, discover the DANCE method: 5 simple habits to light a creative fire in every teacher and student. No arts and crafts required.Attendees will charge away with renewed enthusiasm to contribute, because they will be able to:Describe the evidence of every person’s creative potential (no arts & crafts required).Implement one simple secret to divergent and convergent thinking that will instantly ignite creative solutions.Engage 5 effortless habits (DANCE) every day to build a creative mindset. Describe how teachers can help students to embrace ambiguity in order to be more confident in shades of grey.

Stress looks and feels different for everyone, but we all know what it’s like to be overwhelmed, burnt out and ready to throw the stapler! Come learn about your brain on stress and how this affects our thoughts, behaviours and interactions with each other. We will explore the dynamics of how to manage our stress so that we can be our best selves as we take on the challenges of work and life and understand ourselves and each other a bit better. Information, humor and some practical “life-hacks” for coping make this session just what the doctor ordered!

This session will offer the opportunity to meet with President Schilling in a group setting to discuss matters and issues that are of importance to you and your colleagues. The session will open with a few focus questions from President Schilling followed by an opportunity to have open dialogue on topics generated by the discussion.