CATCA 2025: Full Schedule

COMPLETE THE CATCA 2025 SURVEY TO IMPROVE FUTURE CONVENTION

CLOSURE REMARKS FROM CATCA 2025!

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING THE CONVENTION AND FOR CATCA 2026 WILL HAPPEN ON FEBRUARY 19 AND 20, 2026 AT RDP.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM YOUR ATA LOCALS.

All pre-recording videos will be up until May 31st.

9:00am MST

What Said It Has To Be Perfect? Managing Perfectionism in your teaching practice

Thursday February 20, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MST

RDP Room 1437

Are you finding yourself grappling with making aspects of your teaching practice perfect? Struggling with burn out, never feeling like you are finished, and living in a constant state of stress? Join us as we take a deep breath, drop our shoulders, and explore ways to re-write perfectionistic tendencies in our classrooms. We will delve into practical strategies for managing perfectionism, fostering a growth mindset, and embracing our "enoughness" in our teaching careers. You will leave with actionable tools to help you cultivate a more flexible, sustainable, and enjoyable teaching career.

Speakers

Suzanne Bergeron

Director of Education, Gathered and Grown Family Farm

Suzanne is a wife, mom of four, and teacher of many. Passionate about finding balance between mental health, a joyful homelife, and successful teaching career she is constantly seeking to learn and grow. Suzanne is deeply dedicated to play and including nature in the daily routines... Read More →

Thursday February 20, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MST
RDP Room 1437

Health and Wellness (TQS 3), Division 2 (Gr 4-6)

10:20am MST

From Concept to Script - Screenwriting Workshop

Thursday February 20, 2025 10:20am - 11:20am MST

RDP Room 1437

Speakers

Andrew Buckley

Author/Speaker/Creator

Today, he’s a traditional and self-published novelist of rather silly, yet enjoyable speculative fiction for all ages, a comic book writer, screenwriter, podcaster, creator, and speaker. For over 20 years, he’s worked in the dreaded world of marketing as a content creator, copywriter... Read More →

Thursday February 20, 2025 10:20am - 11:20am MST
RDP Room 1437

11:40am MST

Truth About Credit

Thursday February 20, 2025 11:40am - 12:40pm MST

RDP Room 1437

Ever wondered what the difference between a credit score and a credit report was? Do you know what builds (or reduces) your credit score? Credit can be very confusing and this can lead to decisions that may impact our overall credit profile. Decisions and actions that are seemingly positive may actually impact us negatively.
Information is key to making decisions that positively affect our credit and overall financial health. In The Truth About Credit workshop, you will learn how to:
• Identify what’s in it for you to be good with your money and credit;
• Identify what is on your credit report and the credit rating system;
• Identify the 5 factors that affect your credit score;
• Check your own credit report;
• Name who may be interested in your credit score/report;
• Identify some myths around credit; and

Speakers

Mark Kalinowski

Financial Educator and Credit Counsellor, Credit Counselling Society

Mark is a bit of a personal finance nerd! His interest grew when he started his career at a bank call center and read the David Chilton book, “The Wealthy Barber.” He has taken courses on investing and insurance and was at one time licensed to sell them at the bank, but that wasn’t... Read More →

Thursday February 20, 2025 11:40am - 12:40pm MST
RDP Room 1437

Health and Wellness (TQS 3), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 2 (Gr 4-6), Division 1 (Gr 1-3)

1:00pm MST

Food & Finance

Thursday February 20, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST

RDP Room 1437

Two of the biggest goals we never seem to achieve are to be better with our health and better with our money. This can be challenging as we’re taxed for time and energy with our busy work days and family time. Finding ways to save time and money with our food budget can help us towards each goal at the same time!
Join us for our Food and Finances workshop/webinar to learn some valuable information and easy-to-implement steps. In the session, you will learn how to:
• Recognize the various factors that impact your food budget
• Track your food budget so you know exactly what you’re spending instead of what you believe you’re spending
• Learn how to create a meal plan
• Save money on your groceries
• Make meal preparation easier and less time consuming
• Use mobile technologies that can help you save money.
This session can help you get organized with your meal planning, shopping and cooking which saves you time and money while nourishing you and your family with healthy meals.

Speakers

Mark Kalinowski

Financial Educator and Credit Counsellor, Credit Counselling Society

Thursday February 20, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
RDP Room 1437

Health and Wellness (TQS 3), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Division 2 (Gr 4-6), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 1 (Gr 1-3), Early Childhood Education (Pre K-K)

2:20pm MST

Let’s Talk About Food: Reframing messaging for an inclusive classroom

Thursday February 20, 2025 2:20pm - 3:20pm MST

RDP Room 1437

Have you ever wondered how to respond to your students' comments about food? Most of us grew up hearing foods described as “healthy” or “unhealthy,” but categorizing foods this way can harm our relationship with food and cause stress about eating. So how do we flip the script on this conversation with students?

Join our Registered Dietitians in this interactive session exploring practical examples and strategies of how to have inclusive conversations around all foods with your students. Come and be part of the conversation!

Teachers will leave this session with
- Ready-to-use classroom materials and teaching tools. 
- Strategies to promote inclusive conversations about food and eating in the classroom
- Support from Registered Dietitians including tools which reflect best practices in nutrition education for your students

Speakers

Teach Nutrition

Registered Dietitian, Teach Nutrition

Instead of spending hours researching nutrition topics, planning activities, and making slides or worksheets, explore our free resources. We always include background information for teachers alongside engaging materials for students, such as videos, worksheets, and slide decks, that... Read More →

Thursday February 20, 2025 2:20pm - 3:20pm MST
RDP Room 1437

Inclusive Education (TQS/LQS 4), Division 1 (Gr 1-3), Division 2 (Gr 4-6), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Early Childhood Education (Pre K-K), Division 3 (Gr 7-9) | Health and Wellness (TQS 3), Division 1 (Gr 1-3), Division 2 (Gr 4-6), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Early Childhood Education (Pre K-K), Division 3 (Gr 7-9)

9:00am MST

Using Assessment to Improve Teaching

Friday February 21, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MST

RDP Room 1437

Assessments take many forms, from qualitative observations to assignments and tests. All of these are opportunities for feedback not just for students, but also for teachers. So how can you take advantage of that, and improve what you’re doing in your classroom, without adding a bunch more work to your life? This workshop will explore how you can use the results from all types of assessments to improve your teaching. The facilitators, Jason Cooper and Laura Pankratz, have decades of classroom and assessment experience. Participants in this workshop will engage in discussion and exploration of what is currently working in Alberta classrooms.

Speakers

Jason Cooper

Onsite contact: Jason Coooper

Jason Cooper is the creator and owner of SmarterMarks, a tool that helps teachers and students do more with paper and online assessments. Before making the switch to supporting and developing SmarterMarks full-time, he worked as a high school science teacher in Calgary for 9 year... Read More →

Laura Pankratz

Western Canada Teacher Network Coordinator, Perimeter Institute

Laura Pankratz is an educator with more than 30 years of working with students and teachers. One of her principles of education is the learning is messy. Her passion is finding the nugget of value in that mess and then helping the learner to build around it. Laura’s career included... Read More →

Friday February 21, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MST
RDP Room 1437

Science (TQS 3), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Division 3 (Gr 7-9) | Mathematics (TQS 3), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Division 3 (Gr 7-9) | Social Studies (TQS 3), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Division 3 (Gr 7-9) | Language Arts (TQS 3), Division 4 (Gr 10-12), Division 3 (Gr 7-9)

10:20am MST

Getting Students to Welcome Assessments

Friday February 21, 2025 10:20am - 11:20am MST

RDP Room 1437

We expect students to show up in our classes ready to learn, ready to incorporate new ideas into their canon of knowledge, skills and attitudes. But often students show up having been trained to perform on assignments, quizzes and tests for marks. There is a disconnect between these two expectations that can often lead to frustration for both teachers and students. This workshop will explore building a classroom culture that will have students valuing assessments as a measure of their learning rather than as a hoop to hop through. The facilitators, Jason Cooper and Laura Pankratz, have decades of classroom and assessment experience. Participants in this workshop will engage in discussion and exploration of what is currently working in Alberta classrooms.

Speakers

Jason Cooper

Onsite contact: Jason Coooper

Laura Pankratz

Western Canada Teacher Network Coordinator, Perimeter Institute

Friday February 21, 2025 10:20am - 11:20am MST
RDP Room 1437

Mathematics (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Science (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Social Studies (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Assessment (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Language Arts (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12)

11:40am MST

Using Data to Build Better Assessments

Friday February 21, 2025 11:40am - 12:40pm MST

RDP Room 1437

So, you have just finished scoring your students’ tests. You have a bunch of data! What do you do with that data? This workshop will explore some key tools for interpreting assessment data and discuss how they can be used to build assessments that are fair, reflect a range of student understanding, and provide meaningful feedback to students. The facilitators, Jason Cooper and Laura Pankratz, have decades of classroom and assessment experience. Participants in this workshop will engage in discussion and exploration of what is currently working in Alberta classrooms.

Speakers

Jason Cooper

Onsite contact: Jason Coooper

Laura Pankratz

Western Canada Teacher Network Coordinator, Perimeter Institute

Friday February 21, 2025 11:40am - 12:40pm MST
RDP Room 1437

Language Arts (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Mathematics (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Science (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Social Studies (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Assessment (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12)

1:00pm MST

Making the Most of Outcomes in Assessment

Friday February 21, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST

RDP Room 1437

You are a great teacher! You engage your students in rich learning tasks, and your students are successfully learning. How do you make sure your assessments reflect the breadth of student learning, and that feedback to students, parents and school administration helps them make informed choices moving forward? Blueprinting assessments (and class time) can help you. This workshop will explore the ideas of intentionally addressing mandated curriculum outcomes and cognitive load through blueprinting. The facilitators, Jason Cooper and Laura Pankratz, have decades of classroom and assessment experience. Participants in this workshop will engage in discussion and exploration of what is currently working in Alberta classrooms.

Speakers

Jason Cooper

Onsite contact: Jason Coooper

Laura Pankratz

Western Canada Teacher Network Coordinator, Perimeter Institute

Friday February 21, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
RDP Room 1437

Mathematics (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Science (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12) | Assessment (TQS 3), Division 3 (Gr 7-9), Division 4 (Gr 10-12)