NEFDC 2025 June Workshop

Belonging and Learning:
Practices and Processes that Empower Students in the Classroom

June 6, 2025
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Zoom

Register Now
(Registration will be open until the end of business on Wednesday, June 4.)

Students’ sense of belonging influences their engagement and achievement. Faculty members’ explicit attention to promoting student voice and connectedness through inclusive pedagogical practices positively influences this self-perception. This session will provide an opportunity to explore and adapt concrete strategies for restructuring classroom practices and processes to help all students feel their values and characteristics are accepted and valued by others, thus promoting the positive sense of belonging associated with healthy social and psychological functioning and transformative learning.

After a brief introduction to data from a study of the impact of pedagogical efforts to build classroom community on changes to students’ sense of belonging, you will be introduced to related artifacts from the study. You will then have an opportunity to collaboratively explore, discuss, and adapt a variety of protocols for developing agreements for collaborative learning and for gathering and using student feedback to drive ongoing adjustments to course structures and policies to make them applicable and usable within your own teaching context.

By the end of the session, you will be equipped with a deeper understanding of the sense of belonging as a social construct and how to approach your practice from a culturally conscious perspective by considering how existing institutional and classroom structures, policies, and processes may be serving as impediments. And you will leave with new tools and protocols that you can implement in your context to support students’ sense of belonging, well-being, and deep learning.

Presenter: Sara Donaldson, Ed.D., Associate Professor of Education, Wheaton College

Sara is co-coordinator of the Early Childhood and Elementary Education programs. She comes from a background of classroom teaching, curriculum development, mentoring, and instructional coaching in public schools throughout New England. As a professional development consultant, online course instructor, and clinical educator, Sara has also worked with pre-service and practicing educators for over a decade developing their ability to promote equitable access to high-quality STEM learning opportunities in their classrooms.

Outside of Wheaton, Sara serves on the board of directors for the Rhode Island Mathematics Teacher’s Association, the program committee for the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, and the Norton STEAM Advisory Council working to expand access to STEM learning in local communities and beyond.

Fees

• NEFDC Member $30 (check whether your institution is a NEFDC member)
• NEFDC Non-Member $45

Register Now
(Registration will be open until the end of business on Wednesday, June 4.)

Refund Policy for All NEFDC Events

Your full participation in our events is important to us and we know that from time to time, your plans may change. Our refund policy reflects our interest in furthering our mission as well as our planning needs and the expenses incurred based on your enrollment. If you are unable to participate, you may request to substitute someone in your place. We do not provide refunds.