What We Write When the World Is Loud
Keynote Speaker: Sawsan Jaber
Dr. Sawsan Jaber is an award winning global educator, best selling author, equity strategist, curriculum designer, community activist, and keynote speaker with over 20 years of experience.
She has held leadership positions in the U.S. and abroad and currently serves as a University Professor, Equity Leader, and teacher in Illinois. She is the founder of Education Unfiltered Consulting, working with schools nationally and internationally. Dr. Jaber earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on inclusion and belonging of marginalized students, particularly Arab American students in historically homogenous communities.
She has led extensive curriculum development from grades 5–12, aligning outcomes with global citizenship education and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Her work integrates research-based practices, equitable assessment, project-based learning, and culturally sustaining pedagogies. Through an interdisciplinary approach, she equips students with the agency to address real-world challenges while fostering empathy, critical thinking, and a commitment to social justice. She is currently working to develop curriculum with and for preservice teachers.
Above all, Dr. Jaber is an activist scholar and co-conspirator for justice. She is most passionate about fostering agency and advocacy in her students, helping them grow as global citizens committed to
equity and liberation.
Interactive Keynote/ Workshop: What We Write When the World Is Loud
Date/Time: Information on attending will be shared with conference attendees via the conference schedule
Description:
When the world is loud, writing becomes how we listen for ourselves and for one another. This interactive workshop invites educators who lead to reclaim writing as a practice of voice, agency, joy, and healing in a moment of uncertainty and change. Through shared reflection and guided writing experiences, participants will explore how language helps us make meaning, restore connection, and remember what matters when the world feels loud and fragmented.
Writing is approached not simply as a product or a discrete skill, but as a deeply human act, one that cultivates dignity, belonging, and care. Participants will engage with practical strategies for teaching grammar in service of voice examining how syntax, rhythm, and intentional choice, shape meaning rather than silence it. We will also explore ways to build writing stamina so learners can sustain thinking, deepen ideas, and remain present in complex literacy tasks without losing joy or agency.
Thoughtful use of AI will be considered while keeping authorship intention and responsibility firmly rooted in human experience. Educators will leave with concrete approaches for designing writing spaces that nurture skill and imagination, support healing , and empower students and adults alike to write with clarity, courage and heart.
When the noise rises, writing helps us return to what is true and choose what is worth saying.