MYFest Schedule: All Years

In the middle of busy days, even a few moments of stillness can make a big difference. This recurring 10 minute guided meditation offers a space to pause, breathe, be mindful and gently reconnect with yourself. Whether you are new to meditation, looking to build a steady practice or long-time meditator, you’ll be guided through a calming experience designed to reduce stress and help enhance your presence. Come as you are – no prior experience needed, just a willingness to slow down and be.

Curricular seeds are sessions where we invite participants to share what they do in their own teaching/workshops on a particular theme, and then we take time in small groups to reflect on how we all might apply, adapt or develop activities or resources based on what we discuss in the first half, and how we might support each other going forward via Equity Unbound.

Should we be using GenAI literature search tools or would it be more equitable to stick with traditional databases? If we do use them, how can we use them critically? Come along to find out and share your thoughts.

Join us for an hour of supporting each other’s writing… quietly… where we will kick off with 5 minutes of inspiration, give everyone about 50 minutes to work on what is important to them right now, and have 5 minutes to celebrate what we’ve accomplished today. This group is dedicated to anyone who is working on a writing project of any kind: you can work on a peer-reviewed paper, grant application, syllabus, even a really tricky email, even your creative work, a poem you want to capture, lyrics for your next song.

The aim of this series of sessions is to create a safe space in community with one another to engage in healing conversations around topics of import to our individual and collective well-being. Topics are intended to address issues common to the human experience in these trying times. The hope is that these sessions invite introspection and dialogue to deepen connection and solidarity, and inspire hope, healing and transformation. Topic 1: Building community through embracing diversity and connecting with the 'other' Topic 2: Centering joy in our lives during trying times Topic 3: Embracing vulnerability for building connection and belonging

Do you feel truly seen and valued in your work, and are you helping others feel that way too? Join us for a six-session book circle exploring "Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose" by Jennifer Breheny Wallace hosted by Theresa Destrebecq.

Have you ever wondered how you might use messaging apps to connect with a group of learners or participants? In this session, we’ll explore how educators are using apps like GroupMe, WhatsApp, and Zoom Workplace to support learning, share resources, and build community—then collaboratively brainstorm ways to use these tools in our teaching and facilitation contexts.

When your/the title is gone, what values, relationships, and humanity remain? We often define ourselves by what we do, the roles we hold, and the titles we carry. But what happens when those titles are removed? This reflective session invites everyone from facilitators, educators, learners and leaders to look beyond their professional identities and reconnect with the values, purpose, and humanity that define who they truly are. Because while titles may change, who we are at our core remains.

Join me for a short calming and reflective journaling session designed to help you reconnect and recharge. Through thoughtfully written prompts and individual quiet reflection time, we’ll journal about gratitude, self-love, loving-kindness and wellbeing. Whether you’re a long-tome journaler or just getting started, this space invites you to slow down, tune in and leave feeling lighter, clearer and more connected. Bring a notebook, an open heart and come just as you are.

Curricular seeds are sessions where we invite participants to share what they do in their own teaching/workshops on a particular theme, and then we take time in small groups to reflect on how we all might apply, adapt or develop activities or resources based on what we discuss in the first half, and how we might support each other going forward via Equity Unbound.

The way students read has changed, and classrooms are feeling it. This session introduces the Biliterate brain as a framework for understanding how print and digital reading shape cognitive pathways differently and what that means for teaching and learning. Participants will leave with practical strategies to improve reading comprehension across both modes and the tools to embed them into their own classrooms.

In this session, participants will have the opportunity to think collectively about biases and cultural assumptions that underpin the genAI products that are so ubiquitous. We will explore deeper understanding of biases, literacies, and fluencies; talk about the importance of culturally-centred AI; understand the cultural assumptions that underpin these AI products; and begin to imagine strategies for broaching these topics in our communities.

Liberating Structures (LS) offer 43 versatile patterns designed to replace or complement conventional ways of teaching and learning. LS distributes participation, forges deep connections, and ignites collective intelligence, ensuring everyone belongs and contributes. This session will focus on content from the new LS Fieldbook: stringing LS together, evaluating developmentally as you go, and shared modular DNA across the repertoire.

Do you feel truly seen and valued in your work, and are you helping others feel that way too? Join us for a six-session book circle exploring "Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose" by Jennifer Breheny Wallace hosted by Theresa Destrebecq.

Digital Wellness: Manual of Me - Protecting Your Space While Navigating Connections invites participants to reflect on how digital expectations, communication practices and cultural contexts shape well-being and connection. Through guided discussion and a reflective “Manual of Me” activity, participants will explore strategies for protecting their space, navigating communication differences while building more caring and sustainable learning communities.

In the middle of busy days, even a few moments of stillness can make a big difference. This recurring 10 minute guided meditation offers a space to pause, breathe, be mindful and gently reconnect with yourself. Whether you are new to meditation, looking to build a steady practice or long-time meditator, you’ll be guided through a calming experience designed to reduce stress and help enhance your presence. Come as you are – no prior experience needed, just a willingness to slow down and be.

What helps educators stay rooted in their values when the academic landscapes around them begin to change? This interactive workshop explores how the pressures of university life can shape the ways we measure success and understand our place in higher education. Together, participants will reflect on the values that guide their work and consider what it takes to remain connected to those values over time.

This session will introduce the concept of Crip and Neurodiverse Wisdom: the knowledge, practices, habits, and hacks that disabled and neurodiverse learners, educators, and staff have developed for navigating ableist educational environments. We will consider how disabled and neurodivergent experiences of space, time, and productivity may offer ways of creating more inclusive educational spaces.

In this interactive workshop, participants will explore creative mapping and visual storytelling to explore the hidden networks of care that underpin knowledge creation. Through guided reflection and creative exercises, we'll make visible the often overlooked care work of relationships, practices, and infrastructures that enable ideas to emerge, circulate, and endure. No artistic experience is required, just curiosity and a willingness to reflect, create, and engage in conversation with others to explore how knowledge is produced, valued, and sustained.

This is now our 5th MYFest Readers Theater session! We invite readers of ALL AGES — young, old, and in-between —to join us in reading some short plays and learning how to create your own plays. The theme this year is THE RIDDLE OF JUSTICE: the plays will tell stories from around the world which use the power of ridding and other forms of paradoxical thinking to defy arbitrary authority and create a more just world.