uLead2026 - The Summit of Educational Leadership: Full Schedule

This is the Sched site for the uLead 2026.

Welcome to uLead 2026. We are thrilled you will be joining us at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel for our annual school leadership conference hosted by the Council for School Leadership of The Alberta Teachers’ Association.

If you have any questions during the event, we will have uLead team members throughout the venue wearing red and black plaid. The registration desk will also have our team available throughout the conference. This table can be found just outside of the Van Horne Ballroom, where all of our keynote presentations are taking place.

If you need a digital map of the facilities, you can click here

In order for our team to best determine room allocations for breakout sessions would ask that delegates log in (top right corner of this page) and select sessions that they are interested in attending.

Finally, if you are interested in earning University credits for attending uLead, please visit the uLead website

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9:00am MDT

Coffee with the Custodian - Keynote

Monday April 20, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

An EduFable™ on Why Education Is a People Business (And Always Will Be)
From the creator of the EduFable™, a new genre that transforms professional learning through story, comes this powerful and heartfelt keynote about the kind of leadership that truly lasts.
In Coffee with the Custodian, Dr. Brad Johnson weaves narrative and neuroscience to remind leaders that trust, consistency, and humility are what sustain a healthy culture. But it goes deeper than trust alone. It is about truly knowing your people, understanding their stories, recognizing their strengths, and building a culture where those strengths are seen, developed, and multiplied.
This keynote challenges leaders to shift from proving what they can do to elevating what others can accomplish. Leadership is not about the talent of the person at the top. It is about the growth of the people inside the organization. It is about building capacity, not control.
Through this original EduFable™, audiences experience leadership not as a theory, but as a story, one that feels real, relatable, and unforgettable.

Speakers

Brad Johnson

Dr. Brad Johnson is a globally recognized education thought leader, ranked #2 on the Global Gurus Top 30 in Education. As the best-selling author of 20 books, many of which have been translated into multiple languages, he is a leading voice in leadership, motivation, and teacher empowerment.With... Read More →

Monday April 20, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

1:00pm MDT

Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy and School Transformation

Monday April 20, 2026 1:00pm - 2:15pm MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Street data is the qualitative and experiential data that emerges at eye level and on lower frequencies when we train our brains to discern it. Street data is asset based, building on culturally responsive education by focusing on what’s right in our students, schools, and communities instead of seeking out what’s wrong. Street data embodies an ethos and a change methodology that will transform how we analyze, diagnose, and assess everything from student learning to district improvement to policy. Join us for this dynamic keynote as Shane Safir, author of the best-selling Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation (Corwin, 2021), lays out this transformational model, which will help you shift your focus from satellite-level data (test scores and other metrics) to real-time, on-the-ground stories, experiences, and artifacts.

Speakers

Shane Safir

Keynote Speaker, Listening & Leading for Equity

Shane Safir has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the boardroom, for over 25 years. In 2003, after teaching in San Francisco and Oakland and organizing in the community to launch a new public high school, Safir became the founding principal of June... Read More →

Monday April 20, 2026 1:00pm - 2:15pm MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Keynote

2:45pm MDT

Introduction to Pedagogies of Student Voice Workshop

Monday April 20, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm MDT

Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Building on the bestselling book Pedagogies of Voice (PoV) (Corwin, 2025), this interactive workshop introduces the Student Agency/PoV model, a next-generation instructional framework designed to activate learner agency in response to the challenges and possibilities of the moment. Through artifacts, tools, and reflection prompts, participants explore the case for a Pedagogy of Voice, 10 Toxins that undermine student voice, and 8 research-based Pedagogies In Practice. Whether you work with students or adult learners, you'll leave with inspiration and actionable strategies to shift.

Speakers

Shane Safir

Keynote Speaker, Listening & Leading for Equity

Sawsan Jaber

Consultant / Educator, D212/ Education Unfiltered Consulting

DDr. Sawsan Jaber is a global educator, presenter, equity strategist, and keynote speaker of 20+ years. She has held a variety of leadership positions both in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Jaber is currently a high school English teacher and a District Equity Leader at East Leyden High... Read More →

Monday April 20, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm MDT
Van Horne Ballroom (Conference Centre)

Instructional Leadership

uLead2026 - The Summit of Educational Leadership

9:00am MDT

Brad Johnson

1:00pm MDT

Shane Safir

2:45pm MDT

Shane Safir

Sawsan Jaber

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