Our panel hopes to bring together award-winning educators, students and scholars to explore how identity shapes practice: how a teacher’s story informs their stance; how care and high expectations coexist; how equity, expertise and creativity meet in classrooms. We’ll trace moments when a teacher’s presence, more than any slide or syllabus, made learning feel possible, and we’ll ask what it takes to sustain that presence in times of change.
Expect candor and craft: narratives of becoming, practical routines that embody values and research that illuminates what great teachers actually do. Whether you are just beginning or leading from the middle, you’ll leave with language for your purpose, tools for your practice and renewed confidence that who you are is part of how students learn.
Host: Klaas de Zwaan
Invited panelists: Noah Rookmaaker, Siema Ramdas, Joséphine Tans, Andrea Baldi
Discussion points:
- Becoming & belonging: how do biography, values and culture shape a teacher’s stance?
- Authority with care: setting boundaries, building trust, and holding high expectations.
- Change & continuity: teaching identities amid AI, diversity and rapid curriculum shifts.
- Mentors & mirrors: who formed you and how do you now form others?
- Institutional courage: what supports, recognition and time do identities need to flourish?
This event is by invitation only for graduating candidates and their guests. Graduates will receive a personal invitation for the certification ceremony, including a form where they can register.