The annual Issaquah School District Conference went off without a hitch on Aug. 24 and 25 at Skyline High School in Sammamish.

The conference, attended by elementary school teachers on the first day and middle and high school teachers on day two, featured keynote speaker Myron Dueck, mandatory compliance training and workshops sessions taught by district teachers.

“It really feels good when you see individual teachers and they’re excited for school to start and for the kids to come back,” District Superintendent Ron Thiele said of the conference at the Aug. 24 School District Board meeting.

Issaquah teachers have been busy lately; the Issaquah School District Conference came just a week after the Center for Collaborative Support’s Powerful Learning Conference united Issaquah, Riverview, Tahoma and Snoqualmie Valley School District teachers in a collaboration to improve teaching.

Dueck, a vice principal and teacher from Summerland, British Columbia, penned the book “Grading Smarter, Not Harder — Assessment Strategies that Motivate Kids and Help them Learn,” and travels around the world starting conversations about how to reform different aspects of teaching. In his keynote speech, “Change,” Dueck talked about the ways in which the world has changed throughout history, and suggested that perhaps education should also be on such a path of change.

“Our students accept [change] and roll with it, and we need to too,” Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Emilie Hard said, describing the theme of Dueck’s speech.

Ann Swiftney, who teaches Special Approach to Gifted Learning (SAGE) and P.E. at Creekside Elementary School and Issaquah Valley Elementary School, coordinated the event. She said that rather than providing the answers, Dueck asked questions and left them open for the teachers to consider.

“How we grade … is it getting us the data we need to move students forward? What is the purpose of homework? Is that an accurate gauge of what students know … Is the current traditional pen-to-paper [method] the best assessment for students?” Swiftney said, giving examples of the kind of thought-provoking questions Dueck asked.

District Executive Director of Compliance and Legal Affairs Chris Burton led compliance training; in-person compliance training is mandatory every three years for district staff.

Burton’s talk focused on some of the less pleasant but serious issues facing the district, such as students suffering from homelessness, discrimination, sexual harrassment and child abuse. For every one of these issues, Burton said, the most important thing is to immediately report incidents to the district. In fact, failure to report can in some cases be a crime.

“I will never retreat, surrender or back off [from discrimination] … I am passionately committed to no silence on this,” Burton said.

Burton encouraged teachers to be aware of the struggles of LGBTQ students at a time when discussion of LGBTQ rights is just taking off at the national level. Students who are part of the LGBTQ community, Burton said, may not even feel comfortable walking the halls of their own schools.

“I want us to be role models for our kids in the halls,” he said.

The workshop sessions addressed topics such as teaching content, social and emotional learning, and techonology in the classroom, including how to bring iPads into the curriculum.

“People were very positive; they appreciated the time to see colleagues from other buildings,” Swiftney said.

All of the different sessions were taught by Issaquah teachers.

“We really encourage our teachers to share their ideas with each other,” Swiftney said. “We have so many talented minds — we don’t really need to look outside our own district.”