The One Thing Conference
Professional Learning to Transform Education for Good
About the Conference
The One Thing Conference is not your typical academic conference—it's a dynamic, hands-on professional learning experience designed especially for PK-12 education practitioners.
Hosted by the University of Maryland's EdTerps Learning Academy, this one-day, in-person event brings educators, school leaders, and education professionals together to explore One Thing—a single, powerful idea, strategy, or practice—that can be implemented immediately to transform education for good.
Join us on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, at the University of Maryland, for a new kind of professional learning experience—one where educators create, connect, and leave inspired to transform education for good.
Designed for Practitioners
At The One Thing Conference, sessions aren’t just presented—they’re facilitated, interactive, and engaging. This isn’t a space for lectures or passive listening. It’s a space for collaboration, experimentation, conversation, and practice. Every session is designed to immerse you in meaningful, active learning experiences focused around one strategy, model, or concept. You'll walk away with immediate, actionable takeaways that you can bring to your schools and classrooms for your very next lesson.
Whether you’re teaching kindergarten or high school, leading a district, supporting multilingual learners, or mentoring new teachers—this conference is built for you.
Session Types That Speak Your Language
Inspired by structures familiar to PK-12 educators, The One Thing Conference introduces unique session formats that reimagine what professional learning can look like:
Full Group Sessions
Explore topics that cut across grades, content, and professions - but don't expect to be lectured at! Collaborate, think deeply, and walk away inspired.
Advisory Sessions
Modeled after school-based advisory periods, these are intimate, reflective spaces for discussion, goal-setting, and shared problem-solving.
Makerspace Sessions
Exploration isn't just for your students! In these hands-on, creative workshops you'll tinker, build, and innovate in a collaborative, playful setting.
Laboratory Sessions
In these practice-based environments, you'll experiment with teaching strategies, analyze classroom artifacts, and plan for real-world implementation.
Centered on What Matters
Each session aligns with one or more of the Maryland State Department of Education’s professional learning areas for license renewal, including:
- Content or pedagogy that is related to an area on your license
- English as a Second Language, Sheltered English, or Bilingual Education
- Strategies for teaching students with disabilities or differentiated instruction
- Culturally Responsive Teaching or Diverse Student Identities in education
Why Attend?
Because your time is valuable. Because you want learning that’s relevant, energizing, and immediately useful. Because you believe that just one thing—shared, tried, and applied—can make a difference.
