Challenge Accepted: I’m Presenting at Stanford University!

Author

Merissa Sadler-Holder
May 21, 2025

Challenge Accepted: I’m Presenting at Stanford University!

I’m excited to share that I will be presenting at the 2025 Challenge Success Annual Conference, happening September 12–13, 2025, at Stanford University. 🎤📍

Because if we don’t talk about real success, rooted in teacher wisdom and student engagement, others will define it for us.

Challenge Success, founded at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, brings together educators, school leaders, and researchers who believe that true student success is about more than grades and test scores. It’s about well-being, engagement, equity, and belonging, the stuff that actually lasts.

This conference is a space where educators get to rethink what school could be. I’ll be presenting a session on how AI can be used to:

✅ Amplify teacher expertise (not replace it)
✅ Empower student voice and agency
✅ Support meaningful, human-centered learning

Being selected by a Stanford GSE–affiliated conference that prioritizes equity and evidence-based practice is both humbling and affirming. It means that the work we’re doing, centering teachers and students in the AI conversation, is being seen and taken seriously.

As someone who champions the use of AI to elevate, rather than replace, educator expertise, I’m committed to ensuring that educators are recognized, respected, and trusted as the true innovators in the classroom.

This work is just as much about empowering student voice and ownership as it is about reaffirming the central role of teachers in shaping meaningful learning experiences.

Can’t wait to connect with fellow educators and leaders like yourself who believe the path forward starts by listening to students, to teachers, and to one another.

Curious how this work could look in your own school or district? I’d love to chat. I’m here for you.

Let’s chat. No pressure. Just real conversation.
☕ Grab a free 1:1 coffee chat with me here:
👉 https://tidycal.com/merissa/twmcoffeechat

Don’t forget to check out the free resources available to you at the Teaching with Machines website!

We got this!

❤️ Merissa Sadler-Holder

Need meaningful AI professional development through the Teaching with Machines Learning Journeys for your staff and teachers?

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I love reading your feedback, it helps me design effective solutions for others. I respond to all my emails. Just hit reply to this email. Rooting for you and your students! Love, M.

Beep. Boop.