Join us at the 2024 OEA Organizing Conference:
“commUNITY is Power”
The conference will be held on Friday, February 23 and Saturday, February 24 at the Embassy Suites, OKC (3233 Northwest Expressway, OKC, OK 73112)
Member registration is $40.
Non-member registration is $50. (Non-members must be employees of a public school and sponsored by a local.)
Registration fees include snacks on Friday and Saturday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and conference materials.
If you cannot attend, you must cancel by 5 p.m. Friday, February 16, 2024.
The OEA Store will be open during the conference. You can pay for items by cash, check, or card.
LODGING
Members can make hotel reservations directly with Embassy Suites NW Expressway (3233 Northwest Expresswayy, Oklahoma City, OK 73112) by using the link below or by calling 405.842.6633.
commUNITY is Power T-Shirt
The Organizing Conference has partnered with an outside vendor to allow you to order the COMMUNITY IS POWER T-Shirt and customize it!
Orders must be placed Friday, February 16 to be available at the Organizing Conference.
You have short and long sleeve options and three colors to choose from. Short sleeve t-shirts at $20 and long sleeve t-shirts are $25.
Please complete the form below to order your t-shirt. Candi Carr (cindyjavellas@yahoo.com) will contact you for payment once your order is submitted. You can pay by Credit, Venmo, PayPal before the conference or cash at the Organizing Conference.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Rebecka Peterson
2023 National Teacher of the Year
Union High School (Tulsa, OK)
Rebecka has taught high school math classes ranging from intermediate algebra to Advanced Placement calculus, for 11 years at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Amid a difficult first year of high school teaching, she found the “One Good Thing” blog. She credits daily posting there to helping her recognize the beautiful and positive experiences occurring in her classroom, which inspired her to stay in the profession. She has since contributed 1,400 posts to the blog. As Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, she has visited teachers across the state to highlight their important work through the Teachers of Oklahoma campaign.
As National Teacher of the Year, Rebecka plans to use her platform to highlight teachers’ stories of the good that’s happening in education. Teaching is a profession that affords creativity, autonomy and purpose, and Rebecka believes that highlighting the stories of joy happening in classrooms across the country will help encourage current teachers and attract new educators to the profession.
Rebecka is a proud immigrant of Swedish-Iranian descent and lived in several countries around the world as her parents traveled as medical missionaries. Her own experience with supportive teachers who celebrated her diversity and math abilities informs Rebecka’s efforts to create a supportive and accessible classroom for students. She values listening to students’ stories as a way to better understand them and elevate their voice.
Before joining the faculty at Union High School, Rebecka taught for three years at the collegiate level. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Oklahoma Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of South Dakota. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband, Brett, and son, Jonas, and she enjoys reading, crafting and playing board games.
“Let’s Get Comfy” GUEST SPEAKER
Traci Manuel
2023 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year
Booker T. Washington High School (Tulsa, OK)
Tulsa Public School’s Traci Manuel is an English Language Arts Teacher at Booker T. Washington High School. Manuel’s fierceness, dedication, and unique teaching methods, inside and outside the classroom, have always caused her to be a motivator and champion for all children. Her unconventional path to teaching shows her that the difference begins in the classroom.
This teaching path started for her as a full-time graduate student, where she began studying the effects of the achievement gap on African-American students at Ann Arbor Public School District. The outcome of this study propelled her to dive deeper into the data to see if there were similar disparaging academic parallels with her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the home of the infamous Tulsa Race Massacre. After further research, she was astounded by the alarming connections.
Motivated to make a difference, she eventually moved back home to Tulsa, where she started first as a long-term substitute and moved through the ranks as a teacher assistant, a parent facilitator, and finally, a certified classroom teacher in Tulsa Public Schools. Manuel shows students in her 13 years of teaching experience that life has two roads, and she took the one less traveled, and it’s made all the difference.
OEA STORE
The OEA Store will be open during the conference. You can pay for items by cash, check, or card.
FCPE FUNDRAISER
FCPE will have raffles on Friday and Saturday. Tickets can be purchased with cash, card, or Venmo from the FCPE table.
AGENDA
Plan to purchase $1 tickets from the FCPE table for Singo and Raffle Prizes with cash or card on Friday evening and Saturday.
Embassy Suites by Hilton OKC Northwest
(3233 Northwest Expressway, Oklahoma City, OK 73112)
Agenda Subject to Change
Friday, February 23, 2024
5:30 – 7:00 – Registration
6:00 – 7:00 – Your OEA commUNITY Scavenger Hunt
6:00 – 9:00 – Cash Bar
6:00 – 9:00 – Fund for Children and Public Education (FCPE) Raffles Available (Members Only)
7:00 – 9:00 – commUNITY Social
- Welcome
- Let’s Get Comfy with OEA President Katherine Bishop
- Singo (FCPE fundraiser)
9:00 – TBD – After Party sponsored by New Educators of Oklahoma Network (NEON)
Saturday, February 24, 2024
7:30 – 9:00 – Registration
7:30 – 2:15 – FCPE Raffles Available (Members Only)
8:00 – 8:45 – Caucus Meetings
9:00 – 9:30 – Opening Session
- Welcome
- Land Acknowledgment
- Red for Ed: Union is Getting Stronger (Agitation)
9:30 – 10:30 – Keynote Speaker (Hope)
10:30 – 10:40 – Governance Remarks (Urgency)
10:50 – 11:50 – Breakout Sessions (Educate)
12:00 – 12:50 – Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 Breakout Sessions (Educate)
2:10 – 2:40 – Legislative Update (Your Ask for Commitment)
2:40 – 3:00 – Closing Remarks, Giveaways
*Live interview opportunity with OEA Communications throughout the day on Saturday.
For questions or more information, contact Melia Melton at mmelton@okea.org, 405.528.7785 or 800.522.8091.
