ATN is honored to announce Zaretta Hammond, a leading voice in culturally responsive teaching, neuroscience-informed pedagogy, and equity in learning as the Opening Keynote speaker for our 2026 Learning Brain Exchange conference. Her keynote is entitled:
And Still We Rise: Using the Science of Learning to Encourage Post-Traumatic Growth.
Learning requires challenge. Yet, as educators, we must be mindful that these turbulent times may trigger children who have experienced trauma and attachment issues, making them reluctant to lean into the positive challenge of learning. We cannot stop the turbulence, but we can understand how to leverage a pedagogy of possibility to facilitate regulation for deeper learning and post-traumatic growth that allows each student to move confidently into their zone of proximal development within a community of learners. We will explore how learning science and the neuroscience of belonging can be combined to create a protective force field. We will walk through five practices that can help build it.
Who is Zaretta Hammond?
Zaretta Hammond is a nationally recognized consultant, former high school and community college writing instructor, and author of the influential book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students as well as her new book, Rebuilding Students’ Learning Power: Teaching for Instructional Equity and Cognitive Justice.
For more than 20 years, Ms. Hammond has partnered with schools, districts, and organizations to deepen their practice in culturally responsive instruction, the science of reading, and the science of learning. Her work is grounded in a deep awareness of how brain science interacts with culture, identity, reading, cognition, and the classroom environment.
Given the theme of the Learning Brain Exchange — exploring how neuroscience, educational research, and instructional practice converge — Zaretta Hammond’s voice is especially relevant for several reasons:
- Bridging neuroscience and practice. Hammond takes insights from the science of learning and the brain and connects them to culturally responsive pedagogy.
- Equity at the center. In an era where learning systems must address diverse learners, equity is not an add-on but foundational.
- Actionable strategies. Beyond theory, Hammond offers practitioners concrete “how-to” guidance: how teachers can design learning tasks, foster “cognitive capacity,” build background knowledge, strengthen neural networks through culturally responsive scaffolding.
As she so eloquently says in her book, ”We can’t PD our way out of this current learning crisis!”
Her keynote is not just a “nice to know” — it’s a must consider for anyone serious about improving how all learners engage, think, and thrive.
