Last weekend, Mrs. Maura McGinty-O'Hara and Mrs. Laura Gooding '03 represented NDCL at the 2025 Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts Conference — not just as attendees, but as presenters! Their breakout session, Learning How to Drive Authentic Conversation: Using Traffic as a Metaphor for Thoughtful & Respectful Discourse, explored strategies to help students engage in meaningful dialogue. Mrs. McGinty-O'Hara shared her self-created "Traffic Talk” — a tactile, color-coded, hexagonal thinking method to help students "stop" to record thinking, "slow down" to support ideas, and "go forward" to share reasoning and build connections. Mrs. Gooding introduced to fellow educators "Soft Start” strategies to help students “yield” and “merge” into thought-provoking topics via silent discussions, gamification, and even sharing a “meal” before analysis. Their session received great feedback, and they returned with new insights and resources that align with NDCL’s Academic plan to advance dialogic instruction.