FARMINGTON — How do educators help all students learn and be successful in today’s increasingly diverse classrooms with students of different cultures, languages and abilities? That is the focus of the fifth annual Teaching and Working in a Diverse World conference, “Helping ALL Students Learn,” presented by the University of Maine at Farmington. Free and open to the public, this half-day conference takes place from 11:50 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 19, at selected venues on the UMF campus.

“Educators are responsible for ensuring that all students learn about their diverse world,” said Linda Gamble, UMF faculty member and coordinator for special projects. “This conference provides them with a variety of informational sessions to allow them to think deeply about diversity issues in the context of the world and their work.”

This educational forum begins with “The Center of the World,” a keynote presentation by writer Terry Farish at 11:50 a.m., in Lincoln Auditorium, UMF Roberts Learning Center. With passages from “The Good Braider” — her new young-adult novel set in South Sudan and Portland — Farish describes one refugee family’s relationship to education and the beginning of one girl’s journey to find her new identity in the United States.

Farish’s writings draw on her experience working with refugees from many countries who come to the U.S. to find a safe place for their families to live and learn. A children’s and young adult author, she is the literacy director of the New Hampshire Humanities Council and through the council directs the Bilingual Folktale Project. Her picture book, “The Cat Who Liked Potato Soup,” won a “Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books” Blue Ribbon and New Hampshire’s award for Outstanding Work of Children’s Literature.

An afternoon of lectures, discussions, instructional strategies, story-telling and activities presented by faculty and professionals in the field will follow the keynote. Presentations will include: “Behavior and Diversity in the Classroom;” “Language, Culture and the Changing Face of Maine;” “How Does Customized Learning Help All Students Learn” and more.

For a list of the conference session descriptions, presenters, times and locations, visit teachereducation.umf.maine.edu/diversity/diversity-conference/2012-2013-helping-all-students-learn/.