2024 Breakout Sessions

The biggest leadership, stewardship, and coaching challenge (and responsibility) is shaping an environment/relationship within which each person thrives. In this session, achieve clarity on dignity as the essential condition for healthy coaching relationships as well as school, classroom, and work cultures. Learn how a dignity “ecosystem” confronts inequity and brings belonging, engagement, and performance to new heights.

Takeaways:

• Deepen knowledge of dignity and belonging.
• Acquire an improvement process to ensure accountability for providing the conditions that people need to thrive in coaching relationships, work environments, and classroom culture.

This session will explore the importance of self-efficacy and provide an overview of how the Carolina Teacher Retention Program (CarolinaTIP) leverages self-efficacy as a key component in new teacher retention support. The session will include an overview of how CarolinaTIP has reimagined coaching and designed the Carolina Coaching Model to specifically target novice teacher retention.

Takeaways:

• Participants will explore the role self-efficacy plays in new teacher retention support.
• Participants will generate ideas for how they can leverage self-efficacy as a means of positively impacting those with whom they work in their current roles, programs, and schools.
• Participants will receive an overview of the Carolina Teacher Induction Program (CarolinaTIP) and the Carolina Coaching Model.

How can coaches initiate conversations that inspire teacher reflection, leading to purposeful actions that align with desired student learning outcomes? Teacher growth is generated through teacher reflection which leads to conscious teacher action. A teacher’s voice is of utmost importance for reflection and commitment to action. This session is designed to examine the coaching skills and mindsets that support this process. An interactive segment allows for hands-on practice in navigating the challenges of resistance, whether it manifests as a gripe, excuse, or outright opposition, offering strategies for turning those conversations into opportunities for progress.

Takeaways:

• Conferencing Skills that generate conversation and reflections
• Verbal skills for responding to “roadblocking” coachee comments

When you integrate mental models into your coaching, the deeper insights that accrue strengthen a sense of purpose, enable accurate predictions, and harness personal power. This presentation will show-and-tell how to coach a teacher to identify learning problems in their class, and to assemble techniques into effective clusters — thereby surfacing previously hidden beliefs about classrooms. By combining a visual playbook with the freshly discovered mental models new levels of effectiveness become possible.

Takeaways:

• Developing teachers’ mental models should be a core aim of coaching.
• Integrating mental models into coaching can support teachers in identifying learning problems.
• Developing mental models can support teachers to better predict impact and guide their instructional decision-making.

** The prerecorded version of this session will be presented by Oliver Caviglioli and Matt Stone **

Instructional coaches aim to help teachers make a greater positive impact on the lives of students. One of the most direct ways to do that is to focus on student achievement. This session will present strategies to help coaches and administrators increase achievement by partnering with teachers to remain in touch with student progress toward clearly established goals.

Takeaways:

• Learn how to set clear achievement targets for students
• Identify how to measure students’ progress toward achieving the targets
• Learn how to partner with teachers to make adaptations until students hit the targets

You’ve stocked the books, trained your instructional coaching team, and bought into the Impact Cycle model to support teaching staff. Unfortunately, campus needs are extensive, and the whirlwind of schools can quickly take over important minutes designated for coaching and quality conversations between coaches and the educators they support. Hear from a school district leader who implemented several key structures across the system making room for rich dialogue about the real work of Impact Cycles.

Takeaways:

• Key talking points for stakeholders across the system, including school board members, campus administrators, teachers, and coaches
• High-quality training structures for coaches and other key players
• Systems of support for coaches to keep coaching are the main thing
• Demo of a hub for tracking daily interactions that built role transparency while maintaining confidentiality of coaching cycles.

For coaches grappling with establishing meaningful connections with teachers, this session offers invaluable guidance and practical strategies. Explore effective communication techniques, active listening skills, and empathy-building exercises tailored to bridge the gap between coaches and teachers. Learn how to cultivate trust, foster rapport, and create a supportive environment where teachers feel valued, understood, and motivated to collaborate. Gain insights into overcoming common barriers and transforming challenging interactions into opportunities for growth and partnership.

Takeaways:

• Effective Communication Strategies: Learn actionable techniques to enhance communication skills, including action-based listening and empathetic communication, fostering stronger connections.
• Building Trust and Rapport: Explore approaches to creating a supportive and collaborative environment where teachers feel valued and respected.
• Turning Challenges into Opportunities: Discover how to navigate and overcome common barriers that may hinder connections between coaches and teachers.

What is at the heart of student learning? Have you ever wondered how Instructional Coaches can partner with educators to engage in reflecting on student learning and growth? Instructional Coaches need a unique skill set to manage the conversational pathway with an educator toward a student-focused goal. A coach’s “way of being” along with using varied coaching craft moves is essential in getting to the heart of student learning with educators. Come to this interactive session to practice your coaching skills and learn more with others!

Takeaways:

• Understand the phases adults go through for critical reflection when problem-solving around student learning
• Learn about coaching best practices to ask reflective questions during conversations with educators to set student-focused goals
• Observe some coaching craft moves before, during, and after coaching sessions with educators
• Access videos of coaching in action, engage in dialogue around coaching scenarios, and learn from colleagues in the fieldResources will be embedded within the presentation.

To realize improved outcomes, educators must perceive themselves to be capable of meeting the needs of all students in ways that will result in better performance and increased achievement. Collective efficacy is the shared conviction that educators make a significant contribution to raising student achievement despite other factors in students’ lives that might pose challenges to their success. During this session, we will explore ways that instructional coaches and school leaders can foster efficacy in schools. Information about ways to influence a staff’s interpretation of their effectiveness in ‘keeping kids first’ will be shared along with examples and success stories.

Takeaways:

• Know what collective teacher efficacy is and understand its impact on student outcomes.
• Understand how past experiences influence a staff’s beliefs about their ability to impact student results.
• Identify sources that influence efficacy beliefs and determine coaching/leadership moves to tap into these sources.

In this session, participants will learn the key components of the Impact Cycle and provide an opportunity for ICs and administrators to consider their current implementation and plan for the next steps to begin or refine this core IC-teacher process.

This workshop explores the effective use of instructional coaching teams to enhance educational outcomes for students with special needs. Participants will learn strategies to support both special education and general education teachers in addressing academic and behavioral challenges. Through collaborative techniques, instructional coaches can foster inclusive environments that cater to diverse learning needs. Join us to discover practical tools and methods for empowering educators and improving student success.

Takeaways Include:

1. Collaborative Strategies: Learn how one cooperative established coaching teams coaches to support teachers in both special education and general education settings.
2. Behavioral and Academic Support: Learn how we utilize the Impact Cycle model of coaching to support teachers in managing the diverse behavioral and academic needs of students.
3. Inclusive Learning Environments: Discover how coaching teams can help create and sustain inclusive classrooms that promote success for all students.

As an educator, I have noticed we often undermine or underutilize the power our youth possess; especially as it pertains to refining our school communities. If we truly want to create spaces where belonging/inclusion is the baseline experience for our schools we have to co-create these realities with students. What does it look like for us to honor, empower, and trust the power our student body naturally possesses? Let’s find out together.

Takeaways Include:

This session will focus on establishing and maintaining: student voice, student agency, and student empowerment. Attendees will leave with tangible ways to honor these components to refine our school communities.

Dive into the transformative world of AI as it reshapes the day-to-day practices of instructional coaches. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of utilizing artificial intelligence to enhance coaching cycles with teachers, focusing on real-world applications and the practical integration of AI tools. Participants will explore how AI can streamline observation feedback, foster personalized professional development, and enhance communication between coaches and teachers. Through case studies and interactive discussions, coaches will discover innovative strategies to employ AI in supporting teacher growth and student achievement.

Takeaways Include:

• Practical AI tools and strategies to enhance coaching effectiveness.
• Techniques for leveraging AI in personalized teacher development and feedback, Insights into fostering productive coach-teacher relationships with AI support.

In this session, we will focus on the art of coaching presence and its profound impact on fostering better conversations. As coaches, our way of being significantly shapes the dynamics of our relationship with teachers, influencing the depth of reflection and insight they attain. In this session, we’ll explore Better Conversation strategies for enhancing our coaching presence to facilitate richer dialogues.

This session is designed to support the understanding of how coaching can impact and amplify well-being for yourself and others. It will explore the complementary fields of Coaching Psychology and Positive Psychology and introduce the domains of well-being that are important for educators.

Takeaways Include:

Immediately implementable strategies, The GROWTH Coaching Framework, PERMAH Well-Being Framework, and the Coaching/PERMAH matrix for implementation.

This session is designed to be part professional development and part personal development for instructional coaches. We will examine universal practices of happiness and consider how small shifts in our thoughts, language, and actions can help support ourselves while we support others. Time will be given to reflect on current practice and create goals that will help us get closer to joyful leadership.

What’s the best way to coach the uncoachable? You may be frustrated trying to coach teachers who feel they don’t need or won’t benefit from your support. During this session, you will learn practical and rational strategies on how to work with teachers who find reasons not to work with you.

Takeaways Include:

By the end of this session, participants will walk away with the ability to identify three levels of defensive behaviors, recognize three common types of resistance, and 45 strategies to work with teachers who don’t want to be coached.

Elevating every teacher’s ability and repertoire is important. Being able to transfer these skills to the department, grade level, school, and district is also very important. Learning how successful staff are working with your own students can unleash the local talents. Find out how to do that with 15-20 strategies.

Takeaways Include:

• Based on the readiness and ability level, find the best strategies to expand talents.
• The staff with the most repertoire will have the most influence in teaching all students.
• Being able to match the right strategies, to the current talent will increase effectiveness.

2024 marks the anniversary of two landmark United States Supreme Court cases, the 70th of Brown v. Board of Ed. and the 50th of Lau v. Nichols. What progress have we made in regards to creating and sustaining equitable learning communities? How have we championed linguistic diversity as part of coaching practices? This session will engage participants with a self-assessment and advocacy-based recommendations for application.

Takeaways Include:

• Knowledge of Civil Rights Obligations.
• Multilingual Student Experiences Instructional Coach Framework.
• Data use protocol to support multilingual learner student achievement.

School districts invest a great deal of staffing and money into instructional coaching programs, but program evaluation of coaching impact is often minimal. In this session, we’ll examine our proposed process for evaluating coaching programs so that districts can demonstrate the impact of coaching on students and use the evaluation process to determine ways to improve the program.

In this session we’ll look at examples of learning conversations where the leader seeks dialogue with an invitation something like:

1. Can we have a chat?
2. I think we should meet to discuss…
3. I’d like to check in on progress with…
4. I’d like to share some thoughts about…

We will also address these topics:

• Feedback as (helpful) information
• Helping the information land well
• Authentic affirming
• Stretch and nudge
• When more than a nudge is needed – misaligned expectations

Takeaways Include:

• An understanding of the Learning Conversations Map
• Immediately applicable tips and tactics for leader-led conversations

In this session, Nicole S. Turner explores a simple yet comprehensive framework for coaching that can drive differentiated support for teachers and high-quality professional development. Access is provided to a range of effective coaching strategies that help with making true instructional gains with teachers and students. By the end of the session, participants are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to create a clear and achievable vision for improving outcomes in the classroom.

Takeaways Include:

• Gain access to a simple, yet comprehensive framework for creating a coaching program that supports differentiated teacher support and high-quality professional development.
• Learn quick strategies for identifying teacher needs and developing coaching plans.
• Explore effective coaching strategies and tips to support their teachers in the classroom.
• Develop a clear and achievable vision for improving educational outcomes in their school or district.

As Jim Knight himself stated, ‘video is rocket fuel for PD’ and this session will explore how video can be used for models and deconstruction of instructional techniques. It will also explore how using a sports commentary style of articulation can help build more complex mental models, leading to adaptive expertise.

Takeaways Include:

• Practical examples of how videos can be used to help instructional coaching be more impactful.
• Signposting to research.
• Opportunity to practice using video.

Jim Knight says “The easiest way to improve your coaching skills is to record a video of yourself in conversation .” Drawing on the foundational work at Hilton CSD, case studies from Hilton, Greece CSD (Rochester NY area schools), and the international podcast “Coaching Done Well”, we will provide a model of coaches using video reflection to advance on the road of personal best.

Participants will…

• Come away with the “why” coaches should video their conversations.
• Be provided a model for engaging coaches with video recording and reflecting on their conversations.
• Discover how this model is being applied internationally with the “Coaching Done Well” podcast from Rochester NY and Shanghai.

This session is perfect for PLC leaders, instructional coaches, and administrators who are looking for ways to build community and elevate professional learning. The High Impact Community (HIC) model, which is a blend of PLCs and Jim Knight’s Impact Cycle, enables communities of educators to focus on a shared PEERS goal that amplifies a school’s collective growth. You will discover how to implement HICs as a way to bring your staff together and put your students first.

Takeaways Include:

To elevate professional learning in your school, you will walk away with the HIC structure, potential group coaching topics, and strategies for building a community of learners. This is not sit and get: come prepared to participate in discussions and activities that you can implement immediately.

This session explores two key habits outlined in Better Conversations: Coaching Ourselves and Each Other to be More Credible, Caring, and Connected (2016) by Jim Knight. Participants will explore strategies that help control their emotions, as well as redirect toxic conversations (and stopping them before they start). They will also learn about the five factors of trust and how to utilize them all together.

The Blended Coaching Model has been widely adopted for the support, development, and supervision of school leadership, including teacher leaders. The model balances facilitative and instructional coaching and suggests that coaches must address “ways of being”, particularly as we confront equity challenges in our schools.

Takeaways Include:

A basic understanding of the blended coaching model with a particular focus upon transformational coaching and the role of narratives in shaping our performance and possibilities.

“Breaking Patterns: Cultivating Creative Process for Social Change” emphasizes a love-centered pedagogy to guide participants in identifying and transforming entrenched habits and norms in educational settings. This workshop invites participants to critically engage with the automatic routines and unexamined power dynamics that shape our interactions and environments. Anchored in a belief that creativity is a catalyst for systemic change, Mariah Rankine-Landers provides concrete strategies for coaches to support teachers and organizations in reimagining patterns of interaction, learning, and community engagement.

Takeaways Include:

• Creativity as a transformative tool: Recognize and leverage creativity to challenge and alter entrenched educational practices for systemic change.
• Critical examination of routines and power dynamics: Develop an understanding of how everyday routines and unexamined power relations impact interactions and environments, and ways to modify them.
• Practical strategies for change: Learn how to use the L.O.V.E protocol and Narrative Intelligence for feedback sessions.

Increasingly, teachers are seeking coaching and support in classroom management. Research affirms the critical role of creating a positive culture in the classroom based on respect and an environment that honors students’ autonomy as these conditions lead to improved student learning. This workshop will provide coaches and administrators with strategies to partner with teachers to create positive learning communities with a focus on increasing behavioral engagement.

Takeaways Include:

• Learn how to gather data that can be used to: -Get a clear picture of reality-Set goals-Monitor progress toward goals.
• Learn and practice the six strategies for creating a positive learning community.

This session will share the latest evidence about connection in society. The session will share practical examples of how a coaching approach can be used to support leaders, teachers, parents, and students to improve school culture. The session will also share evidence-informed tools to measure culture and track progress.

Takeaways Include:

• Research summaries on culture and connection.
• A system for staff development.
• Practical examples of using coaching to support parents.
• Structures to develop a positive culture with students.

Designing, implementing, and leading coaching in schools is complex. Gaining a deeper understanding of the role of context, culture and the change process can help guide our development as coaches, the sustainability of our coaching programs, and how to use coaching to support other educational initiatives. In this breakout session, Trista will share what she has learned from two decades of research and practice leading change and systemic change and introduce the 5 A’s model developed with her CollectivED colleagues Dr. Rachel Lofthouse and Jasen Booten for their new book “Coaching with Purpose: Learning Encounters for Educational Change”. Participants will explore the model’s 5 dynamic phases of educational change in detail by discussing coaching case studies from the book and reflecting on their own coaching experiences and contexts.

Takeaways Include:

• Learn the 5A’s model that can be used to examine coaching in their own context.
• Gain practice using the five dynamic phases of educational change to examine coaching programs.
• Connect with other participants interested in coaching, context, culture, and change.

This session will explore how short, ‘on the fly’ conversations can become powerful coaching opportunities, often leading to energizing, productive, and even transformational outcomes.

While much coaching takes place in lengthy formal contexts there are ways in which skilled leaders/ coaches can turn shorter, informal conversations into significant moments. This session provides practical models, tips, and tactics to help do that.

Takeaways Include:

• An appreciation of coaching as a ‘way of leading’
• How to use the Learning Conversations Map to guide leader conversations
• Practical conversational frameworks that can be applied immediately
• New skills and increased confidence to lead ‘coaching approach’ conversations with teachers, administrators, parents and students

It is estimated that the average school leader spends approximately 6% of their time implementing instructional leadership practices (e.g. ensuring a coordinated curriculum, resourcing strategically, classroom walkthrus, coaching, providing feedback, attending PLC meetings, etc.). In fact, many agree that getting more instructional minutes is the greatest leadership challenge of our time. Not only does this focus improve academic outcomes, but new research suggests that improving instructional leadership directly correlates to increased leader, teacher, and student emotional well-being.

Takeaways Include:

• Identify the behaviors and characteristics of instructional leaders.
• Understand practical ways to increase their instructional leadership capacity.
• Assess the percentage of time currently spent on instructional leadership tasks and determine ways to increase opportunities and minutes invested.
• Determine how to grow instructional leadership capacity across school staff.
• Make the connection between instructional leadership practices and increased emotional well-being.

In schools, we often challenge teachers and students to dream bigger! Yet simply dreaming is not enough. Aspiration is defined as the ability to dream and set goals for the future while being inspired in the present to reach those dreams. We will examine strategies and resources for coaching teachers and students who are in a state of Hibernation, Imagination, and Perspiration, with the goal of helping all members of the school community achieve their Aspirations. Participants will consider how to attain a healthy balance of dreaming and doing while supporting teachers and students in using their voices to achieve their Aspirations in the present and in the future.