C3 Connecting, Coaches, Cognition

Tricia McKale

Show Notes:

-Preparedness meets lucky opportunities - Middle school teacher turned Instructional Collaborator via Jim Knight. 

-Working with adults with a lot of trial and a lot of error. Found that the behavior management system was getting in the way of us doing instructional coaching. Behavior is where my life is at and I was a Tier 3 student in school.

-C.H.A.M.P.S. - Conversation. Help, Activity, Movement, Par...

Sherry St. Clair is the founder of Reflective Learning LLC, an educational consulting agency based in Kentucky. Her organization works with schools around the world, creating specialized training and coaching services for school administrators and educators. She holds a master’s degree in Instructional Leadership and a Rank 1 in Instructional Supervision.

Sherry has served as a Senior Consultant for the International Center for Lea...

-Leading Impact Teams: Building a Culture of Efficacy and Agency  -New book - we wanted to share more of the explicit ‘how', as well as making sure equity is up front and present in this edition. It is infused with culturally responsive sustaining education practices that are asset based, where we look at assessments through the theme of culture. We all have different cultures and are coming together in a classroom. We can honor th...

-Building thinking classrooms- around the notion that students spend time in classrooms not thinking. Many structures are not designed for thinking, and instead for conformity and compliance. 15 years of research before the book, and the research continues.

-One of the least conducive places to have students do thinking is at their seat writing in their notebook, but one of the most conducive spaces for students to do thinking is s...

Gretchen is a National Board-certified elementary school teacher from Charlotte, NC.

In 2006, Gretchen received her bachelor’s degree at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. In 2010, she received her master’s degree in Curriculum and Supervision from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Gretchen taught grades 2, 3, and 5 before transitioning into the role of a New Teacher Development Coach for The New Teacher Project...

Adam Geller is the founder of Edthena and author of Evidence-Based Practice. He started his career in education as a science teacher in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2011, Adam has overseen the evolution of Edthena from a paper-based prototype into a research-informed and patented platform used by schools, districts, teacher training programs, and professional development providers.

Adam has written on educational technology topics ...

Learner Agency: A Field Guide for Taking Flight is a boots-on-the-ground resource for those who wish to foster greater agency for students and adults alike within their classroom, school, or school system. Written by practitioners who have experienced the triumphs and struggles first-hand, the book offers a framework for moving from building knowledge to making meaning and applying the understanding of practices and systems that su...

Suzanne Dailey is an instructional coach in the Central Bucks School District, where she has the honor and joy of working with over 500 elementary teachers and 8,000 students. She teaches model lessons, facilitates professional development sessions, and mentors teachers to be the best for the students in front of them.     

Suzanne is Nationally Board Certified, a fellow of the National Writing Project, and has a Masters Degr...

Nita Creekmore is an Instructional Coach who lives just outside Atlanta, GA. In the 19 years, she has been in education, she truly believes that in all aspects of the field, relationships must always come first. She has obtained a Bachelor’s in English, Master’s in Elementary Education, and Educational Specialist in Supervision & Leadership. She currently works for Bright Morning Consulting as a Presenter. Nita is also an Instructi...

Keith Young is an education coach, trainer, and writer. Keith was raised in the foothills of the

Appalachian Mountains of northern Alabama. After a short stint at seminary, he pivoted to

teaching secondary students for the U.S. government in Germany. In his first years of teaching,

he developed a knack for leading and training colleagues. Eventually, Keith shifted full-time to

training teachers and leading school improvement effort...

Starr Sackstein has been an educator for 20 years and is currently a full-time educational consultant, instructional coach, and speaker. Starr received National Board Certification in 2012 and was recognized as an outstanding educator that year by Education Update. Association and served as the New York State Director for JEA. She was named an ASCD "Emerging Leader" class of 2016 and had the opportunity to give a TEDx Talk called "...

Michelle Harris, Senior Consultant at Instructional Coaching Group (ICG)

has spent almost three decades as an educator, starting as a Special

Education Paraprofessional in Salt Lake City, Utah before completing her

Masters in Teaching at Pacific University and teaching middle school in El

Cajon, CA and Beaverton, OR. She served as an instructional coach for

teachers and students in a comprehensive 6-8 middle school as well as a

K-8...

Episode Notes:

-Lindsay comes from a family of educators. Lindsay’s first coach was trained in Jim Knight’s Instructional Coaching and she was asked to replace her years later. She had the opportunity to go to Kansas to learn from the Instructional Coaching Group. She found her passion for coaching in this time. 

-Lindsay is very connected with Jim Knight's work. She also has bounced back and forth from coaching to the classroom ...

Valentina Gonzalez, the co-author of Reading & Writing with English Learners: A Framework for K-5, is a longtime educator who has served 20+ years in education in her own classroom, as a district facilitator for English learners, a professional development specialist for ELs, and as a consultant. Her work’s primary focus has been on literacy, culture, and language. Valentina delivers professional development and works with teachers...

Matt Renwick is an elementary principal in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Previously he served as an assistant principal, athletic director, coach, and classroom teacher in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Matt was recognized as a Friend of Literacy by the Wisconsin State Reading Association in 2020 and received the Kohl Leadership Award in 2021. His books include 5 Myths About Classroom Technology: How do we integrate digital tools to trul...

Dr. Nathan D. Lang-Raad is an educator, speaker, and author. He is the Vice President of Strategy at Savvas Learning. Throughout his career, he has served as a teacher, elementary school administrator, high school administrator, and university adjunct professor. He was the Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, as well as education supervisor at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He w...

Episode Notes:

-Student Centered Mentoring Book: Keeping Students at the Heart of New Teachers’ Learning

-4 Core Beliefs for Success: Empower others to grow, Learning is Process and so is Teaching, Relying on others, and Setting Goals as well as keep trying.

-Student Centered Mentoring - a collaborative approach for mentors and mentees that focuses heavily on the impact of students’ learning with layers of support.

-More focus on w...

-The PD Book: 7 Habits that Transform Professional Development by Elena Aguilar and Lori Cohen  The PD Book

-This book grew organically out of leading PD and reflecting on leading PD. It felt like the next thing to work on and bring to the front.

-Imagining PD like a party - wanting PD to not be draining, but instead enlivening, exciting, and nourishing. What if PD could feel more like a party or a gathering or experience when you ...

Michael Bungay Stanier helps people be a force for change. He’s best known for his book The Coaching Habit which has sold over a million copies and has thousands of 5-star reviews online. His latest book How to Begin helps people be ambitious for themselves and for the world and, find their Worthy Goal, and start something thrilling, important and daunting. He founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that helps o...