Written by Katie Maciulewicz

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

We’ve all heard that before, right? As an instructional coach, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, yeah, I got it. I’m a great communicator.” But are you really?

Think about a time you were trying to explain something to som...

Written by Katie Maciulewicz and Danae Acker

Testing season. It's that unique time of year where the school buzz shifts, students are heads-down in preparation, and teachers are laser-focused on reviews. For coaches, this can feel like an unexpected lull. But instead of letting this "quiet time" go...

written by Katie Maciulewicz

Instructional coaches often provide professional development for teachers, but we also need our own PD! Unfortunately, the PD resources for coaches are a little scattered – blogs, podcasts, books, newsletters, social media accounts. (Guilty. The EDU Coach Network has al...

As instructional coaches, our main goal is to make a difference in the lives of teachers and students every day. But we want to have a lasting effect. When we work with a teacher, we don’t want them to make a small change for one lesson or one unit and then never use that skill or tool again. We wan...

Written by Grace Brown 

We’re all familiar with the big district-, school-, or department-wide professional development meeting. We know it, we love it, and we rely on it. However, a giant, time-consuming meeting is not always the best method for engaging, authentic professional development. Let’s ...

Written by Kristen Butler

The start of a new year brings a chill in the air – it’s time to warm up your instructional coaching strategies to prevent an icy reception! As tech coaches, we have cool tools, but it’s the connections you make with teachers and the impact on student learning that makes o...

Written by Torie Mollett 

Sometimes, I struggle to get out of bed and face the day. 

There have been many periods in my life when I’ve awoken before my alarm was set to go off and flittered down my stairs, full of smiles and excitement for the hope and promise of the day. Problems? Yo, I’ll solve ...

by Katie Maciulewicz

I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t really like self-help books. They can be a little cheesy – sometimes literally; remember Who Moved My Cheese? – or preachy, and they're either too simplistic or overly complicated or just unrealistic. 

So what I’m offering here is not an in...

by Grace Brown

I have a confession. 

For most of my teaching career, I suffered from major teacher envy. 

Searching through TPT, scrolling through Instagram, or even sitting in faculty meetings, I saw presentations, worksheets, and activities that were vibrant, engaging, and consistently branded. H...

by Torie Mollett

In education, we are often forced, or gently encouraged, to leave our in-the-wild alter-egos, our authentic selves, at the door and assume the persona of a more polished, professional, and classroom-appropriate version of us. 

Clark Kent has entered the chat.

Generally, this make...

Written by Katie Maciulewicz

As Bob Dylan sings, “Times, they are a-changing.” And in the world of edtech, they’re a-changing rapidly. 

This past summer, Flip (formerly Flipgrid) announced that it had been acquired by Microsoft and was only going to be available to schools using Teams for Educatio...

Written by Brooke Conklin

 Remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs? That pyramid we all learned about in our undergrad Psychology classes? I motion that we bring it back to consider how it might help us better understand the needs of our teachers. In working with coaches from all corners of the United...