Conference Ideas: Coaches who teach

Over the next week or so, I'll share a few of the cool ideas I heard at the First Annual Instructional Coaching Conference. In one panel discussion, someone asked what the panel members thought of coaches who also teach. Evan Lefsky mentioned that in some schools in Florida, coaches teach one class, perhaps a special reading strategies class, which can function as a learning lab for other teachers. That is, the coach can use the class as a setting for demonstrating evidence-based practices, and other teachers can drop in to the class to see those practices being used every day. Most of us on the panel agreed that asking someone to teach and coach is asking a lot, but this idea was one that many considered interesting.

I'll be writing more ideas soon. If you attended the conference, and you have anything you'd like to share, please post it here as well. In total we had more than 130 participants, with the conference selling out two months ahead of time. We're already looking forward to next year.