Total Time: 90 minutes
Engagement Frequency: Every 5–10 minutes, participants shift from listening to doing (individual reflection, partner talk, group share, or interactive activity).
Tactics: Peer-to-peer collaboration, device-based creation, structured reflection, and share-outs to keep energy high and learning applied.
1. Welcome & Framing the Vision (10 minutes)
Content: Introduce the coaching standards (4.1.a, 4.3.a, 4.5.a) and the session learning target. Share why creating a role-specific PD plan matters in supporting teachers and other instructional staff..
Engagement: Quick think-pair-share where participants identify one success and one challenge in designing PD. This is designed to help ground the session around those challenges and wins.
Process: Peer-to-peer interaction, brief whole-group sharing to establish common ground.
2. The Relationship Compass: Mapping Key People (10 minutes)
Content: Guide participants to identify their three most important PD planning contacts (admin, curriculum lead, teacher, etc.). Share stories of personal interactions that we have had and how they have lead to deeper conversations.
Engagement: Participants make a list of potential contacts and draft a specific question or topic to bring to one of those people.
Process: Individual reflection followed by partner discussion; participants will use devices (or paper templates) to capture notes. Include an opportunity to add questions/topics to digital slide to curate as a resource for all participants to access later.
3. From Resource to PD Plan: Building a Technology Timeline (30 minutes)
Content: Introduce the idea of focusing on 2–3 universal, accessible tools, i.e., tools that all or most individuals will have access to and need to know how to use. This may include LMS, etc. Model how a technology timeline helps pace professional learning and implementation in classrooms across the year.
Engagement: Participants make a list of their “top 3” technology tools or resources; choose one to focus on and brainstorm what staff need to know, and how or where it fits in a unit or overall instructional pacing timeline.
Process: Individuals are given an outline that we have made/used and are asked to think about how they would design their own for their own school. Blank template distribution would allow individuals to create their own. They can choose to work independently or in small groups or pairs, depending on the flexibility of the room layout and table configurations. Time to share out at the end allows for questions and feedback from others in the room as well.
4. Differentiating the Learning: Role-Specific PD (30 minutes)
Content: Based on the timeline generated so far, participants brainstorm for one PD session for teachers and one for any other instructional group in their school/district (IAs, Librarians, Brand New Teachers, Collaborative Studies Specialists, etc.). Keep in mind the differences between planning for the whole staff vs. individualized roles.
Engagement: Structured “gallery walk,” jigsaw, or digital share-out, where participants share ideas and leave feedback.
Process: Collaborative activity; active movement or device-based sharing tool (e.g.- Canva Whiteboard).
5. One Takeaway & Next Step (10 minutes)
Content: Reflection and consolidation of learning; connect back to coaching standards.
Engagement: Each participant writes down their single most valuable idea and one concrete action for next week.
Process: Quick round of peer accountability (share with partner); facilitators collect anonymous “next steps” to highlight common themes in a digital word cloud.
Attendees will leave with a personalized professional development blueprint—a role-specific plan that maps key relationships, identifies a focused set of universal tools, outlines a technology timeline, and includes one actionable next step—ready to guide intentional, inclusive coaching in their own schools.
How Instructional Coaches Can Help Transform Schools:
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/instructional-coaching-transforming-schools-elena-aguilar
How to Plan Effective Professional Development for Instructional Coaches:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/effective-professional-development-instructional-coaches
5 Relationship-Building Tips for Instructional Coaches:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-relationship-building-tips-instructional-coaches
How Coaching Can Impact Teachers, Principals, and Students:
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/coaching-impact-teachers-principals-students-elena-aguilar
How to Onboard New Teachers So They Want to Stay:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/onboarding-new-teachers
Back
Trips and Tours
