C3 Connecting, Coaches, Cognition
A podcast for the busy instructional coach
Episodes
On this episode of C3, Dr. Rachel Alouek—an award-winning principal, author, and leadership coach—shares her journey from kindergarten teacher to school leader and discusses relational leadership, mentorship, and educator wellbeing.
She offers practical strategies for balancing accountability with trust, leveraging teacher strengths and community resources, protecting leader boundaries, and finding joy to sustain meanin...
In this episode Courtney Groskin and Sandy Heiser welcome Dr. Matthew Rhodes to discuss effective instructional coaching in K–12 and higher education. Dr. Rhodes explains the importance of clearly defining the coach’s role, being visible, and building systems that support sustainable coaching practices.
Key takeaways include active listening, focusing on one to three high-leverage strategies, using the diffusion of inno...
Hosts Courtney Groskin and Sandy Heiser reflect on C3's first season, discussing favorite guests, key takeaways about coaching practice, reconnecting with current educational research, and integrating AI into professional learning.
They share plans for upcoming cohorts, tips for new administrators, and invite listeners to suggest books and follow the podcast for a new season starting in September.
In this episode, Courtney Groskin and Sandy Heiser sit down with Joellen Killion to explore job-embedded coaching, the 10 roles coaches play, and how to align coaching to school and district priorities.
Joellen discusses how transformational coaching shifts mindsets as well as practices, the non-negotiables for sustainable coaching programs, and the importance of equity, clear purpose, and evaluation.
They wrap up with rapid-fire t...
Guest: Mary Webb, veteran educator and instructional coach with 27 years of experience
Episode Summary: In this episode, Mary Webb shares her journey from classroom teaching to instructional coaching and explores how artificial intelligence can support — not replace — the human side of coaching. She discusses AI as a navigation tool that aids in goal setting, pattern recognition, and teacher reflection while maintaining...
In this episode of C3: Connecting Coaches & Cognition, Courtney Groskin and Sandy Heiser sit down with Craig Randall, author of Trust-Based Observations, to explore how reimagining classroom observations through the lens of trust can transform school culture, teacher growth, and instructional practice.
Craig shares his unique professional journey—from scho...
Episode Title: Elevating Coaching & Instruction with AI Host: Courtney Groskin Co-Host: Sandy Heiser Guest: Tori Fitka, Community Coach of the Year (2025), SchoolAI
Episode OverviewIn this episode of C3: Connecting Coaches & Cognition, Courtney Groskin and Sandy Heiser kick off the new year with an engaging conversation about AI, coaching, and instructional impact. They are joined...
In this episode of C3, hosts Courtney Groskin and Sandy Heiser welcome Joy De Los Santos, a special education coach with over 20 years of experience who now co-leads an instructional coaching team supporting nine districts.
Joy discusses her journey into coaching, practical strategies for overwhelmed teachers—including prioritizing high-impact supports and using visuals like visual schedules—and the importance of using ...
In this episode Courtney and Sandy welcome Connie Hamilton, author and consultant, to discuss the power of well-crafted coaching questions. Connie explains how to create a cognitive journey for teachers, balance coaching and consulting roles, normalize imperfection, and use targeted follow-up questions to deepen reflection and instructional growth.
Listeners get practical strategies: focus deeply on one instructional goal, use meta...
Episode Description: In this episode of C3: Connecting Coaches & Cognition, Courtney Groskin sits down with Justin Baeder, founder of The Principal Center and author, to explore the art and science of instructional leadership and feedback. Justin draws on his experiences as a teacher and principal to share practical strategies for giving feedback that actually changes teacher practice and improves school-level decision-making.
...In this episode of the C3 Podcast, we welcome Heather, an educator, administrator, author, and superintendent whose work has reshaped how we think about student engagement. Heather shares her journey from aspiring writer to classroom teacher, staff developer, administrator, and now published author—bringing both practical wisdom and fresh metaphors to the conversation.
Heather’s book, Engagement is Not a Unicorn, It&rsq...
Episode Notes:
-Teacher, H.S. Administrator, worked for the State Department in Kentucky, and a middle and high school expert, and worked nationally with schools on instructional improvement and instructional leadership.
-Coaching Redefined Book- instructional leaders can have a guide book of how to set it up effectively and all of the components that go into it: growing yourself to growing your school and thinking of the culture o...
Episode Notes:
-Education is what Christian’s journey revolves around. “I am most passionate about education. I want to imagine a time when everyone has access to excellent education.”
That is what motivates him. He has reflected on how access to excellent education has impacted him, given him more opportunities, and his journey.
-Discovering coaching was a transformational moment for me. Coaching is the mos...
Episode Notes:
-Served in a wealth of roles within education from teaching, coaching, to administration.
-Contract work for curriculum companie and Senior Consultant for Learning Forward
-Mentoring Program through Learning Forward- a learning cycle with three parts. 1. Diagnose 2. Coaching Support 3. Monitoring Progress and Reflect
-The mentors only goal is to help the mentee grow professionally. You have to communicate effectively...
Episode Notes:
-High Tech High- PBL Based Leader
-International Educator to move from teacher focused to student focused learning.
-Moving from sage on the stage to the guide on the side. Where do you start? Look at the physical environment first. Eliminating the ‘front’ of the classroom and teacher desk, which changes the dynamics in the room. It makes any space in the room a learning space.
-Have students...
Episode Notes:
-Thomas has had a wealth of experience teaching middle school and high school. Then he went to graduate school at the University of Chicago. He worked with Benjamin Bloom. He has had the amazing opportunity to learn from such remarkable minds as this.
-We have to give credit to those brilliant people who came before us. Tom worked with Chicago Public School as a Curriculum Evaluator and the Director of Research...
Jim Knight is a founding senior partner of the Instructional Coaching Group (ICG) and a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than two decades studying professional learning, effective teaching, and instructional coaching.
Knight has written several books and his articles on instructional coaching have been included in publications such as The Journal of Staff Development,...
Carol Ann Tomlinson is William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor Emeritus at the University of
Virginia’s Curry School of Education and Human Development. Prior to joining the faculty at
UVa, she was a public school teacher for 21 years. During that time, she taught students in high
school, preschool, and middle school, and administered district programs for struggling and
advanced learners. She was Virginia’s Teacher of the ...
Coaching is intentionally building skills, showing and modeling best practices, and intentionally training people to be better.
-His work has been in some of the most difficult zip codes to work in. They see coaching in more of a model practice. They define clear directions.
-Sky Rocket Your Teacher Coaching (Skyrocket Education and Rebel Culture)
-Intentionally building the relationship, and finding out about them as a pe...
There is nothing more powerful that we can do, than knowing our own selves. When we know ourselves, we know how our past affects our present, and forms our vision for the future, and we are so much more empowered!
-Lonely and isolated, she entered into the profession feeling unsure of what she was doing. Belonging and acceptance was the core, as well as building community. That commitment continued in coaching, as a leader, and no...
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