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Published Online: August 16, 2011 It's not hard to find checklists that are supposed to make it easy to improve schools and classroom instruction. What's difficult is locating checklists that you can remember and that are actually useful, as I've written about before. My own list—while not necessarily easy to implement—is easy to remember.

7th Grade / Social Studies / Jim Knight

Instructional coaches are on-site professional developers who teach educators how to use proven instructional methods. To be successful in this role, coaches must be skilled in a variety of roles, including public relations guru, communicator extraordinaire, master organizer and, of course, expert educator.

Steve Barkley's concept of "backwards planning" shifts the process of teaching practices, coaching, and professional staff development in significant and comprehensive ways. Steve's research suggests that teachers don't cause student achievement; students do, when armed with the right learning behaviors taught and modeled by others. From those behaviors, they become lifelong learners. Receive guidance and insights into specific coaching skills, questioning strategies, and ways to work with principals. The result ensures that teachers are fully supported in the highly complex and challenging world of education.

What does an instructional coach do? Look at "instruction"-the act, process, or art of imparting knowledge and skill. Look at "coach"-to teach.

More about this Service Have you ever wanted to share your digital resources or look at what someone else has produced? Have you ever made a whiteboard lesson from scratch, only because you didn't have a place to go for quality content?