What if you could learn from dozens of educators who”ve already solved the challenges you’re facing right now?
I’m honored to be a contributing author in the newly released EduMatch Snapshot in Education 2025. This isn’t just another education book—it’s a collection of voices, experiences, and practical wisdom from educators in the trenches every day, doing the work that matters.
A Collection Built on Community
If you’re not familiar with EduMatch, let me introduce you to someone special and truly inspiring. Sarah Thomas created EduMatch as more than a publishing platform—it’s a movement that amplifies educator voices and connects professionals across the country. Sarah has this remarkable ability to see potential in educators and create spaces where we can share our expertise with the broader community.
The Snapshot in Education series has become a go-to resource for educators looking for real, actionable strategies from their peers. This 2025 edition continues that tradition, bringing together diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities we’re facing in education today.
Meet the Contributing Authors
This year’s edition brings together an incredible lineup of educator voices:
- Sarah Thomas — EduMatch Founder and visionary leader
- Tia Simmons – Going Beyond the Walls (reprint as tribute)
- Dr. Darius Phelps — The Body Remembers the Lesson
- Chevin Stone, M.Ed. — #DEIthis
- Nicole Biscotti, M.Ed. — AI as an Equity Engine
- Stephanie Howell — I Didn’t Know AI Could Do That
- Jeffrey Bradbury — The Language EDUlution
- Savanna Flakes — Don’t Jump off the Train
- Kimberley Daly, PhD — What We Lose When We Ban Books
- Michelle Neyrey — Stations & Small Groups Through a Secondary Perspective
- Shana Pyatt-Buckner — Belonging Is the New Rigor
- Sherann Alkins — From Fire to Light
Each author brings unique expertise, real classroom experience, and actionable strategies that you can implement immediately. The diversity of voices and perspectives in this collection ensures there’s something valuable for every educator, regardless of role or experience level.
The Language EDUlution: A Framework for Instructional Coaches
For instructional coaches, the professional reality is often a constant juggling act: you are pulled in a dozen directions, supporting teachers across multiple content areas, grade levels, and experience levels. This whirlwind makes it easy to spend your days reacting to immediate needs rather than proactively leading. My contribution focuses on one critical solution: creating clear, intentional systems and frameworks designed to help you cut through the chaos and truly maximize your impact.
The chapter reveals two key linguistic transformations:
- The Power of a Title: The journey from “Tech Coach” to “Instructional Coach for Digital Learning” illustrates how a title itself can create a barrier or a bridge. Formal terms like “coaching” often generate resistance, as the author experienced when working with teachers and even his own chiropractor. By shifting the language to focus on collaboration, shared interests, and support rather than critique, doors open, and educators become more receptive to guidance.
- The Strategic Replacement of “And” with “Through”: This is presented as the most valuable language discovery for technology integration.
- Saying, “We’ll learn about X and use iPads” positions technology as an add-on or a separate, burdensome task (“technology for technology’s sake”).
- Saying, “We’ll learn about X through using iPads” fundamentally transforms the approach, positioning the technology as the necessary vehicle for authentic learning. This shift integrates the tool into the learning objective, helping teachers see technology not as a burden but as a pathway to achieving existing goals more effectively.
Ultimately, the chapter argues that the language revolution is not merely semantic—it is a strategic choice that dismantles barriers, transforms potential resistance into receptivity, and ensures communication reflects our true intentions and values as educators and leaders. By being intentional with our terminology, we can transform the educational culture itself.
Connecting the Dots: Systems Thinking in Education
If the chapter resonates with you, I’d encourage you to check out Impact Standards. That book goes deeper into the frameworks and systems thinking that underpins effective coaching and instructional leadership. Think of the Snapshot chapter as an introduction and Impact Standards as the full implementation guide.
Both resources share a common belief: educators deserve tools and systems that work as hard as they do.
A Book Full of Practical Wisdom
What I love about the Snapshot series is that every chapter offers something you can use on Monday morning. The other authors in this year’s edition bring incredible expertise across classroom instruction, leadership, technology integration, equity, and more.
Each chapter is written by an educator who has lived the challenge they’re addressing. You’re not getting ivory tower theory—you’re getting battle-tested strategies from colleagues who understand your context because they work in it too.
I encourage you to read the full book, not just my chapter. The collective wisdom in these pages represents hundreds of years of combined education experience, and every author brings a unique lens to the work we do.
Gratitude and Invitation
I want to close by thanking Sarah Thomas and the entire EduMatch community for inviting me to contribute to another fantastic book in the Snapshot in Education series. Sarah, your commitment to elevating educator voices has created ripples of impact across the profession. Being part of this community and this series is an honor I don’t take lightly.
To the EduMatch community: thank you for creating a space where educators can learn from each other, share openly, and grow together. These connections matter, and the work you do through EduMatch makes all of us better.
Ready to dive in? Grab your copy of EduMatch Snapshot in Education 2025 and discover what educators across the country are learning and implementing. Read my chapter, then read everyone else’s. Take notes. Try something new. And if you’re a coach, let me know how the framework works for you—I’m always learning from your experiences too.
Get Your Copy Today!
Amazon Paperback/Kindle: https://amzn.to/4jhIkNu
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