Conference Keynotes

Wednesday AM Keynote: Katie Dewey Hill

Katie Dewey Hill is the quality instruction coordinator at the Utah State Board of Education. She has worked as a classroom teacher, educational technology coach, and implementation specialist. She has a passion for leading the instructional coaching work in Utah and believes in doing whatever we can on a systems level to ‘make good teaching easier’.

Thursday AM Keynote: Jim Knight

Jim Knight, Founder and Senior Partner of Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), is also a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than two decades studying professional learning and instructional coaching. Jim earned his PhD in Education from the University of Kansas and has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards. The pioneering work Jim and his colleagues have conducted has led to many innovations that are now central to professional development in schools. Jim wrote the first major article about instructional coaching for the Journal of Staff Development, and his book Instructional Coaching (2007) offered the first extended description
 of instructional coaching. Jim’s book Focus on Teaching (2014) was the first extended description of how video should be used for professional learning. Recently, writing with Ann Hoffman, Michelle Harris, and Sharon Thomas, Jim introduced the idea of instructional playbooks with their book on that topic. Jim has written several books in addition to those described above, including Unmistakable Impact (2011), High-Impact Instruction (2013), Better Conversations (2015), The Impact Cycle (2018), and The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching (2021). Knight has also authored articles on instructional coaching and professional learning in publications such as Educational Leadership, The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Kappan. Jim is also a columnist for Educational Leadership. Through ICG, Knight conducts coaching workshops, hosts the podcast, “Coaching Conversations,” and provides consulting for coaching programs around the world.

Friday AM Keynote: Sayre Posey

Sayre Posey teaches 8th grade U.S. History at Northwest Middle School, a Title I school in Salt Lake City, Utah. She fosters a relationship-driven classroom where students become researchers and historians through project-based learning. Her students have won awards at regional and state contests for their National History Day projects.

Now in her ninth year of teaching, Posey began her career in Baltimore City Public Schools after volunteering with at-risk students in college. A strong advocate for literacy-based social studies instruction, she has contributed to social studies assessment redesign, developed curriculum for Utah’s Inquiry Design Model hub, and presented at the 2022 NCTE Annual Conference.

Beyond the classroom, Posey launched a healing-informed rock climbing program and mentors university teacher candidates. She recently earned a Master of Education at Southern Utah University, writing a practitioner-research thesis titled “The Impact of Project-Based Learning on Student Attitudes Towards History.” Posey is the 2025 Utah Teacher of the Year and 2025 Salt Lake City School District Teacher of the Year.