Coaching Call: Creating Access and Engagement Around PD with Missy Sinclair, Ep. 71 Buzzing with Ms. B: The Coaching Podcast

Instructional coaches need a coach too. Experts help us learn new things and push us to stretch ourselves.

This season on the podcast, I wanted to include coaching calls with real coaches who need help solving problems. 

Missy Sinclair joins me to talk through the challenges she’s having on her campus. She also shares some of the great things that she’s doing in her coaching work.

Currently, Missy is an instructional coach working with fifth through eighth-grade teachers in a Chicago suburb. She’s also a member of the Coffee and Coaching Monthly Membership. 

One of the challenges that Missy talks about is getting more veteran teachers to raise their hands and ask to work with her. To help get herself in the door with these staff members, she offers PD in a box.

The PD boxes help her complete a coaching cycle with the staff while building skills. It’s a way to differentiate support and give people exactly what they need to perform best. This helps create access and engagement around professional development.

To begin she asks teachers to fill out a questionnaire and explains that they are agreeing to let her come watch them. In exchange, the teacher gets materials and learns something new they can try out in their classroom.

These boxes have everything the teacher needs so they can use them right away. It doesn’t add to their already full plate. Instead, it helps them grow professionally and gives them everything they need to succeed.

During the episode, Missy explains the steps she takes to create these boxes and the types of activities in them. We discuss the things she does to follows up with teachers. I give her some additional ideas for how teachers can share their feedback after trying the strategies.

Missy currently supports 80 teachers. One of her challenges is being able to see and provide support to all of them. Together we work through some ideas for activities that could work across the board with all staff, including specials teachers.

We discuss getting feedback from teachers to help plan your PD and in-classroom coaching support. During the coaching call, we talk about how instructional coaches can use the teachers’ goals to find common trends and interest areas to work on.

To increase participation, I suggest having a referral system where teachers get special incentives for sharing their successes while working with you. They get a little something extra for getting other teachers to sign up for your coaching support.

We also talk about how to scaffold support, so teachers get what they need and don’t get bored. At the end of the episode, we chat about the importance of celebrating teachers who try out new things.

Ready to listen? You can listen below with the media player, or search for Buzzing with MS. B: The Coaching Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts!