Coaching Cycles: A Coaching Call with Malia Oshiro, Ep. 126 Instructional Coaching with Ms. B

Coaching Cycles: A Coaching Call with Malia Oshiro, Ep. 126 Instructional Coaching with Ms. B

Chrissy Beltran [00:00:00]:

Are you new to coaching? Starting out as a coach can be incredibly overwhelming, especially when you aren’t given much direction from your administration. That’s why I created the new coaches playbook. It includes a roadmap to help you start building your coaching foundation and a guide to seven podcast episodes in order that will give you the steps and ideas you need to build relationships, define your role, communicate with your admin, and make a plan to start coaching. Coach, what’s your instructional coaching personality type? Have you ever wondered what superpowers make you a really strong coach and what areas you can strengthen with just a little bit of direction? Well, now you can find out. I created the what’s your instructional coaching personality type quiz to help you answer this very question. Just head to buzzing with missb.com/quizwithacapitalq to take the two minute quiz and get your coaching personality type sent right to your inbox. Even better, you’ll get a playlist of podcast episodes handpicked just for you to help you hone your superpowers and strengthen your areas of growth. I’m so excited to share this quiz with you, so don’t wait to take it. Go to buzzywithmissy.com/quizwithacapitalq and learn so much about your coaching style. You’re listening to Buzzing with Miss b, the coaching podcast, where we believe that every teacher deserves a coach, and every coach does too. I’m Chrissy Beltran, an instructional coach, coach. Hey, coach. This is our last episode in our series about coaching cycles. Any coach who has tried to initiate coaching cycles on their campus knows how complicated and challenging it can be. We struggle to build relationships with teachers, help them understand how coaching cycles can support them in the classroom rather than being one more thing added to their plates, and make the time for cycles when we’re pulled in so many different directions, whether that’s by administrators who don’t understand our role or by just needs of the campus and there’s nobody else to do it. Today, you get to listen in on a coaching call as I help a coach troubleshoot their coaching cycles. We’ll talk about how to build foundational relationships with teachers, ways to get them on board with coaching cycles, and how to make them work when you have too much to do and too little time. I know you’ll walk away with something valuable that you can try out tomorrow, and that’s my goal for this podcast. So let’s welcome our coaching friend to the podcast today. So welcome, Malia. I’m so glad you’re able to join me today.

Malia Oshiro [00:02:46]:

Thank you so much for having me.

Chrissy Beltran [00:02:48]:

Yeah. Definitely. Would you like to get started talking a little bit about yourself and your coaching work?

Malia Oshiro [00:02:53]:

Yeah. So I am entering my second year of coaching. Last year, coaching officially was brand new to my district. There was, you know, some different content curriculum specialist rules, but nothing specific to coaching. I was a high school English teacher for seven years, and I’m itinerant. And I’m based out of the district office, and I cover all of our secondary schools, which has been a challenge because it’s hard to be in so many different places at one time, and also being fairly introverted and coming back after COVID. And I kinda liked kinda keeping to myself a little bit, and putting myself out there and enrolling coaches or enrolling teachers and coaching cycles who are not familiar with what coaching can do. That has been really difficult.

Chrissy Beltran [00:03:47]:

Yeah. And I I hear what you’re saying about being introverted. I think that, education doesn’t really reward introverts, this whole our whole field. And so it’s like, okay. If you’re if you, need some time to yourself, you’re not gonna get it. Right. And it can be really hard. And then people, immediately, they perceive our personalities. And if you seem a little more reserved, people are like, well, what’s your problem? You know? So I think it it makes it very difficult sometimes to, like, I I know my personality changed a lot whenever I became a coach, and it was just out of survival. I had to start being, more upfront with people and more well, the way I handled it, not everybody does this way, but I handled it being more like light and jokey and, you know and I would do those things, but not with people I barely knew. And so I had to start out that way, and that was a very there was a very big shift for me, and it it’s kind of exhausting, like, you know, until you get used to it.

Malia Oshiro [00:04:43]:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Very draining. And then I’m very critical of myself. And so any interaction I have with the teacher, even just doing, like, an informal, hey. I’m your coach. I’m around if you need anything. And if they don’t immediately ask me for resources or like, oh, you should come in. I’m doing this really cool thing. Immediately, I’m like, oh, no. What did I do wrong?

Chrissy Beltran [00:05:07]:

Yes. I can understand that. How many schools do you work with?

Malia Oshiro [00:05:13]:

So we have two traditional high schools and two alternative, high schools, and then we have four middle schools.

Chrissy Beltran [00:05:21]:

Okay. So it’s all the secondary. So you’re working with 10 different schools. Mhmm. No. Eight different schools.

Malia Oshiro [00:05:26]:

Yes.

Chrissy Beltran [00:05:26]:

Four middle schools. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, my first thought, just before we even get started talking about anything else, is something that I had been thinking about, in I was talking to Jessica Vance in an episode that I did in July, and she was talking about how she kept questions on her name tag that she wanted to make sure she got in the habit of asking teachers, and she just wrote, like, three of them out and put them on her badge. And you could do it on a sticky note. You could tape it on. Whatever. You can tattoo them on the back of your hand or whatever you want to, to make it accessible. But having those questions to forward a conversation can be really helpful when you’re the kind of person who I like, I’ve found myself in many situations just going, okay. Thanks. And then I’m done. I don’t know what else to say. Okay. I guess we’re over you know, whatever you told me. Okay. Thank you for telling me that, and then I gotta go. And then then they really move the conversation forward or get you in the door. So I’m I’m picturing you talking to a teacher standing next to their door, having a quick little conversation. Hey. I’m so so. You know, I’m here. And, and the teacher says, okay. Thanks. Nice to meet you. And then they go back in their classroom, and you’re like, womp womp. So yes. Sometimes if you have little sentences that you’re like, okay. I’m gonna I’m gonna say you’re ready. You practiced it. You’ve got it written down. You know what you’re gonna say. That can help you just go, okay. This is what I’m gonna say. No matter what happens, I’m gonna say, so what are you working on today? Or whatever question you’re planning. You know? I’m going to say, how are the kids doing? How have they adjusted to x y z? And you’re gonna start getting into those conversations, and not taking up a lot of the teacher’s time, but just asking so you can see if they’re willing to open the door and say, well, actually, do you wanna come see? This is what we’re working on. They might not. They might say, oh, we’re reading the Catcher in the Rye, and you go, oh my goodness. I love Challenger. What a great book and blah blah blah. And they might go, yeah. Okay. Have a good day. It could still happen. Right? But it gives them an opportunity if they are excited to start sharing, you know, to if they are looking to talk to somebody, if they are, looking forward to what they’re working on that week. So if you have a couple questions planned out, I know that one of the things that’s challenging when you work with so many different teachers at different schools is building those relationships. And we feel like

Chrissy Beltran [00:07:35]:

we should have a great relationship with everybody right away because we’re great. We’re here for good reasons. We’re here to help. Yeah. And Absolutely. We’re not gonna have that. It’s not real. Right? This doesn’t work that way. Even with your you know, in a class, whenever you were a student in a class, you didn’t become besties with everybody in the class right away. You know? It took time to get to know everybody. And so if we can think about, okay. I’m gonna choose a few people, and I’m gonna kinda try to people who are are, like, already have an open door policy, and just focus on those people and start making inroads there, and you can kind of branch out. But I think it can be very overwhelming, especially for somebody who is not as as outgoing in those situations if we put the pressure on ourselves to be best friends with everybody right away. Right.

Malia Oshiro [00:08:21]:

That helps. That makes me feel like, okay. I can that’s manageable. I can pick a couple of people that have already asked me for help over the summer or at the end of the school year and then get some momentum, maybe word-of-mouth, and get those more reluctant or hesitant teachers.

Chrissy Beltran [00:08:40]:

Absolutely. Yes. If somebody has asked you for help, that’s exactly where you wanna go. Because that person is going to be the most likely person to say they had a good experience because they wanted you in the room. We feel pressure to get into the classrooms that need a lot of change because as a parent, but everybody can can benefit from the supportive coach. No matter how great they they are, no matter what’s going on in the room, everybody can grow. So if you can start with the rooms that want you in there, then those people will be your best commercials because they were excited to do the work.

Malia Oshiro [00:09:10]:

Mhmm. So something I think I struggle with is because I was an English teacher, and that’s where my content expertise is. Mhmm. And that’s where my comfort zone is in having worked with an English department at one building. But there’s, you know, all these other content areas that I I don’t know the ins and outs of teaching algebra. How do I go about navigating supporting those teachers when that’s not necessarily something I’ve taught?

Chrissy Beltran [00:09:38]:

Yeah. That’s a great question. And anybody who is listening now who has taught I mean, nobody has taught everything. Right? Whenever I started coaching, I had taught upper elementary. I had not taught primary. And so those classrooms made me nervous. I walked in. I was like, these people are too short. There there are too many of them in one place. I don’t like this. And it was a big adjustment to me to become a little bit more comfortable. And I’m still not like I don’t love it because I didn’t teach it for years and years. But I I can certainly I have something to offer those teachers because coaching isn’t just about content. It’s about about instructional strategy. Mhmm. So if you focus your work, like, really hone a few instructional strategies that are gonna work regardless of where you’re what room you’re working in. For example, writing across the curriculum is going to be important no matter what classroom you’re in. Academic language is gonna be important no matter what classroom you’re in. No matter what they’re teaching, teachers need to know how to get kids to use academic language accurately and and as if it were second nature. It needs to stop being something scary. Writing across the curriculum, like I mentioned, teachers struggle with how do I in embed and why should I embed writing in my lesson whenever I teach algebra, like you mentioned. Well, people who write think. We write to think. So if we can get our kids engaged and writing all day long, they are thinking deeply about content all day long. But teachers don’t have those strategies. My brother is a high school teacher. He teaches, well, right now, he’s teaching government. He’s also a baseball coach. So, of course, it’s a it’s a social studies. Yeah. It’s content. So he’s a head baseball coach, so he teaches government. And, he’s taught different ones in the past, but but he is working on his curriculum for this year. Over the summer, he decided to take some time to have it really planned out. And I was looking at his his, lessons. He sends them to me. We’re taught high school. I was a high school student. That’s the most experience I have with it. And I went to some trainings with high I actually have coached up to ninth grade teachers. I haven’t coached beyond that. But I was looking at some of his stuff, and immediately, I could see places for things. And it was it’s not I don’t I’ve never taught government. Granted, it’s not quite as foreign as teaching algebra. But I have I mean, I was looking at it, and I was like, well, you know what? I’m seeing a lot of content here, but I’m not seeing places for kids to actually engage and respond. So what could you do? What strategy could you put in here? What response could you put

Chrissy Beltran [00:12:02]:

in here so kids are interacting with the content and building their understanding throughout the lesson? He was like, yeah. I was thinking about adding places where they could do, like, a quick response or respond to a quick question or what is the short things, you know, brainstorm vocabulary words, things like that. And I said, yeah. That would be great because you’re chunking the lesson up, and they’re engaging instead of just hoping that they’re receiving it. That’s the same kind of thing that you can do in any classroom. Lesson design, it might look different in different content areas, but there are some pillars of lesson design that are gonna be important no matter what you’re working with, no matter what teacher, no matter what grade. And engagement is a huge one. It’s an issue that we often see in secondary classrooms. We see it across the board, but secondary teachers tend to be really, really good at their content and maybe not as great at the actual pedagogy as the actual instructional methods. And that’s where you can be supportive of teachers no matter what they’re teaching.

Malia Oshiro [00:12:58]:

I love that you you mentioned engagement, especially, you know, coming back from remote learning. And we had a lot of students who did hybrid at the start of the year, and so it feels like this upcoming school year is the first real, like, we’re all back together. And what does that look like? Like, how do we navigate learning physically together Yeah. When students are used to maybe checking out or turning their cameras off? You can’t turn your camera off when you’re in person. So how do you do that?

Chrissy Beltran [00:13:32]:

Yes. Yeah. I actually did, a month about moving from virtual to in person back towards the beginning of this season. I think it was March because that I feel like so many schools were like, oh, good. Phew. We’re done with that. Let’s go back to school now. And then it was like nothing was addressed. Nobody talked about what how are we going to build this transition. And different schools have done so in different ways. So all across the country, the world, really, some schools are we’re still in virtual for two years. Some were virtual for a year and a half. Some were not virtual hardly at all. And some were sending home packets. So, I mean, it was just wild how different the experience of teachers and kids has been over the last few years. And so I feel like every school has to look at, okay, what do we see happening that we need to talk about? We need to address this. We need to have a dialogue about this with with teachers because unless you can see how your kids are reacting to being in person, then you we can I mean, we’re talking about, like, generalities? You know? So are there is there an opportunity that you have to dialogue with groups of teachers? Do you work with PLCs or anything like that? Or are you only doing one on one coaching?

Malia Oshiro [00:14:44]:

We have been encouraged to work with PLCs, but it hasn’t been, like, a set standard. And there’s kind of, like, this culture of we’re going to protect our group, and, like, that’s a very precious time that we have with our department, and so we’re not going to open it up. I was able to visit a couple of PLCs last year, but it was more of like a, hi. I’m your resource person. Here’s my email address, and then I was asked to leave. Thank you. Goodbye. Yes.

Chrissy Beltran [00:15:17]:

Yeah.

Malia Oshiro [00:15:18]:

Yeah. K. So my inner critic was like, I I I okay. Well, that’s a start, but I I really I don’t know. Like, I’ve read the books, and I’ve been doing the Elena Aguilar book studies and listened to her podcast and your podcast. But I how do I make it happen?

Chrissy Beltran [00:15:40]:

Right. I understand. And, coaching is slow work. It is slow work. It is not very rarely are you gonna walk into a building and everything’s gonna be, like, bam. Amazing. That just I it’s I don’t know anyone that’s happened for. It’s a slow process because it’s about changing like, humans changing.

Malia Oshiro [00:16:01]:

That’s just takes let me just think about

Chrissy Beltran [00:16:04]:

how that have it’s so much work and takes so much time. So something that might be helpful is and we’re recording this over the summer. I know that sounds a little nutty. This is coming out in October, but I am a work from home mom, and I never know when I’m gonna have time. So I take it when I can get it. So I, one thing you can think about as you’re approaching this school year is is how you can introduce yourself and get teachers engaged in a dialogue with you as quickly as possible in a short time frame. Mhmm. So, you know, having your little introduction planned out and, like, a few sentences memorize it, where you say where how you introduce yourself in a very explicit way that shows that it’s like sometimes we’re like, oh, I’m here to help. And they’re like, well, like, make copies. They don’t know what we’re there to do. Right? So That’s

Malia Oshiro [00:16:56]:

what I was asked to do so much last year. So I’m not alone. Yes.

Chrissy Beltran [00:17:04]:

Not alone. It has happened to it happens all the time, especially when there’s been no real bridge from the classroom to the coach to the administrator or the the admin the coaches is trying to go in and be helpful, and the teachers are like, okay. Well, this is how you can help me. You can watch my class while I go to the bathroom. And the administrator isn’t really, like, super involved. We tend to see that a lot. So if you think about, okay. What do I need people to know about my role here? And that can look different. It can it depends on on you have, you know, you’ve seen with the teachers already how they perceive you, so you might want to think about how can I undo that perception and correct it? What is it that they think, and why do they What is it that they think, and why do they think it? What do I need to say so that they know that is not the case without me telling you them, no. You’re wrong. That’s not what I do. What can I say to clarify what I do here? It needs to be short and concise, you know, a couple of sentences, but something, you know, along the lines of, I am here to do this, this, and this. I am here to provide you instructional support in the classroom. I can work alongside with you to plan lessons, to deliver lessons, to try out new things. I’m so excited to be here. Last year was a learning year for me, and this year, I’m ready to hit the ground running. So anybody who wants some the partner in the classroom to work alongside them, I am here today. If you wanna, like, you know, send me an email, like, give them the contact information right there. Or hand out sticky notes and get everybody to write something down. It’ll take you one minute. You say, I want everybody to write down something they’re interested in trying out this year or something they’re interested in learning more this year. Everybody writes it down. They stick their name on there and their email address. And you have a a connection point right there, and it’s short. It could be a three minute introduction if that’s all they give you before they ask you to leave.

Malia Oshiro [00:18:53]:

So I love that.

Chrissy Beltran [00:18:55]:

Yeah. And that way you get you have it no. No. Go ahead. Yeah. That way you you that way you get you get an inroad. Mhmm. Something they said they wanted. They might not all write something they want, but enough of them will to get you started.

Malia Oshiro [00:19:08]:

Yes. I I love this idea of correcting the perception with something really tangible, because I think about, like, some of the really honest, like, brutally honest emails I got last year that truly had nothing to do with me, but it was like, I’m the person that sends out the newsletter. Mhmm. So they’re going to respond to me. But if I say, like, okay. Let’s get excited about something, and let’s think about forward planning. And we’re moving out of last year because it was really tough. We’re gonna take those lessons, and we’re gonna try stuff and just be playful. Like, find something that we can enjoy together. And I I think that’s gonna help build a lot of community with these teachers.

Chrissy Beltran [00:19:56]:

Yes. Yes. And and, again, some of those people who are sending those brutally honest emails might not be super excited to join you on that path yet, but that doesn’t mean down the road they won’t be. You know, it’s Right. Some teachers have been through a lot or they have personalities that just they maybe are are a little more resistant to having guests in their classroom or whatever reason. Lots of reasons, make that happen. Mhmm. But if you work with the ones who are willing right now, you have plenty of schools and teachers that that will keep you very busy, and you will be making positive impact. And then over time, you can use that as leverage to get into those other rooms. If they see that you are there doing good works, that you are not pushing, that you are not there to say, no. This is the right way. What you’re doing is the wrong way. Over time, they won’t necessarily be like, please come work with me. But you can certainly use that as a way to say, hey. I saw this display that was out in the hallway yesterday. This is so cool. Well, how did you guys do that? And then you can ask them to tell you a little bit about it and show interest in what they’re interested in in those classrooms that maybe are not as as welcoming. But, really, start with the ones who have like, if if somebody gives you a sticky note and they say, you know, I wanna work on engagement strategies. My students don’t talk. Well, there you go. There’s your coaching cycle right there. You can focus on that. You can spend, time working with that teacher on that area that they want to grow in because it’s going to be so impactful if that’s what they want.

Malia Oshiro [00:21:22]:

Mhmm. I love that. Like, this makes me more excited about the new year because I was texting a coworker, like, I’m already having nightmares. Oh, no. This feels like therapy. This feels good.

Chrissy Beltran [00:21:39]:

Good. I totally understand that. There were times whenever I I mean, I had nightmares too. And as a coach working with certain individual teachers, it’s very stressful because you’re like, ugh. Like, every time you see them, you tense up because you’re like, what are they gonna say this time? What am I gonna have to respond to? Am I gonna have

Malia Oshiro [00:21:55]:

the right

Chrissy Beltran [00:21:55]:

response? And we don’t always have the right response. We don’t always know what to say in those moments. We don’t always have the right answers. All we can say all we can really do is show that we are listening and trying to understand and valuing their perspective and saying, okay. What can we do from here? How can I help you with this? What can we do together? We can figure something out. If you have that that attitude as we can figure this out, what can we do? Then people are more likely to start saying, okay. Well, what how what can can you offer me something? What can you offer me to help, you know, me figure this out?

Malia Oshiro [00:22:30]:

Mhmm.

Chrissy Beltran [00:22:30]:

It’s what it is. It’s it’s, coaching is a very you have to put your pride on a shelf big time because it’s kind of like working with children. Adults will just they will just tell you what’s what, and they do not feel badly about it sometimes.

Malia Oshiro [00:22:46]:

You know? They just, like, wanna think. Yeah. Absolutely. It makes me wonder too. So as I’m focusing on teachers that I can build inroads with and helping teachers that had kind of requested some different topics, at the end of the year, another issue that I’m coming up against is because coaching is new in my district Mhmm. There’s a lack of clarity, I think, from the top down. And so the coaches, we get asked to do a lot of things like be assessment coordinators or, like, go deliver this thing to this building. I was doing highly capable testing at an elementary school for a month. And I’m happy to help support, but at the same time, it’s hard to know what to say yes to when I also want to be as close to students and teachers as possible.

Chrissy Beltran [00:23:42]:

Yes. That is such a good question. That’s I actually did a podcast episode earlier this year, the same season, called, three times to say no. Because we are often put in the position where we feel like we must say yes, and sometimes it’s not a question. Sometimes sometimes it’s a you will do this. You know? And sometimes we might have a little bit more wiggle room. So if you think about the biggest thing to remember that has been most helpful to me is a yes to something is a no to something else. So if you have the option to say yes or no, you have to decide, okay. If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to? So if you have the option, for for example, of delivering something or not. Now I know you won’t always have the choice, but if you do, you’re saying, okay. This is gonna take me an hour. I’m gonna drop this off, drive to the school, you know, take it in, sign in, all that stuff, get back in the car, and head to where I need to go. That’s gonna take me an hour. I am saying no to what? What was I gonna do with that hour? You know? And you have to decide, do I have it to give or not? Sometimes you don’t have the choice and you have to say, okay. I should have to go drop this off. I have to go do this thing. I have to run to all these different schools and take things. What can I do with this goal? I’m already on the road. I’m already heading to the schools. What can I do to get something good out of it? So I’m gonna spend three days dropping off testing booklets or whatever. I don’t know. I’m gonna spend three days dropping off testing booklets. What can I do? I’m already at, you know, Mission Valley Elementary. I might as well go in and talk to those three teachers who I’ve been trying to coordinate with. We haven’t settled a date. I know that, you know, miss Ramirez really wants a coaching cycle. We haven’t figured out. I’m gonna go visit her. I’m gonna set a date and time, and we’re gonna get that in stone. I’m gonna pop in on two teachers. I’m gonna take them I’m gonna I’m gonna meet with the administrator because they said something about PLC next week, but they haven’t really clarified it. I’m gonna pop in and see them. So you can kind of maximize the time that you’re that you’re spending on these things. If you can think about how can I make this work for me? I’m giving something, so what can I get that’s going to help me accomplish my work here? Sometimes that’s the best you can do with those kinds of responsibilities.

Malia Oshiro [00:25:53]:

Yes. That perspective shift is really helpful because I would, like, be angrily, like, driving and, like, listening to, like, Metallica.

Chrissy Beltran [00:26:02]:

Yeah.

Malia Oshiro [00:26:03]:

Like, oh, this is terrible. Like, I’m not elementary certified. Like, who who are they to ask me to tell third graders how to take a test? Mhmm. But that could have been an opportunity to, like, oh, your husband works at the high school? Oh. Oh, that’s who he is? Like, funny. I’ve been trying to meet with him. Oh, you just texted him. Great. That could be I like how strategic that is because time is so precious and especially with work life balance that doesn’t really exist.

Chrissy Beltran [00:26:38]:

Right. Exactly.

Malia Oshiro [00:26:40]:

Balancing the this is what I have to do, but this is also an opportunity to be really crafty in how I do those things that I I get to do.

Chrissy Beltran [00:26:52]:

Yeah.

Malia Oshiro [00:26:52]:

I like that.

Chrissy Beltran [00:26:53]:

It is a hard perspective shift for sure. Because I totally understand the driving angrily to work when you are doing something that seems like has nothing to do with your job. And surely, there is somebody else that should have done this that would have been a better fit. But here I am taking time from my work to do this thing that somebody has to do it, so they gave it to me. So it can be really hard, and I totally understand being upset about it. But whenever we, like, stay there, then nothing good can come from it, if that makes sense. Like, it’s okay to be upset at first. I mean, this is normal. It’s normal to feel feelings. We all feel feelings. This is normal to be disappointed or frustrated when your plans are are snatched away from you like that. But if we stay there, then we can’t use it to our benefit at all. We can’t get anything good out of it. So if we say, okay. What opportunities do I have? Looking for opportunities whenever it feels like everything is just trashed. That’s sometimes the best we can do with our minimum control that we have. We don’t have a ton of control. Sometimes we can be more vocal, though, and say, okay. This is if you document your time and you show where you spent what, you know, your time on, then you can actually take that to your admin and say, this is what I did last year. This is how much time I actually had to spend with teachers. This is how much time I spent on test administration, on handing out resources, on, you know, documentation, whatever else you have to do. This is how much time I spent with teachers. This is I thought what you were paying me to do. So can we talk a little bit about defining what is going to fall into my lap and what will fall into someone else’s because it doesn’t match my job description? If you can kind of realign yourself with what their expectations are, what that role is, and then advocate for yourself and your role to say, look, teachers could be growing, but they’re not because I’m testing. Right. Not that teachers don’t grow on their own, but you know what I mean. You’re not supporting them directly. So if you can find ways to, like, have a dialogue with I’m assuming it’s your, like, your central office or main off district office, whatever we call them, that coordinator, the person who’s above the coaches for the district. If you can have a dialogue with them and say, okay. This is how much time it’s going towards other tasks. And I’m concerned because it’s taking from the teachers, and it’s not going to make the impact that I want to make whenever I’m, you know, driving around delivering things. So Mhmm. What can we do

Chrissy Beltran [00:29:18]:

to maximize my time in this area? So you can have a dialogue with them about that. And and, you know, say, I wanna start the year with this understanding of how it’s gonna go and what my role is here because I feel like it was kinda muddy last year. And I know we were getting back into the groove of in person, and I know a lot of things were changing throughout the year. So probably things landed in my lap that just kind of didn’t have anywhere else to go. But now we’re back. We’re fully back. We’re here in person. We know what’s gonna happen. So can you help me figure out how I can spend my time this year to make the biggest impact on teachers?

Malia Oshiro [00:29:57]:

I love the way you phrase that, and I’m, like, mentally taking I mean, I’m taking notes, but I’m mentally, like, okay. I need to talk about this with my supervisor because last year, anytime, you know, questions were brought up about, like, okay. This is how we’re spending our time. Mhmm. Job descriptions were printed out, and the the bullet point

Chrissy Beltran [00:30:16]:

Other dues as assigned. Yes.

Malia Oshiro [00:30:18]:

Yeah.

Chrissy Beltran [00:30:18]:

Yes. That’s one bullet point of 20. So if you’re spending 50% of your time on it, that doesn’t make any sense. Like, that’s not equitable.

Malia Oshiro [00:30:26]:

Right. And what’s the priority? Is the priority to get the books to teachers and then be able to stay at that building and support teachers? Right. Or am I the the book shuttle?

Chrissy Beltran [00:30:38]:

Right. And that Are they really paying a highly qualified personnel member to deliver things? Is that the best use of their funding?

Malia Oshiro [00:30:46]:

Right.

Chrissy Beltran [00:30:47]:

I mean, surely, there is someone a little farther down in the rank that has a job that is better suited to that role. That’s what my administrator granted, I had to take on a lot of responsibilities too. Everybody does in our role because we don’t have a classroom. So we’re the first like, we’re on the first lines whenever it comes to, like, random stuff that has to be done. But I remember my administrator taught me explicitly. She said, what you do is you find the lowest level person who can handle a task and you give it to them because that saves the people who can do other tasks for those tasks. That person who is maybe a secretary and I’m not saying highest and lowest level in any kind of class this way. I’m just talking about, like, you know, in terms of, like, job description. So if you think about you have a clerk in the office, I can take those materials to somebody and they can then distribute throughout the school. That is a job that is appropriate for them to be doing, and you’re paying them an appropriate amount to do that job, and they cannot go coach teachers. I can. So I shouldn’t be walking around the school delivering things unless I get to get my benefit. Unless I can say, you know what? I will do that because that’ll give me the opportunity to get into every single classroom in this building today. I’m gonna visit every single room, and I’m going to make a mark while I’m there so that teachers know that I’m here for the support. Hey. I was flipping through this book. I know it’s a brand new resource, but I really just thought you might wanna take a look at page 120 because I I put a little sticky note on it for you. Page 120 is an activity that reminded me so much of what I saw you doing outside in the hallway or whatever. Yeah. If you can make a mark somehow while you’re there, you can use it to your benefit. But if not, can we farm this out to the person that is is appropriate for them to do it? Does that make sense?

Malia Oshiro [00:32:34]:

Yes. That that feels way more empowering than just, like, I guess, I’ll I’ll go do all the things. Yeah. What would you say then to the sub shortage and coaches being called on pretty much every other day to go sub in classrooms?

Chrissy Beltran [00:32:55]:

It is so hard. That has been one of the biggest challenges I feel like for teachers and coaches and schools this year, this past year and this coming year. I’m sure it’s gonna be a challenge as well. Because it’s not just a sub shortage, there’s a teacher shortage as well because teachers are not feeling like they’re being treated as professionals, and they are not being compensated for their work, and they are not given any autonomy. And it’s just a whole whole societal thing. Right? So Mhmm. So I’ve seen a couple different approaches to this. One was from the EduCoach survival guide authors. Lindsay Beacon and Angela Harkness, I believe, are their names. And I actually interviewed them on this podcast a few months ago. They were talking about how sometimes they look at it and say, you know what? This is how my school needs me right now. My school needs me today as a sub. That is what my school needs for me, so that’s what I’m gonna do with my best possible intentions and ability. Mhmm. So that’s one way to think about it. Another way to think about it is to say, okay. I’m going into this classroom. Are are do they leave sub plans, or are there no plans?

Malia Oshiro [00:34:07]:

Most often, there’s no plan.

Chrissy Beltran [00:34:09]:

Okay. So the other way to think about it is, okay. I have this really cool strategy that I want teachers to try out. I think it would be really beneficial to them if they could use it. I’m gonna go into this classroom, and I’m gonna use it. And I’m gonna take a video of using it, and I’m gonna take pictures of work samples from students. And then I’m gonna email it out, or I’m gonna share it with teachers, or I’m going to put it in our district, you know, whatever, storage space you have that everybody has access to, or I’m gonna put it in the newsletter or whatever it is. You know? I’m gonna ask if anybody would like to share it at the next PLC. You can use that time to to try things out that would be beneficial for other classrooms that you’re working with.

Malia Oshiro [00:34:53]:

Okay.

Chrissy Beltran [00:34:54]:

Then you can or you can even I mean, like I said, you can record it. Share it with somebody who’s saying they’re struggling with something. You put it in your newsletter and say, hey, teachers. I know that we’re working on, visible learning this year. And if you wanna see a strategy in action, watch this video. I have the opportunity to sub in a, an eighth grade English class the other day, and, I tried out x y z strategy. Here’s a three minute video that shows you how it went. At least you can use it to your benefit. Again, it’s like, what opportunities do I have here? We don’t always have a lot of them, but if we can get something out of that day, that’s something that you can leverage into supporting teachers.

Malia Oshiro [00:35:37]:

I love that so much. Oh my gosh. Because I think too that’s gonna boost my credibility with, you know, teachers who are like, who is this person? What does she know? And if they can see it, I’m like, oh, that’s interesting. And then they start brainstorming. It’s another way to provide, like, an on ramp to using me as a coach and not just you’re a warm body that can supervise children.

Chrissy Beltran [00:36:03]:

Yes. Exactly. That’s and I love the way you’re saying that. It’s a way to build your credibility and demonstrate your credibility as the real deal. You are not a central office personnel who has never worked with kids, and we know they exist, or a central office personnel who work with kids for as short of a time as possible before they climb the ladder. They’re out there. They’re everywhere. Yes. So if you can say, look, I do know how to teach. I teach kids, and I know it’s hard. And I try different things too, and this is something I tried. That is such a good way to look at it as an opportunity to get, you know, to to, you need street cred, and that’s your street cred. Right? Yes.

Malia Oshiro [00:36:41]:

Oh my goodness. Yes. And even to the teacher that I sub for, then that sets a foundation where maybe they were hesitant to try something new because they’re not sure how the students, that variable, how they’re going to react.

Chrissy Beltran [00:36:54]:

Yes.

Malia Oshiro [00:36:54]:

I’ve done it for you. I’ve shown you, like, it’s fine. You know? I I messed up along the way. We can talk about it. We can co plan about it and move on from there. I love that so much.

Chrissy Beltran [00:37:05]:

Yes. And we yeah. And I love I like the way you said on ramp. It’s an opportunity for people to go, oh, this is a way I can get into this. This is a way I can try something. You might not even ever hear from them. You don’t know always the impact that you have. It’s like those ripples. We just don’t know where they go. But you might send it out and never hear a peep about it, but then somebody tried it. And you made an you made something happen, and you just didn’t know that you made it happen at the time. So we just kind of have to have good faith that what we put out in the world is going to make an impact whenever we are using our time as well as we can.

Malia Oshiro [00:37:38]:

I love that so much. I’m feeling so much better about going into the school year.

Chrissy Beltran [00:37:44]:

I’m so happy to hear that. It is I mean, coaching is hard. It it’s it’s I’m working on a a new teacher, playbook. I mean, a new coach playbook right now, and I’m just writing a letter to the coaches who download it. And the first thing I could think of is coaching is hard. It’s okay that it’s hard. You know? It’s okay for everybody to acknowledge that it’s a challenge to everything about us. And and so, yeah, it’s I’m really glad that you’re getting some ideas and tools that will be supportive of you this year and that you can, you know, clearly define that role with your admin, that you can share it quickly and briefly with teachers. Doing a brief introduction is a good way to help them understand a little bit about who you are as well, whether that is in a newsletter or a video or in a PLC where you can introduce yourself. But, yeah, I think that that I know that your role is very challenging, and I but I do feel like there are opportunities that you’re gonna find this year that will hopefully help you, not only you feel better about the work that you’re doing, but help you impact more teachers.

Malia Oshiro [00:38:42]:

I love it. Thank you so much for your time. I I feel like I I know what my job is now, and I I know how I can do it. And that’s

Chrissy Beltran [00:38:51]:

love it.

Malia Oshiro [00:38:52]:

So valuable to me. I really appreciate it.

Chrissy Beltran [00:38:54]:

Oh, that’s so great. I’m so happy to hear that, and thank you so much for being here today.

Malia Oshiro [00:38:59]:

Yes. Of course.

Chrissy Beltran [00:39:03]:

I enjoyed that conversation with Malia so much because it’s so relatable. I feel like all of us have been through that situation where we are not feeling like we’re achieving our goals with teachers. We are spinning our wheels and being pulled in so many different directions, especially this last few years. And I hope that you walked away with some things that will help you find the opportunities in your coaching work and and really nail down what it is that you’re there to do and how you can best do it. If you’re ready to learn more, I referred to a few different episodes of the podcast in this episode. So I’m gonna share those with you now so you can go back through and, get some of the support that you find in there. Episode 92 is lessons learned from virtual learning. In that episode, I talked to Michael Singletary about what we learned during our virtual learning experience and how we can make the best of applying that into our in person teaching. Episode 96 is three times to say no. In this episode, I share about the three times and situations that you should really try to say no and how you can say no in an effective way so that it actually works out. That’s a tricky one, but I really want you to listen to episode 96 to do it to learn how to do it. Episode one sixteen is my dialogue with the Edge Coach survival guide authors, and that is the one that I mentioned that we talked a little bit about, defining the role. Oh, and and what to how to look at if you are being pulled in a million directions and you are having to do, you know, work in the classrooms and and and deliver materials, sometimes the best thing we can do is say, this is how my school needs me right now. If the school is really doing its best and still is dumping those responsibilities on you, then sometimes that’s what we have to say. So this is, the EduCoach authors. That’s episode one sixteen, problem solving the principal coach relationship with the EduCoach survival guide authors. Check those episodes out to get a little bit more information about what we talked about today. I also have a free download for you, and that is coaching cycle forms that you can use to document your coaching cycles with teachers. You can grab that at buzzywithmissb.com/episode120seven. Scroll down to the bottom, enter your email address in the box, and you’ll get those sent right to your address. In the next episode, we are starting a new topic and it’s actually the last month in this season, season three. So November is, is gonna be it for season three. We are talking about something that has come up time and time again, especially over the last two years, classroom management and how to coach behavior

Chrissy Beltran [00:41:36]:

strategies. Teachers are struggling to work with students in structured ways, and students are struggling to meet the expectations of the classroom environment. So this month will be all about strategies and methods that coaches can use to support change in the classroom. We’re starting off with an important foundational piece to this puzzle, which is anti racist behavior management. In episode one twenty eight, I chat with Deanna Smith about how we can support students who have suffered trauma, what a great classroom community looks like and how to get there, and how we can support teachers in reflecting on their classroom practice. I cannot wait to share this episode with you next week. Until then, happy coaching. Thank you for listening to Buzzing with Miss b, the coaching podcast. Want more coaching ideas? Check me out at buzzingwithmissb.com and on Instagram at buzzing with miss b. If you love the show, share it with a coach who would love it too, or leave me a review on iTunes. It’s free, and it helps others find this show. Happy coaching.