Tips from a Traveling Special Education Coach with Crista Smith, Ep. 148 Instructional Coaching with Ms. B

Tips from a Traveling Special Education Coach with Crista Smith, Ep. 148 Buzzing with Ms. B: The Coaching Podcast

Chrissy Beltran  00:02

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Chrissy Beltran  02:04

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, resource creator and coffee enthusiast, and I’m your host, stay tuned for practical tips and honest coaching talk that will help you coach with confidence. Hey, coach, and welcome to episode 148 tips from a traveling Special Education coach. This week, we’re starting a brand new topic for the month of June. For the last five episodes, we really dug into the idea of your coaching impact. And I love love, love that entire series, we talked about how to evaluate and reflect on your coaching impact, and how to track your coaching work and some really great episodes. So if you miss that, I absolutely recommend that you go back and check it out. It’s the last five episodes, we’re all about this. Now, we’re going to start a whole new theme this month called specialized coaches. All of you coaches are obviously special, but there are some coaches who do special work and I love to ask them about their experiences. The first special coach we’re chatting with today is Crista Smith, she is a double whammy. She’s a special education coach. So she has very specialized work. And she’s a traveling coach. I’ve gotten so many questions from traveling coaches and from special education too. And so this episode is for you all, and I’m sure she’s gonna have tips that are going to help us in our coaching work regardless of whether we’re stationary coaches, and I mean, who’s really completely stationary. So I’m really excited to share this conversation with you today. So let’s welcome Crista to the podcast. Welcome. Hi. I’m glad you were able to join us today because you actually met to have the specialized coaching criteria that I was looking for. So, so glad to have you on

Crista Smith  03:56

the podcast. I am so excited to be here.

Chrissy Beltran  03:59

Can you introduce yourself to our listeners, maybe talk a little bit about who you are, how you ended up here and what kind of work you focus on?

Crista Smith  04:07

Yes, so I have been a special education teacher for 19 years and spent the first say 15 years in elementary schools across different states and districts and I knew I wanted to do I thought I’d never leave the classroom first of all but then as it went on I thought I really enjoy working with teachers and collaborating and didn’t know what I wanted that to look like. So right about that time they are local that already worked for opened up these positions for coaching. And I thought what a great way to learn with teachers because I by no means that I was in a space to be you know, a teacher of features but and still get my hands dirty and get to be in the classroom with the students because I really love the kiddos. So, four years ago this position opened up and honored to be one of the people, we have nine districts in our county, and five coaches. So we each have a couple of districts and we share some. So I work with educators from early childhood to 12th grade and some service providers on the IEP as well as the teachers and their teams in their building, including Gen Ed and para educators and admin. So it’s really a great way to see a bigger picture and get a different perspective on what the supports look like for our kids. Yeah, so I cover nine buildings across three districts

Chrissy Beltran  05:41

now. That’s great. And you know, it’s probably so interesting, because you’re working with such a wide group of ages and abilities that I’m sure that you are always interested, like your work is always challenging. And interesting to think about. And I think that’s what’s so great about education is, it’s, there’s a lot of problems, obviously. But it’s always something challenging for your brain, your brain is always going right. It’s never a dull

Crista Smith  06:07

moment. And I always said when I was specially now, if I ever think I know it all or I’m bored, or I’m like, Oh, I’ve got this than I need to quit, because it is just always growing and learning and new perspective and kind of bigger picture lens. It’s like the more you know, the less you realize it less, you know,

Chrissy Beltran  06:28

right? That’s right. Yeah, whenever you start out, you might think, Wow, I’m pretty good at this. And then later, you realize, Wow, I was terrible. That was my experience.

Crista Smith  06:37

That year, because I had no idea what?

Chrissy Beltran  06:40

That’s right. So I am super interested in both your work as a traveling coach and as a special education coach. So first, could you kind of describe what an average week might look for you? So we kind of get a big picture of what your job is like?

Crista Smith  06:54

Yes, absolutely. So I first week, so at the beginning of this job, I was just really focusing on relationships. So I popped into different classrooms. And it was more of like a drop in check in. And it worked well for them to see this what I told myself anyway, it worked well for them to see my face I was available, I was not just the stranger, like with an email. But I was in their space, I saw their kids, I knew their teams. But then as I went on, I realized I was really doing a lot of quantity and not a lot of quality in the time that I was spending with my teachers. So I’ve reframed my schedule a lot. And I’ve gone from looking at, okay, I want to be in that building every Wednesday afternoon, because there’s three teachers and this other thing, now I’ve gone to where I’m looking at two weeks at a time, so that I can really be intentional about who I’m with, and spend time in their space, even if it’s just observing their teaching or getting on the floor with their kids. Because questions arise in the moment. And if I’m not in their building a lot, they’re gonna go to the teacher down the hall, and not me, which is great. We want to build capacity in our teachers. And that’s the whole point. But I’m not really serving them in a way they need it and supporting them if I don’t know what’s going on for them. So after a few iterations, I’ve come up with a schedule that looks at observations on Mondays and a lot of office time so that I can follow through on what we’ve talked about. And then I see my baby, I saw baby, my brand new teachers every week. And then I take the rest of my teachers and sprinkle them in according to what they asked for whether it was weekly meetings or every other week or check in once a month. So in that two week framework, I very intentionally have my teachers plugged in on this schedule I keep in my book. And then I built in intentional office time travel time, because I didn’t do that before. And I felt like I was always in the wrong place. And I should be when I was a teacher as I thought I should be doing the paperwork. I was in my office. I thought I’m not with my teachers. So right now, I am a coach across my three districts. I see one of them Wednesday, afternoons, another one on Fridays, and the other district that is my largest. I see Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday working around other trainings and coach meetings. I don’t know that that answered your question, because I don’t know that any two weeks look the same?

Chrissy Beltran  09:32

Yeah, I think that’s pretty standard for coaches, that they’re all over the place. But I do think that’s interesting, like your thought process for organizing your schedule in that way. You mentioned about teachers and what they’ve asked for and you mentioned something about like a monthly check in or something. Can you talk a little bit about that? What did that process look like?

Crista Smith  09:52

We every year we do a beginning of the year you know trainings and in services but really send out a questionnaire to find out What are their preferences? And then our teachers don’t have their schedule, because their schedule depends on so much around the other counterpart and colleague, especially at the elementary level, so we don’t necessarily to schedule so much as a preference. You know, do you like to meet before school after school lunch planned time? Do you care about drop ins? Do you hate them because I want to honor their space and what they need. So we send out kind of a preference survey. I used to send out a weekly survey that gave a little opportunity for them to just check in, you know, on a scale of one to four, how are you doing? And we try to make it kind of a fun way to check in. But also, it gives them a chance to say, Hey, this is something that needs to be addressed right now I need to meet with you face to face or how to please call me right now. Or I don’t need you to call me but I do need an answer in the next few days about this thing. So it was a great way to make a connection. When I couldn’t be in every building or every classroom every week. Those were two ways that we found preferences for our teachers.

Chrissy Beltran  11:07

How interesting. I really liked that. It because it’s differentiated based on teacher need. And also, it’s flexible enough that you can make it work within your your routines. So that’s really neat. I really liked that. So then is that one of the tools that you use to decide where you spend your time? Or are there other factors that go into how you’re choosing what schools to spend your time at which teachers, you know, what does that look like?

Crista Smith  11:31

That’s been tough. And I’ve had input from a number of sources, I have got a coach at the state level that has helped me go through this. And then like I said, there’s a team of us, and we all kind of do it a little differently. But we’re all coming from the classroom. So after managing multiple grade levels and para educators and myself, I kind of at the beginning use that same framework for trying to call the peak and start with kind of, I say squeaky wheel. I mean that not at all in a negative way. But just where’s that biggest knee? Where are those commerce, the most pressing, and let me make sure I’m there in an intentional time, on a day that works for that building, I have to my districts have different days for their late start. So if I find that a lot of IEPs need to occur on a day, that is a late start day I make that building or that district that morning. Same with professional development, if I find that I can meet with a team and carve out intentional time, that’s okay, by their admin, I plug that in. So I start with the ones that are kind of non negotiable, so to speak. As coaches we meet with each other and with our and our local admin. So I plug that into the week. And then I go from there and just start with kind of what are some areas that I see need the most support, for example, those brand new teachers, or those classrooms that have a lot of behaviors? They start, they take precedent. And then my season teachers who were like, Nah, I’m good. You know, I want to make sure I do touch base with them. So I have to be sure I consider them in that two week framework or my month long framework. And I go from there, plug in the holes and move it all around, I usually make about two or three different versions and then go over it with with somebody and say, Hey, what am I missing here?

Chrissy Beltran  13:21

How much office time do you have? Because you mentioned Monday scheduling a chunk of office time, right? Yeah, like what does that look like? And what are you trying to accomplish with that time?

Crista Smith  13:30

That’s a tricky one for me, because I don’t want to be in my office, I want to be with teachers. But then my to do list is growing. And I’m not addressing it and read them and following up on those things. As the job has gone on the professional development and trainings that are running has increased. So Plan time for that. And follow through is growing, which is exciting. But it’s not just going to happen. So we have to be sure about it. And I think I almost feel like I need permission to have office time. And so it was really good to talk with, with our team and with our coach about that to say now this is just as important. I did make Monday afternoon, a big chunk of my office time. And then I plugged it in. In other spots of the week where I see I’m about to leave a building and go to another one. So that I can sit down, intentionally put down notes or follow through emails before I leave while it’s fresh on my mind. My car i My car is called my car office. So I end up doing a lot of mental processing or video or conference calls there. And that ends up I call that Mike office time but of course they’re safe driving all the time, but with as few distractions as possible. I ended up doing about two or three chunks of office time. Other than that Monday afternoon there are only minutes, maybe an hour?

Chrissy Beltran  15:04

Yeah, I think that’s a good point. Because we can, you know, some districts will actually set up percentages and say, We want you to be in classrooms this much percent of the time. And sometimes it’s not real, because there’s preparation that goes into those classrooms. If you’re going to model a lesson, you have to prepare the lesson, if you’re going to be providing professional development that takes honestly, I felt like for every hour I spent in professional development, giving it, I spent a couple hours putting it together, because it was so important for me that it was high quality, and so well thought out and so relevant and well prepared, and actionable. And so it took, it takes a lot of time to prepare those things. So I think that’s the constant balancing that we’re all trying to do, regardless of whether we travel or not, is to say, Okay, this is, this is stuff that has to be done. But when I’m doing it, I am not working with teachers. Right. So, you know, making sure that like, if your school gives assessments on a certain day of the week, that’s a good time, often for office time, you know, if your school has, you know, certain chunks of time that kids like, right around lunchtime, many classrooms are in transition, or you know, they’re at lunch, and so that might be a good time as well. So it’s kind of thinking about, Okay, well, what can I only accomplish when teachers are available? And when they have kids, and blocking that off first and then saying, okay, the remainder of things that have to be done, maybe I can juggle them around these times, that are less useful for teachers anyway, like, they’re not a good time for me to go see kids anyway.

Crista Smith  16:35

Yeah, it was. It was hard, because that first year, I thought, Okay, let me get everyone’s planned times plugged in, and I’ll be sure I’m there. No, that’s good on paper, but it does not work for a number of reasons when traveling, and when comparing the buildings and the grade levels that you cover, right, because even in one building, it’s tricky enough, when you’ve got six grade levels, like a five, but to go from district to district building to building and grade levels across. There’s no way to touch everyone’s playing time that it won’t conflict somewhere. So I really have to kind of be okay with, if that teacher is okay with me dropping in. I’ve got to find ways to drop in. If I, you know, I read the room immediately. If they’re in a space, they can’t step away, I just either join a student and help or CO teacher I sit in the back and unobtrusive just observe or, I mean, I think at this point, I have a relationship. My teachers know there’s zero judgment, I’m coming into support, and whatever way that is, and honestly, staying through that kind of moment of is it okay for me to be here ends up being really effective, because they can ask me questions in the moment and go, Hey, this is that student I was emailing you about for this thing, and maybe I’ll see some of the behaviors they’ve been talking about. So I’ve had to be okay with some things that I didn’t really like at first, in terms of just dropping in, or being reactive, or reactionary, excuse me to whatever’s needed. This role, and I don’t know if this occurs for building coaches. But being across districts and being special ed, we end up doing a lot of reacting, and not so much proactive as much as we would like. So we try to, obviously, honor both.

Chrissy Beltran  18:31

I think that’s a really good point. Because you can make that very valuable and intentional. Even if that wasn’t your plan for walking in the door. Because stuff is happening all day long in these classrooms, something’s always happening, that they could use support in it, even if it’s just thinking differently about something or noticing something that they wouldn’t have seen without that extra set of eyes, in the classroom. And you can provide that, even if your intention was to go and hopefully work on something else with them. There’s something that they can grow in just, you know, you having you there as a presence.

Crista Smith  19:04

Yeah, I love when I might be coming in to talk to them about a question on an IEP. And we end up talking about a student behavior or planning a lesson. And I realize, hey, this time became something they needed. And that’s the best part of it is if I can be there in a way that supports them.

Chrissy Beltran  19:21

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So then you’re you’re managing a lot of schools and actually, you’re managing different districts, which is a whole other challenge in my because that’s, they’re probably night and day from each other would be my guess, is so then with all of these different things going on what systems or tools do you have that you’ve used that actually make working with these different schools easier?

Crista Smith  19:46

Yeah, that again, I really leaned on what I see other people doing or what I’ve heard in other trainings or collaborations, and probably honestly You’re listening to some of your podcasts, let’s have stolen stolen, I have take

Chrissy Beltran  20:04

freely given

Crista Smith  20:06

mess, I speak English. I have borrowed and shared with my team, some of the ideas that I’ve heard from people that you have talked with, we definitely put on paper, obviously all of their page at a glance calendar at a glance for the school year, pull out those non negotiables plug in times when we can meet with our staff across the district and do professional development for them. And Claire, that with their building admin, their district admin, because obviously they’re a part of their own building community, and they need that time with their colleagues. But also they need that time with each other. So that’s a balance, we have to find. Like you said, it is tricky to go across those different districts, the culture is different when you’ve got a really small district or larger district. The demographics all play into it. So I just want to fit in and honor what they already have going, right, they were doing great before these coaching positions came along. So I don’t want to come in and act like I have some shiny new answer, but just to be a part of it, learn alongside them and put up a mirror so they can see their strengths, and grow in what they’re doing, whether that’s improving their IEP quality, or improving their instruction to manage behaviors, things like that. The tools that I’ve used, definitely a lot of visuals for myself, organizers, I tried to go full calendar, that’s paper pencil, old school in that way. But then also, I always have my phone with me. So I’ve tried to use my iPhone calendar, because the emails are all right there in conjunction with an app that I have for my list, and it communicates with my calendar. So if I put something in my to do list that has a day date, it automatically defaults to a reminder for me. But honestly, post it notes and scraps of paper. I will help with with my my list of to dues.

Chrissy Beltran  22:13

Yeah, I found I always carried a paper calendar, I am the same I haven’t right here. Actually, I am a paper calendar person, I have to see it in front of my face all laid out. Digital just it’s like you said it’s got some great benefits because like I got a reminder before this podcast, you know session, like sent me a little notice, hey, don’t forget you have your little event coming up. So that’s great. But I still want it on paper. So I look at it in the morning. And I can see it all without having to click on different things to see what’s going on in each little moment. Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

Crista Smith  22:46

Take my calendar at a glance for the school year and plug my bricks into it. So I see when all of their overlapping. And services might be parent teacher conferences, things like that. It really helps. And it’s kind of a lot on the front end. But that also kind of motivates me in August, right. So like, get all that in front of you see what’s happening.

Chrissy Beltran  23:09

You to color code, your different schools, on your calendar,

Crista Smith  23:13

everywhere, everything on my phone, and my planners, and all might like trainings, emails, everything is by their school colors. So it’s in my brain that way as well. And it really helps you mentioned tools we share across Google platform, all the things. So if the five of us are doing a training for the whole inter local, we can share across Google Slides or look at data or if we’re putting together some kind of notes for meetings, we can all share across that Google piece. And that makes it easy.

Chrissy Beltran  23:52

Yeah, I was going to ask you about technology, because there’s just so much, you know, Google itself. I mean, Google Drive is so nice. Google Sheets is fantastic. You know, the Google Docs is a nice way to have this ongoing conversation with people and also virtual trainings and workshops and PLC. So I was wanting to ask how do you use that? Do you find yourself doing virtual work because your teachers are so spread out?

Crista Smith  24:16

Obviously, we did when everything began in 2020, which was really only a few months into these positions. So that was interesting. But we were glad we were around when all of that occurred. Not that anyone knew what they were doing because it was really great. So now we do some virtual. It just makes it easy when the teachers don’t have time and they don’t. So I really love that I can still be there for them and meet with them. When I need to be in three places one day and they have a five minute window. It’s great to jump on like yesterday we went through a coaching conversation virtually when it would have been lovely to do in face to face. But we have a reporter At this point, between myself and that teacher that we were able to really use that time. And it didn’t take away from everything else we had going on either into that moment, I didn’t have to are in travel a lot, she didn’t have to, you know, really put things in place and go and meet with me and then come back, she was literally turned, have this coaching conversation and at time we had preset a few days before and then get right back to where she was. So I do some virtual meetings with my teachers, it also helps with IEPs. Because we’ve found a lot of families prefer that so they don’t have to leave. Or it just works better for their travel situations. So to be able to attend IEPs and support my teachers in that way. Virtually has been really nice.

Chrissy Beltran  25:48

Isn’t that amazing? It is amazing to me, I think about how much we struggled to get certain parents in for IEP for like meetings throughout the school year for different purposes, report card night everything. And what an amazing thing it is that so many people have in their pockets, a tool that will let them communicate like that and just create accessible options for people that just it’s just amazing to me. Yeah, I had a conversation 15 years ago.

Crista Smith  26:13

Yeah. Oh, my gosh, it would have been so foreign. And so we can honor family’s needs? Yes. We couldn’t do a few years ago.

Chrissy Beltran  26:22

Yeah. So fantastic. How about video? Have you used video in coaching? Any teachers? Like Have they ever recorded a lesson and sent it to you? I have not

Crista Smith  26:31

gone there. Yet. To be honest, in the coaching that I’m doing, I don’t get a lot of questions around instruction. And I don’t know if that’s because they find that they have that support with their teams in their buildings. Or if it’s just because the behaviors tend to be such a, an issue that rises to the top, that instruction takes a backseat to the concerns around behaviors. And IEPs. So I don’t get that. But you’ve made me think about videoing for behaviors. But then we really can’t do that for students because it becomes a part of their educational record. So I don’t think any of my teachers who are recording lessons are because they’re going through finishing up their certification and getting their licensure. But that doesn’t become a piece of our support.

Chrissy Beltran  27:29

Yeah, the only way you might be able to use it would more more be like just recording the teacher, and how they are giving directions, things like that might be helpful. Because sometimes we’re setting kids up to fail, by the way that we provide instruction or directions. As far in terms of behavior there were like, Oh, well, if we could clarify this or do this in a different way or shorten this, you might not have those behavior issues. Well, I mean, you’d have some but you know what? Any?

Crista Smith  27:55

Oh, absolutely no. Proactive on the front end is 90% of the trainings and conversation we have with our teachers in their teams, is how can you set the student up for success in the way that you are presenting? The expectations? Whether it’s nice or directions or whatever? Yeah,

Chrissy Beltran  28:12

yeah. Yeah. So that might be like something to think about just little clips, even for teachers to practice, because sometimes, I didn’t episode actually with Gretchen Bridgers on this podcast a while back, and she was talking about practicing. And sometimes we don’t practice enough with teachers. It’s just something that I got out of that conversation with her. We don’t give teachers the opportunity to practice before they go do it with kids. So it might be something to like, okay, practice, how are you going to work this? What is this going to sound like, and they record it, and they can watch it back? Even if they just watch it back themselves? That might be something to think about. Because I mean, hearing yourself and seeing yourself versus what we think we did in our head. So different.

Crista Smith  28:57

It’s very different. And I think in in watching that, we would have to preface that with a lot of grace and a lot of understanding of, hey, you’re doing so many things correctly, and so many things well, so please look for that. And then anything that might need that could be improved upon. Look at it as a growth opportunity, because we are so critical of ourselves. It’s very feeding.

Chrissy Beltran  29:23

Absolutely. positive way for that growth. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. For sure. Because people can get, oh, well, you’re trying to catch me, you know, and we don’t want that. And I think that it comes after having a really good relationship with people and then they sincerely know that you are saying, Hey, this is something we’ve been working on we can try it like not just like out of the blue.

Crista Smith  29:43

And I you were asking earlier about the how the work began and just building those relationships because I cannot tell my teachers enough. I have no authoritative role and I’ve no evaluative role whatsoever and That’s one of the things I love about this job. But words are one thing and for them to really feel it and see it as something else, because they’re, you know, there are some that just still have their guard up. And I just want to keep saying, It’s okay. Like, I am here to learn with you. And I’m here to work alongside you. And so I just think the actions are going to speak louder. And time will show that and that work we do together.

Chrissy Beltran  30:23

I’m glad you brought that up. Because I did want to know about how you’ve built relationships with teachers, because you’re on different campuses, you’re there for a very minimum amount of time. I’m sure some weeks are harder than others around, you know, short weeks and holidays. So what does that look like? How have you really built these relationships?

Crista Smith  30:39

You know, at first it was, like I said, being present and available and showing, just here’s who I am. And here’s what I can do with with whatever you need. And really listening, I remember, at the beginning, in that self talk, I would ask myself, like, what is my end goal here, what is that I’m going for, and it was constantly like, just to listen, I just want them to feel, I want them to feel supported. Not that I’m coming in with solutions and telling them how to do their job, because they are all good at what they are doing and have their strengths. So let’s capitalize on that. But I won’t find out what that is until I listen. So that still continues to be a big push. But I feel like that was the core to those relationships, and being very transparent about where I’m coming from, who I am and my faults. Because while I have been with the center local for a long time, I have not been in the districts that I coach. So they may see me at inner local meetings, but they don’t necessarily know how I operate. So to try and be really clear, a judgment free zone, and I don’t repeat what I hear. And I’m just here to support you. And whatever that looks like for you. It’s not what I want to do. It’s what you need. So repeatedly saying that, and then really trying to follow through is another way that I’ve tried to show consistency and support. By being honest, you know, if I don’t have the answer, I’m going to find out who does and we’ll do it together, or having a timely response to something in a conversation that came up whether it’s a resource they need, or questions they need answered or whatever, which I hesitate, because that is I think an area continue to work on. Because it’s hard to the follow through piece. Different time. Yeah, all of it.

Chrissy Beltran  32:38

It is but I’m so glad you brought it up. Because how many times have we met with somebody and they seem so nice, and they’re so helpful. And then they don’t do the things they say they’re going to do. And you’re like, Well, that was like a really nice person. But I still don’t have the tools that I was supposed to get right. So then it kind of changes the way that you see that person. They’re nice upfront, but then they’re not. There’s no follow through, so I can’t count on them. So I’m glad that you bring that up.

Crista Smith  33:03

That’s a nightmare. For me, that is one of my biggest fears is being that person really don’t want to be that person. And they won’t always have the answers and the resources, I need to be really quick to say, let me find out. And let me get that with you. It is also tricky, because as a coach in the trainings that that I’ve received, it is not my job to come in and give, here’s these five things you can do. Because while it may be well received in the moment, and we all think that’s what we want, that doesn’t build efficacy that doesn’t help them know they’ve got the tools under their belt, and they’ve got the resources and maybe with some brainstorming and questions and a few tools, they can build themselves. So I it’s really been hard to find that balance for me of where I think in my mind, oh, if you do these three things that will help. But I’m not there to tell them what to do, right. And so I’m trying to frame our conversations and walk through it with them in a way that they come up with solutions, because then they’re going to have buy in, it was their idea. They’re going to know what they want, and they know their end goals and their students and their teams better than I do. So that’s a balance that that’s a part of the job. Think is tricky.

Chrissy Beltran  34:17

It is tricky. Especially if we’re problem solving people like you sound like you may be just a problem natural problem solver. I’m a natural problem solver. And it’s very easy to say I’ll just do this. Oh, just do that. And then like you said, it doesn’t have any meaning for the person who heard it. And so they are not likely to do it or even possibly to understand it. Like I don’t even know what that would look like or what you’re talking about. Yeah,

Crista Smith  34:38

absolutely. So two of my favorite moments have been when I brought a we had a conversation and they said what they needed. I said what would you like some ideas? Would you like a tool? Yeah, that’d be great. I come to them. We sit down with this tool and talk about it. For one person. It was a schedule across all of her students and leaders. For another person. It was a way to take data on behavior. So I come to the table with This instrument, and we talked through it. And they turned to me in two different years, two different levels of different conversations. But they were like, the thing and it worked for me, but it gave me a great idea of what I can do. And when I checked back in a week later, one of them said, yeah, that didn’t work. But we were able to come up with this, and this is what we’re using. And that was the best, because it wasn’t of mine. It was of hers doing and her ideas and no work for her. She’ll use it. She knows she’s got the ability and the strength there. And that’s the goal, right? I mean, our goal is to not be needed. The other one said, No, this isn’t what I need. And I said, okay, so would it look more like this? And she said, Yeah, that’s what I need. So we’ll, we’ll make it and come back to the table and go, Okay, now, how can you use this? Or do you need it to change again? Because they’re more likely to use it. And it’ll be more effective for them when it’s meeting their needs? Not my imagination, or what I’ve used in the past?

Chrissy Beltran  35:56

Yes, I love that. You said that it’s so true, because it’s very easy to say we’ll try this. But you didn’t just say we’ll do this. You said, let’s take a look at this. This is this is like an artifact, we can have a dialogue kind of an inquiry sort of dialogue around this artifact and say, Okay, this is the intention of this, the intention is to help solve this problem that you’re having. What are you seeing here? You know, what do you think might work? What components might not work in your situation? What adjustments can we make? What are you thinking, and so you’re using it as as you’re adding to like the information they have at their fingertips. But you’re not telling them. This is the only way to solve your problem. You’re saying let’s have a dialogue about it. And then let’s let’s use this as kind of a jumping off point to talk about your situation and what might work. And I love that.

Crista Smith  36:42

Yeah, I never want to insult their work or their intelligence or their practice and the experience they’re bringing to it. Or if they’re new teacher, I don’t want to assume they’ve got the tools. But I also don’t want, if I’m building EFS efficacy, if I always have the answers, they’re always going to keep going outside themselves. Yeah, for those. So I want to help build up the tools, but also hand it back over to them. Yeah, that’s a

Chrissy Beltran  37:08

good way to do it.

Crista Smith  37:10

It’s going back and forth across like a coaching hat versus a collaborator like collaborative work, versus a mentorship and dancing in those different those different roles.

Chrissy Beltran  37:21

Yeah, exactly. The way that you’re doing it, I think is great, because we don’t want to withhold either we don’t want to gatekeeper Well, this is something that I have that I it could work if you’d like to try it, you know, but but I like having the dialogue around it is what really helps decide what’s going to work for that teacher and gives them the power to say like, you’re empowering them to say, I don’t think that’s going to work. But I’m going to try this other thing that’s going to meet my needs better. That’s I think it’s perfect. It’s great. Yeah. So now how are you following up with teachers? Because if you’re not if you’re not seeing them, and granted, even if you’re on the same campus, you’re not necessarily seeing them every week. But if you’re not on the same campus every day, how are you following up on things that you’ve done with teacher? So let’s say that a teacher needed something like she was asking about this visual, you know, schedule or something, and then you create something together or she create, you know, she had just something that you talked about? How are you following up on that later?

Crista Smith  38:13

Usually, I take notes on what I’m hearing, I always try to include in my notes like what’s working well, what are you already doing? Well, what are some things you’re seeing is areas of neat, you know, just following a framework of of a coaching conversation, and then share it cleaning up my notes later, because I usually just jot down random thoughts and then sharing it with them in that Google Doc, and, or so that they can share with me their thoughts. I love Google Slides for all things just because I feel like it’s easier to to work with. And use and make visuals and so translate our conversation about what they needed straight into visuals, they can straight into visuals, excuse me, and then they can get feedback immediately. That’s not what I need. Yes, that’s great. We can send it off to the people in our organization that do print laminate, cut Velcro and send it back. So it’s a great way to avoid miscommunication and decrease that triangulation and communication. I follow up with emails with a survey often I love Google Forms and then really just face to face conversations are quick text, depending on the relationship I have with them. Yeah.

Chrissy Beltran  39:35

Yeah, I guess the less the better relationship you have, the less formal you have to be because you can very quickly send a text say hey, how’s it going with this just wanted to check in. Whereas if you’re just kind of newly working with the teacher, you probably want to send an email to make a call like something a little more thorough.

Crista Smith  39:54

And I feel like instead of it falling on the back burner for either one of us and then we revisit later. We’re trying to remember what we said That’s why I’ve mentioned that kind of constant google doc going back and forth, because it keeps it I think, at the forefront, if that was a need that was timely for them. I want to show, you know, immediate action, while it’s fresh on our minds.

Chrissy Beltran  40:15

Yeah, I really liked that tool to use because it is shared, and it’s easy to see. And you can take things off as you’re done working on them and add things to the top as they’re become new. That’s awesome. So in terms of working with your teachers, how, you know, like, as a as an instructional coach, when I was on a campus, I was working with all my teachers, including special ed teachers. So and I would support them, they would come to PLCs, I would observe their lessons and do some coaching work with them as well. But how does your work differ from like a campus coach, like I was, who was working with, you know, general ed teachers and special education teachers at times? What is how does it look different?

Crista Smith  40:56

I love that question. Because I’ve just newly acquired a building in another district, and that building does have instructional coaches, my other two districts do not. And it’s been really eye opening to see the differences. So I’ll go back to my first two districts that don’t have coaching positions, other than from the Interlocal, and the special education side. And so at that time, I would imagine we were dealing a lot more around behaviors, and IEP quality writing, as well as in compliance. And coordinating with I say, teams, because you’ve got, you know, a team in a classroom with the special teacher and their peer educators, but then a team around a student, so that’s including your families, your SEL coordinator, your counselor, the other service providers for speech, OT PT, as well as administrators. So that was the focus. And it didn’t really get to do a lot of conversation around instruction, which being a classroom teacher I love, you know, and that was my background. At first, so we didn’t get to that piece of it. Whereas I feel like instructional coaching is more proactive, more planning involved, more targeting instruction, right, and assessment. And we didn’t get to do that so much, except the assessment that we would talk about would be focused on present levels of performance, and are they reaching their goals? Now that I have added a building that does have instructional coaches, it’s so fascinating to see how my teachers are coming to me with really focused targeted questions you can tell they get it, they know the routine. They know what they want out of it. And I think they’re really doing a good job of separating my role from the coach they already have in the building, because that’s already been established, that person is there for instruction, literacy and math. And so they’re coming to me more about the behaviors and their parents, educators and their schedules. So it complements each other. But it’s, but it’s also very different. The part that bothers me is I end up being, again, like I said earlier, I end up reacting a lot just because we they call us when there’s a problem. Not as proactive as I would like.

Chrissy Beltran  43:23

Yeah, that’s a really, what are some thoughts that you have about that? Do you have any ideas about how you might kind of shift that into a more proactive role? Yeah,

Crista Smith  43:32

that’s one of my goals this semester. That my word for the year was intention. And pairing that into this semester. Part of it is that I spend more time in my teachers classrooms, that way, I have a better picture of what they’re going through. And it’s not just back end, after I get the email, but I am in the mix. So I’m increasing that quality time, not the quantity of time with my teachers. I also go back to those goals they set at that survey we did at the beginning of the year, and bringing that into the fold and saying, Okay, we met a number of times in the fall about your goals, halfway through the year now, how are you doing? Other goals are, you know, come up for you that are more of a precedent, then that are more pressing than that original goal. Or maybe that one’s been met and you have new things you’re working on? So trying to stay ahead of it through follow up? I don’t know if if that comes together in my description, but bringing them back to what they set out for themselves with accountability.

Chrissy Beltran  44:45

Yeah, I think that’s a great way to do it. Another thing that I was talking to Cori camp of Sydney about she was on the podcast a couple months ago. And she was talking about how now that you’ve been in this role for a few years, you’re probably starting to see patterns and So you can say, okay, around this time of year, we start to see this happen around this time of year, we start to see this happen. So maybe thinking about like your calendar and say, Okay, I’m going to proactively set up a virtual, I don’t know q&a about this topic, or I’m going to or like an opportunity for people to meet with each other virtually, and discuss this topic like a, I don’t know, coffee talk or something, that people can share their solutions to this issue that is commonly coming up around this time of year. So I thought that was kind of a neat, a neat way to think about it, because we do start to see patterns like okay, and October, people stressing out about data. And, you know, December, people feel like half the year is gone. And oh, my gosh, what are we going to do and, and then in February, they’re like, Oh, the fun part of the year is over testing season is coming. So I thought that was kind of a good idea to put together almost like a PD or PLC calendar, based on the patterns that you’ve seen. Yeah.

Crista Smith  45:54

That brought up a thought it didn’t even occur to me, but but as a team, we’ve always been sure to see when those deadlines are coming. For example, our analytical prefers that you not have any IEPs and May. So we, you know, we’ve got transition meetings going from one building to the next happening. And when does that conversation start? And then of course, there’s always progress monitoring, and purpose reports that are do a great part time, and we work backwards through the year. And then so far ahead of that thing that’s coming up those deadlines are, like you said, the patterns in the year, we reach out to our teachers with intention around, hey, this is coming up for you, how can we help? Do you need a tool do you need to sit down and talk. So that is something we’ve embedded in our work with our teachers, but I haven’t really thought to look at the patterns that they’re bringing to us. So I like that, like, looking at that going forward. Like you said, we wouldn’t have known before, but now that we’ve been in it for

Chrissy Beltran  46:58

Yeah, I’m sure you have even a couple of years data, you can go back and look at even your conversations and the documentation that you have in your Google Docs. And notice some patterns just that you see coming up, you know, pretty frequently, I mean, you know, setting up behavior towards the beginning of the year, having those three visual sort of behavior supports, I would probably up them, that’s a pretty obvious focus. But and I’m sure you do that already. But that’s, you know, just kind of the, the thinking in terms of what we get a lot of these concerns. And so this is what we can do proactively to make sure that teachers are prepared with the tools that they need before everything hits the fan.

Crista Smith  47:32

And it’s interesting, because now my thinking is going to us as a coaching team, we’re sending out newsletters every month and highlighting and spotlighting, you know, good things going on in the county and IEP compliance concerns. And there’s always information, obviously, about all things in our local, not just a specific district. And through that we’ve tried to tailor it to what the teachers are bringing up and what we’re seeing is coming up across all the conversations we’re having, because again, there’s a different culture and a different demographic across all of those districts. But there are themes that rise to the top and conversations that when we as coaches get together and somebody says, you know, I talk to a teacher about this, we all see that’s happening year two and year two, we say okay, we need to address this, you know, in a local wide or county wide.

Chrissy Beltran  48:27

That’s really you know, we have where I’m from in El Paso, Texas, we have each districts are siloed. Every district is its own little entity, so they don’t share anything. Yeah. So it’s so interesting to me that there are places where the county is like the collection of districts like we have several districts in the county, a bunch of them. But they’re all they all do their own thing. It’s just I mean, obviously, there’s lots of mandates from the state, but everybody figures it out on their own. And I just think that’s really interesting that they have like, you know, connections.

Crista Smith  48:56

Well, it is I will say, the reason you’re hearing me talk about those connections is because of the analytical and the special education piece. So aside from that special education piece, I don’t think our districts are connected with each other. Geographically much they all communicate, but we are on the unique side of that lens in that we get to talk across all of those building admin and district people. And yeah,

Chrissy Beltran  49:27

that’s how are you funded through the state or like a service center? Or where are you funded through

Crista Smith  49:32

our county special education and our local used to be a co op, but we outgrew the district we were connected to. And so we became in our local and all of our teachers and the coaches. We are paid and funded through the inner local, but we are what we work under a district. For example, when I was I worked for the inner local, but I was housed in a building in a district called Andover and I followed into her schedule ahead into her students That was my team. I did everything with that building. But I was employed by the inner local, and the only connect the inner local was my immediate supervisor and annual meetings. That’s

Chrissy Beltran  50:17

interesting. It’s a wild how different things are in different places.

Crista Smith  50:22

And you know, our region, it’s different from county to county.

Chrissy Beltran  50:26

Yeah. Okay. So now I want to know, thank you so much for all of the information that you shared, this has been fantastic. And I think it’s going to help people do a lot of thinking about their work. That’s, you know, it’s coaches in general, even but I mean, specifically, you know, traveling coaches and special education coaches. But what I want to know, now is a fun question. And it’s a question I’ve just started asking this season on the podcast, and it’s what is your favorite thing right now, and it can be any kind of thing. Just one.

Crista Smith  51:00

So right in this moment, I think my favorite thing is my husband’s cooking. And naps are definitely my favorite. And then just to kind of bring humor, and with my spirit, I find stand up comedy on Instagram or whatever is, you know, I just follow a couple of people. And of course, that feeds me more funny people. And so I just end up blowing up on my friends, text messages with these hilarious clips, and whatever. So

Chrissy Beltran  51:35

Oh, funny. You should say that, because I just did the same thing. Earlier this morning. I sent out like seven clips of comedian just people doing really short little things that just just cracked me up.

Crista Smith  51:47

So hard out loud at these funny little things and connection to these people in my lives, who we live around the country. But I can send that to them. And immediately we’re all like laughing together again.

Chrissy Beltran  51:58

Oh, nice. I love it. That’s a great, that’s a great favorite thing. Well, is there any way if you if anybody has any questions for you there be any way that they could reach you?

Crista Smith  52:07

Yeah, I mean, my email through the inner local. So that’s first initial last name, C. Smith. The smi th at BC sbc.org.

Chrissy Beltran  52:21

All right. Well, thank you so much for being here, Christa. So this was great.

Crista Smith  52:25

Thank you so much. I’ve loved it. This was an honor.

Chrissy Beltran  52:31

I have enjoyed this interview so much, because I feel like it is so honest. I told Crista, thank you for sharing her thought process and for talking about how she you know, maybe she used to do this this way. But then she decided to change it to this. I just think that was so helpful. And, and I love, I love the way that she’s always evaluating the work that she’s doing to better support her teachers. So that’s awesome. I hope you got a lot out of it today. If you are trying to figure out where to focus your energy, you’re not really sure where to spend your time, especially as a traveling coach that creates a whole special set of challenges. I absolutely recommend that you grab my free coaching role webinar. This will help you determine where to spend your time help you figure out what you’re trying to work on and what are you trying to accomplish. Anyway, so go to buzzing with MS b.com slash webinar with a capital W grab the free webinar and the handout. And it’ll walk you through the process of identifying what your goals are, and how you want to accomplish them through your coaching role. Next week in Episode 149, we are talking to another specialized coach. So I’m really excited to share this season this series with you because I just love having these conversations with coaches that there are certain things that bind us all together. And there are certain things that we all have to do differently depending on our role. So I’m I’m really excited to have another conversation with another special guests next week. And until then, happy coaching

Chrissy Beltran  54:06

Thank you for listening to buzzing with Miss B the coaching podcast. Want more coaching ideas? Check me out at buzzing with Miss b.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