Instructional Coaching Start-Up: Success Stories from the First 20 Days of Coaching with David White, ep. 195

Instructional Coaching Start-Up: Success Stories from the First 20 Days of Coaching with David White, ep. 195, Instructional Coaching with Ms. B Podcast

Chrissy Beltran  00:00

Hey, Coach, when you think about the beginning of the school year, how do you feel unsure, doubtful, overwhelmed. You’re not alone. Since the dawn of time, instructional coaches have been left to figure things out on their own, resulting in frustration and failure. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead, let’s start the year with a roadmap that tells you exactly what to do each day for the exponentially important first 20 days of school. The things you do that first month of school will make or break your coaching year. Let’s do the right things together. Head to buzzing with ms, b.com/startup to join the waitlist for my instructional coaching startup course. The course opens in mid July, but if you join the waitlist, you’ll receive a coupon code for 15% off when the course opens up. I can’t wait to help you start strong and coach better this year.

Chrissy Beltran  00:52

Welcome to instructional coaching with Miss B, where we believe that every teacher deserves a coach, and every coach does too. I’m Chrissy Beltran, an elementary teacher who became a coach, and I had to create my own coaching program that worked. Now I teach coaches how to design their coaching programs, build a school wide action plan and use differentiated strategies to support teachers. Plus, I’ve got a special spot in my heart for literacy coaches. Now let’s dig into the episode.

Chrissy Beltran  01:19

Welcome to Episode 195, success stories, instructional coaching startup with David White. Today, we are going to talk to one of my students from instructional coaching startup about the things that he did in the first 20 days of his instructional coaching work this year, and what was successful for him and what he changed. I’m really excited to have this conversation with David because I love to talk to coaches about how they’re establishing themselves as coaches.

Chrissy Beltran  01:43

And because I love it, I have some really great resources for you that you’re going to love. Instructional coaching startup is the course that teaches you what to do in the first 20 days of instructional coaching to set yourself up for a successful year. Let’s do the right things together in the first 20 days of coaching, if you go to Buzzing with Ms b.com slash startup, you can actually join the waitlist. And whenever the course opens in a couple of weeks, you will get a code a coupon code to use to board the course and you’re gonna love it. It’s such a great, it’s already priced really well. And so then you’re gonna get a really nice little coupon savings if you join that waitlist. So go to buzzing with ms b.com/startup to join the waitlist.

Chrissy Beltran  02:21

I also have a free course for you. And so there’s a free email course that you can grab. Or you can also join us live in my Facebook group instructional coaching with Miss B to do this as a five day kind of event throughout a week, one week and in the in the Facebook group. So you can either join the Facebook group instructional coaching with Miss B to join the design your real challenge. Or you can go to buzzing with Ms b.com slash jumpstart and get an email every day for the challenge helping you guide yourself through the process of designing your coaching role, creating your three by three vision, so many essential things for establishing yourself as a coach and knowing what you need to focus on this coming year. So that’s what I wanted to let you know about before we got started with this amazing episode with David. And now that we’ve got that established. Let’s welcome David to the podcast. Welcome, David. And thank you so much for joining me today.

David White  03:11

Hey, Chrissy, thanks for having me. All right. So

Chrissy Beltran  03:14

as a quick way to introduce yourself, I would love to share about a few things. The first is who do you help? The second is how do you spend most of your time and energy at work?

David White  03:23

Yeah. So I’m at a site that has preschool or pre K through sixth grade. So an elementary site, I’m primarily working with TK through sixth. TK through to doing a lot of more literacy, early reading, and then three through six, I’m kind of focused on math. That’s where I spend most of my time. Okay, and

Chrissy Beltran  03:46

then what is your go to TV show that you always love to watch like a rewatchable show? Just a question kind of get to know you a little bit. Yeah,

David White  03:53

for sure. Anything cooking, so whether, you know, nailed it. You know, we watch TV as a family. So my kids are super into food super into cooking, and competition. So any of those shows where they’re cooking and they’re trying to compete with each other and they’re trying to make dishes and stuff. So we’re that’s what we’ve been into.

Chrissy Beltran  04:13

Yeah, those are fun. Those are fun. My daughter started watching is it cake with her grandfather? Yeah, yes. And my three year old was six year old was one who was watching it three years old came out of the bedroom. I said, Hey, what Danny doing? And she goes she’s watching isn’t cake but it’s not cake.

David White  04:31

We love that show too. And that guy’s hilarious and I have an eight year old who tries to do the same thing. Make something and try to trick me you know it’s a rock but really it’s a cupcake or something that’s cute so it’s so cool. Yeah, we love that show. Yeah, the good one problem with those shows is it makes you hungry though right Chris? You watch cooking show and I we better go try it. You know we better go eat and so anyway, but it’s

Chrissy Beltran  04:57

discovered tasty videos back in the day whenever this was like kind of a new thing. And they would show people prepare like that overhead camera that was like a new, you know angle and oh my gosh,

David White  05:08

mouth is watering Watson TV, ya know for sure. Yeah. Okay.

Chrissy Beltran  05:13

So I would love to talk to you a little bit about, you know how this year started how this year really looking at instructional coaching startup, but also anything else that you’ve done that were really helpful to you. So can you kind of talk a little bit about what your role look like in August, what it looks like now, you know, how it’s evolved throughout the year?

David White  05:33

Yeah, absolutely. I think in the beginning of the year, with every role, or especially in coaching, beginning of the year, I’m building a culture, a coaching culture. In a lot of scenarios, I think coaching has this negative idea, right? If I’m, if I’m being coached, that means I’m a struggling teacher, or that means I’m new, or the principal sent you to me. And so I’m really in the beginning of the year, just trying to set the tone building culture, that every teacher deserves a coach and I kind of get that from you. Every teacher deserves a coach, and every coach deserves a coach. So he’s building that culture so incredibly positive, making myself incredibly visible. Getting in every classroom and leaving very uplifting, positive notes, and serving, you know, whether it be Hey, hey, I got a couple of minutes. How can I serve you? Like, how can I support you? Can I make copies? Can I Can I really, you know, can you want to go the bathroom real quick. So like, in the beginning, beginning of the year, it’s all about building the culture, letting them know, I’m on their team, like I’m on their team. Now, you know, as the years progressed, now, it’s about maintaining that. I think it’s really easy to light a big fire and be like, Oh, we’re all excited about coaching, and then all of a sudden, it starts dwindling. I don’t know if you know, I don’t know if this is time stamped or wet. But right now we’re currently we’re starting our state testing. I’m over here in California. And so it’s really easy for me to be just sitting back and being like, Okay, I can’t help anybody now because they’re on their own. But right now, it’s all about maintaining, so just staying visible, staying in classes. So we’re the we’re the beginning of the year, I’m trying my best to meet with all the teachers I’m being very positive being very visible. Right now I’m, I’m checking in with teachers I’ve already worked with, I’m maintaining relationships that I’ve built. But I’m also keeping myself accountable saying, Hey, I can’t just coast to the end of the year, I gotta maintain this, and how do I maintain the momentum? And that’s been the biggest thing. And I think maybe every coach maybe could relate of like, okay, momentum as a coach really high. And then there’s loads, you know, right around the holidays, you’re like, I don’t know what to do. But right now, it’s all about a maintaining momentum, and maintaining relationships and pushing the needle further.

Chrissy Beltran  08:07

Yeah, I’m really glad that you brought that up about every coach, every teacher needing a coach, because I think that one of the issues that we see is whenever coaches define their role, it’s not usually their choice, it’s usually admin that is directed this, in terms of you only support like you mentioned, struggling teachers, you only support teachers, you know, who need help. But in reality, we’re all supposed to grow all the time. So then we should all be needing the support, like as a partner, you know, a learning partner?

David White  08:32

Absolutely. It’s critical, right? I mean, you know, everybody calls it something different. But the PLC or the Professional Learning Community, there’s the L is there for a reason. We’re learning. And so as teachers, we should be learning. And as coaches, we should be learning. And if we’re not, if we take that piece out, and we just stick with our own way, and we think that this is the best. And it burnout happens and staleness happens. And, and so, yeah, it’s this idea that every teacher, man, you don’t have to have a coach like LeBron James doesn’t need a coach. He asks for a coach, right? Like, LeBron James has like 20 coaches, fitness coaches, this coach is free throw coach, and like even the most expert teachers deserve someone in there to just help refine them. And so that’s kind of been the culture that we’ve been trying to create a shifting away from. Oh, only if you’re, if you’re struggling. Yep. You get this guy. Right. To know, Hey, man, you’re the best teacher on this campus yet, man. How can I help? Hey, how can I support? Let me see. Let me help you see some blind spots?

Chrissy Beltran  09:47

Yes. Yeah. Different perspective is so important. Yeah. So you went through the course instructional coaching startup last year, right. Yeah. What are some things that you got out of that course that you were glad that you did at the beginning of the year? Sure,

David White  10:01

yeah. So great question. And it’s a great course. And I’ll put in the plug right now, because I think I am not alone when it comes to, what am I doing today, and especially the critical moments of the first few weeks of school. And so for me, there’s really four major things that I’ve just inserted into my David White resource bucket. The first one is having that clarity conversation with the principal. That is huge. I have coaches in my district. So I’m a site coach, I work at one elements. And every, every site has their own coach. And when I noticed the tipping point in like, creating my own job description, Creek, you know, writing my vision statement out, writing out some goals, I see. Getting some getting some ideas down on paper, and then scheduling, taking ownership saying, hey, hey, Principal, or vice Vice Principal, or let’s get together as this three, let’s sit down. And I lead the meeting saying, This is how I see my role going this year. And very fortunately, through the course, you know, you have the template of like planning that conversation I had, I have a chance to do that. And both adven BP and principal bought in wholeheartedly. So I’m not the grunt work now. But you know, if they didn’t know what I was doing, they’d be like, hey, hey, David, can you run over here and cover this class? Hey, David, can you do this? Can you do that? Can you cover the lunch duty, which, you know, sometimes that’s inevitable, you’re going to, but I’m, they want to honor my time, because they have a sense that I know what I’m doing. And so having that clarity conversation, getting on the same page with them, listing out what I’m thinking, what I my goals, and then saying, hey, how does this? How does this compare with your goals and how you see me this year? I think that sometimes we rely on assumptions. And that and that is, that’s a killer, right? And so just getting very clear from the beginning. So that’s one that I highly encourage every coach, the template, you’ve laid out the kind of even in your, in the video series, just laying that out, getting very comfortable and confident and having that conversation. I’ve also become a survey junkie, you’ve given some ideas on getting feedback from teachers, but then I’ve using Google Forms or whatever the district, I use Google. But it’s so easy, and especially when you have buy in from the admin and buy in from the teachers. So I have surveys quarterly on, how are we doing? What has been most effective? As a coach, what has been the least effective? Where would you like to see this role used in the next semester as and then, and then inviting, inviting, like criticism. And so that’s been really good. And a lot of the the intro to the instructional coach course is, is you lay out, you know, this course, or this, this role is really dependent on on teachers. And in my role, I’m not really assigned to teachers, I am supportive when they ask. And so it’s really a big deal to them that they know I’m on their team, and they’re listening to what they want, instead of just saying, Hey, I’m going to do this, right. There’s a lot of buy in when they say when or when they feel well, hey, this guy, this coach, David, man, he’s really digging into what I want what I need. So the anonymous survey has been really helpful. And then the other two big things was off of that is building a coaching menu. So I had a chance, you know, you have a form template. I made posters of my coaching menu, they’re all over campus. Every teacher has a coaching menu posted in their room. I actually got one posted right here, grab it real quick. But you know, it starts with my vision says as a coach, I support teachers and refining their best teaching practices, try new things and help solve any challenges they are having. And then I kind of go through and I have, you know, we do a lot right, Chrissie. We do a whole lot of coaches, but just narrowing it down to like, I came up with my top five. And I’ve made it like little checkboxes and then I have a QR code so that they can sign up and they can ask and so that coaching menu has been a really cool resource of just a constant reminder in teachers brains saying, Hey, okay, man, I’ve just had the worst day of teaching in my life, that class was difficult. That lesson didn’t go as I thought, wow, I really need Whoa, they look on the wall and they say, Oh, well, there’s somebody. So there’s that. And then the last thing, I think humans and human nature, we tend to do the most comfortable thing. And so sometimes in a role that’s really undefined, where there are days when there’s nothing to do, right? Or when I’m doing nothing, it’s like, well, I don’t know what else to do. Like, you know, as a teacher, it’s highly structured as a coach. Yes, we got to be go getters. Yeah. And so creating the coaching schedule, I remember there’s a phrase that you said, of like, like creating the perfect week, as a coach. And like really sitting down and just saying, Man, I don’t want to be just a really expensive lunch lady. Right? I don’t want to be a really, I don’t want to be known as like, oh, the guy that will will make copies for me. And I don’t want to be lazy. And it’s really hard not to just sit back. And there’s nothing to do, I’ll just sit here and all think of, you know, let me just brains. Now it’s like creating a schedule. So like, you have a really nice template, I stole a lot of your ideas. But I have my schedule here, I update my schedule with my admin. So they’re clear on what I’m doing. As far as like, and it changes, right. There’s no exact day or week. But I have an idea. And as a matter of fact, I love the idea of like, what would be the perfect week, and then breaking it down to Okay, today? What would be the perfect day, as an instructional coach? What would I be doing? If I if it was the like the most effective. And I often, you know, I’ll say, if, you know, I’m not trying to like, make you feel good or anything, but I’ll say if Christie was sitting in my office all day, and just watching me, or if my admin was sitting here watching me all day, where I feel comfortable doing what I’m doing. Wow. And so like going from the perfect week to the perfect day, the perfect day as a coach, like if I was hiring a coach, who do I want. So that’s kind of when I when I think of that course that you you kind of put out and I got to go through this last summer. It was really those four things. They’re, they’re simple things that happened at the beginning of the year that really can make or break a coach’s year. And I you know, I’m sure you know, and we all know coaches who they don’t have that clarity, conversation. So they get pulled around in every direction. Maybe they don’t have, they’re not getting feedback from teachers. And so they’re just going off on a whim on what they think. And maybe the teachers aren’t bought in. They don’t have to really have a coaching menu. So it’s unclear to teachers, what they’re really what they do. And the last one is the schedule, right? If teachers or coaches don’t have some sort of template of a schedule, or this is my Monday, this is my week, at a glance, and then we ended up, we ended up filling it with, with things that are not that effective. And so those are all just accountability pieces that I thought that you do a really good job of supporting a coach. And if I don’t know what to do, alright, here’s some ideas. And here’s some templates. And here’s a little bit of confidence in that, yeah, you can do this survey, or you can have this conversation. And so those are my favorite pieces.

Chrissy Beltran  18:44

I love that you pulled those out, because they all kind of relate to this idea of like clarity around the vision, you know that everybody knows what you’re there to do. And you also know what you’re there to do, right? It’s not just Yeah, admin, that you feel confident in what you’re supposed to be doing there, and what what direction you want to move in as a coach. And those pieces are like artifacts that helps support that, you know.

David White  19:06

Exactly, exactly.

Chrissy Beltran  19:10

And then you already talked a little bit about some of the things that you’ve done to establish yourself earlier in the year. Right, you talk that you really focused on, on building that culture. Can you share a little bit more about that about some of the things that you did that supported that that supported, you know, any of the things that you really focused on to create that environment?

David White  19:28

Yeah. Yeah, well, I think it really comes down to like, I had to be very clear on what I was doing. So I took my job description, and I pretty much rewrote it. And that’s almost what I presented to my admin. Yeah. And then with that, having vulnerable conversations with teachers, I had opportunities at the beginning of the year. To talk to my admin, I’m like, Hey, I I’d love some time to just address the entire stuff. And during those moments, I get to define this role. And I always love to start with what it’s not like, hey, just so y’all know, I’m not here to fix anybody. Like, if you see me, it’s not because you’re broken. And I always like this idea. I’m not trying to make you more like me, I’m trying to make you a better you, right? So like, just having those definition Conversations. I’m not a program pusher, I’m not in rooms with a checklist, making sure you have your objective on the board, and I’m gonna go tell on you, if you don’t, I’m not the spy of the admin, I, and then I always like to say like, Hey, I’m not, I’m not the expert. This because I’m in this role doesn’t make me any better or more expert than you. But I believe that two brains are better than one. And I’m pretty comfortable with where I’m at, and where I’m going. And I’m pretty comfortable with where the school is, and where we’re going. But together, we’re going to be better. And so it’s just really having these really cool, like, I guess conversations, so having that whole group, and then just getting to know people building rapport with teachers. And so like building the culture of coaching is, is really building an environment where people can be vulnerable. And so leading the way modeling being vulnerable. And I’ll be honest, like some of these, I’m kind of, uh, you know, not super young, but I’m not old, you know, I’m not the old tea, I’m not having been teaching for 45 years, like some of my co workers. And so coming in, and using a friend, like, one of my favorites is like, Hey, I noticed that you do a really good job with transitions, and hate, you don’t, you know, learn in this role. And I just really, really like how you do that? Is it okay, if I come in and just learn from you. And so like, this frame of like, a learner, modeling that as a coach, it creates something in teachers where they become learners. And now I have teachers that’s been teaching for 45 years, looking at me saying, hey, you know, I noticed, you know, you know, David, I think I need some help with like, my, my, you know, engagement? And would you just help me with this? Would you be a sounding board for me? Or would you come in and co teach? Or would you lead this lesson, I just want to get some fresh ideas. So it’s really about this idea of like, lead, as learner, lead with vulnerability. You know, I think Brene Brown talks about like that a lot of like, vulnerable leadership. And I really believe that’s the role of the coach is like, Hey, this is who I am. This is let me define this role. I’m not here to do anything that you think I’m here to support. I’m here to learn. We’re here to push us further. Not to make you a robot to make you better you. And so that’s, that’s really the way I’ve, I’ve helped create this culture. And again, it’s it’s, it’s not like, Oh, hey, there it is. We did it. There. We finished, like the culture is perfect. Now it’s like an every day to me, as you know.

Chrissy Beltran  23:17

Yeah. Yeah. And so what I’m hearing is you’re reaching out to those individual teachers, you’re building relationships, you’re building trust with those teachers by being this learner and by being a partner, instead of by coming in and like evaluating, right? Instead of, hey, I’m saying like some people, they say, Oh, well, you don’t want to say good thing, because then that devaluating we all right, it’s a good thing to see good things. I really don’t think that’s true. I think that if you can never say a positive, I don’t know that anyone wants to be around you. Right? Yeah. Reality. You want to appreciate what you see. And I think that goes a long way towards building those relationships and building trust that, oh, that he does see the good things in me. He sees the strengths that I have at the teacher. So then I would like to invite this person into my classroom, you know,

David White  24:06

yeah, I think you’re, I mean, I’ve heard that argument, right? Like, hey, we’re this role is non evaluative. So that means negative and positive. So you know, and I also agree with you, I disagree with that, because I think some of my biggest success stories are going into some would call like, very difficult learning teachers, like teachers that are like, Hey, I’ve done this, I know what I’m doing. I got this, going in there and just saying, wow, hey, you’re a rock star. Like Wow, I love the way you you redirected that student when he was acting. I just gotta say, that was really, really good. I love learning from you. And like, building this trust, like we talked about earlier of like, if I can look someone in the eye and say, or like make them feel I’m on your side. I’m on your team on Team Chrissy right now, um, your biggest, your biggest fan right now, then they invite you in. And I think there’s a balance, right? Like, you don’t want to just blow smoke up everybody, but, but there’s also this idea of like, whoa, this guy really likes me. Same thing with kids, right kids don’t learn if they don’t feel like the teacher likes them, teachers won’t invite you in unless they feel like you like them. And so not in a manipulative way, right. But in a genuine way, where every, everybody has something really good about them. Even the most difficult, challenged struggling teachers, we can find something, we can find something so you just got a mind for the good stuff. It also helps as a coach, right? Like if my, my tape that I’m recording or the that I’m listening to is saying, Oh, this teacher manage hate going in her class. She’s, she’s not that good at this or man, she’s really struggling with her management. And if I’m just telling myself that it’s gonna play out in the way I think about her and the way I think about or talk to them, instead of saying, hey, what, what, what good can I find? And so, yeah,

Chrissy Beltran  26:26

I like that. That’s very true. Because, you know, as a new coach, I can remember there were classrooms that I was, like, had a lot of anxiety about going into, you know, we’re sure that when you walk down the hallway, they make you nervous. Yeah, what’s going on, and then you’re like, oh, boy, and you do have to kind of reframe your thinking in order to be a better support to the teacher and to get to those kids who are having many of those issues. Oftentimes, it’s like behavioral, you know, management, yeah. And it’s hard to, it’s hard to get yourself to go into those rooms and do the work, if you have that frame of mind that, oh, it’s gonna be that she’s not gonna want to hear from me, and you know, all of that plays in your head over and over again, it’s really hard to motivate yourself to do the hard stuff.

David White  27:08

For sure. And I mean, just, I mean, and that’s a real thing, right? I mean, when even when it comes to philosophy of like, teaching, yeah, like, there’s certain people that we, that we don’t align. And, you know, it’s just human nature, I naturally will spend more time in teachers classes that I aligned with them. And man, I really feel like they’re, they’re moving the needle. It’s easier. Yeah, they really, they invite me, they appreciate me. But then going into those classes that philosophy doesn’t match. mindset doesn’t match. Maybe they’re having, you know, they’re, they’re just having a really negative mindset about a lot of things. It’s, it’s getting in those classes, and just creating an empathy. So similar to like teachers and like, difficult students, right? It’s like, Man, if I can train my brain to find the good. And I mean, there’s a just a quick story. There’s a teacher here that she’s, she’s gonna say it nicely. she’s retiring in the next couple years, right? So she’s up and up there a little bit. And she’s pretty set in her ways. And at one time, she was probably really, really effective. But she’s kind of got this mindset, where she’s coasting out. And she’s it’s always the kids blaming, you know, kids these days. And there’s a certain there’s a group of kids that she just has a difficult time with. But getting in her class. And just convinced, like telling myself, hey, this, this woman is like, she may have lost her why? Like, why she’s in this class, but it’s in there. It’s in her heart somewhere. And I wonder if I can pull it out. And I wonder, I wonder if I can just support her and challenge her, but I first got to get her on. Like, I gotta get her to believe I like her. I gotta get her to believe that. I’m her on her team. Yeah, you do. And so that’s the culture. That’s the dance.

Chrissy Beltran  29:11

Yeah, I like that. That’s I’m so glad that you shared about that. Because I think that that’s where a lot of coaches find themselves in it can feel a little guilty about it when you feel like what am I doing wrong? It is very human. And so I think that’s a great approach. So thanks for sharing.

David White  29:24

Yeah, yeah.

Chrissy Beltran  29:25

So in thinking about the next school year, what are some adjustments that you’re planning to make in the way that you’re planning on starting out again, like I know, You’ve mentioned a few things that you’ll probably continue doing, what are some things are probably going to change? Yeah.

David White  29:42

I, in one of your, in the course. You talked about like getting into like, and every site is a little bit different. And it’s a little bit different at my site. I’m in charge of, you know, key K through six and cross the gamut, right? Like whether it be Class engagement or behavior, or math, or, like I’ve even done like model PE lessons before. So like, I’m my, my very broad. And I do my very best to the first couple of weeks, the first few months to be in every class. But what I find is, I’m only there for about 1015 minutes, and I leave a note or whatever, what I’d like to do, and then I’m thinking through this for next year of being really intentional with each teacher. And, like, actually, I’m still playing this out, but like spending an entire day with every teacher in the beginning, like probably go through a sweep, where I get to, visible with every teacher, but then taking a few weeks. Because in the beginning, I always feel like Oh, but I gotta do this, I gotta do that, right. But taking a few weeks, I feel like it’s gonna set a foundation for the rest of the year of Hey, Mrs. Smith, or hey, Mr. Brown. Hey, next Wednesday. I got nothing on my calendar is it would it be okay, if I spent the entire day with you, just co teaching, I’d love to even plan something with you. But just spending an entire day because it’s one thing to spend a few 15 minutes. And it’s another thing to actually do life with them for a day, or a couple of days. I had a few teachers that were just hard to access this last year. And by saying, Hey, I’m not I don’t have to do anything. But I’d love to just spend a day or two with you. And I ended up spending three days straight in a T K class transitioning to kindergarten, which is not, not my wheelhouse. I came from upper grade that’s I taught for over a decade and in sixth. So in this idea of like, Hey, I’m I want to learn a little more can I spend like three days straight, or you know, a couple days straight, just like learning almost as like a master teacher student teacher relationship. And I found that, yeah, like immersion and my relationship with this teacher. And her needs, right? Like, I was able to really feel like, Oh, okay. I can help with, you know, maybe math, she doesn’t feel as comfortable. She’s, she’s telling you this now and I’m getting to see it, or hey, no work life balance even, or hey, finding, what are we doing in our breaks or recesses that are, are effective. So I feel like like the the immersion method, I’m still trying to figure out what that looks like. Because, you know, there’s a balance of like, now, okay, I’m wasting time I could be doing other things. But I just really feel like it’s not going to be a waste of time. If I just immerse myself. If I can convince teachers to let me just be part of their day, even if it’s a I’m just here to support that difficult child, while you get your class rolling. But just being there, before the bell to after the bell and debriefing, just like hey, how do you, man? Hey, how do you feel that went? And so that’s kind of one of my, in preparation for next school year, one of my, one of my thoughts of I want to just really know, every teacher because even now, this time of school year, I, I haven’t really been part of everybody’s class. I’ve been ever in everybody’s class, I haven’t been part of it. And I’d like to be I’d like to be a part of everybody’s class as I move forward. So anyway, I guess that’s one of those like, little thoughts in the world in the air? How does that feel for you? Like, as you’re hearing it, I mean, you’ve been around coaching for a while. And you’re, you know, what works? And so how does that sound as you hear it,

Chrissy Beltran  34:04

I can definitely see the benefits of that, because as you’re talking about it, I’m thinking about classrooms that I did spend a lot of time in early on full days, you know, with maybe newer teachers or teachers who are new to grade level, and we’re like, oh, my gosh, like, we had teachers kinder to fourth grade, like sudden, like the week before school started, and they were like, like, shocking. And there was just so yes. And so I spent a lot of time with those teachers, and you really do develop that relationship so differently, that they do trust you and that you do know them better. And you really get a much more clearer picture of not only what the kids can do at that level, what that class is, like, have kids because that is very telling, like you’re saying I didn’t have a lot of experience in primary grades. So the time I spent in you know, kinder pre K first and second was was very enlightening to me having been a third and fourth grade teacher for years. Yeah,

David White  34:57

yeah. So

Chrissy Beltran  34:58

that is helpful. but it’s also helpful to see truly what that teacher does well, what they really do what that you know, because sometimes whenever you walk in, they get flustered, and it’s not really what they would be doing. Right, if you’re there for a long time, hopefully they can ease into that and become more comfortable and not be so anxious around you. And I could see if you can make it work logistically, because that would have been the challenge for me because of the different kinds of responsibilities that I had. For sure. If you can make it work logistically, I could definitely see why that would be really great. I could even see doing I mean, if and for people who are listening to this, that had a rule that looked more like mine that are like how, you know, I’ve got teachers, and that would take me, you know, two months and right. And also, I wouldn’t be able to do a full day, you know, think consider a half day consider at least one teacher per grade level. Consider, you know, maybe if you want to get to know, teachers who are new to the grade level, and maybe you know, visit with them and see what their day is like you can like you can do it in categories. If you can’t logistically to everybody, you could, you know, figure out what is important about this. So then who do I focus on, you know, what matters? Spending time in the classroom? So then where do I focus my energy if you can’t get to everybody? But if you can, that would be pretty amazing. Because then you, hopefully you’re investing the time, like, let’s say, this takes you the first three months of school, let’s say it does, you know, you’ve invested that time, you’ve already made gains with teachers, just from being in the room. And then over time, you’re planning to stay there for a few years, at least you’re, you know, you’re putting money in the bank. Yeah. And then, yeah, and then next year, and the year after, you’re going to continue to reap the rewards of that time, even if you can’t spend as much time with them in the future. So I can, I can definitely see if your schedule would allow for that. I could totally see why that would be a great idea. That is pretty, it would really be, it’d be fun to you know, I had a dream just last night that I went back to the classroom, like I don’t I drink this every now and then, especially this time of year and over the summer, and in the fall, I start thinking about oh, going back, what would that be like? And, and and you know, you miss it? And so it sure would be fun. Yeah. And, you know, hold days in classrooms with the same teacher and really get to know the kids and get to know their routine. Now, what’s going on there? That would be really neat.

David White  37:19

Yeah, you know, I love that idea. And I like the idea of like, even half days, because it is I got 25 teachers. So I’m, I know schools that have way more and some teachers or coaches have multiple sites, right. So it’s not ideal, but I’d like to half day or even like each, like maybe grade level team, like lead teacher just like getting a pulse, getting a pulse, but also making that investment making the deposit early on planting the seed. There’s a little I have a little thing on my, my, my wall here, it says seeds are better than switches, which is this idea that patients, you know, you plant the seed, you watch it, you water it, you put it in the right soil, you watch it grow, rather than a switch where you just flip it. And I think we live in a very switch world like, hey, this curriculum is gonna save this or this. Here’s the magic bullet, you know, in education, there are none of those easy fixes. And so, patients seeds. This is a year process. This is a two year process, knowing that, man, if we’re going to move the needle for education, if my role is effective, then I gotta be thinking big game. I gotta be thinking in the long game. Yeah, I’m gonna get some short game wins. I got to I got to do something. This week, that’s gonna help this one teacher, but I can’t be thinking in that way, all the time. And so that’s kind of a thought. That’s the goal with that.

Chrissy Beltran  38:57

Yeah. I really love that idea. That’s a neat idea. And I would love to hear about if you kind of play with that. Let me know how it goes. Because that does sound really neat. I could see the game the reasons to do that. Like the benefits of that would be really good.

David White  39:08

Yeah, yeah. So we’ll see. Yeah, let’s see. All right, we’ll see. You know, and what’s really nice about the course is like, I got it, you know, and so like, it’s not like it’s a one time done deal. I’m planning to spend this summer, hey, let me get back into this course. Let me refresh my brain, because it’s the momentum idea. It’s really easy to get comfortable. And it’s really easy to just sit back and say, well, that worked. Let me just do that again. So I appreciate the idea that, hey, this is a course it’s an investment. But it’s not just for this, this last school year. I get to just tap into these resources because I didn’t get to everything. There’s a lot. There’s a whole lot in that. And maybe certain things popped out at me because they were like on my heart. Um, fully expecting that other things will pop out and fully expecting that while these for you know, these areas where, you know, hey, they were really helpful. Yeah, they’re going to be really helpful moving forward. But I wonder what else is going to be really helpful? So I don’t know just the end on that, like, yeah, I really appreciate the podcast. But I also really appreciate this idea that, hey, yeah, I made an investment in my school into my community and education. But I’m also, it’s an investment in my personal growth as a coach.

Chrissy Beltran  40:31

Well, thank you so much, I really appreciate your words about the course. And I am so glad that it was helpful to you and that you found the real value in it, and that it’s going to be helpful to you moving forward. And we’re going to continue to do I’ll do the live support, again, in a Facebook group, which is always kind of fun to see, like people will post their coaching menus or people will post, you know, whatever artifact they make. And I love to see that because everybody has a different take on things and people are so crafty. So yeah, definitely join us and check in and see what everybody’s sharing about. And thank you so much for being here today. It was so helpful to me and I’m so glad I love that idea. I hope it pans out for you. And I hope that you have a great start to your next year.

David White  41:14

Thank you, Chrissy and thank you for all you do for us coaches. Keep up. Keep up the good work.

Chrissy Beltran  41:20

Thank you. I always love chatting with David he was actually guest on the coaching scheduled episode and you’re gonna want to check that one out. If you enjoyed listening to him as well. He always has so many good ideas. And he’s so thoughtful about his coaching work that he is just the best guest so remember to go grab that jumpstart course at buzzing with ms b.com slash jumpstart join the waitlist for instructional coaching startup at buzzing with myth b.com slash startup. And then next week we’re actually starting a four week series about the first 20 days of instructional coaching. We’re going to look first about why it’s important to establish yourself in the school system right out of the gate, either the first week of school or right before the first week of school. And you can get all the step by step instructions and every single documents that you will need at instructional coaching.com/startup. So make sure you join me for startup this summer. I cannot wait to do it again. I had so many good experiences coaches last year, and I know you’re gonna love it until next week. Happy coaching

Chrissy Beltran  42:23 now that you’ve got so much to think about head over to buzzing with buzzfeed.com to grab some free downloads, become a VIP, and check out the podcast show notes. Happy coaching!