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Instructional Coaching: More Feelings than You’d Expect with Leah Ruesink, ep. 237

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This episode is sponsored by IRIS Connect


I bet no one told you coaching would feel like this!

Coaching is an extremely emotional experience! Instructional coaches often grapple with imposter syndrome, isolation, and self-doubt.

Today I’m joined by Leah Ruesink, literacy coach and adjunct professor, for a candid conversation about instructional coaching: more feelings than you’d expect! We explore the emotions coaches face, from the struggles that make it difficult to transition into the role to the everyday challenges that come with supporting teachers!

During the podcast, Leah shares her journey from teacher to coach, what she wishes she’d known before starting, and insights from her article about negotiating roles as a coach. She discusses systemic issues that coaches face, the emotions involved in coaching, and practical recommendations for managing them!

One thing I want you to take away is you’re not alone! Having big emotions while coaching is totally normal! It doesn’t mean you are not cut out for the job! I’ve experienced so many of the emotions Leah talks about and still do even now!

Be sure to listen to the entire episode for all the details! Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation!

Systemic Issues Impacting Instructional Coaches

Leah discusses the challenges she faced as a new coach, including not having a blueprint for building relationships and struggling to navigate coaching conversations. She also highlights several larger, systemic issues that make coaching more difficult:

  • Lack of understanding about the coaching role
  • Insufficient or inadequate training
  • Conflicting perceptions about the role and what a coach should do
  • Different perceptions
  • Time constraints
  • Being pulled into non-coaching tasks
  • Limited communication and coordination from school leadership
  • Unclear definition or expectations for the role

Instructional Coaching: More Feelings than You’d Expect

In the episode, Leah highlights some of the big feelings instructional coaches grapple with on campus. She explains that a lot of these emotions arise from trying to navigate relationships with teachers and define the coaching role.

These feelings are completely normal, and we all face them at some point in our journey! Don’t be surprised if these feelings come up while you’re coaching at your school!

Here are the big emotions Leah mentions:

Confusion around your coaching role

Leah says this was a big one for her. There is often uncertainty about responsibilities and how to structure the day.

Isolation and loneliness

As a coach, you work in the same environment as teachers, but you are no longer part of a teaching team. That shift can make it hard to figure out where you fit in. Often, coaches feel caught in the middle between teachers and administrators, leading to feelings of isolation and loneliness, especially if you are the only coach on campus.

Insecurity and self-doubt

Leah tells us that insecurity and self-doubt are common concerns she hears from colleagues and friends. Many coaches struggle with imposter syndrome, questioning whether they are providing meaningful support or meeting expectations.

Nervousness

When Leah was a new coach, she was nervous to start conversations and coaching cycles. She knew what a coaching cycle was and all the steps, but she didn’t know how to navigate conversations within them so that teachers would want to work with her. Lots of coaches experience nervousness at the beginning of the year and throughout it as well.

Sadness

Coaches often feel left out because they aren’t in the classroom anymore, and miss the joys of being a teacher. Instructional coaches can feel disconnected from students and miss the sense of impact they had when they taught.

How Coaches Can Navigate These Big Emotions

Now that we’ve identified these big emotions, what can coaches do to get through them? During our conversation, Leah offers several recommendations to navigate these issues and emotions.

Know you are not alone

Leah explains that we all go through these feelings. It’s normal to feel nervous and have doubts. You’re not alone! Other coaches have similar feelings!

Find a mentor coach

Leah was lucky because her coordinating coach was her mentor coach. She could call her to talk through any issues or situations that arose. Leah suggests finding a trusted, experienced coach you can call for guidance when you need help.

Document your experience

Leah tells us that she found using audio notes and journaling about her experiences very beneficial. She suggests writing down your experiences and emotions. It helps to get them out and provides closure to challenging situations!

Join a coaching community

Leah highlights the value of coaching communities as places to connect, share challenges, and learn from others going through similar experiences. If you’re looking to join a coaching community, check out my Facebook group, Instructional Coaching with Ms. B!

Seek out additional training

If your district doesn’t offer comprehensive coaching preparation, you can find additional training. Leah recommends looking for relationship-based training where you learn to ask effective questions, give feedback, and communicate within the coaching cycle.

Instructional Coaching: More Feelings than You’d Expect

Coaching comes with big feelings, and that’s totally normal! Whether you’re new to the role or a veteran coach, the emotional ups and downs are part of the job. You’re not alone – we’ve all been there!

I really enjoyed my conversation with Leah and appreciate how honest she was about all the challenges coaches face on campus. Her recommendations can help you navigate your feelings with more confidence!

Tune in now to hear Leah’s insights!

Topics and Questions Discussed in Episode 237 – Instructional Coaching: More Feelings than You’d Expect with Leah Ruesink

  • Instructional coaching: more feelings than you’d expect
  • What Leah wishes she knew before getting started as a literacy coach
  • What prompted Leah to write an article about negotiating roles as a coach and her findings
  • Systemic issues coaches face that make coaching teachers challenging
  • Big feelings instructional coaches grapple with
  • Recommendations to help new and veteran coaches navigate coaching and their emotions

This episode is sponsored by IRIS Connect. IRIS Connect helps you streamline teacher development with the world’s most advanced PD facilitation system.

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Podcast produced by Fernie Ceniceros

Instructional Coaching: More Feelings than You’d Expect with Leah Ruesink, ep. 237, Instructional Coaching with Ms. B Podcast

Chrissy Beltran  00:00

Hey, Coach, are you looking for a place to hang out, chat with coaches like you and learn new stuff while staring at your phone? Turn those minutes spent scrolling into minutes spent learning and join instructional coaching with Miss B. This Facebook group is the perfect place to ask questions of other coaches and me and to share your own experience with people who love to talk shop as much as you do. Just head to instructional coaching with Miss B and answer the entry questions so I can add you to the group. You’ll get access to the monthly Facebook Lives I’ve been doing for coaches. Once you’re a member, I can’t wait to see you in the group. Just go to facebook.com and search for instructional coaching with Miss B.

Chrissy Beltran  00:38

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Chrissy Beltran  01:57

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  02:24

Hey coach and welcome to episode 237, of instructional coaching with Miss B today, we are talking about, in a brand new series, instructional coaching. More feelings than you’d expect with my guest Leah Ruesink. Instructional coaching is surprisingly emotional, which I guess makes sense, because teaching is surprisingly emotional, and people often experience feelings of imposter syndrome, isolation, kind of feeling in the middle between teachers and admin. They struggle with self care. And so all of these pieces are can be difficult to manage. And so I really wanted to have a special series on helping you find your coaching identity. And this is part of instructional coaching startup. If you can identify who you are as a coach and how you are going to manage all these feelings, you will be able to do coaching work at much greater and deeper levels than if you don’t if you are always struggling with these feelings. So I am really happy to invite my guest, Leah, to the podcast to talk about that with us today. I also want to remind you that I have a free jumpstart course for you at buzzing with Miss b.com/jump start. You can grab that course, and it goes straight to your inbox. It will help you identify your coaching goals and values and what is most important to you as a coach and how you’re going to approach your work as a coach this year. So grab that if you’re a new coach, it’s fantastic. If you’re an existing veteran coach, it’s a really nice reminder, and they’ll help you get everything squared away before the year starts. You can also join my startup list at buzzing with myth b.com/startup and you will get a little handy dandy coupon code whenever my startup course opens in a few weeks. So without further ado, let’s welcome Leah to the podcast.

Leah Ruesink  04:04

Welcome to the podcast. Leah, hi, thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

Chrissy Beltran  04:08

I’m so glad that you’re here too. As a quick way for you to introduce yourself, even though you’ve been a guest on this podcast before a few seasons back, I would love to hear about a few things. So the first one is, who do you help? And then how do you spend most of your time and energy at

Leah Ruesink  04:21

work? Sure. Well, hello, everyone. My name is Leah rusink, and I am an early literacy coach from Southwest Michigan. I support preschool through fifth grade teachers with literacy instruction, so I spend the majority of my time in classrooms and working directly with teachers, at least that’s the goal. I’m always aiming for that, and we spend time looking at data and planning lessons together, co teaching, modeling. Sometimes I’m observing and offering feedback, so a lot of time in classrooms, and then I also work part time as an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University in Cal. The Zoo, so I get to teach literacy courses to undergraduate and graduate students. I love that. And then, aside from the work that you do, which I’m sure takes up so much of your time, what is a hobby that you love? Because I’m on a mission to share hobbies with school faculty, I don’t think that we give ourselves enough time to do the things that we love to do. I love that question. Yeah, well, it’s been my goal this past year to start reading more, and I don’t have a lot of time to read in my daily schedule in my life, so I have a long drive to work every day, almost an hour. So I’ve been listening to audio books, and it’s been amazing. I’ve really been enjoying that, getting into some fiction and just some topics that I don’t typically read about at work, which is a lot of literacy and research. So it’s nice to get away from that. I just read a book called Just Mercy. It was, I’m not into a movie. It’s so good.

Chrissy Beltran  05:50

Okay, I’m gonna put I have a I’ve listened to audio books as well, tons of them. I’ve got one right now. It’s the the briar club. It’s a Kate Quinn historical fiction and, and, and, yeah, I love having a list of really good audio books, because audio books are not always the same as like, there are books I want to read in print and there are books I want

Leah Ruesink  06:08

to listen to exactly. Well, this is a scenario is amazing, so I’d highly recommend it.

Chrissy Beltran  06:13

Alright, thank you. Alright. So let’s jump into our topic. Our topic today is about all the feelings that coaches really can struggle with that can make it difficult to transition to coaching, that can make it difficult for you to navigate the everyday of coaching. And so what I’m wondering about people talk a lot about lessons you learn as a new coach, things like that. What are some of the things that you wish you knew about coaching before you started this work?

Leah Ruesink  06:40

Sure? Yeah, there’s quite a few things. When I first got into my role as a coach, I felt like I was going in blind in a lot of ways. I got advice from certain people, but I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. The first thing I would say is just how to kick start relationships I wanted, like a relationship building blueprint and some different activities that I could do during those first few days and first few weeks that would really set the stage for my relationships with teachers. You know, relationships are built through experiences. So that’s how we build relationships with other people, by experiencing things with them. So I just wanted to know which of those experiences to seek out that would put me on the path to build those relationships. So that’s the big one. And then, along with that, I think navigating coaching conversations, I really didn’t know how to position myself in those early conversations with teachers, how to ask the right questions and how to give feedback. I just I thought I had that skill coming from the classroom, but reality coaching takes such a different set of skills, and many of us are not trained with those relationship building skills, so that would have been a big one to have more training on. And then I would say just knowledge of the school system. You know, I for my classroom, I knew my four walls, and I knew my students, but when I became a coach, all of a sudden, I have multiple classrooms that I’m in charge of. I’m meeting with principals and superintendents and all these different committees, and I didn’t really know how to position myself as a coach within all of that. And of course, I wanted to make a difference and partner with all of these different people, but I just didn’t have a lot of experience with that.

Chrissy Beltran  08:24

Those are great, yeah, the I’m hearing as you’re talking about those relationships, and I’m thinking back to whenever I was a new new coach, and I struggled, because kind of like when you’re a new teacher and you kind of realize, oh, kids are not all the same as I was when I was a kid. You go into classrooms as a coach and you’re like, Oh, these are all wildly different. It can be a challenge. You’re so used to just what you do in your classroom, and you’re so aware of everything else happening in education. So that’s right, that’s right. And how little time teachers actually spend in each other’s classrooms is actually sort of terrible, like we need to work on that guys, because that’s that is a huge problem, and that is one of the things that makes transitioning into coaching so difficult, because maybe you’ve, you know, you talk with your colleagues, but you don’t see the classroom, and we all talk about our work differently, and it can be very hard to to move into that role and work working with so many different personalities and philosophies and beliefs that teachers have and experiences

Leah Ruesink  09:26

for sure. Yeah, so that’s definitely something I wish I had more experience with. And then I think too, what success looks like. I know what it meant to be a successful coach, and you know, my first two days as a coach, my calendar was empty. I didn’t, let’s plan, because I hadn’t built those relationships yet. So what does success look like in those first few days and first few months? That would have been helpful to have some examples of that. That’s

Chrissy Beltran  09:51

a good point, too, because as a coach, I think we kind of have to define what success looks like for ourselves, because we are not we. You know, we contribute to test scores, we contribute to student well being, we contribute to student learning, we contribute to so many things, but there’s not like one indicator of whether we are doing a good job or not, and so we have to sort of define that for ourselves. And that can be difficult. And then administrators are going to define it one way as well. Everybody you work for always is going to have a different vision for that. So it that is a challenge too, and it can be hard if you are a person who works, who is motivated by those factors. I think that can be difficult if

Leah Ruesink  10:31

say that again, and many of us are, yeah, absolutely, that’s room, and that’s, you know, our personality,

Chrissy Beltran  10:37

yes, for sure. And so that can be a real challenge. If you’re like expecting to see something change quickly. You know, things take so much time, then it that can be very frustrating, and you can be doubtful of yourself and whether you’re doing a good job and whether you’re doing what you should be doing. That was my big quiz, that’s what I should be doing. You recently shared an article that you wrote about negotiating roles as a coach. And if you could share a little bit about what prompted you to tackle that topic, I think that’d be really interesting,

Leah Ruesink  11:08

sure. So before coaching, I was a teacher. So I taught preschool, I taught young fives, I taught kindergarten, and I accepted my role as an early literacy coach in 2021 so just after the pandemic, that whole crazy time. And at the time, I was finishing up my master’s program in literacy studies, and I had to choose a thesis topic to do some research. So I decided, you know, I’m starting this role as a coach, why not use that for my research project? So every day, as a part of my research, I collected audio notes on my thoughts, my feelings, all the activities I went through as a coach. And then I would meet periodically with my thesis advisor, who was the professor that ended up helping me write the paper. I would meet to look for patterns and kind of analyze the data, and that ultimately became the research paper. Also as a part of my research, I got to interview two of my coaching colleagues. So one was a brand new coach, just like me, and the other was our coaching coordinator, who had, you know, some experience as a coach. So that was really interesting, kind of contrasting the experience of a new coach and a non experienced coach. So that was a really cool

Chrissy Beltran  12:19

part of the research? Yeah, that’s so interesting. Would you care to share a little bit of your findings?

Leah Ruesink  12:25

Sure? Yeah, I can share those for sure. We found that training was a big, a big piece that we need to grow in coaching field. We don’t have appropriate training for literacy coaches. We need to focus more on those relational aspects. And there’s just so many emotions that that new coaches go through. So a lot of my emotions were kind of like you talked about, Am I doing a good job? Am I valuable? So I just, I really talked a lot about those insecure emotions that came up.

Chrissy Beltran  12:58

Mm, hmm, yeah, that’s, that’s training is a really good it’s really important. And I feel like I know I didn’t have anything. I mean, I had the training I got as a teacher, and then I was told, you know, things like, Well, you’re the expert, and whatever, you know, if you want to pull kids for a group, do it, because it’s probably better than what’s happening in the classrooms currently, because I was placed in a school that needed a lot of growth. And so, yeah, it was, it was a trying. It was a it was a challenge, without any training to figure things out, like build the plane while you’re flying it. You know, that sort of situation that is difficult. And so I’m sure that coaches who have training feel far more prepared to do the hard work of coaching closer to the beginning of their job,

Leah Ruesink  13:39

right? Well, many of us come from the classroom, and I think we’re just thrown, like you said, thrown into coaching, and people just assume that, oh, we they have all the skills that they need, right? When it’s it’s so much more than that,

Chrissy Beltran  13:53

yeah, yeah. Strong teacher doesn’t necessarily transition naturally into a strong coach. It takes a lot of work, yeah? So what are some of the larger issues? And these can be possibly systemic issues that coaches face that are like, kind of regardless of their own experience. So you know, veteran coaches, new coaches, regardless of their personality, that make coaching a challenging role. What are some of the things that they’re dealing with?

Leah Ruesink  14:18

Yeah, well, I think a big one is a lack of understanding of what coaching is, which we’ve kind of already touched on. Yeah, teachers are being hired as coaches coming into these classrooms, and nobody really understands the skills that they need. So then training doesn’t match that. There’s very little training, and the type of training, I think that’s provided to coaches isn’t exactly what they need, or it’s not enough. Those are two really big ones, and I think perception of coaches as well. So depending on you know, a principal may perceive a coach in a certain way. Maybe they assume that they need to. Part knowledge onto the teacher, right? Or the coach is just for certain teachers. Or, you know, there’s just these, all these different perceptions of what a coach should be. So all these coaches are going into school environments where everyone has a different perception of who the coach is, and that make it really hard to be effective in the coaching role, I think time is a big one as well. We just don’t have enough time. Teachers don’t have enough time. They have a 35 minute planning period. So as a coach, you’re trying to schedule your time and create this consistent relationship with teachers where you’re meeting their needs consistently. And there’s just not that much time. So that’s been a really big one for me, and I’ve had to get really strategic about how I schedule and organize my time. This isn’t something I’ve experienced, but being pulled into subbing positions a lot of like you, you said, right? Or just non coaching tasks. Coaches are asked to do different things that are not coaching in the school day. And what we know is that coaches are most effective when they’re working directly with teachers. But again, there’s just not a good understanding of why that is so important. So those are some big ones.

Chrissy Beltran  16:16

Yeah, I think the point about like, it’s like the coaching role is too big. It’s not narrowed down to what it should be in that one school, and that often happens because of a lack of faculty members to do all the things. So like the state says, oh, we need this report of at risk students, and you have to put a one here and a zero here, and every student in the school has to be accounted for. And then we need to document tutoring and who’s going to do all that? And the principal’s like, you, yeah, yeah, there’s needs. There’s a lot of needs in the school, and I think school leadership would be another systemic issue. We just coaches have to be able to work closely with principals and coordinate well with them and all building leaders. But when there’s no coordination and communication there, it can be so hard to do your work well as a coach, absolutely, there can be little follow through. So like, sometimes you have administrators who are like, Okay, this is what we’re going to work on. These are our school initiatives. We want you to provide all this training and make sure it’s happening. Okay, I’m going to support the teachers. I’m going to get them the resources they need. I’m going to provide the training. We’re going to follow up PLC meetings, and then there’s no follow through from admin. So then teachers are like, Why are you making us do this? You’re like, I did this. I know this was my idea. I

17:25

didn’t come up with this exactly.

Chrissy Beltran  17:28

Yeah, I think that administration having a good idea of how to work with a leadership team is important. Early on in the podcast, I interviewed my principal from whenever I was an instructional coach, it was like our fourth episode, or seventh episode, or something I don’t know, early, and her name is Lynn mussel, and she used a leadership team like I’d never seen before, and I haven’t since. She was just really good at bringing everybody in and say, Okay, this is your role. How does your role contribute to what we’re trying to do here? Now the tricky part of that is saying, Yeah, you’re on leadership team, but you’re not an administrator, and so that’s the other end of that. So either you’re, like, not empowered to do the things need to do, or you’re empowered so much that people think that you are an admin, and that’s also tricky. Can get very hazy,

Leah Ruesink  18:17

it can, and that’s that’s a hard thing about being a new coach is you’re trying to find your position. Am I more like teacher? Am I more like a principal? What, you know, connected in to all of this?

Chrissy Beltran  18:27

Yes, yeah, someone on the podcast, gosh, I wish I remember who that sparked a memory is when they were talking about roles and coaching roles and defining it. Say, and they said that, you know, people pretty much know what a teacher does, and people pretty much know what a principal does and what a principal does and what an assistant principal does, but when it comes to a coach, nobody has any idea. Sometimes even the coach their

Leah Ruesink  18:46

job is exactly yeah, and communicated at the same time,

Chrissy Beltran  18:53

right? That’s right, that’s right, and you have to kind of double back. Sometimes it’s kind of like a scientific method that it’s imperfect, right? We don’t know the answer until we go through the process, so you kind of end up defining your role after the period of a year or so, whenever it’s been very hazily presented to you or not presented at all. And by then, all these relationships have been shaped in weird ways. And that makes it challenging, because instead of having like a coaching relationship with a teacher, which is a very specific, unique relationship. It’s not like a teacher teacher, it’s not like teacher admin. Instead of having that coaching relationship, you’ve developed whatever has come up naturally. And some people that’s going to naturally develop, because that’s who they are, but not everybody, and that makes it tricky.

Leah Ruesink  19:34

It does. And a lot of big feelings come from that time when you’re trying to navigate relationships with teachers.

Chrissy Beltran  19:39

Yes, that’s right. And so, so what are some of those big feelings that coaches grapple with?

Leah Ruesink  19:45

Well, one of them, we kind of touched on this again, but confusion just around your role, that was a big one for me. I really was never told this is exactly what your role is. These are your responsibilities, and this is what that will look like, of course. So. So there was a lot of confusion around that. I wasn’t sure how to structure my day, what things I should be doing and how much time to spend on each of them, especially early on, my day filled up since and now I’m quite busy, but in the beginning, it just felt like I had nothing to do during the day. So just a lot of confusion around them. That was a big one. And then I think isolation is another one, and loneliness, yes, you’re no longer a part of a teaching team, which I loved my teaching team, so that was really hard for me to let go of that. And you’re in the same environment as teachers, but like you said, you’re not one of them anymore, trying to fit in with teachers, and you’re trying to fit in with principals and like that scale I talked about, it just feels so confusion, confusing and lonely trying to figure out where you fit on that scale. How do teachers see you on that principal? Is that scale? Are you more like a teacher or more like a principal? So lots of Yeah, lots of loneliness around that. And also my first couple weeks of school, I remember I would walk kids down the hall to their classrooms, just to, you know, be of help to teachers in the morning, but the bell rang, they would shut their door and I’m left in the hallway. Yes, myself, correct, yeah. I go back to my office, and it was quiet and there was just so much loneliness around that. I missed that family feel of the classroom. I missed my kids to give me a hug and just all the joys of being a classroom teacher. I definitely did not leave the classroom because I didn’t want to be a teacher. I left because I wanted to have a bigger impact on education and have more time to soak in literacy, knowledge and research. So that was, yeah, there was some sadness around that as well.

Chrissy Beltran  21:46

I can absolutely relate that exact experience was, is the way. I remember my first week of coaching, where you do guide kids to classrooms. You got your little rosters there in case anybody’s lost, and then they close the doors and you’re just by yourself. So you go to your room and you’re just depressed, and nobody needs anything from you. Because you’re used to people needing things from you all the time, and you’re new as a coach, so you’re like, nobody needs anything from me. I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I guess I’ll work on this thing. You just don’t know where to start. And it is, it’s, I felt bereft. I felt like, oh, did I give up all the good parts?

Leah Ruesink  22:21

So many people feel that way, especially when you first start out, yes. So many of us are used to being valued for something so concrete we provide, right? We’re used to being useful. We have a bunch of kids in front of us, and we constantly needed so again, as a brand new culture and the hallway after the bell rings, you realize, you know, I would ask, do you guys need anything? I can do something for you, you know. But they all said, Nope, we’re okay. And I didn’t needed feeling. I was so used to feeling. So their big emotion is just insecure or doubting yourself. That’s one of the big ones I hear from my coaching colleagues and friends, right? Just not knowing if you’re good enough and you’re valued. A lot of my research, that was what came out. I I would say things like, am I valuable here? I’m nervous that I’m going to go to this meeting with the kindergarten team and leave without having gained their respect and without them valuing me, because I can’t provide something to them. So that was, that was a big feeling as well during, really, the first year, and honestly, I still feel that. So if you’re an experienced coach listening, this is a feeling we all feel as coaches,

Chrissy Beltran  23:33

yes, yeah, I think that’s a good point. Is that it comes up, it’s, it’s constant at first, almost, but then over time, it comes up here and there, where you’re like, I don’t know. Am I doing the right thing? Is this the right way? Am I helping? Is this actually useful? Am I wasting somebody’s time? We have all these doubts creep in, and really all we can do is like, come back to I used to have one of the people that worked with me from central office, whenever I was a new coach, I was like, what you do? I’m getting there’s so many people who are like, we’re not doing this, and they’re pushing back. And it was just very just very there was a very negative tone in the school. It was a difficult place to start coaching in. And she said, You know what you do is you just go back to the research and you say, Look, I know this is real. I know this is accurate. This is, you know, it’s okay, but they’re not happy with it right now. We’re going to come around to it, but you’ve got to go back to the research, or else you’re going to drive yourself Batty, doubting everything you’re doing.

Leah Ruesink  24:24

Yeah, and that pushback from teachers leads to feeling so nervous to start conversations and coaching cycles. I remember being just beside myself so nervous to begin a coaching cycle with a teacher, mostly because I didn’t really know how to navigate the conversations within the coaching cycle. I knew what a coaching cycle was, you know, in all the steps of the coaching cycle, but how do I actually communicate effectively so that teachers will want to work with

Chrissy Beltran  24:51

me? Yeah, and also get something out of it. It is, it is a juggling act, for sure. So what are the. For coaches who are like veteran coaches, they’ve already been in the role, what are some recommendations you can have for them that can help them deal with some of these issues?

Leah Ruesink  25:09

Sure. Well, I think number one is just know that you’re not alone. First of all, we all go through these feelings. It’s so normal to feel nervous, to initiate coaching cycles and to question your ability, to question your value. So all of that is so notable, to not know how to structure your day right away. All those things a mentor coach is super important. I got so lucky and my coaching coordinator was my mentor coach. I could call her and just talk about, you know, a situation that came up with one of the grade level teams, or something uncomfortable I experienced when talking to a teacher, seek that out, find someone you can just give a call to and talk about those hard emotions. I also did my research by collecting audio notes. So I have to say that was so beneficial, spending a few minutes at the end of every day just journaling or audio note journaling right about your experiences from the day, right? Write down some things that you experience. Write down your feelings and your emotions. It just helps to get it out, because there’s so much that comes up. You can also find coaching communities, Instagram, Facebook has some awesome groups. I believe you have a group. I do have Facebook group instructional coaching with Miss B, yeah, yep. So go ahead and look that group up. There’s lots of coaches that share different challenges that come up, and it’s a great place to learn with other coaches who are going through the same thing. And then I think seeking out training if your district doesn’t offer relationship based training where you’re learning how to ask good questions and give feedback and communicate in the coaching cycle, it’s such a good idea to seek out that training?

Chrissy Beltran  26:53

Yes, I agree too. I agree with all of that. I you know the audio notes that you mentioned, I can imagine that giving you some sort of sense of closure on certain things too, maybe because the temptation is to complain and complain and complain about something, and then we know actually, that studies show, the more we complain about something, the worse, like, the angrier we get about it. But if maybe you record it and your thoughts about it in an audio note, and then you’re like, Okay, now I’m done, then I wonder if that doesn’t help give you, like, more of a sense of closure than a sense of, like, continuing to fuel the fire.

Leah Ruesink  27:27

Absolutely. Yeah. I think closure is a good word. I like that. Yeah.

Chrissy Beltran  27:31

We need it. I remember what you mentioned about about, you know, you had this mentor that helped you, you know, work through these things. I had the one that I mentioned from central office. She wasn’t technically my mentor, but she was someone who was, well, ready to help at all times. And I remember she said, have you given any thought to how you are approaching your coaching work and how you are building this? I had been coaching for a couple of years. Have you like written about it? And I thought, You know what I really have, which is funny, because I do write a lot, but I haven’t written specifically about that, you know. And she was like, I would encourage you to write about it, and that’s actually where my instructional coaching startup book came from. Was because she encouraged me to write about this. And it does so much for you to think through all of the things that you’re dealing with, to write or record, to process things, and to go, oh, there is, you know, there are, there are pieces here I can work with, you know? Oh, I recommend that totally,

Leah Ruesink  28:26

also not to be surprised when these emotions come up. That’s why I’m so good about this today, right? Coaches can know, okay, this is a feeling that I know is going to come up. I’m going to write about it at the end of the day, or take a quick note something I’m working through. I’m going to continue being visible and being bold and being present, and we’ll get through it. It’s just a part of starting out as a coach.

Chrissy Beltran  28:46

I like that. Yeah, I think that’s a great piece of advice for a veteran coach who is struggling with feelings, is to know that these are normal and they’re going to happen. And for a brand new coach who’s walking into coaching this coming year and unsure of what they’re going to walk into, just be prepared to feel all the feelings.

Leah Ruesink  29:04

I remind myself that teachers have so much on their plates. They have their own perceptions of the coach. So usually, if I have a reaction from a teacher or they’re hesitant or resistant to working with me, it’s usually not personal. They have so much, so many other things going on, you know? So that’s just something I have to remind myself of, because all this literacy and their world is literacy and so many other things.

Chrissy Beltran  29:29

Yes, that’s such a good point. I remember we were starting something new, where our principal wanted to build a video bank of teachers with recorded lessons that they could share with others to kind of onboard, which made a lot of sense, right? This is a small group lesson. Is what it looks like. We recorded this teacher, and one teacher at one point, I guess it had not been presented well to them, even though it was a principal suggestion. And she said, I remember her saying, well, are these going to be put up on like YouTube? I don’t want this on YouTube. And she was because she was, had been so angry about the recording. And I couldn’t figure out why. And it turned out, she thought the whole time that they were going to go up on YouTube or something. And I was like, where did that come from? I had no idea where that came from. So, yeah, they just, they’re bringing things with them. And sometimes, yes, it’s an interaction with you that they’re responding to. But a lot of time it is not, it is completely, you know, outside factors or anxiety of their own that is affecting their interactions with you, and if you take it personally, then you can’t really do much work with that person, right? It’s hard to work with somebody if you are like feeling beat up by them all the time, you know. So thank you so much for sharing all of this today. How can people learn more from you? And would you share about where they could find your article? Sure, yeah, I can send it to you if you want to link it in the show. Yes, yes, yes. Let’s do that. Let’s do that. And then I have an Instagram, the early literacy coach. You can find more information about me there and reach out if you have any questions, and you’re a new coach or experienced coach, and just want to share about some things happening in your role. I love talking and communicating with other coaches in the field. I love it. Thank you so much for being here. I love how honestly, it was about all the things that coaches go through. If you are a new coach and you’re starting this fall, everybody has been through these things, and you are not alone. If you are an existing coach and you are still experiencing lots of feelings and struggle, I get it. We’ve all been there. There are times whenever we all feel this way. And if you want to send an email to Leah, I’m sure she’d respond. She said, You know, you’re welcome to contact her on Instagram as well, and also, like she mentioned, join the Facebook group instructional coaching with Miss B because we would love to help you work through any of the issues that you’re having as a coach. Remember, you can grab that jump start course to help you get focused in your work this year at this year at buzzing with Miss B Com Slash Jump Start, and next week, we’re continuing our our mini series on instructional coaching, startup, your coaching identity with the purpose of instructional coaching. And I’m looking forward to that one, because this is one of those hazy gray areas that Leah mentioned so many admin they’re unclear. So many coaches are unclear. If we can get clarity, we can really start to enjoy the work that we’re doing and make a difference. So I will talk to you again next week, and until then, happy coaching. Now that you’ve got so much to think about, head over to buzzing with missbee.com to grab some free downloads, become a VIBee and check out the podcast show notes. Happy coaching!

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