Monthly Morale Boosters for Teachers, ep. 271

Monthly Morale Boosters for Teachers, ep. 271, Instructional Coaching with Ms. B Podcast

Chrissy Beltran (00:01.4)

Hey coach and welcome to Instructional Coaching with Miss B. We are talking about monthly morale boosters for teachers. This is part of our theme on coaching culture and morale because we know that this is one of the major issues we’re seeing at schools. Now, before I dig into the episode, I do want to just make a little note. If you have teachers who close the door when you walk by, openly complain during PLC meetings, or flat out refuse to work with you, you’re in a tough spot, but it’s a common one.

Coaches have had to figure out how to reach teachers who are resistant to coaching and change since the day the first coach came to be. So let me help you out. Head to buzzingwithmissb.com slash resistance and get the five day coaching resistant teachers challenge sent right to your inbox. It’s a short video each day with a workbook to help you work through this challenge and change your coaching relationship for the better. I know you’re gonna love it. So I’m gonna talk a little bit about my very first year of coaching and I can remember this year really well.

for some really specific reasons as I’m probably not alone in this. One of these is because everybody was so depressed. It was a hard year. There were a lot of things that changed for teachers. They were expected to open their doors when they’d previously like for decades have them closed all the time. Like many teachers had been at the school for a really long time in the same room with the same decor. They had to meet about data and planning and they had never really done that before.

They had directives instead of laissez-faire approach to teaching and there were actual accountability points and requirements and people were checking things and deadlines were happening and it was rough. And some teachers, especially the primary teachers who had previously had very little accountability because they didn’t have state testing, they felt like teaching wasn’t fun anymore. And you’ve probably heard this too. I’ve heard this even as a teacher in the classroom when I started teaching in 03 and as I was leaving the classroom in 2012 to become a coach.

I was hearing about how teaching wasn’t fun anymore and I can see where these people are coming from. It’s changed a lot and not because schools wanted it to change, right? So obviously over time, this has increased multifold. The levels of accountability that used to make teachers balk would probably seem light and easy by comparison now. The micromanaging that has become so normal in so many settings would be incomprehensible to many teachers back in 2011.

Chrissy Beltran (02:20.45)

But change is hard regardless of where you’re starting from. And starting from freedom and ending in alignment, which felt like restriction, which I understand is a pretty big shift. I had spent hours talking with teachers about how they felt so limited and oppressed. And I felt like I had to do something to lift spirits. And I was desperate. So out of desperation, I printed these cute sticky notes.

You remember it was October, okay? With little ghosts on them and a positive note about student work and I wandered around the school, sticking them up on student work displays in the hallway. I didn’t know what else to do, guys. A few days later, a teacher came up to me and asked, was that you, the little ghosts? And I said, yes, I thought your student work was so beautiful, so I wanted to let you know. And she smiled and it was kind of a rueful smile, which is sad. And she said, well, at least somebody notices it. Now, I don’t want this to sound like.

my administrators were terrible because they were actually fantastic, warm and focused on celebrating teachers and small wins. But the shift the school was going through, and as my principal used to say, we were a school on the move, which that’s rough, right? Was so challenging that teachers didn’t feel great about anything that we’re doing. They actually told me that they had been told the previous year that they didn’t know what they were doing and they were doing everything wrong.

I know my administrator, I know she would not have said those words, but that is what was internalized. So it was just like so much, so fast for them. And my little sticky note didn’t change any of that, but it did help a teacher feel appreciated for a moment. And she knew it was me, which kind of makes me wonder why, right? So how can you both boost morale across your school throughout the school year?

depending on where your school is, you might have to start at different places. So for some schools, being booed or elfed is a fun, joyful opportunity to surprise somebody else with something fun and thoughtful. But for others, it’s just another chore they have to accomplish and more dollars to be spent. So you kind of need to listen to these suggestions through a lens of your school and your teachers and think about what would help them feel encouraged and give them some moments of joy. This is one thing that I want to…

Chrissy Beltran (04:32.082)

Like for example, one year I had, we had a colleague who loved to dance and he used to have teachers get together to dance after school and learn a fun dance that they were gonna do during the holiday program in December. Some teachers love that and it was really great for them and I was like, when do you have the time to do this? So everything isn’t gonna work for everybody, but those teachers who participated loved doing that dance and it really did bring them a lot of joy. Another point is that school morale will not change until

Like on the whole, you know, until schools work differently. Top down from federal government or the state mandates that are often unfunded, rigid, and even unreasonable or harmful, impact morale more significantly than anything you can do as a coach. So please know that I’m not suggesting that a coffee and tea bar is going to change the way a teacher feels about their job completely. They’re not going to suddenly go, my God, I love coming in on Saturdays to teach.

know, intervention lessons to kids who are still not reading when they’re 10 years old because I get coffee for free. Nobody’s doing this, right? It’s not about changing the school with your coffee bar. It can bring a smile or joy to somebody who needs that day and knows that you appreciate them and you’re showing that you appreciate them. So let’s look at each month and how you might support morale with small things that coaches can often coordinate alongside their administrators.

or some of these things you can completely do on your own. Some of these, however, could benefit from a community partner to sponsor them. So if you have never approached a community member, you know, a local business, somebody who could give you $50 a month or $50 one month, you know, if you can get something from somebody local to be able to do something sweet for your teachers, how lovely would that be? And then you can put their business card in it or something, you know, put up a little sign or something like that to show appreciation.

Let’s start with August because everything starts in August, Whenever your teacher, your year starts in August, not in January. So in August, teachers are excited and they likely have a very positive view of the school year or at least the most positive one they’re gonna have that year, right? So these are some fun things you can do in August to spice things up and add a little joy. You can do faculty or PD bingo where at the beginning of the year you have like, you could do those funny.

Chrissy Beltran (06:51.778)

PD bingo boards where it’s like somebody says, well, ours was somebody was always talking about populating the data. So if somebody says populate the data, you get to mark off that square. If somebody says engagement, you get to mark off that square. You could also do a faculty bingo about different faculty members and then they have to like do something to, like whenever you have, you give boards to your kids and they have to find somebody who same idea.

You can do handwritten welcome notes. If you can’t do it for everybody, hand select teachers that you think could really benefit from that, maybe your new teachers and other teachers who need a boost or would really appreciate it. You could also do a one word for the year during PD activity. Now this is gonna work for some and not for others, like all of these, okay? But a one word for the year is kind of like whenever people start in January with resolutions. You can ask people what’s your word and then you can sort of…

come back to that throughout the year during PLC meetings or whenever you’re coaching individually and ask them to reflect on that word and how are they moving towards it, you know? So if their word maybe is joy, how are we making opportunities for joy throughout the school day? How are you doing this with your kids? How are you doing this for yourself? Let’s look at September. In September, teachers are still motivated. It’s still early, right? But it’s a long month. I don’t know why. It’s actually a shorter month than many, but my first September never ended.

I was in September for a long time. I think it’s maybe like, I don’t know, holidays or I don’t know what it is. It just went on for years. And so some fun things you can do are you can do like scratch offs during PD for little prizes and they have, sell those scratch off cards. You can get them on Amazon. Actually, I’ll throw some links in this post. If you check out the show notes, you’ll be able to get links to different things that can help you do these different activities. You can do positive praise points during team meetings. Choose one teacher each meeting to praise for something.

I love doing this and it’s so meaningful. You could take a picture in their classroom, you could put it up on a bulletin board or you can just do it in person. You can put it, if you have like a slideshow with your agenda in it, stick it in there so you can praise somebody and really appreciate the work that they’re doing in front of their colleagues. And then another fun seasonal thing because seasonal things make people happy. Like you tell me if I’m wrong, but something seasonal, my gosh, as a reason I put a little ghost on that sticky note, okay? Seasonal things make my heart explode.

Chrissy Beltran (09:12.042)

So if you can do apple cider and donuts in the lounge, how sweet is that? And then maybe throw in some like apples for people who tried to avoid donuts like myself, but often fail, put an apple out there for them. You know, cut up some slack. In October, we see reality hit, right? And behavior patterns have become really clear. Now, some of those kids, they all started day one and they are still holding strong in October, but some of them are slowly creeping up, right?

And these patterns of interaction between teacher and kids, they’re becoming set in stone. So we’ve got to kind of spice things up here and help teachers maybe make a shift. I’m not gonna talk about management, but I just want, in this episode, but I do want you to be aware that that is the issue that we are seeing. The kids have decided who the teacher is and this is how it’s gonna be. So a couple of fun things that you can try. You can do, you’ve been booed, which is if you’ve never seen it. You put together like a little cup or a basket or little gift bag or something.

For a couple of people, I’ve started the You’ve Been Boo’d a few different times at school. And you have little cute things that go in there, maybe seasonal, I don’t know, teacher supplies, put in some highlighters, put in a little notepad shaped like a pumpkin, stuff like that. And then you leave it at the teacher’s room with a note that says, you you’ve been booed and you have three days or however many days to forward that to the next person. So they can either just send along the bag if they don’t wanna participate or they can…

buy a couple things to fill up the little bag, take the things out that you gave them, and then send that little bag on to the next person, along with the little you’ve been booed note. So that’s a fun one. On parent conference day, which usually happen around this time of year, conferences, please provide food for your people. Provide pizza. It’s not expensive. Give them a hot dog. Come on. Give them some sodas. know, even, I mean, let’s do, if we gotta do Sam’s Choice, do something. You know, give them some meals.

around school because you know that shows that not everybody has time to go home and depending on your conference time that can be tricky. So provide some snacks or something in the lounge for them. You can also in this month because October is another long one like September is you can offer to read a book aloud in each classroom and just kind of give teachers a few minutes to work on something because a little read aloud you can spend 30 minutes reading the book having a discussion doing a little activity something along those lines.

Chrissy Beltran (11:31.79)

It would be a great way for you to get in the classroom, kind of see what’s up, notice kind of behavior and management in those rooms that you have not been as present in for different reasons. And it would also give the teacher a little boost. They have a few minutes to do something. Maybe they can go visit another classroom and see a teacher do stuff, or maybe they can go to the bathroom. It would be nice, right? You can also do, and I’ve done this one that’s super fun, a trail mix bar during PD or in the lounge with like little candy corn pumpkins that nobody eats, but they’re so cute. Like five people in the whole school will eat them, but they’re adorable.

and you can add like, you do popcorn and pretzels and little candy corn pumpkins and &Ms and everybody gets to make their own little trail mix in like a little cup. Ugh, so adorable. Again, seasonal stuff, it hits, it just hits. In November, people are tired. They are tired and they are beginning to count days and nobody can blame them. So a couple things you can do, you can do student work display positive notes like I did, only maybe even better, right? Make a little award or a certificate. You could, you could,

actually go to the classroom, walk in the door, and announce to the kids that they have won this award for their student work. How great is that? Because that’s motivating for kids too. You could do a coffee bar or a traveling cart with those coffee warmer things and fancy creamers, and you could take them to different rooms and everybody can have like place an order or they could, they could, you could just have it set up in a stationary place and they could give you your order and you could deliver it. And yes, that would take you forever. And you could probably coordinate with maybe you’re a school counselor or home liaison or

another coach or an interventionist just to kind of like cover the day, but wouldn’t that be sweet and special? You could go around the table at a meeting and each person says something they are thankful for about each other person. And I’ve done this and it was, I’m not lying, life-changing for this team because this team had a couple of people in it that were very strong personalities. And as we sat around this table and this person who could be a little bit abrasive,

had to say something kind about each person and it was a sincere, thankful thing, it was really very moving because you could see the humanity in that person and that person shared the humanity they saw in each other person. And then I had to do it. I had to also say about each teacher as a coach what I appreciated about them. And so like with those people who were kind of tricky to work with, I found something beautiful about them and I shared it and I do believe it changed our relationship. So I recommend doing that one. It’s so easy, it’s free.

Chrissy Beltran (13:52.76)

takes 10 minutes, you know? At the end of it, we were literally laughing and singing kumbaya. It was a joke, but we kind of meant it. In December, students are getting wild, okay? Teachers are surviving, barely. Kids are surviving, barely. It’s rough. And you could do like a You’ve Been Elf, which is super fun if you have a faculty that would appreciate something like that. But you could also just cancel something non-essential. What doesn’t need to get done that month? Just don’t make them do it.

Is there something on the calendar that is not required in December? You got like three weeks in December and they are not even good full weeks. Just take it off the calendar and make everybody love you. People will love you if you convince the boss to take something off the calendar or if you can take a PLC meeting and instead of doing like more of the same, you could do something joyful. One year, this is kind of silly, but it was really fun. We drew names for each person. Each person put their name in a hat and they drew the name of a person in a different grade level.

So every PLC meeting that we had, we put out a pair of socks and like paint pens, puff paints, and like little glue things, things they could glue on. And they had to design a pair of socks for another person that would have been like something that would match their personality. So of course my socks had bees on them. I made, for my friend who was the interventionist, I made a pair of socks where I drew the Virgin Mary on them. That might sound weird, but like we’re…

You know, we’re Latinas and we, you know, love the Virgin of Guadalupe. And so our Lady of Guadalupe, I drew her on each sock and she was like, my gosh, I love these. Cause it’s like her favorite. So that was something so fun to do. Somebody made like socks that were more like dog themed because that person was obsessed with their dogs. Things like that is really cute. You can do a hot cocoa bar. Easy peasy. Hot cocoa is cheap. You can make a big pot of it, like in a crock pot.

You don’t even have to have fixings, but you sure can. A little whipped cream doesn’t hurt anybody, and it’s so fun. You could also do a teaching gift. So I remember my boss, whenever I was a new coach, she said, look, I can’t always do what I want for teachers, but I can use my budget for a few things. I can feed them, and I can give them classroom supplies. So we would spend some time thinking of ideas every year that were classroom supplies for teachers, but that felt gift-ish.

Chrissy Beltran (16:11.756)

Right? So cute classroom supplies, fun classroom supplies, like those little buzzers that kids can use whenever you’re doing test prep or I got an amazing pencil sharpener. I got this sharpener probably about 20 years ago as a present from my principal and I still have it. It’s amazing. It’s an amazing sharpener. If you can get them a good quality thing so that they’re not having to replace things or having the hassle of not having the thing, like when the sharpener breaks, that is going to change.

their life, they will be so happy and appreciate you so much. In January, we see a shift, right? We have some reset energy to start, but it’s gonna wear off quickly because this is the spring. And in the spring semester, I don’t wanna get into it, but you know what it’s like, right? So from here to the end of the year, you’re gonna wanna make a real effort to appreciate your teachers. And one way you can do that is to write a note of appreciation to three to five teachers a week until you’ve gotten through everybody.

between now and the end of the year. You could do two teachers a week. You could do one. One is better than none, right? Do what you can for one, if you can’t do it for everybody. So make the effort to write that note of appreciation and it’s gonna help somebody. You could do a PD scavenger hunt. Now this can look different in different ways, but if you give, you know, maybe you’re having teachers learn about something new and you have them move around the school to find the different pieces of evidence that they use to build their understanding.

It’s not hard to set up. It adds some movement and it can be so much fun for teachers to actually engage with their colleagues, earn points. We did like a photo scavenger hunt where they had to take pictures and then send them back to their, whoever was kind of like their contact person from the office. And then that way you could tally the points up as you go. So much fun and easy and it gets people moving and joyful. During PDU you could also give each teacher a piece of paper. They write their name on the top and set it on their table.

and then you have teachers move around the space writing something positive on each piece of paper. They don’t even have to sign it. It’s such a nice way for teachers to appreciate each other. In February, we’re waiting for spring, right? February can feel long because we’re like so close, but we’re talking testing, which is no. This.

Chrissy Beltran (18:23.758)

could be a great week to a month to have like a we love our teachers week, right? Which I mean, it’s right around Valentine’s Day. So each day you could coordinate something special to give to teachers. could be a drink, a treat, a candy, you could do a raffle, it could be a school supply. Who doesn’t love some cute post-its in a fun shape, right? Something simple to brighten their day. And again, if you have a sponsor, what a great way to use a sponsor. This is also a good time for student appreciation for their teachers. There’s gonna be teacher appreciation month, but if you, you know,

Very carefully choose the time when you have kids write notes to their teacher, maybe coordinate with a room they’re gonna be in already if they go to the counselor or if they go work with another support staff member, you could have them write notes to their teacher of thanks and then give them to them around Valentine’s Day would be sweet. Another thing that would be really appreciated by people like me is like a veggie bar, like a fruit and veggie bar. To counterbalance the sugar that teachers receive around this time of year. On Valentine’s Day every year,

kids would bring like tasty things, right? And I generally tried to avoid sugar because it doesn’t do great things in my body, okay? But every year I would make an exception on Valentine’s Day. And so kids would bring the treats that they bring and I’d basically eat all of them that day. Don’t judge me. Don’t be judging me. You know, I don’t need to hear about this. And then at the end of the day, I was like, my God, I just need a steak. I need some protein right now, right?

All I craved was a steak on Valentine’s Day because I was so full of sugar from the day. So a veggie bar would be such a nice way to honor. Yeah, we get it teachers. We know that you got like 50 bags of Hershey Kisses this week instead of giving them more sugar on top of what they’re already getting. In March, testing is happening. Okay, we’re getting started with this. And it basically goes from March to May, right? In different grade levels at different times. But this is when we start to see it. Behavior is sometimes spiraling out of control.

So there are couple things that you can do to support teachers. You could include movement. Like I mentioned, my friend who set up that dance where they would practice twice a week after school. You could organize one walking afternoon a week, even for 15 minutes. Get teachers out to walk on the track together. You could give away something fun to use during test prep. Like I mentioned, those buzzers, those game show buzzers during test prep, those are fun. Dry erase boards is easy and you can use them all year long. New dry erase markers, because you know teachers are providing their own markers. And that stuff adds up.

Chrissy Beltran (20:48.192)

like a little mini basketball hoop and a basketball. Usually around this time of year, Dollar Tree has those Easter baskets that are basketball hoops or like a little football shaped one. Get them something like sports themed and like a little tiny ball that they can throw whenever they get a question right or something. You could also do a really cute one would be like a rainbow parfait in the lounge. So you could set up fruit, honey, granola and yogurt and people could make their own little parfaits. That would be super fun. In April.

We’re hitting testing fatigue. People are like, I’m so over this. I almost want the test to be tomorrow, so at least it would be done, right? So a couple things that you can do. Testing day snacks, anything from the trolley days, right? You can offer like healthy snacks, fun snacks, and just walk around with your cart so people can get what they want. You could play music in the morning and after the last bell, it’s a small thing, but if you ask teachers for their suggestions, that could be a fun way to brighten your day.

And you could also end a faculty meeting early with like no consequence, just plan for less in that meeting. Get about 30 minutes early. Ugh, it’s like whenever you walk out early from school and you’re not used to it, you’re like, wow, it’s still sunny. May and June, I’m putting these together. You’re hanging in there, but teachers are worn out. I used to love teaching during May because by then usually our testing was over, not every year, but usually.

And so I could do the fun stuff and the cool stuff that I’d been wanting to do all year that was aligned with our standards, but we didn’t have the time always. So it was so much fun for me as a teacher, but I was tired. And teachers are exhausted with behaviors as well. So this time of the year, help teachers focus on positive gains that have happened throughout the year. Each teacher can write something down that they’re proud of or one highlight and share it at a meeting. You can also do a popcorn and sparkling water or soda cart.

That’s a really fun one for this time of year. It’s kind of fizzy and fun. You could do, this is something that I do as a parent, but you could do with your teachers, a summer song and everybody is gonna pick the song that will represent their summer. You can make a playlist out of it and then use the playlist at a PDR team meeting, which would be super fun. You could give teachers input on planning next, I’m sorry, let teachers have input on planning next year’s calendar and initiatives with a survey.

Chrissy Beltran (22:57.448)

or team or one-on-one conversations where you actually get their input on what’s working, what’s not. Do we need to move this? Are there too many things going on in October? Yes, there always are. You could also do a sunshine note. So give five minutes during PD or a PLC meeting to have teachers write a little sunshine note of cheer to another teacher that they think could use it. It’s so beautiful. And then the last one that I have is you can have teachers do shout outs all year long about other teachers.

somebody that help them out with something, somebody that let them go observe in their classroom, somebody that always prepares their kids for a certain thing every year, and then whenever they get those kids next year, they notice it. These are small things. And the problems we have are big ones, right? However, adding joy and appreciation to somebody’s life can change the way they feel that day and maybe for longer. So I hope that you try out some of these ideas and see how they work for you and your teachers. Next week, I’m actually gonna speak with Kim Strobel.

about helping teachers find the joy in teaching. This is a really good episode. She’s a motivational speaker and she’s a teacher and the author of Teach Happy, Small Steps to Big Joy. And so I’m really excited to talk about the happiness research and why it’s important to educators, how instructional coaches can support teachers in building good habits around happiness and what they can do every single day to help teachers have a better school experience. And until then, happy coaching!