305 - Finding the Balance: Single School Building

Our role as coaches is an interesting one. We get to work with the administration, educators, and even students. But it can sometimes be complicated to show your value and importance to the district. How do you prove your worth without being overbearing on the staff you work with? We’ll tackle those issues in order to find the perfect balance when working with our educators and to show our value to the district!

Podcast Team
Hosts- Katie  Ritter & Justin Thomas
Editing Team- Michael Roush, Justin Thomas 
Social Media/ Promo Team- Annamarie Rinehart, Lisa Kuhn, Maggie Harris
Creative/Content Team- Justin Thomas
Producers- Justin Thomas

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Transcript

Brooke Conklin: 0:00

Calling all instructional coaches join Forward Edge for coaches camp and summer of 2023. Coaches campus packed with high quality professional development exclusively for you. Attendees will work with like minded coaches on creating strategies for building teacher relationships, executing coaching cycles and building a culture of coaching and tech integration within their school district. There are two opportunities to attend coaches camp in the summer of 2023. You can either join us virtually June 12 through the 14th or come visit Cincinnati on July 27, and 28th please visit forward hyphen edge dotnet slash coach camp to reserve your spot today.

Katie Ritter: 0:43

Aloha, I'm Katie Ritter.

Justin Thomas: 0:44

And I'm Justin Thomas. And this is the restore recharge podcast, a podcast by coaches for coaches. We bring you the tips and tricks to help you in your everyday work as instructional coach or whatever they call in your school district.

Katie Ritter: 0:54

So hopefully you're gonna leave this episode with us today feeling just a little bit less on your own coaching Island. And our

Justin Thomas: 0:59

role as coaches is an interesting one. We work with the administration educators and even students, but sometimes can be complicated to show your value and importance to a district. How can you prove your worth without being overbearing with the staff that you work with? This is especially true in a building or district that you are there and it's very, very small. So we got two coaches with us here today that work in smaller school buildings and single school buildings. And we're going to talk with them about how they work with coaches but they you know, do it in a way where they're not always hanging out with the the teachers and things like that. So why don't we go ahead introduce them. So we have Brooke Conklin with us. Brooke is the Assistant Director of coaching programs at Forward Edge. She oversees the Forward Edge coach mentorship program and organize the EDU Coach Network, a professional learning network for instructional coaches. Prior to her current role. She served as a structural design coach for schools in the southwest Ohio area. She planned and led sessions for Google for Education certified coaching programs webinar series last year, and authored a curriculum for the program part pertaining to the use of Google Classroom to promote professional learning. Her passion for professional learning has resulted in the planning execution of multiple professional book studies and mentorship of other coaches. So welcome, Ian, Brooke.

Brooke Conklin: 2:11

Thanks so much, Jason. It's good to be here today. Yeah.

Katie Ritter: 2:14

Welcome back, rookie. And I have the pleasure of introducing our second guest, Anna Marie Reinhart, loyal listeners will be sad that landed on me.

Justin Thomas: 2:24

I said in my head.

Katie Ritter: 2:26

I just can't even attempt to imitate it. But Anna Marie is an instructional design coach at Forward Edge. Prior to stepping into her current role. She worked as an intervention specialist with elementary, middle and high school students. During that time, she taught all core subjects and worked with a wide variety of learners. Annamaria is a Google certified educator, trainer and coach and serves as a mentor coach on her team here at Forward Edge as a coach and Marie's goal is to connect with others so that everyone feels included, supported and valued. We are super excited to have you back on the pod here with us today. And Marie, thanks for having me back.

Justin Thomas: 3:01

Yeah, I hope if people see you out in the real world, a conference or something, they just like, oh, it's Anna Marie. Maybe you don't want that. So sorry for that.

Unknown: 3:11

Listen, I hope it happens now.

Katie Ritter: 3:15

It's going to Okay, so let's start off and provide our listeners with just a little bit of context for your school settings today, to kind of set the stage for the balance we're looking here. So if you could both just take a minute and kind of just describe, you know, how many staff and students and buildings do you support?

Annamarie Rinehart: 3:37

All right, I'll start off. So I am in a pre K to eight building with about 330 students. And we have around 45 staff members, which 25 of those are classroom teachers. So I included like, you know, reading specialists and support staff as well.

Brooke Conklin: 3:57

Yeah, and I kind of similarly am in a K to eight building, all one building just separate hallways, to kind of separate everyone. We have under 600 students, K to eight. And then there are 29 teachers that I support, and then a handful of support staff as well. My, my environment is a little bit different, I guess, not the environment, but my placement is a little bit different than Annamaria. As far as like coaching support goes. Anna Marie is at her site four days out of five a week. And then I'm only at my teeny tiny campus one day a week. So every Tuesday. Yeah.

Katie Ritter: 4:38

And just to provide a little bit more context, no worries. Building is a part of a very large school district. Yes. But this building is kind of off on its own a little bit geographically speaking compared to some of the other buildings, but you don't really do any very minimal district level like support and coordination. You're just focused on one building, and Brooke is just added A single campus not a part of a larger district just kind of its own building. So just kind of paint paint a picture there for listeners.

Annamarie Rinehart: 5:08

Yeah. And our building is one of the only remaining pre K to eight ones like in the district. Normally, it's kindergarten to sixth, or pre K to fifth. So we're one of the the only ones that still have the the junior high students in our building as well. Great.

Justin Thomas: 5:24

All right, well, thank you for painting the picture and kind of talking a little bit about where both of you are. So with such a small school building that you were working in, does it ever seem difficult to provide great support without feeling like you're overbearing with the teacher? Or like, every single day that you're at that building? You're always seeing my like, there's a couple of teachers and RC for you being there four days a week? Do you ever feel like there's five cleaners? Just like, you know, they walk in the hallways, their yard, they look in the room, their yard and everything like that, but how do you provide that support for the teachers without really smothering them?

Brooke Conklin: 5:59

So my, I think my answer and perspective is going to be a little bit different than Anna Marie's just because I am there such a limited amount of time. So I was actually having conversation prior to like our holiday break in December. And with teachers and like, I've really only been here like a total of 15 days since August. So that's the equivalent of like, I don't know, three weeks of time of like a normal full time coach. So I'm there pretty, pretty infrequently, just being there one day a week. So I could definitely in my coaching role spend every single Tuesday like making rounds and going and checking on teachers on their plan bells and connecting with every one of them every single day, my building so small that would allow me to do that. But I do think that that would be like to your point, Justin, pretty overbearing, and maybe even like a point of anxiety for teachers that every Tuesday I was coming into their room, you know. So being at a new to me school and being there so infrequently, I've really tried to work on clarifying my role. Over the time that I'm there, which has been like a pretty tall task, especially being there infrequently. So I to avoid being like overbearing and smothering and always in their room all the time. I've tried to balance making myself available in the time I'm there with being always there every Tuesday. So for me, that looks like kind of varying up my support a little bit. So I tried to be cognizant of kind of planning out, when I'm going to be going around on Plan bells, checking in and having informal conversations, which Tuesdays, I'm going to be doing like learning walks and I want to be like in the classroom and just observing and giving feedback, which Tuesdays I want to meet with teams. So I tried to do that once every two months to meet with like entire grade level teams. And then there are some days if I feel like I've just been really up in everybody's business a lot lately. And I have the time and capacity, I will devote a little bit of time just to finding resources and sharing ideas like asynchronously via email, and checking in and making my presence known that way. So that way, I'm not always taking up every plan Bell every Tuesday I'm there. But I'm also not always in their instruction every Tuesday that I'm there in the classroom are not always taking up every team meeting. But I'm kind of sprinkling my presence in different ways so that they know that I'm there. I'm clarifying my role I'm making myself known. But without really like being overbearing like that.

Annamarie Rinehart: 8:40

Yeah. And for me, I feel like my answer to this would have been very different four years ago when I started in this building. So I've been there a minute. My first year there, I would say that my main focus was kind of making it normal to see me popping into classrooms while building relationships with teachers, because it was a pretty veteran staff really closely knit staff like I was very much the new person in the building. So I wanted to kind of establish those norms so that they weren't concerned or confused or anxious when they saw me in the back of the classroom. So I do feel like I spent a lot of time doing that. And like you said, four days a week is a lot of time in one building with such a small staff. But what that looks like for me now is like, I feel like so much has changed, right? I'm not doing that as much because I have more time dedicated to like coaching cycle meetings, like because of the groundwork that I laid that first that second even that third year now. I am being more sought out by teachers rather than having to push in. And I also think a huge part of that is they know that they can call on me for I mean, not absolutely anything by Like, you know, even just something as simple as like, I haven't had a bathroom break, like, can you come in right? Like, or I have would love an extra set of hands for the science experiment that I'm doing today. So I'm getting into classrooms and much more organic ways, and not so much just because like, I kind of need to fill my schedule, and I'm the new person on campus. So I just feel like it's, it kind of varies from year to year when you're in such a small building. But the longer that I've been there, the more I feel like meaningful, my time has been in classrooms and like, the more teachers are coming to me, rather than me coming to them, trying to kind of fill the day a little bit.

Katie Ritter: 10:41

Well, I'm glad that you said like kind of how long it took to us, even though it's such a small staff, right, like, four days a week, there's, you know, 30 people to get to know. So not that much. And I just feel like I really do feel like we as coaches individually, but sometimes admin is well like looking at the role. Don't give enough credit to like how long it really takes to build those relationships and establish that trust that it takes to invite a coach and work with the coach. So I'm glad that you just kind of highlighted that. For listeners that might be kind of like, Oh, I feel like they're not letting me in like, I can't get into classrooms. Why can I do this? Or, you know, we, we also need to you know, I try for our coaches, when we meet with a new admin for district we're replacing a coach, for the first time, I always say like, expects the first year to just be a lot of relationship building, like don't expect a lot like transformation in the classroom. But our coaches out there that are being hired by districts, you know, don't have someone advocating that for them. May not, you know, have that luxury. I don't even know if it's always translated and heard. But just because I say it doesn't mean they're hearing it, but I just I think it takes a lot of time. So I'm glad you said that to help ease some like concerns that people might have about why they may not have gotten into classrooms yet. For sure. And I also was laughing I feel like just when you were asking the question, I was like, hearing that song. I always feel that's

Brooke Conklin: 12:18

not what we want. You do get those deer in the headlights look, sometimes when when you go into a room and teachers aren't expecting you, like early on and they're not sure like why you're there till you can like build that relationship. And they know that that's like normal, like Yeah,

Annamarie Rinehart: 12:34

well and kind of piggybacking off of that broke. So we, you know, pop into classrooms, it's good to survey the comfort level of the school and all the teachers. And from year one to now you're for like we've had some staff turnover, not a huge number. But like, relatively recently, I sent out that survey again. And I made sure to like humorously, but thoroughly explain, like why I would be popping it in like, I'm the height person for the school. Like, you'll probably see yourself on Twitter, if you're cool with that, like, tried to keep it light, but also just really drive home the point that if this is new for you having some kind of Stranger ish type person, come into the classroom, like, it's not evaluative, I'm not here to judge you. I'm not like here to spy and report back like, this is very chill. This is very casual, and like, you may teach me something while I'm in there that I can pass along to another teacher. So I think just like making sure that that's crystal clear is also super helpful and not feeling like a stalker in the school.

Katie Ritter: 13:38

I have a couple of follow up questions. So I know Annamarie This one's for you in particular, but I know that you faced a lot of teachers at the beginning, who like a lot of it was overcoming the connotation of a coach and because of coaches here, it does not mean that you're on your way out the door. So what what are some strategies that you were able to employ to help overcome, like, I'm not here as a spy for you, or I am not going to go back until the admin I'm not evaluating like, how, what do you feel like was some of the big successful things that you were able to help do that, um,

Annamarie Rinehart: 14:12

I think that if I were able to observe something, and then follow up with a teacher, not about like, how they could improve something, but like, offer them a resource that I thought would be really cool to tack on to what they're doing or, you know, even just happening to be there in the right moment where they were like, oh, shoot, how do I do this? I can't remember which button do I click and like being there, like, in the moment to help was really meaningful to them. But like, if you listen to the podcast, you've heard me say this before, like, I also just spent a lot of time talking to the teachers as as just people, like, you know, I've made the joke before on this podcast. I know like I would kind of stalk their desks in a weird way and just try and generate conversation around things that I saw that had nothing to do with my job. Nothing to do with teaching nothing to do with School. And then I found that once they felt comfortable with like me, Anna Marie, not like me, the coach, I felt like that was one less barrier. Like to me getting into their classrooms in like a non threatening way. Always giving compliments to when I saw something really great or, you know, even if it were like kind of maybe hard or I didn't see something like, totally amazing, maybe I could compliment like their classroom management style or a way that they redirected a student. And so like, at one point, I was even sending out like personalized postcards to each of the teachers, I made it a goal to send one to at least every person in the building. During I think I did it over like two quarters. And I saw them printed out and hanging up in people's classrooms. And I felt like that was also another way to show like, I'm not here to evaluate, I'm not like, I'm just here to like, see what you're doing. Like I was a teacher teaching school, I know how much goes into it. So like, here's a little like, kudos to you for doing something that you may not have even realized that you were doing that is actually kind of hard to do. And impressive. You know, like, just someone who may not be a teacher, they may not recognize those things. So I would say those were kind of a few of my strategies like trying to point out the positive, trying to really get to know them just as people first and then if I happen to be there in the right time, and they were struggling with something like jumping in and helping if it was appropriate.

Katie Ritter: 16:34

Yeah. Okay, another left field follow up question for both of you. So I know in small schools I my first K 12 school I worked in taught in was a small, private school. So I know that you start wearing a lot of hats that aren't necessarily falling under your role. So how have you found in such small buildings, when everyone around you is typically wearing a lot of different hats? How have you been able to kind of protect your coaching role in that context?

Brooke Conklin: 17:07

I mean, honestly, I have not had that big of a problem in my little school as much as I did in my larger school.

Katie Ritter: 17:14

Okay, well build on that experience regardless. Yeah.

Brooke Conklin: 17:17

Um, so I think that in the schools that I'm setting I'm at now, the coach that was there before me, Megan, who was on a previous episode, she did a fantastic job of clarifying her role. So the staff I work with now, like they really understand what a coach does. So I've tried to in the transition, reinforce that in a couple of different ways. So in my email signature, I have my like, why for coaching, says like, I'm here to help teachers become more confident with technology, and design instructional instructional experiences that open doors for students. So every like piece of communication that comes from me, it has not like they see my byline is not like, I'm here to help you do technology, it's like very specifically tied to instruction. And then I also in the feedback that I give, I try to be cognizant of always, always tying it to instruction first, and not necessarily technology. Because I think that that's Millwall might not be necessarily a hat that gets put on me, a common like point of confusion I see a lot is that teachers perceive me as being there to like audit technology. And that's my purpose. And that's my role. So I always try to kind of like Amory said, like recognizing the craft of instruction and teaching, and celebrating, like engagement and celebrating scaffolding and chunking of information, you know, like all of the the key principles of instruction. In my larger district, there was often hats that were put on me because as an instructional coach, I was very personable person, I tended to be the face that they saw a lot in their classroom and kind of like Emory said I was more readily available than the technology department necessarily. So I would get a lot of requests for tech help in tech fixes. So if it was like impacting instruction, that would be maybe my exception to fixing it for them. Like if it was a student that needed help accessing a platform or you know, whatever, and I had the power to make it happen so the student can learn, I would jump in and do that. But I worked in partnership myself and then my Tech coordinator out there to develop some, like an infographic that said who does what, who to contact where and then we also help like coordinated with admin to push that out in their newsletters to communicate and clarify that role. But I've also not something that I've done, but I've seen recently with a lot of the Virginia coaches that I've been working with Lately, they've clarified their role in their email signature by saying Like for help with instruction, like book a spot on my Calendly for help with a technology fix, click this link and it like takes them to the help ticket straight from their email signature. Yeah, like, when the person goes to contact them, there's like a clear link to, like who they should be following up with.

Katie Ritter: 20:19

That's really smart. That is brilliant. And we I know, this has been tough for you personally down because you're just such a people pleaser and want to help and when you have the power to do it, there's a lot of shared hats that you're building. I know.

Annamarie Rinehart: 20:32

Yeah, I'm so are you like read my mind, I had to start doing exactly the thing that I hate doing, which is being like, I'm so sorry, I can't help with that. But like, here's who can. And similar to like what Brooke said, if it was something easy, that was impacting instruction that I knew how to fix. That's the key there. I'll do it. But lucky. For me unlucky for the teachers, there's a whole lot of problems. So saying, saying like, I don't know how to do this, or I'm so sorry, I can't help us like not a lie. Like it's most of the time. It's true. Yeah. Where I think it's gotten really tricky is, you know, we, we don't have a Tech coordinator anymore. And our on site person is no longer part of the building. They're like, the on site techs are very, they're spread super thin across the district, because it is a huge district. So I think what's been really hard is that because I'm also attached to a grant, for these Verizon iPads, which is the Vils program, if you've never heard of it, I am, like, quote, unquote, allowed to give out iPads to new students who enroll that's kind of like part of the gig that, you know, is outlined in this coaching position that has been funded through this grant. But it's hard for people to be like, then why can you give them a laptop to write and so, you know, I just kind of have had to try really hard to explain and just emphasize and like, stay firm on that. Because as soon as I give out that laptop, Oh, yeah. Then the laptop? Yeah, yeah. It's like, it's gonna snowball. So it is hard. And I don't like, sometimes I feel like I'm being difficult or not helpful. When I have to say, No, I'm so sorry. But there's also been like a huge shift in the district, which has, I think, been a little frustrating for teachers, but has benefited me a little bit. And that even if we did have an onsite tech, there's significantly less that they can do this year than like they've been able to do in the past, like, pretty much everything is like call the help desk, call the help desk, call the help desk, which is what teachers like to hear. But it's just kind of the way that it's done now. So, yeah, the other thing that I think has been tough is, you know, I'm in a building where we have so few students that we have one administrator. So a lot of times, I feel like I'm kind of a sounding board for our admin, because there really isn't anybody else in the building, who's kind of like an impartial person who sees everything that goes on in the building. And so, you know, I'll be invited to do learning walks, which can be seen as kind of evaluative, and I'm always willing to participate, but I'm very mindful about what I'm saying. And like, the feedback I'm providing, during those learning walks, because I want to make sure that the teachers know that what I'm saying is true, and that I'm not evaluative. And so I'm the one pointing out all the like, super positive things. And again, there's like little things that Brooke and I both talked about, that teachers do all the time, that's just kind of like second nature. So that they can really believe what I'm saying is true, and that I'm not there to evaluate, I'm there to just like, build them up and highlight all the great things that they're doing. Even when it's something like a learning walk, that is not my idea, but that I've been asked to be involved with. So that's kind of like a different thing that I've been asked to participate in. But I'm trying to stay true to my role in, like, the way that teachers see my position in those different things that I'm asked to do, if that makes sense. So like, keeping it positive, not being evaluative at all, like I honestly in those learning walks, I don't really give a whole lot of even like constructive feedback. I try and just like keep it positive, because I don't want them to get confused like well, she says she's not in here to evaluate but now she's in here with like district people doing a learning walk. So that's just kind of another thing that like another hat that I've kind of had to learn how to wear in the right way. Yeah.

Justin Thomas: 24:46

All right. We're gonna go and step aside and take a sponsor break. We'll be right back. Calling on instructional technology coaches Forward Edge has launched a new hub for coaches to find strategies and resources to use for their coaching. The EDU Coach Network provides a place for instructional coach has to come together for Coach specific professional development, building a community and finding mentorship moving through the school year. The Network provides a place to casually seek resources or join in with book clubs, Twitter chats, webinars and workshops along with much more, join the EDU Coach Network by going to Ed edu Coach network.com and join the coach community today. Looking for a program that reaches all teachers in learning new tools to integrate in their lessons, and you badges is the answer and you as an anytime anywhere badging program that is designed to take bite sized tools for instruction and teach teachers how to use them. ng has received the SDC of alignment for Educator Standards, and each patch in our expanding library is aligned to the ISTE standards and the Samer model. Learn more about the program that teachers call addicting and for hyphen edge dotnet backslash edu badges. Alright folks, welcome back into this episode here with us in the restore recharge podcast, Justin and Katie here. We also have Brooke and Annamarie joining us talking about everything that goes into how they coach in a small building with small amount of staff. So, Katie, what you got next?

Katie Ritter: 26:09

Yeah, so curious. You both have kind of alluded to it a little bit. But, you know, Justin kind of talked about not wanting to be the creeper who's always lurking around the corner with the same people over and over. So I'm curious, you know, how, how do you feel where you're both not in these districts where there's constantly like a district event going on? Or like district wide initiatives going on, necessarily, but with your small staff? How are you, I'm sure you're kind of pulled in a little bit of finding the balance with teachers, versus like showing your value across the building, and knowing that sometimes our teachers just need a break. But kind of where do you feel like that balance is to really show your value? And I guess this question would be a little bit more leaning toward, like showing your value to the admin or the decision makers kind of above you.

Annamarie Rinehart: 27:06

Ah, so I have a weekly standing meeting with my admin. And I think that that's really important, especially with how much time I'm there, and how small of a staff I'm working with. So it may sound like it's kind of overkill. But even if we don't have something like on the agenda, because I make an agenda for every single meeting, if we don't have something super pressing, I always make sure to talk about positive things that I've seen in the building since the last time we spoke. And a lot of times, those are things that I've been involved with. So I'm not outright saying, you know, like I helped this teacher with fill in the blank. But like, at this point, I think my admin is kind of able to read between the lines. So like, right now, specifically, I have a spot on our agenda, where I update them on all the things that I'm working on with all the teachers that are currently signed up for my coaching cycles. So that's seven teachers right now, which is the most I've ever had. So if you're in a small school, and you're like, oh my gosh, that's it took four years to get there. But I think that's a really great way of proving my worth or my value by looping them into things that I'm doing with teachers. And then also just, I think, kind of being eyes and ears in classrooms, when they can't always be there to highlight things that I'm not involved with the teachers are doing that's really great. You know, like, we have an art teacher who did a really great project, where she had students make buttons about sailor Park and write a little note about it. And then they mailed them all over the country and all over the world. And she put it on a website. And so like I make sure to shout that out when we have like new submissions and just make sure that admins aware that that's still going on because they have like admin has so much on their plate. Regardless of how big the school is, there's there's so much going on. So I would say those weekly meetings are key for me and reminding and keeping what the work that I'm doing at like top of mind.

Brooke Conklin: 29:18

Yeah, so my school like Katie said, it being like my first year with this new staff has been largely relationship building. So it's been a lot of just trying to get into classrooms to work on projects. So that's that's been like a big focus but as far as like communication with admin and making sure that they know like the value that I can bring during all this like season of relationship building and what might look like small talk a lot of the time I sat down with my admin at the very beginning of the year, that being two people the principal and the assistant. They are the the two ladies who run the show And I've just asked them like, based on what they knew about their staff, where they wanted student learning to go in this year, like where did they want to see transformation in the classroom, what were areas that they felt like could be improved what was already going really well. So we kind of came together and develop like a focus for me for the year jointly. And that was making learning more active. So they were like seeing a lot of both passive use of technology and passive use or passive consumption of information in the classroom. So all year long, I am focused on helping teachers make instruction more active and learning more active. And so in my weekly newsletter, or monthly newsletters that I send out, every month has a focus. So this month is creativity, sparking more creativity in the classroom under the umbrella of active learning. In my weekly newsletter, monthly newsletters I, I outlined like what the topic is three like tools that they could use to support creative learning and creative products in the classroom, and inspiration from other schools with creativity. And then maybe even some, like teacher shout outs, if I've seen anything like that falls under that bucket. So my admin and the whole staff like can constantly see how like, the professional learning that they're engaging in, and my conversations with them, like are tracked to that like larger goal that we set at the beginning of the year. So that helps, I think, for my admin to see that I'm like continuously working to like push their goal and mission forward in the building. But beyond that, kind of going back to the part of your question about like balancing teachers who might like need a break, versus like making sure that my value is established with a small staff. It's been, like I said, a kind of a mission of mine to get into classrooms more and establish myself as a resource in the classroom. So part of that balance, for me has been like offering to teach the tech in a scaffolded way kind of like I do, we do you do throughout the day, which then has been like trickled up to admin. So recently, we did a Canva project, creating original images, where I taught the fifth graders had to do that, then their teacher, like taught the next class and then the teacher was like talking to admin about how they created this really cool project. So I would say like finding opportunities to, to work closer with teachers has been kind of like a blessing in disguise of a small building, I think because I'm not pulled to serve, like 200 teachers, I can really spend a lot more time with the 29 that I have. I've also, like I said, tried to just gather and share inspiration and ideas with teachers as I see appropriate, so that they're like constantly getting like little ideas and nuggets for me, but I'm not always maybe in their face or in their classroom to, to show like the value of working with me and like ideas for working with me.

Katie Ritter: 33:09

Yeah, I think that's good. Because I also think, at least in my experience, and what I have observed of small schools that are not necessarily like tied to a much larger, like district initiative is that like, not only do they wear a lot of hats, they seem a little like, I don't know, kind of in their own world sometimes, right? Like maybe there's not enough funding to send them to conferences, or there's just not awareness of you know, you don't know what you don't know. And so I think that's good that you're like bringing them those ideas. I also love your example of working with the admin to drive their goals forward. I think that's a really good example for any coach regardless of size of the building or district.

Brooke Conklin: 33:50

And I'd say like be obnoxious about it. Like my PD on the potty says like, we're getting active, it has like little bulk up muscle. On it. My happy hour is a little bulk of muscle, like we're getting active. That's like the slogan. So like everywhere my professional learning is happening or PD that I'm offering. It's like tied back to that goal that the admin like saga. Yeah.

Katie Ritter: 34:08

I love that we I hope I don't butcher this, like, quote, example. But we. So we've been having a lot of conversation, like just around like vision and direction. And I think schools are notorious for that. Like, if you would ask everyone like, what's the vision or the goal? Like, what's the initiative we're working on? Like, how many answers would you get across the building and it's kind of like you need that like, you need the purse everyone's just kind of like out in the woods like going in a certain direction. They don't actually have like the compass to know where to go. But if you have someone like climb up the tree and look ahead, like you need that person saying like we're going this way that everyone knows like what way to march in the woods kind of a deal. So I like that. I like that concept of like be in their face about it. So everyone knows, like, what is the goal? Like what are we trying to do here? Yeah, there's so much coming at them throughout the day.

Brooke Conklin: 34:53

My favorite answer when you ask like what what are the initiatives or the goals to like, well, we have a strategic plan somewhere I'm sure I can find it. Just like I don't even know where the goals are, let alone like what's on the goal

Katie Ritter: 35:02

sheet? Yeah, but no, we're obviously not working toward those. But I

Brooke Conklin: 35:07

think like the powerful ways that like a instructional coach can support like that vision kind of getting off track here is like, we might not set the vision for our school, no matter how big or how small, but we can definitely like put a brand behind it and yeah, that are like brand artwork behind it in a fun and engaging way. And Annamarie is like fabulous at this. Obviously, we

Katie Ritter: 35:28

have a brand expert here with a nice

Justin Thomas: 35:32

podcast, marketing yourself. Well,

Unknown: 35:35

yeah, I like it. That stuff. Awesome.

Katie Ritter: 35:40

We'll talk about it later.

Unknown: 35:44

Good one, Katie. Speechless.

Justin Thomas: 35:50

That doesn't normally happen. All right, well, let's just keep this train rolling here. It is time for a certain part of the show, which is our top three tips. We

Brooke Conklin: 36:02

have a button for the

Katie Ritter: 36:05

music. Oh,

Justin Thomas: 36:07

yes. That was a lucky guess. Could have been jazz. All right. So cool. Yeah, top three tips for finding the balance in a small school building.

Annamarie Rinehart: 36:21

Oh, these are always so hard for me. Okay, so I would say number one is trust your gut. If you feel like you're in the classroom too much, or starting to cross that line into like, creeper territory, like, listen to your gut, you probably are right. So like, it's okay to dial that. Like, trust yourself. And then I would also say, you know, if you're a coach in a small building, for the first time ever, it's okay to take the time to lay the groundwork to build those relationships. I can promise that the rest will come with time. And then I would say number three, would just be, you know, don't take on too much that will confuse your role. Because I think that that can be very hard. And obviously, some of your guys's questions were directed at exactly that. It can be hard to say no. And it can be easy to confuse teachers about what you're actually there to do. So just like, be very careful about taking on too much.

Katie Ritter: 37:36

Okay, thank you.

Brooke Conklin: 37:38

Yeah. Um, so my first one is to, if you're at a small school, or working with small population, or really just in general, if you're finding yourself, like not super busy, is to not wait for requests to fall in your lap. I think that there's always like a fair share of early adopters in any building. And those are certainly great people to work with. And often they'll come to you with ideas. But there's really great teachers out there that just don't know what you can provide for them, or how you can support them. So look for ideas, look for inspiration, share it, offer to try something new. That's been like one of my favorite, like starters is saying, like, I noticed that your class is super chatty, like they are just so engaged in this content. I found this like really cool like back channel discussion tool, I'm not sure how it would go, would you mind if I tried it out like with your kids to kind of like, you know, see how it works. So don't wait for like teachers to request to work with you find ways that might attract them. And then my second tip is to burn the candle at both ends. This is maybe a luxury of working in a small school is that you can work pretty closely with teachers, but you also have the time and space to work pretty closely with students too. So you can offer to teach the tech and to pull the training wheels off as you go. So the teacher eventually becomes independent with it. But you can also just like stop in the hallway and chat with kids about like their work and like what they like about school. I know Annamarie does this all the time and one of my favorite things Yeah, and you become so much closer to the instruction and to what the needs of this school are when you when you talk to kids. So not always a lecture you have if you're in like a large school district, but if you're in a smaller school or working with smaller staff or just have extra time on your hand, burn the candle at both ends. So work with your teachers and the students. And then my third tip is to embrace more intimate and sustained projects. So if if you know that a certain units coming up, you might have the capacity to like, be there for every step of the way in the unit. And really work closely with the teacher almost as like a co teacher throughout that process. So there's nothing wrong with spending a significant amount of time with one teacher as long as If you aren't ignoring the rest of the staff, you know, and you you're looking for ways to work with everybody, but working in a small district, you really are kind of freed up to embrace those more intimate projects.

Katie Ritter: 40:11

Awesome. Thanks for those tips.

Justin Thomas: 40:13

Yeah, those are both really good. All I can think of, we keep talking about the different themes that we have stuck in our head and you might enjoy this because you like the office, right? Sure. Dale, I think about the one we're like, Dwight's playing the whack a mole with like, Isabel and then she leaves and like, Angela is just like, right there behind him. Like, don't don't be like that don't like awkwardly just like the turn like, Oh, my God. He's scared because like, what are you doing there? Yep. So yeah, hopefully there's any there's other office fans out there. It's right in there. Yeah. So all right. Well, awesome. Anna Marie and Brooke, thank you both for joining us here today on this episode.

Unknown: 40:46

Thank you so much for having us. Yeah, thank you.

Justin Thomas: 40:49

Absolutely. So for next episode, we are going to flip the script. On today's episode, we're going to be talking about what it's like to manage a large school district with multiple buildings and large geographical area. So we have a special guest on for that one to join. Rachel Porter, one of our other coaches love kamy connections, it's going to be on with us too, to talk about how that we recorded earlier on that blew our mind on how large that school district is. So that's gonna be really good episode. And we'll talk a little bit more about the flip of that, what it's like to be in a large school district.

Katie Ritter: 41:26

Yeah, so be sure to subscribe to restart, recharge wherever you listen to podcast. I know on Spotify, if you go to the podcast, restart recharge, you can rate it right at the top or you can click the little three dots after you've listened and then you can provide a rating and that'll help people find this. I promised I would get distractions on another platform besides Apple podcasts. So there you go Spotify listeners, and follow us on all the social media at our our coach caste.

Justin Thomas: 41:58

And feel free to reach out to us and let us know if there's any topics that you would like us to discuss on any of those social media platforms we'll be happy to talk with you. So press the restart button recharge coaching batteries and leave feeling equipped and inspired to coach fearlessly with a restart recharge podcast

Katie Ritter: 42:14

a tech coach collective

Justin Thomas: 42:26

that's the one I thought I was gonna push

Katie Ritter: 42:27

this next one please for a long time and I accidentally always press this one and then I tried to try something No, I tried to press it again thinking I can stop it and restart

Brooke Conklin: 42:47

Do you guys remember like middle school when we had like the headphones that went like over your over your neck but to be cool. You would have the head here and be underneath? Yeah, like oh,

Justin Thomas: 42:58

that's Yeah, yeah, you're

Brooke Conklin: 43:00

too cool to have them like fully positioned

Justin Thomas: 43:02

like those blue ones. Right? Like the

Annamarie Rinehart: 43:03

are like one year on one year off like, like, I'm kind of doing the work but maybe not too cool.

Katie Ritter: 43:09

Maybe not. We know you were doing the work. I had to hear you but I probably okay, lovely episode. Lovely.

Unknown: 43:24

Now I think you fixed it. Yeah, it's pretty good to switch back since you're looking like

Justin Thomas: 43:30

I mean, it is just gonna be really bad. This podcast. Sorry, I'm not gonna be as this on this one because it won't be my lucky

Annamarie Rinehart: 43:43

to mute myself. I put. So you'll

Justin Thomas: 43:45

be number two. Let's do it. You're number one still. In our hearts in our minds. Take your word for it changed. Oh, it's you. Oh.

Katie Ritter: 44:09

I mean, that it's only 1234 I'm a cheerleader. 5678. Yeah.

Justin Thomas: 44:18

That's going on the blooper reel. Alright, so Katie, you are one. Okay, and then enter your now two. And then Brooke, you're three there was a hesitation. Okay, so I'm four so 1234

Brooke Conklin: 44:39

Repeat 1234

Justin Thomas: 44:42

Okay. Now more than likely you too won't even need to meet yourself. So you probably don't even need to touch it. But okay. We're gonna just be muted before we start, but

Katie Ritter: 44:55

I'm taking it from the top