Nicole S. Turner (00:03): You are listening to the Simply Instructional Coaching Podcast, a podcast for instructional coaches who want a simple plan with simple steps to get started coaching teachers. I’m your host Nicole, and I’m an elementary teacher turned instructional coach with a little bit of K-12 admin sprinkled in. Tune in for simple tips and strategies for what and how to coach teachers. Being an impactful instructional coach doesn’t have to be complicated. Let’s make it simple. (00:03): Hey, hey coaches. Welcome back to the Simply Instructional Coaching Podcast. On this episode, I have the Nita Creekmore. If you do not know who she is, I am so excited that you are tuned in to actually get to know her. She is one of my absolute favorite. Not only is she one of the best coaches that I’ve ever come across, she is also my wonderful soror and we have to give a shout out to our sorority of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Incorporated. So welcome, Nita. Nita Creekmore (01:11): I’m so happy to be here on your podcast. It’s amazing. Nicole S. Turner (01:16): Yes. It’s so funny. So when I decided to do the podcast, I always think of a conversation that we had about, I don’t know, three, four years ago, something like that, where you were like, you need to just do a podcast and answer people’s questions in 15 minutes. And I was just like, I’m not doing a podcast. Nita Creekmore (01:33): And here you are. Like how many episodes in, you have what, 8, 9, 10 episodes already? Nicole S. Turner (01:39): Yeah, we’re almost at about 16, so I think, oh wow. By this come out. This may be even one of those types of episodes, but we’ve been kicking it live since February of 2023. So it, it’s here, it’s happening. And I am so excited for you to be here. For all of our listeners who do not know you, can you just give them a little bit of background of your experience and what you do now and then we’ll jump into our topic. Nita Creekmore (02:08): Awesome. Thank you for having me, Nicole, on your podcast. Hey y’all. My name is Nita Creekmore. I’m also online with Love Teach Bless. I have been a coach since 2017. I began my education journey a long time ago, 13 years in the classroom and six plus years as a coach. And I started in the elementary realm. Originally from Woodbridge, Virginia. I went to school of University of South Carolina, go Gamecock, I have to say that cause of the Lady Gamecocks in basketball doing big things. So yeah, I started my journey. Didn’t know that my journey in education in the classroom was going to take me here to being an instructional coach. I thought for the longest time that I wanted to do leadership. Like in the sense of a AP or an a principal of a school. And then when instructional coaching, I had a coach when I moved to Georgia. (03:07): So I live in Atlanta, Georgia now. And that was amazing, having a coach, being able to experience a coach. And it was helpful to me moving from Virginia to Georgia because of just, although I’ve been, I was in education for nine years as I moved to Georgia, but just new standards, new way of doing things, new trends that the coach was helping me and coaching alongside me was just amazing. And so when it fell into my lap for that to be an opportunity for me, I ran with it. And at that time, I didn’t, seven years ago, there wasn’t a lot out there for for coaches. And so I was kind of like, okay, online looking, I found you. I found Chrissy, I found Elena Aguilar, and I was like, and then Jim Knight as well. And I was like, oh my gosh. So just trying to find through all these different sources, what is the way I do things, how do I coach, how do I become an instructional coach that’s like authentic to me was part of my journey. And then right now I work for Bright Morning with Elena Aguilar, which is amazing. And so I do presentations and I also do some coaching outside of that as well. Nicole S. Turner (04:21): That sounds awesome. Such a great transformation of coaching and education and a trajectory that I love because we got to meet each other. I remember when I started stalking you on Instagram and I was like, Nita, you’re a coach. I have a t-shirt. You want a T-shirt? Nita Creekmore (04:42): Let me tell you, I think I was, I had my phone, I was taking a hot bath, I had the phone next to the bathtub and I was like, I told my husband, I said, Mike, oh my god, Nicole at Educator Caravan just reached out to me and asked me if I wanted a t-shirt. I was so excited. It was one of those things, you know, you learn, I’d buy your stuff and learn from your stuff and use some of your stuff. And then you reached out. I was like, oh my goodness. It was definitely a fangirl moment, I have to say that evening. Nicole S. Turner (05:16): Oh, well now I’m having a fangirl moment because I actually get to talk to you and listen to your brilliance. So many times we’ve had conversations throughout, I guess the past four or five years. I mean, we’ve been knowing each other for a good grip and we’ve talked about how we’ve closed out our years because we both transitioned out of the building into our current positions at the same time and so we both just been out a year. I know that’s so hard to believe because literally this time last year we were talking about how we were going to close out our school year. So yeah, we wanted to make sure you guys, that we did a podcast to really talk about how we close out our year. We know that it’s May now, things are starting to dwindle down. And then how do we have those opportunities to meet with our teachers and to close out our year so that we will be prepared for the next school year. So Nita, what are a couple of things that you used to do when you closed out your year? And I’ll chime in and give my thoughts as well. Nita Creekmore (06:27): One thing I used to do at the beginning of the year, which helped kind of close out the year too, is asking teachers at the beginning of the year, their hopes and dreams for the year. What do they hope? What do they dream? What do they fearful of? And so bringing that back in full circle in your one on ones, in your coaching conversations of this is what you hope and dream throughout the year, it’s good to do it midway too. And seeing what comes up for them when they think about how they started, thinking about where they are ending. And then also thinking about what was their win, what out of that, what was a win? And I really tried to get them to think through not just a win academically. Yes, academically, we’re going through data, we’re making sure the data is there. What is your win as an educator, what is your win? And hearing that conversation and having that connection is so powerful. Hearing what they come up with, what they’ve reflected on, and then also thinking through what they want to do differently for the next year. And that reflection there and thinking through why? I learned about it through Elena, but then also it’s something that’s been around the five whys. Why is that something you want to grow into? And then say, keep asking the question why to get to the root. You realize it’s like, yeah, Nicole S. Turner (07:57): Root cause analysis. Yeah. Nita Creekmore (07:59): Yeah. Nicole S. Turner (08:00): In school improvement, that’s what we did. We utilized it in root cause analysis. Nita Creekmore (08:05): And it’s like amazing what the seed is, what actually is the core. And so it’s something they can take into the following year too of this is my win, something that I want to continue doing cause this is a win. And then also thinking through something I may want to change and do something differently. Nicole S. Turner (08:22): I love that I did something very similar. So at the beginning of the year, I always have my teachers to set two different types of goals. So they have a personal professional, I call it a personal professional development goal and then an actual work professional development goal. So how are you going to grow as an educator? That’s your work goal. And then how are you going to grow personally in your kind of professional world? And many times what I found, and this is crazy, but many times I’ve found that we’ve kind of lost the way. So we come back to that goal at the end of the year and they’re like, I didn’t achieve this. And it’s like, okay, well why did we not achieve this? Why did you not put forth effort? And I found that we kind of get caught up in the to-dos, the checklist, the task that we don’t spend time on the goals that we actually set and keep them right in front of us. And so so many times having that reflective piece throughout the year has been a really good thing. But for a newer teacher or even sometimes veteran teachers, like that first year when you first have that closeout conversation, that one-on-one, like you were saying, those goals and dreams and they realized that they didn’t hit them! Oh, it’s a whole different setup for that next school year for them to say, okay, so how can I now be focused on this throughout the year and not lose focus of the goals that I set? (10:03): Hey, hey coaches. I have a few questions for you. Are you struggling to get coaching cycles completed? Are you still trying to figure out what to coach? Are you confused about how to coach teachers? If you raised your hand and said yes to any of these questions, I want to invite you to join me and more than a hundred instructional coaches inside the Simply Coaching Hub. The Simply Coaching Hub is a professional development resource and community hub that will provide you with practical, relatable, and actionable professional development for new and seasoned instructional coaches. The hub is specifically for instructional coaches, created by me, an instructional coach. In the hub, we focus on providing specific pathways that meet you where you are in your coaching journey. Differentiation is important when we work with students and even when we coach teachers. Shouldn’t it be important when it comes to your growth as a coach too? (11:01): Absolutely. And that’s why when you join the Hub, you will be prescribed a coaching pathway that will address your specific needs. The hub also provides a simple framework for you to implement right away. It’s time you start coaching with confidence. And most importantly, the hub is a community. With over a hundred instructional coaches from all over the world, you will connect with someone who can support you through any situation you may be dealing with. And the best part is you have a coach walking side by side to support you in your journey. It’s time to elevate your instructional coaching with the Simply Coaching Hub. Check out www.simplycoachinghub.com to learn more. I will see you in the hub. Nita Creekmore (11:54): Yeah, I think, and I don’t know if districts are going to send Red Tomatoes to my house, but I feel like we don’t, a lot of times, systemically we don’t set up enough space for that reflection. Nicole S. Turner (12:08): Absolutely. Nita Creekmore (12:09): And we start like this to do, like you were just saying to do, to do, do. And the next thing, we have data talking at this, we have this, which is so important and we have to make some more spaciousness for educators to have time to, that reflection that you are saying is so powerful throughout the time so that transformation can be made. You know what I mean? So that I can have the spactiousness to think through what I want to do differently or what needs to happen. Nicole S. Turner (12:40): Absolutely. So another thing that I did at the end of the year was I always liked for teachers to set some type of summer professional development plan for themselves. It’s not where I am mandating them to spend every moment of a break to do something, but I like for them to just have one or two things that they feel like they can enjoy, like podcasts. You may be laying somewhere, you get off the first week of June, I hate to say this, but as educators, we do not, I mean we don’t rest well. Nita Creekmore (13:23): No, we don’t. Nicole S. Turner (13:24): We don’t let it go well, but I always say, Hey, choose one or two podcasts that maybe you want to do some binge listening to over the summer and then choose one book that maybe you want to read about. I think that was another thing that I would help the teachers based on where their goals were and where their weaknesses were, and try to just set them up for what I called getting a little bit at a time or just two days out of the summer really kind of spending that. I was reading a book recently where Justin, my son, he is, he’s a big basketball fan and he was really trying to play basketball like your son, he wanted to be like your son, but he, he’s not there yet. Nita Creekmore (14:15): He’s so silly. Nicole S. Turner (14:16): He will not be our next Michael Jordan happening at all. However, we were reading a book together and it was really speaking about the unseen hours. So it was a coach and he was positions coach or he really helped people with the positioning, the way they kind of worked out or whatever. But he really start to talk about when you get on the court, that’s the action time, but it’s not when the work happens. The actual work happens off the court at 5:00 AM during these other times. And so I’ve been really talking with teachers to really kind of understand that sometimes we know that we, and I may get beat up for this, we know that we have our contract hours, but there’s a little bit, sometimes we have to utilize some unseen hours in order to perfect our craft. And so that has just been one of the things that I’ve just been talking to, and given a couple of hours in the summer and just having some type of plan of action of creating those unseen hours in the summer has just been, I know people probably going to come at me, hey, but saying that this is what worked for me. Nita Creekmore (15:40): But you know what too, it’s like, I would do the same thing in a different way, but yes, in a sense of like, I would say, what is something that you always wanted to implement in your classroom that you want to learn more about, right? Yeah. And teachers, most teachers are learners. We want to learn. We want to do that and we want the agency to be able to choose what I can do. So offering, here’s some podcasts that you can listen to. This is your goal to add book clubs into your classroom. You want to be able to do that. Here’s some books that you could read if you want to do that. Like to offer into that. Because a lot of times the sad thing too is, teachers want more agency in the professional learning. So the summer offers that without the stressors of like, day-to-day school, the classroom. Nicole S. Turner (16:25): Yeah, exactly. And I totally agree. It is kind of how the conversation is, and that’s kind of what I do. I try to make sure that when we have our close out one-to-ones, just offer some type of suggestions of different things that they can work on. Ask them what it is that they want to work on and give them some suggestions. Nita Creekmore (16:47): And even a book club. You know I love a book club. I love a book study. I love book club and I know you’re having one this summer as well. But like, I love a good book study. I love to be able to have my snacks and choose the book I get to read and do that. And how great is that to have a collaborative space maybe with some coworkers, maybe with people who are all over, to be able to get your snacks, get your book, pick your book that you want to actually do the book study on to hone in on your craft in a fun environment. I love that. Nicole S. Turner (17:21): Yes. Hosting a summer book club is definitely something, and it’s not mandatory. People will sign up and they will do it if they have the time and they feel ready to do it. Yes, you are definitely the book Club Queen. Nita Creekmore (17:33): I love it. Nicole S. Turner (17:33): You have a couple of book studies in your I do TPT store. Nita Creekmore (17:37): Yes, I do. Nicole S. Turner (17:38): So if you guys are looking for some really good books to work with your teachers on, I know Nita’s Store Love, Teach Bless on TPT definitely has some really good book studies because she helped me out a couple of years ago when I was trying to put together a book study. So are there anything else that you want to kind of share? Not necessarily closing out, but every person that we have on the podcast, I kind of just say, Hey, if you could just close us out with a couple of key things or takeaways for coaches. Nita Creekmore (18:10): Yeah, I always say, rest. Rest up, take your time to rest. I think, yes, also listen to your podcast, grow Your Craft, and then rest. Nicole S. Turner (18:22): Yes. Nita Creekmore (18:22): And that’s something I have conversations with teachers about often because I think they burn the midnight oil and sometimes you’re burning the wrong things. And so it’s like you’re sitting there, you’re at work till seven pm and I’m like, what are you doing? No. And so I think rest in education, a lot of times productivity is so high. Yes, I agree. I think that is something that we need to make sure we’re taking care of our babies. We got to take care of our teachers and make sure that they rest. So that’s something I would want to leave teachers with is utilizing your time. And I always think about Angela Watson and the 40 Hour work week and talking through her stuff and how could I utilize my time in ways that I can still have rest in my time and my day and be there for my family at the same time. So that would be something I’d leave everybody with. Nicole S. Turner (19:16): All right. Well you heard it from Nita. This summer, make sure you get some rest. Nita Creekmore (19:21): Yes. Nicole S. Turner (19:21): And then for me, I just say kind of sprinkle in a little bit of learning with your rest for this summer and make sure you close out and have those one-to-one conversations and reflections with your teachers because they’re just really important and they’re great conversations to build relationships with and to keep going and keep the conversation going before you break for six to eight weeks. It depends on if you’re year round or not, but that is what you had. So thank you guys so much for tuning in to this podcast and I am so grateful, Nita, that you are here for this podcast. I am so excited. Make sure that you guys connect with Nita. Links are at the bottom in the show notes and I will talk with you guys soon. Thanks. Happy coaching y’all. (20:16): Thanks for listening to the Simply Instructional Coaching Podcast. 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