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. (00:37): Hey, hey coaches. Welcome back to the Simply Instructional Coaching Podcast. I am Nicole S. Turner, and in this episode, we’re going to be talking about reflecting on your instructional coaching journey. Reflection is really, really important to me as a coach. I’ve always preached being in a reflective coach, and it’s so much ingrained in who I am as an instructional coach that even inside of the Simply Instructional Coaching Planner that was just released with Solution Tree, there is a slot for every single week in which we are to reflect on the week before. I have three questions every single week that I ask. The first is, did I meet my goals from the previous week? That is super important. Did I meet my goals? And if I did not, the second question is, if I did not meet those goals, then why? Understanding the why or the root cause of why something did not happen will help you to correct it in the future. (01:42): And that third question that I always ask is, what did I learn, right? So what did I learn last week? I always make sure that I write that down because we’ll learn something, but we’ll also forget something. And being able to go back and to reflect on that is very, very important. So today we’re actually going to talk about our instructional coaching journey throughout this school year and thinking about ways in which we can evaluate our coaching impact and effectiveness. Also talk about our setting goals for personal and professional development growth, especially during our summer months, and seeking the value of feedback, right? The value of feedback from our teachers, our colleagues, administrators, and even our students is super important. So the first thing that I want to talk to you about is evaluating your coaching impact and effectiveness. So as an instructional coach, it’s essential to reflect on your impact and effectiveness, and here are some strategies that you can use to evaluate your coaching journey. (02:50): So the first thing you can do is review data and evidence, right? You can look at student performance, teacher surveys. I always do teacher surveys at the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and end of the year. And in the show notes, I am linking to the surveys that I have in my store where I always use these surveys to get feedback from teachers. First I have a self-reflective component of that where I sit and I complete the self-reflection, and then I have the teachers answer in five different areas. And for me to then take out that data and really look at the way in which the teachers have in those five areas inside of that. Alright, so then you want to reflect on your coaching practice. So you want to take time for your coaching strengths and your areas of improvement. (03:40): Utilizing those surveys will be able to help you to do that. You can reflect on these two questions, what strategies were successful, and then what areas could you improve upon? That is super, super important. If you set smart goals this year, and I hope that you did inside of your planner that we have, if you set your smart goals, then you should be able to now reflect back on those smart goals, and did they happen? Were you able to achieve those goals? And if you did not achieve those goals, why didn’t you achieve those goals? So that’s super important, is making sure that you understand why you did not achieve them or why you did achieve them. What made it successful for you to gain or get your goals this year. Alright, so the second thing that we’re going to talk about is your personal and professional development during the summer months. (04:38): Summer is an excellent time for you as an instructional coach to set some personal and some professional goals, and here are a couple of ways that you can definitely do that. So the first thing is, is that you have to have some type of professional development, right? I always take the summer to rest, of course, but I always take the summer to kind of deep dive into some things like workshops, conferences, especially the Simply Coaching Summit where there are a lot of gurus and I can watch over 40 videos and I can rewind and take notes and replay as much as I can. I can attend as many workshops in person workshops or virtual live workshops. Those things help to build new skills and to strengthen and deepen your understanding of the instructional coaching best practices. The next thing is is that you should do some type of networking. So connect with other instructional coaches, whether it’s virtual or in-person. Just take some opportunities to share some ideas and strategies and insights. You can look at professional organizations or you could just jump in a couple of Facebook groups. We have the Simply Instructional Coaching Facebook group that you can join and you can chat with coaches, about 7,000 coaches all over the country. (06:06): 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? (07:03): 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. (07:56): All right, so reading and research. So we want to dive into some books and articles, research studies that are related to instructional coaching so that we can stay up to date on your latest trends and best practices. And especially this summer, we are having the Simply Instructional Coaching Book Club. So it’s called Tea with Turner. And make sure that you join us for this free book club. You just need to have the revised edition of the Simply Instructional Coaching book that is published through Solution Tree. You can get it from Solution Tree or from Amazon, and we’ll make sure that we link under the podcast for that. And finally, as it comes for the summer months, make sure that you take care of you, take care of yourself, set some goals for some exercise, nutrition, some self-care maintenance, get your nails done, get your feet done. (08:46): Lay out by the pool if you have that opportunity. Some of you who I’m super jealous of, they have beaches. I am such a little fish, so I love to go to the beach and just kind of lay out a little bit, get some sun, refresh yourself, really. Sometimes I like to play some music, some really calming music and just kind of lay there and just let my mind wander. I believe that’s called mindfulness is what they’re calling it, but I kind of make sure that I do a lot of that in the summer. So those are some ways that you definitely need to incorporate some personal care. All right, so the final thing that we are going to talk about is the value of seeking feedback from our colleagues, administrators, and even students. One thing we need to know is that feedback is an essential component of our growth and development as coaches. (09:43): Just as important as our reflection is, getting feedback from others is really, really important as well. So remember, we talked about those surveys that we would get from our colleagues, from our teachers that we serve. So that’s some feedback that’s coming from us. We can also give feedback from our fellow instructional coaches. So if you are actually coaching in a team or if there are team of coaches, there are some buildings that have a math coach, ELA coach, data coach. I’ve been in buildings where it was three of us and we had three different coaches, but then I’ve been in buildings where I was by myself as well. And so I would have a buddy coach that I worked with. And so they were able to give me some valuable insights into my coaching practice, any patterns that they noticed or any areas of improvement. I was so open that I asked them, I said, Hey, what are some things that you feel as though I can work on? (10:40): So those surveys that I talked about before, I always bring those surveys and have a end of the year meeting with my principal or my administrator. I always look for them to provide me with feedback on the broader impact of my coaching. I really want them to kind of dig deep and let me know, tell me some things that I needed to work on. And I bring the feedback from my teachers, the survey so that I can then advocate for any other kind of professional development that I need or something that they need to put into the budget. And for them to look to know that I am a reflective coach and that I am looking for ways to improve. A lot of times school leaders or administrators will be able to provide feedback to help me to understand how my work aligns with our school-wide goals and what initiatives it is that we are focusing on. And so if I was truly aligned to that or not. (11:37): So those are some ways that I could take that feedback and utilize it for me to kind of digest it over the summer. Think about ways that I can figure out ways in which I could align my weaknesses, the professional development that I choose, or the books that I read over the summer to really try to build me up. Now, I want to make this very clear, I am not asking you to give me or to utilize all day every day of the summer. I’m not asking that at all. I want you to have some personal time, some wellness time, some time for yourself. But I truly do believe ina few unseen hours are the hours that really build our craft. And for me, I’ve learned that coaching and teaching is about passion and purpose. (12:29): I always come from that perspective that the work that I have to do is so big that I’ll take a few moments of my time throughout the summer to really think about and to grow as a coach and a person. So reflecting on your instructional coaching journey is essential for continuous growth and improvement by evaluating your impact and effectiveness, setting goals for personal and professional growth during our summer months, and seeking feedback from our colleagues, from other coaches, from our teachers and administrators can really strengthen your coaching practice and contribute to you being a better coach. And it also will contribute to have a better learning outcome for our students and for you being able to really support your teachers throughout the year. So I hope that these strategies and insights help you to continue on your coaching journey. I am so excited to share all of these key points that I have throughout the year. And thank you for listening to the Simply Instructional Coaching podcast. Happy coaching y’all. (13:43): Thanks for listening to the Simply Instructional Coaching Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this episode and you’d like to help support the podcast, please share it with other coaches and teacher leaders, post about it on social media, and leave a rating or review. To catch all the latest for me, you can follow me on Instagram @SimplyCoachingandTeaching_ and on Twitter @Coachandteach. Thanks again and I’ll see you in the next episode. Happy Coaching.