Allyson Burnett—Virtual Coaching

[00:01] Justin Baeder:

Welcome to Principal Center Radio, bringing you the best in professional practice.

[00:06] Announcer:

Here's your host, Director of the Principal Center and Champion of High Performance Instructional Leadership, Dustin Baeder. Welcome, everyone, to Principal Center Radio.

[00:15] Allyson Burnett:

I'm your host, Justin Baeder, and I'm honored to be joined today by Allison Burnett. Allison is director of professional learning for SIDME and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston downtown working in teacher education. A former teacher and instructional specialist, Allison is a national education consultant and the co-author of the book, 20 Literacy Strategies to Meet the Common Core.

[00:39] Announcer:

And now, our feature presentation.

[00:41] Allyson Burnett:

Allison, welcome to Principal Center Radio.

[00:43] Allyson Burnett:

Thank you, Justin. It's great to be here.

[00:44] Allyson Burnett:

We're here today to talk about virtual coaching, which is one of your major focuses these days professionally. I wonder if we could start with a little bit of a definition. Now, we've done a webinar on this recently, but for our Principal Center Radio listeners who weren't on that webinar, what is virtual coaching and how does it compare to more traditional instructional coaching that we're familiar with?

[01:09] Allyson Burnett:

Sure. So here's how I would define it. Virtual coaching is where the coach is not physically present with the teacher that's being coached. So we're doing it virtually. We're doing it via webcam. We're doing it via video.

[01:22]

So we're still getting to see the work that the teacher is doing. We're still having that relationship and communication with that teacher, but we're not physically present in their classroom or physically ever meeting them.

[01:33] Allyson Burnett:

As I think about the work that administrators do in terms of instructional leadership, in terms of supervision, It doesn't seem to me that a remote relationship, that video would be appropriate. But knowing that the relationship that coaches have, if you're in explicitly a coaching role versus an administrative role, as we've talked about previously, there are some distinct advantages. I wonder if we could go into some of those advantages, because certainly if you're trying to monitor a teacher, if you're trying to supervise a teacher, evaluate a teacher, You know, you've got to show up unannounced sometimes, I think is the bottom line. But how is the coaching relationship different in a way that makes video work?

[02:14] Allyson Burnett:

Well, I think first of all and foremost is there has to be in this virtual relationship, there has to be a great deal of trust. And we really assume Jim Knight's partnership approach. So the goal is that we're working together to help support and stretch the teacher who is in need of coaching. So, yeah, we're not going to have those drop in unannounced visits. We're going to have to rely on and depend upon the teacher to do some cooperating with us in terms of sharing video snapshots of moments of instruction. We're going to have to rely on them to be honest and forthright when they're telling us the concerns they have and the issues they're having.

[02:57]

And so that makes the fact that we need to build a relationship and a relationship based on trust all the more important for us.

[03:05] Allyson Burnett:

And one of the reasons that, you know, this often comes up in my workshops, you know, we'll discuss whether as administrators, whether as evaluators, we can legitimately coach the teachers that we supervise. And I think there's a good discussion to be had there, but I always come down on the the no side because I think the coaching relationship really does require that buy-in on the part of the teacher. And really, if you look at the International Coaching Federation's guidelines, the client's goals really do have to be in the foreground. And I know for myself as an administrator, that's not always the case. I'm often concerned about things that are not on the teacher's radar until I put them there because we have a different relationship than in a coaching relationship. But I wonder if we could talk about goals in that relationship, because certainly virtual coaching doesn't make sense outside of the context of goals.

[04:01]

So as kind of a starting point, where do those goals come from in a virtual coaching relationship?

[04:07] Allyson Burnett:

Really one of two ways. Either a teacher who's decided that they're wanting to seek assistance in addition to what they're being offered in their school setting. They can contact us to be virtually coached. And then they're the ones who generally either come to us with goals in mind or they come to us to say, here are the goals that it's been suggested I work on. The second way this happens is the administrator contacts us. They contact our school liaison and they.

[04:36]

Talk specifically about the teacher who's needing support. And part of our induction interview is to ask that administrator a couple of questions. First of all, what have you been trying with this teacher? What's worked? What's helped? What are some of the obstacles?

[04:52]

And what specific goals have been set? And at the end of the conversation, we have to walk away with two or three very specific, concrete, doable goals. goals that we'll start with in terms of that teacher because we do we do know that the administrator is involved in the process if they're the ones who have contacted us and they need to be heard their concerns need to be heard and That's usually the starting point in terms of the goals that we work with with the teacher.

[05:25] Allyson Burnett:

Well, let's get into the specifics then, Allison. What does it look like once the coaching relationship has been established? What does it look like on a day-to-day basis? How does the teacher share where they are, share, say, video from their classroom, and get assistance from a coach in a virtual relationship?

[05:42] Allyson Burnett:

So the way that it begins is we like to have a school liaison who begins a relationship with the teacher who's being coached. And In that initial contact, it's beginning the building of the relationship. It's making a couple of requests. The first request is that the teacher film a 360 of their classroom. And while they're filming that 360, they can introduce themselves, talk a little bit about their experience. So that the virtual coach will get a sense of the classroom setting because sometimes we have classroom management issues.

[06:18]

It's the setting itself. It's as simple as the way the desks are arranged in the room. So we begin with the very fundamental, very foundational part of that relationship. And then once the coach is introduced to the teacher being coached, It's really a six-week cycle, and the reason that six weeks is optimum is six weeks is long enough to get rid of some of the perhaps bad habits, the habits that are not producing the results the teacher really wishes for or the administration wishes for. So it takes a while to get rid of some of those bad habits that have been formed and a while to build some and replace those habits with some habits that are going to be more fruitful. So a six-week cycle is pretty ideal.

[07:05]

And longer than that, it becomes a little too stressful for a new teacher who, while they're teaching, still is having to be coached. So longer than six weeks is probably a little bit stressful and a little bit long. Less than six weeks, probably not enough to get rid of old habits and build new, better habits. So six weeks seems to be ideal. And within that six weeks, we have really a repeated cycle. And that cycle is a 45-minute or so web conference or Skype conference a week where that relationship continues to build, where the coach checks in with the teacher, where progress is discussed, where the goal that's been focused on is being discussed, where the resources that have been shared.

[07:52]

So that personalized, individualized time when the coach and the teacher are just interacting with one another. From that conversation comes some requests and some additional information. So the request might be from the coach to say to the teacher, listen, this week our goal has been to work on getting class started in a more productive and engaging way. One of the concerns your administrator has was that it's taking six or seven minutes after the bell rings for class to begin. So I want you to record that. two or three snapshot videos, let's say one on Monday, one on Wednesday, one on Friday, just the beginning of your class, the beginning of class routines, so we can really focus in on and freeze just those moments in time.

[08:40]

So that would be a request then for the teacher to follow up and share those snapshot videos. And then in addition, within that week, the coach is going to share some resources about, for example, the five most engaging ways to begin your classroom, or the three reasons it's important to begin instruction before the bell stops ringing. Those kinds of resources that we're going to ask the teacher to read and that's going to help give them a sense of the research behind what we're asking them to do. And then finally, this is part of every week of the six-week cycle, is a coaching report. So this coaching report, if the administration is who's hired us, the coaching report goes both to the teacher and to the administrator so that we always want to keep the administrator in the loop in this process.

[09:34]

So a coaching report, which is very concrete and very objective, that just gives sort of that just giving the facts. So here is the day we had our coaching call. Here are the goals we're working on this week. Here are the snapshot videos that were requested. Here are the resources that were shared. And then any other objective information that can be shared in that coaching report.

[09:58]

That's really what happens during the course of the six weeks we meet with the teacher during that cycle.

[10:02] Allyson Burnett:

And one thing you said there toward the end that I want to highlight, because I think it's very powerful, is that the administrator is staying in the loop in the sense that they're being informed about the actions that are being taken, about the level of activity. But I feel like the separation, the distance between the administrator and what the teacher is trying on a day-to-day basis actually sets the teacher up to be a lot less afraid and to be a lot more successful and to be actually able to take risks and fail on the way to growing. That's always something I think is very difficult, especially if you have a teacher who is on an improvement plan and the principal is working with them directly to do some things to improve. And yet there's always this kind of suspicion that my principal doesn't really want me to get better. They just want to prove that I'm failing and get rid of me.

[10:53]

And I think that trust can be very difficult to maintain. And I think among the approaches that principals have for supporting teachers who are really struggling, I think virtual coaching has so much potential for that reason, because of the distance that it creates between the day-to-day work that the teacher's doing and the principal, and yet the intensive support that it provides to the teacher via the coach.

[11:18] Allyson Burnett:

Yeah, Justin, I just want to say two things about that. First of all, I do think that teachers who are struggling feel a great deal of anxiety. And it's really hard, as you know, as a learner, it's really hard to grow and be able to stay focused when you're feeling a sense of anxiety around the work that you're doing. So the coach gives a little bit of space there, a little bit of breathing room in terms of the pressure perhaps the teacher's feeling if they're working more directly with a principal or with somebody directly in the building. The second thing that's important here, Justin, is that sometimes teachers who are struggling spend a lot of time trying to conceal that from their administrator or from the person who's trying to help them. So because of fear.

[12:05]

So when they get that outside coach and that trust and relationship is built and they have a little bit of breathing room between those folks who are in the building and the virtual coach, I think that there's less reluctance to share the things that are really happening and to be very honest about it. And I don't think we're gonna see the level of improvement with a struggling teacher that we need to see until they're able to be very honest about what's happening. with the classroom and management and with instruction.

[12:35] Allyson Burnett:

Absolutely. And I think along the same lines, one of the things that I mentioned in the teacher growth plan webinar is this dynamic of putting in place a growth plan that's really a lot of extra work for the teacher, a lot of extra documentation, a lot of action steps that really don't feel like support and that may not actually support the teacher in getting better. And I think of some of the growth plans that I did early on as a principal where I was trying to help teachers improve and I would say, okay, I want you to go to this workshop and I want you to meet with so-and-so and get a plan together for this. And, you know, I wanted those activities to be helpful, but the bottom line was they created a lot of extra work that was not directly helpful in the way that coaching is directly helpful. And I think one of the things that we've got to do as administrators when we have a teacher who's not doing well and really needs support is we've got to make sure that we're maintaining the moral high ground.

[13:29]

And what I mean by that is that we're acting with students' best interests in mind, but we're also acting in good faith toward the teacher. And I think that's one thing that's particularly difficult about principal-directed growth plans. If the principal is doing everything, it's very difficult to maintain that perception and that reality. That we are acting in good faith toward the teacher because you know in a lot of cases Students interests require us to be fairly unforgiving at least in the long term with teachers who are underperforming We want to be compassionate. We want to be helpful We want them to improve but if they don't that compassion is not going to lead us to just ignore Major problems that need to be addressed

[14:09] Allyson Burnett:

Absolutely. And I think I just want to follow up on what you said, because I think it's an approach that lots of people use, lots of administrators use. And that is, I'm going to try lots of different things with this teacher. I'm going to look up in the catalog from the educational service center to see when certain workshops are being offered. I'm going to send them out of the building to do this. I'm going to have them.

[14:30]

So we have multiple approaches to things. But I think at the end of the day, the virtual coach approach is best because it's the same person working with the same teacher in a personalized, individualized, focused, thoughtful way on doable goals, achievable goals that have been identified and established and the teachers receiving reinforcement and feedback on what they're doing in relation to those goals. So maybe it's a great idea to send a struggling teacher to the full day workshop on classroom management but there's no follow-up necessarily when they get back and there's no one who can hold them accountable for trying specific ideas that they heard and there's no one to help them if they're confused by the information they receive so that personalization of the virtual coach

[15:27]

I think, is a much better intervention for a teacher who's struggling.

[15:32] Allyson Burnett:

Well, Alison, I know my experience with virtual coaching is in a slightly different context. Working with people in our Ascend program who are practicing for interviews, we don't do, obviously, classroom video, but we do practice interviews over Skype. We record those. We put them in the SIDMI platform. And then I annotate those interviews so people get feedback on specific moments in their video. From the coach's perspective, thinking about their time, and we know coaches' time is valuable, what does it look like from the coach's perspective to interact with the teacher electronically, using the Sibme platform, using video?

[16:09]

What are some of the steps that coaches take and some best practices that you teach to the virtual coaches that you work with through Sibme?

[16:17] Allyson Burnett:

Well, Justin, I think you started really with the most important part of it. And that is not only do we have to have something to web conference with, so we're using Skype or we're just having that phone conversation, but being able, and I like the hybrid approach and that's the approach that I advocate and use. So it's not just the web conference or the phone conference, but it's also watching video of teachers teaching. And we call them snapshot videos because we want short five, 10 minute videos. We don't want to, sit and look at an entire class period because we get tempted sometimes to do something that really takes us down the wrong path. And that is if we look at a larger block of video time, we get tempted to start commenting on things that have nothing to do with the goal that we're currently working on.

[17:05]

And we get way too scattered. and those are the kinds of things that have been happening to that struggling teacher anyway. There's been 17, 18, 19 suggestions of things to do and improve. So video allows us to focus in on those teachable moments that we most care about, and those are the moments that are related to the goals that we're working on. So really it's having that hybrid approach of having some sort of software platform. We use Sibme.

[17:35]

because it allows us to easily copy and upload video. It's a very quick process. It's very reliable. It provides us with a safe place to work, a secure place to work, and it allows us to make timestamp comments. So I like to say when we use video, every moment's a teachable moment, because I can't I can make a comment at the exact second when something great is occurring or when the teacher needs to be reflective about what's occurring. So having a place where also I can easily share resources with the teacher or where I can ask the teacher not only to upload their snapshot videos, but to also quickly share and attach the lesson plan that they were using for that day so I can see the context of the moments of video I've requested.

[18:25]

And those are the things I think are most critical to being a successful virtual coach.

[18:30] Allyson Burnett:

Very well said. And I know I've spoken with some people who are face-to-face instructional coaches or who administer coaching programs within their district. And just to hear how they've used SIDME and how they've used some of those approaches to virtual coaching to kind of extend their reach and increase their efficiency. And as you said, avoid kind of distractions. If we're really focused on how we begin the class period, if I really want to help this teacher get better at how they begin the class period, it doesn't do me any good to watch a 60-minute lesson and comment on 10 other things. we can really make much better use of our coaching time uh through that focus and through the kind of narrower lens that that video provides compared to visiting the classroom itself and certainly for district coaches for anyone who's working through an educational service center and has coaching clients all over the place just i think the elimination of travel time is a no-brainer you know if we can avoid spending work time driving across the city or driving across the county

[19:27]

That's a huge advantage. So I hope you can tell this is something I'm excited about. And Dave Wakefield, the founder of Sibme and the developer of the software, has been a friend of mine for many years and I've just really been impressed with the leadership that he's exercised in this area and in bringing virtual coaching to more people. So, Allison, if people want to get in touch with you, we've set up a link on our website at principalcenter.com slash coaching. And I've previously done an in-depth webinar on growth plans for teachers.

[20:01]

And we've got a button on that page at principalcenter.com slash coaching that will put people in touch with you. And if you could kind of recap for us, what happens if someone is interested in virtual coaching, either for themselves or for a teacher that they are attempting to support. What does it look like to get started with virtual coaching through Sibme?

[20:21] Allyson Burnett:

Sure. So what happens is the person contacts us, our School liaison has basically an induction interview process that they take the administrator through, if that's who's contacting us, or the teacher through, if that's who's contacting us. So we get the sense of and gist of the context that we're working in. And then that school liaison is also the first contact with the teacher, setting up their SIDNI account, requesting those 360 videos, and making sure the teacher understands the six-week cycle and the process that's going to take place. And then the relationship begins with the coach and the teacher, the six-weeks coaching cycle where we really have these four touches every week, the personalized, individualized, web conferencing or phone conferencing time, the snapshot video feedback that's given by the coach where making every moment a teachable moment,

[21:22]

We have the resource sharing and then, of course, the discussion of the resource sharing can happen during that web conference. And then finally, we have that weekly coaching report that goes not only to the teacher but to the administrator if that's who has requested the coach. So that the administrator really has to be kept in the loop. And finally, at the end of the six weeks...

[21:44]

there's basically an outtake interview between this time, the coach and the administrator. So the coach walks through the goals that have been met, walks through the process that's taken place with the administrator. And if the administrator feels like there's just a little bit more time needed to continue working on just another goal or two, then we continue the coaching cycle. And if we feel like we've taken care of business and the teacher's corrected the things that needed to be corrected and the teachers ready to move forward, then we move on and work with our next client.

[22:18] Allyson Burnett:

And I know you work with a small army of fabulous virtual coaches. What are some of the skills and qualifications that you look for when choosing people to and matching people with specific clients? What are some of the coaching strengths that you look for as kind of the director of this program?

[22:37] Allyson Burnett:

Well, here's what I say, and I'm only halfway joking when I say this, but I only hire people that I would want to be coached by should I need to be coached. So that's, I'm only halfway joking when I say that, but we're looking for people who have had experience being coaches. We're looking for, we have in our coaching staff, we have folks who are current administrators, who are previous administrators, who have worked as instructional coaches and So the coaching part of things is not new to them. And I personally know about 90% of the folks who were working for us as virtual coaches. And I can say that they have just outstanding credentials for that reason. And they also, I would just say, one of the big and most important things is they have an ability to build a relationship with people and they have an ability to both support and stretch

[23:34]

the folks they're working with. And I think that, or those are the two words that come to mind when I think of a successful virtual coaching relationship. I'm going to support you and I'm going to stretch you to grow because it really is about you being the most effective teacher you can be because we have children in the classroom whose learning is being impacted by your ability to manage a class and your ability to provide quality instruction. And then, Justin, you asked the second part of that question, and that's the match. And so when the school liaison is working with the administrator, if that's who's hiring us, that's when we have those conversations. Do we want to match a coach who has experience in an elementary setting if it's an elementary teacher?

[24:17]

Is that going to be important? Some of our coaches, frankly, prefer to work with teachers who are the same background experience that they've had. So they were elementary teachers. They prefer to coach teachers who were working in elementary school. So we do sometimes make those matches so that things will work out well for everyone.

[24:40] Allyson Burnett:

Well, Allison, thanks so much for sharing your insights on virtual coaching. It has been a pleasure to speak with you today. And again, we will put the link on our website. But if people want to go to principalcenter.com slash coaching, they can get some more information and get in touch with you there.

[24:57] Allyson Burnett:

Thanks, Justin. I appreciate it.

[24:58] Allyson Burnett:

All right.

[24:58] Justin Baeder:

Great to speak with you today. And now, Justin Baeder on high-performance instructional leadership.

[25:05] Allyson Burnett:

So high-performance instructional leaders, what did you take away from my conversation with Alison Burnett about virtual coaching? One thing that I hope comes through loud and clear is we do have an obligation to legitimately support our teachers who are struggling. And I know at the Principal Center, we often talk about following through on the harsher side about gathering evidence and about writing an evaluation that can stick with the CEIJ format and so forth. But I think we also owe it to our teachers to legitimately support them. So that's why I'm so excited about partnering with Sibme to bring you virtual coaching. So if you go to principalcenter.com slash coaching, I've got about a one hour webinar there on developing growth plans for teachers.

[25:48]

Now that webinar is not public. It's in our pro member dashboard. But if you go right now to principalcenter.com slash coaching, we've got a secret link there. where you can access that webinar anytime. And you can also get in touch with Alison about virtual coaching to find out if it's a good fit for a teacher that you have in mind.

[26:06]

And even if you do have a great instructional coach in your school, one thing I said on the webinar, is that I think we have to be careful about the situations that we put our coaches in. If they're in the building, they don't want to become the person who works with people who are about to get fired or who are really not doing well. We want to make sure that we're protecting their relationship with their colleagues. So I hope you check that out at principalcenter.com slash coaching.

[26:35] Announcer:

Thanks for listening to Principal Center Radio. For more great episodes, subscribe on our website at principalcenter.com slash radio.