003 - Virtual PD Burnout

We're all tired of looking at screens and joining another virtual meeting right now. As a tech coach, how do you balance this virtual PD burnout with needing to provide ongoing PD to teachers? We dive into this timely topic in our third episode.

Links mentioned in the show: 

Follow Annamarie on Twitter

Follow Emily on Twitter

Miss. Bensko's blog about her playlists

Miss Bensko's Spotify Account

Forward Edge Coaches Camp

Podcast Team

Hosts- Katie  Ritter & Justin Thomas

Editing Team- Megan Whitacre, Mallory Kessen, Michael Roush

Social Media/ Promo Team- Annamarie Rinehart, Lisa Kuhn, Molly Lutts

Creative/Content Team- Brooke Conklin, Emily Cowan, Tracee Keough

Research & Logistics Team- Mark Gumm, Tyler Erwin

Producers- Tyler Erwin & Katie Ritter

Edge•U Badges
Edge•U is an anytime, anywhere professional learning platform made for teachers by teachers!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:04

hit the restart button to recharge those batteries Aloha,

Katie Ritter: 0:30

I am Katie Ritter.

Justin Thomas: 0:31

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

Katie Ritter: 0:47

you're going to leave feeling a little bit less on your own island as a result of listening along to our coaching podcast.

Justin Thomas: 0:55

Hopefully so well look today we got two awesome coaches with us. We're gonna be talking about virtual PD burnout with two of these coaches. And we have from Ford Edge, Anna Marie Reinhart and Emily Cowen.

Katie Ritter: 1:10

Justin, you can tell that you do some sports announcing there with that introduction, just just nice. So I would like to introduce Emily Cowen to our listeners here. So prior to Emily joining us at forward edge. In her current coaching role she taught for six years as a middle school language arts and science teacher. I'm super jealous because Emily actually got to spend a handful of years in Charleston, South Carolina, which is a beautiful city, and then came back home and taught in Columbus, Ohio for a little while. Last year, she actually served a couple of different districts both in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio as their technology coach for forward edge. And currently she is working across multiple districts to support teachers K 12 in the Cincinnati area, as well as Emily has also started a complete completely virtual coaching support for a district in Kentucky as well too. So that's that's been a new challenge for Emily and our team as well to support schools completely remotely. And she's also a Google certified trainer and coach. So welcome Emily. Thank you.

Justin Thomas: 2:22

I like to introduce Anna Marie Now Anna Maria taught as an intervention specialist for five years she worked with students grades 12378 and 12. She taught all four content areas and worked with a wide variety of learners. Anna Maria is now a technology integration specialist in a pre K to eight building, and one of the largest school districts in the state of Ohio. She was placed in the school after the building was awarded a grant for a one to one iPad program for their fifth and eighth grade students. Now the entire building is one to one and she is able to support all staff members. That's the paraprofessionals the classroom teachers admin, social workers, custodians, related service providers just about everyone in the district building and seams and students in the building. Of course, she also supports the special education department and another district through virtual coaching sessions every other week. So welcome, Annamarie.

Annamarie Rinehart: 3:12

Oh, thanks.

Justin Thomas: 3:16

Alright, so we want to talk a little bit about this virtual PD burnout, right. And, really, it's kind of hard to kind of wrap your head around what exactly we're talking about with virtual PD burnout, but it is something that is happening. We've seen it all across the district, all of our coaches have kind of talked about and seen a little bit with it. But why is this so prevalent right now? What have you been hearing out there? And why the burnout Do you think and kind of what overall is virtual PD burnout?

Annamarie Rinehart: 3:44

Um, so I just feel like, you know, everybody at this point is tired of sitting in front of their computers, teachers, students, coaches, to some degree, we're all definitely feeling the virtual PD burnout, virtual meeting, burnout, virtual class burnout, everybody just so badly misses, like face to face interaction with 3d people. Just think that, you know, everybody's feeling it. And it's definitely a problem, you know, trying to keep things fresh and new, exciting and making people want to show up for your virtual PDFs, or your virtual classes. If you're a teacher, I know. You know, student engagement is a huge thing. So I just think, for all parties involved, doing things this way is just getting old, and people you know, are losing interest.

Katie Ritter: 4:39

Yeah, Marie, I feel like right now, I can just see all of our listeners nodding their heads right along with you. It's you're describing this very real problem that I think you know, like you referenced teachers are facing with their students. And on the flip side, we as coaches are facing with our students who are teachers. So Though I definitely think you hit the nail on the head there about this being a really, really big problem. Emily, do you have anything to add to that, from your perspective, what you're seeing just kind of how you might describe virtual PD burnout for our listeners?

Emily Cowan: 5:14

Yeah. And I can say that Annamarie hit the nail on the head, like you said, She covered all the things that I was thinking in my own head, I can say that my teachers who are in person a lot of the times when I try and meet with them, or set up appointments for like, is this going to be in person because I can't stand to join another zoom meet? Can Can we meet once you're back in the building? I don't want to do this over virtual. So it really is. Everyone's just getting really tired of it. And they they're craving that face to face contact? Oh, no.

Justin Thomas: 5:45

Point. I was just saying I really liked that point. I mean, it's it's kind of what everyone is really talked about, right? Like they want to be in person as Anna Marie said, 3d version, right? Because technically, we're face to face now. But it just it's just not the same. It doesn't count. Right?

Emily Cowan: 6:02

Yeah. Yeah, I

Katie Ritter: 6:03

like that. I might, I might start describing people as 3d people.

Annamarie Rinehart: 6:09

It's true. I mean, I can't tell you how many you know, virtual classes I popped in on and kids just look shocked when they see you in real life and like walking around. It's like a completely different person. It's crazy.

Katie Ritter: 6:21

Yeah. Nice. Well, ladies, thanks for thanks for kind of filling us in just in case, somebody was a little bit confused about what we mean when we say virtual PD burnout. So for our listeners, stick around, we've got just a short 32nd break from one of our sponsors. But when we get back, we're going to dig into tons of questions. And Emily and Anna Marie are going to give us a lot of really good tips to fight through this back half of the year and help us power through any more virtual PD that we have to provide, you know through the rest of this school year and potentially I hate to say it but potentially into the summer or maybe even a little bit of next school year until we're kind of completely clear of all of this so we will be right back.

Justin Thomas: 7:03

Okay for a program that reaches all teachers and learning new tools to integrate in their lessons. And you badges is the answer as using anytime anywhere badging program that is designed to take bite sized tools for instruction, and teach teachers how to use them. Edgy has received the STC of alignment for Educator Standards, and each badge 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.

Katie Ritter: 7:33

All right, welcome back. Thanks for sticking around. As a reminder, we're here with Emily Cowan and Anna Marie Reinhart talking about virtual PD burnout. And so we're gonna dig right into it. And hopefully, these ladies are gonna give you some great tips that you'll be able to take back and implement into your coaching practice to get us through the rest of the school year and potentially into the summer or maybe even into the fall a little bit. So ladies, first and foremost kind of thinking about, you know, thinking about if we can remember, we're coming up on almost exactly a year almost at the time that we're recording this episode. By the time it comes out, it will be a full year, having to do things almost everything virtually. And so thinking about if you can even remember what you used to do and all of your face to face PD, what elements of that face to face PD have you actually been able to kind of easily transition to your virtual PD offerings.

Annamarie Rinehart: 8:36

Um, the first thing that comes to mind for me is actually something that Emily taught me, when I was able to sit in or help support in some PD session that we had to tag team. I don't even remember what it was. But um, I also heard a couple of other I've heard other coaches and presenters talk about this about like how awkward it is to walk into a completely silent cafeteria or media center or join a Zoom meeting where it's just so quiet, you're not really sure if anybody can hear you like, it's just it's uncomfortable, right? So I feel like kind of one of my favorite things. And again, I'm gonna give Emily credit for this is to put on like a school appropriate playlist for virtual PD. I think it's kind of a fun thing for people to, you know, come in to a PD session and hear like Stevie Wonder playing or something, right. It just kind of like sets the tone for that session. And I think that we've got like great resources out there. Emily told me about some teachers, she's kind of like Instagram famous. She puts all these Spotify playlists together that are full of school appropriate songs, which I just think is so key, and then teachers end up asking for that resource too. So you kind of like get to share a bonus resource outside of what you're planning on covering to begin with in the PD.

Katie Ritter: 9:58

Yeah, Emily, I So I've gotten that playlist from YouTube because I, I always try to play music because I hate the awkward silence at the beginning of a PD, especially if you're, you know, maybe a brand new coach and you don't know the teachers very well yet, so you're kind of still struggling even know what to talk to them about. So music is like a godsend. Um, but and but everyone always made fun of my playlist. I know, Tyler on our team abandoned it because it was so bad. So Emily, do you want to share the name of that that teacher in her playlist that you gave to all of us to use?

Emily Cowan: 10:34

Yeah, so she is my favorite teacher account to follow. Her name is Josie Bansko, and it's at maniacs in the middle. And she has probably like at least 12 playlists of totally school appropriate songs for students. My personal favorite is she just came out with a 90s babies. So all of the songs are the songs that I grew up loving and listening to. But she also has rock and comb, she has instrumental pop the songs of today she's very with it. So everything is constantly updated. So your kids will know and love her music.

Katie Ritter: 11:11

Nice. We'll get her in or we'll get her Spotify. I don't know if I need her Spotify or her Instagram or whatever I need. I'll get the link from you. And I'll put it in the show notes. So our listeners to go to our podcast website and we'll link them right to those playlists that you're talking about. I love that I love that you're transferring the music, Annamarie I think that's an awesome, easy kind of fun transition that you were able to bring from face to face to the virtual setting.

Justin Thomas: 11:36

Yeah, I gotta say I jumped in with the for chat moderation on one of your sessions, Anna Marie, and you were grooming to some use, like I can't remember what it was. But it was like, oh, like I was getting in the mood ready to ready to go. And you think about all these awesome events that you have, you know, like concerts and anything else. There's always like some sort of music playing as you're coming into the venue. So, you know, you're just getting ready to rock star it up on the on the PD session?

Annamarie Rinehart: 11:58

Yeah, it's like kind of a way to inadvertently break the ice, you kind of I don't know, it just makes it a lot less awkward, I think.

Katie Ritter: 12:06

And Annamaria. If I can ask how are you actually playing it? Like, I know that might sound like a kind of a silly question. But like, are you just playing it on your phone? And just sort of having someone tell you if it sounds okay, through the speaker? Or are you playing it online? And like,

Annamarie Rinehart: 12:22

that's not a silly? Yeah, not a silly question at all. Because I feel like there's a bunch of different ways you could do it. I feel like most of my virtual peds have been done over Google meat or zoom. And, you know, after we've all sort of navigated, like, how does audio sound if you play it on your phone, and it's being picked up by your computer, Mike, I feel like the best way to do it, if you're doing you know, a Google meet is just to share a Chrome tab, because kind of an added bonus is people then get to see like Josie, Ben skos, you know, Spotify playlist screen also. So they can kind of start exploring that if they want to, because they're able to see it. Same with Zoom, you know, just presenting my screen. And then making sure I've got my my shared audio turned on, I think is the best. And it seems to be the least kind of glitchy way to play the audio for everybody.

Katie Ritter: 13:20

Awesome. Emily, anything that you might add beyond the music that you've been able to bring from face to face to your virtual PD?

Emily Cowan: 13:28

Yeah, I think one of the things that has been consistent is just that informal check on how teachers are doing during the PD, it looks a little bit different than what it would have before because it's a lot harder to read the room of screens when you can't see everyone. And you know, I'm sure all the coaches here can attest that teachers also turn their cameras off. So we're just seeing their little icon. But using the chat feature having teachers, we use Zoom predominantly. So using some of those reactions, I can kind of pull the audience and see if they're sticking with me. So that's one thing that's definitely been consistent.

Katie Ritter: 14:12

Awesome, thanks.

Justin Thomas: 14:13

Yeah, that's really cool. I know, with SD this year going virtual, that was kind of a added bonus, I think, because really could kind of connect with people in the chat while still listening into the session. So you can kind of multitask a little bit and kind of network or in a normal world, you would be in the end of the conference center conference room, and you wouldn't want to be talking to someone else because that would just be appearing rude. So having that chat function, I think it's definitely a really cool function there. But obviously, with the way things have changed, there's certainly got to be something that you've had to kind of drop or leave behind when it comes to this new virtual PD setting. What are some of the kind of the main things that you've had to leave behind as you've shifted your PD gears?

Emily Cowan: 14:58

So PD ad is s Then it should include good instructional practice. And that can really be translated face to face or virtual. With that being said, some things have kind of fallen to the wayside. And one of the things that I've really gotten away from is carving out time for work time. And I know that that seems like a valuable piece of the PD. But that built in work time, teachers may need that time to do something else. So I really tried to keep my virtual PD to the point so that they walk away with the skills that they need, but that they can kind of explore or create on their own time, because every complaint from a teacher right now it's time and so I personally feel that using my given time and dedicating it to, you know, just creating on this tool isn't very fair to the teachers. Yeah,

Annamarie Rinehart: 15:50

I agree with that. Also, because you said something, Emily that like, you know, they might have something else that they need to do during that work time. And if you give that work time, they're likely going to be working on that other thing anyway, just because we're human, like, I would do that, too. If I were a teacher right now, and I was having such a hard time, like, managing everything that comes with teaching this year, you know, top of my list of priorities is probably not going to be like practicing whatever it is, you know, one of us just just told us. So I definitely think that I agree with that. I feel like downtime, is something that we've kind of left behind, you know, keep it moving, making sure to give people breaks, especially if it's going to be like a long amount of time sitting in a virtual PT session, but like, keeping the pacing up, so that you don't lose people. Because I think engagement is one of the hardest things to maintain when you're working with people this way.

Katie Ritter: 16:48

I love that. That's so interesting. So instead of like when you say work time you guys are talking about so Okay, great. We're a tech coach, I'm showing you how to use this tool. You know, normally you try to embed that work time or play time for teachers to just play with the tools. And whereas now you're finding that because their time is so limited, that ability that traditionally in a face to face setting was always so valuable with having them just play with the coach right there to help assist that now you're you're sort of sacrificing that play time, so that they can just get to the point, learn what I need to learn and then take it back. And then you know, hopefully they'll set up a follow up meeting with you, if they need your kind of your hand holding to build it.

Annamarie Rinehart: 17:30

Yeah, I mean, I think to in person, you're able to like cycle around the room, you can walk around, you can see what's happening on their computer screens, which is like a very natural time for them to ask questions that they come up. But I think some people like even teachers are a little nervous to unmute or ask questions in front of everybody and that there is some like added pressure this way. So yeah, I think the the questions happen a lot of times after the PD is over when we're learning like this.

Katie Ritter: 17:59

Yeah, that is that I mean, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, everyone is just so slammed, I would imagine that you both are having trouble even kind of creating buy in to get people to attend some of the virtual peds. Especially after going on, like we said a year of it. So what how are you even creating buy in from the start to get them to even show up with time being like number one priority on on everybody's list right now.

Annamarie Rinehart: 18:29

I feel like buying is actually the hardest part of all this. I think, you know, as tech coaches, we're super familiar with tools to keep people engaged, because a lot of times, that's what we're working with our teachers on, right, but it's like hooking people in making them want to show up and listen to what you have to say. So I mean, I think first and foremost, just making sure that it's relevant is the first step. So you know, listening to teach your feedback, you know, passing people if you're able to in the hallway, I know some of us are in like a weird, blended hybrid world right now. But if you like overhear somebody like a frustration, you know, use that to kind of inform what you're going to be talking about during the PD session. Because I think Relevancy is what you're going to need in order to get people to show up at all. I think that's kind of the most important part,

Emily Cowan: 19:21

for sure. I'm just going to echo that. I know that for my teachers, they need that, why why should I attend this? How is this going to benefit me? They want things that really are applicable, that they can turn around and use right away. They don't want that fluff that one more tool. And I think also providing them ahead of time that by the end of this, you're going to walk away with this skill or by the end of this, you're going to walk away with three templates or a whole new lesson idea. So making sure that they know again, the why and what tangible help we're going to be providing them right Now,

Annamarie Rinehart: 20:01

something else that I think anytime we can offer, it increases teacher buy in is just choice. I know that can be really, really challenging, especially in virtual PD when we're trying to keep things likely pretty short. But I just feel like that's a really good thing to model for teachers, because that's obviously something we want them to be doing with their students too. And I've definitely been a part of peds, as a special ed teacher, where I was like, hey, like, this doesn't really apply to me. And so, you know, you kind of feel like you're wasting your time, which then immediately, the engagement is lost. And I'm thinking about, you know, the IEP that I have to write or the progress reports that I have to get out, or, you know, I'm, you've lost me. So I think, anytime you can offer teacher choice in virtual PD and face to face, you know, really does help with Biden,

Justin Thomas: 20:55

really like that using the why statement also giving the teacher some choice. So obviously, those are couple of concepts that both you're using. So that leads us to our next question here is, which is how does that planning process work for your virtual PD, especially when you're asked to create sessions on such short time, because I know there's probably been a time or two where you come in and set your stuff down. And then there's the principal saying, Hey, can you give us a session later today on this?

Emily Cowan: 21:23

Yes, that definitely happens more frequently than we would like to admit, I think my key in that is, I guess I'd call it cutting the fluff. I really like to keep my PD short, concise, to the point, I want everything to be just really, really structured, and not a lot of room for that like extra fluffy stuff, just because I know, like I said before, time is everything to these teachers right now. So just making sure main points are covered, and allow for follow up later. Because generally, if I'm offering PD, I'm the coach in that building. And so there is the ability to follow up later or to schedule appointments.

Annamarie Rinehart: 22:09

Yeah, I think when it comes to the last minute PD kind of problem. If it's something that I'm super unfamiliar with, I would say YouTube and Google are really good friends of mine. However, if it's something that I can come to our team on or look through, I mean, we're really lucky in that there are so many of us at forward edge on this team. And probably someone has created something on the topic that you're being asked to cover. So we can kind of like crowdsource ideas, use things that other people have created, but of course, adapting it to make sure that it's relevant to the teachers that we're working with and the district that we're in. But I mean, especially even with us time, you know, just like teachers, it's so important and pretty limited right now. So anytime that you can avoid kind of starting over from scratch, you know, I think is, it's helpful when you have a whole team of people like we do to help you out in these last minute PD sessions. And I also think, in PD, if something comes up and you don't know the answer, we tell teachers all the time, it's okay to say, I don't know, but I'll look into that and get back to you like, especially if you're being given short notice. I think it's really cool to kind of demonstrate that vulnerability. And that, you know, I don't know everything about tech, I think I know quite a bit but I don't know everything. And so if there's a question, I don't know, I'm not going to like lie to you have I'm gonna tell you that I don't know when I'll figure it out and get back to you.

Katie Ritter: 23:40

Yeah, and Anna Marie, I think you hit on something that like our team is fortunate and that we are surrounded by a number of coaches, but for like that lone coach that, you know, we gave the aloha to at the beginning, who's off on their own coaching Island? Um, I think I don't know, I think some advice and feel free any of you to jump in to give that person advice. But I mean, there's a lot of coaching networks out there in terms of like if you're a Google certified trainer or Google certified coach, or if you're part of Estes, a tech coaches PLN. Like there are networks out there for you to help you find and crowdsource resources, right. I mean, even just reaching out on Twitter and finding finding other people in a similar role, you know, as educators are willing to share. So I think my advice to that lone coach in that situation to be able to sort of take advantage and adapt what you said Annamarie there would be like, find people and find what you can out there. So don't feel like you're recreating everything from scratch, but like find what you can and crowdsource it and apply it to your own setting. So okay, so a couple of things around actually digging in to providing Delivering the virtual P D. And that is engagement. Right? So I've heard you guys say that, you know, Emily, you are cutting the fluff, like people just want in and out because they don't have enough time. Emery, you're really trying to now maybe more than ever provide choice so that every single thing is relevant. You know, and we know that teachers just, you know, just like we like want a mask break, right. And when they have time, they don't necessarily want to want to be doing something else. And one more thing. So engagement more than ever, maybe it's probably really important and relevant, even when it comes to virtual PB. So how are you guys creating those engaging opportunities to get your teachers involved during PD sessions.

Emily Cowan: 25:51

One of the strategies that I'm using in a lot of my PDS is giving the teachers the students seat. So giving them the view as the student. So if I'm going to teach you a new tool like Nearpod, or quizzes, the first thing I'm gonna have you do is play with that tool right off the bat. So that you know what that end goal is, what are you actually going to be learning or creating throughout this PD. And I think it's really exciting to see it from that view. So that's one of the strategies that I've really been implementing and, and that's something that we do in person. But it really, really is important, virtually, especially if you consider showing them that these tools can be used in a virtual setting, if their students are at home, they need to see that okay, it wasn't so bad. It is possible. I don't have to shy away from some of those great things I was using and felt comfortable with in the classroom.

Katie Ritter: 26:42

Yeah. So Emily, would you say you're doing that? Maybe you mentioned that you also do that in face to face sessions. But do you feel like you're doing that even more now in virtual sessions?

Emily Cowan: 26:52

Yes, I think that this is that I do do it in both. But it's been more important in the virtual, because when you're in person, odds are they're working with the device in front of them. So while you're showing them the tool, they can be kind of playing on their own. But now if you're giving PD virtually, they are probably only working on one device. So they're not really able to explore the tool while you're teaching them. So it is really important, in my opinion, to right off the bat, get them playing in that tool.

Annamarie Rinehart: 27:25

Um, one of the things that I feel like I can definitely identify with, and this is something that I've seen, you know, discussed on Twitter a lot is you know, how to increase engagement here. And one of the suggestions that I've seen a lot of people give and I totally agree is doing something that requires very little effort, but still gets them engaged. So I was absolutely the person in college I'll never forget, it was one of my teaching classes, where we had to do you know, go around the room Fun fact, but that gives me like so much. Fun fact. Fun Facts, icebreakers. Honestly, that word, those terms just like, I mean, they make me want to just like come unglued. So I feel like

Katie Ritter: 28:13

you're in good company. I said, you're in good company, I

Annamarie Rinehart: 28:20

lots of people feel that way. And so, you know, to say like, we're gonna go around the room insurance, you know, a fun fact or whatever, even in a virtual space is not everybody's favorite thing to do. So if you can do, you know, thumbs up thumbs down using those reactions, using polling features on, you know, Google meets, or zoom, putting people into breakout rooms where appropriate. I know sometimes that gives people like nervous feelings, too. For some reason, breakout rooms can sometimes be like an added pressure thing. But I think low effort activities that require somewhat of like an anonymous to some degree participation from the audience, or the teachers you're talking to, I think definitely helps keep them engaged without making them feel nervous, or like they're under some kind of pressure.

Katie Ritter: 29:10

Got it? And I'm going to, yeah, I'm gonna totally put you on the spot. So if you can't think of it, don't feel bad. But um, what is can you think of like, in one of the instances, whether it's something that like you've participated in or a question you've used, but what's been kind of the most off the wall question where you were able to use those are the one that got people like loosened up the most or laughing or, you know, something more than just like, how are you feeling today? Or have you used this tool before?

Annamarie Rinehart: 29:40

Um, one that comes to mind and I can't remember who did it. I feel like it was one of our team members. I don't know but it was, and I have tried this. I used Mentimeter to find several animated images. I'm not gonna say GIF or GIF because You know, that's a hot topic. But whatever you call it at the bottom that was like, show me which one of these like, closely mirrors how you're feeling today. And there was one of the little girl for like Monsters Inc, who looks exhausted and tired. There was a guy with like a roadmap, turning it like a million ways like he was clearly lost, and people got a kick out of that one. But I think kind of a an alternative to that would be, I don't know, using something like a jam board and asking everybody really quickly, like, I'm gonna put 30 seconds on the clock, find a meme or something that kind of mirrors what your day was like today, I feel like that's a good one. Like, it gets people laughing. You don't necessarily have to share why, and everybody can just kind of see what's up on the screen.

Emily Cowan: 30:44

You know, that kind of reminds me of what something our team is doing on our biweekly meetings. So our team every week has every other week has a theme for the background of our Google meet. So our first one was, if you were not an educator, what career path would you have taken? We did our childhood photos. And so everyone changed their virtual background to mimic that. And it's just kind of a good icebreaker. Some of them really make you laugh, some of them really make you think. But something as simple as that. Asking them to change their background is easy, but it also kind of opens up the floor and relaxes the teachers.

Katie Ritter: 31:25

I love that idea. And not just because our team is doing a lot from someone or idea. No, I think no, it was not my idea. I harvested the idea if you will, actually from someone at Google, I think shared it I think Dan Stratford at Google share that they've been doing that on their team. And I loved it for that exact reason. Because it's just, you know, we need to switch it up these days. And we're just on the computer all of the time. Like, okay, let's I mean, I literally somedays feel like I'm just clicking meat links and opening up meat links. I'm one after the other. And so just a little something to switch it up. It's fun, it immediately makes it more lighthearted. And just kind of like honestly, I feel like we all kind of look forward to getting to the meeting, just because we have something fun and exciting to share. The only caveat I would give with that is if you only if, if you're sticking to like some some of what you guys have suggested of like kind of keeping it short and sweet. And like focus to the point, you may need to add in some extra time because like we kind of allow everybody to go around the room and share like where's your dream vacation? Or what was your job or you know, whatever the theme is, but on the flip side, that's also been kind of nice to just like, I don't know, I think allow that connection where we, I think have all been so tunneled driven and time is so scarce, that we are just going from meeting to meeting to task to task that like that just personal interaction has suffered as a consequence. And so I don't know just even that little tip, I feel like it just allows us to sort of like be human with each other for even just like a few minutes. So I I love that I love the meme ideas that you shared Annamarie I'm already laughing like picturing which one I would be or what my meme would be for the day. I love it.

Justin Thomas: 33:17

Those are really good ways to talk about how you've having maybe a really wild day, but makes everyone laugh instead of just you ranting. Yeah,

Katie Ritter: 33:26

yeah. Um, but so thinking about so you know, you're you're trying to keep it as short and sweet as possible, like keeping it to the point, you're maybe cutting out some opportunities for them to just build and explore beyond maybe seeing it directly how it would impact their, you know, and what it looks like for their students. But are there other ways that you have, there's going to be kind of a two parter. Are there other ways that you have allowed for participation throughout the PD, what does that look like? And then are you allowing for any collaboration within the PD to?

Annamarie Rinehart: 34:04

So definitely, I think collaboration is one of those things that, you know, definitely is important in face to face and virtual. It's something that we shouldn't leave behind, like some of the other things we already talked about. And I just think it's kind of all about the way that you do it, like intentional grouping. And collaboration, I think is so important, just like it is in the classroom. And using something just like Google meet breakout rooms or breakout rooms and whatever sort of virtual meeting platform you have, especially because it gives the host the option of like popping in and checking in on those breakout rooms. I think that's sort of the closest thing we're gonna get to what it would have been like in 3d where you could go up to a group and say, How's it going, what have you guys learned, you know, that kind of thing. And so I do think collaboration is still super important, even though it may make some people a little bit nervous, but I also think if you're If your grouping your teachers the right way, during that training, people will hopefully feel comfortable enough to share and kind of participate and come up with something good together.

Katie Ritter: 35:10

And enry Before we go on to maybe hear what Emily has to say, when you say grouping in the right way, I mean, that could be maybe an entire podcast on its own, just like groping differently. So I don't mean to go too far down a rabbit hole. But like, when you say that, I don't know, do you have any quick tips or things that you're thinking about when you're grouping in your online PD that you might give to coaches and thinking about if you are going to put them in breakout rooms or things like that, like, what do you keep top of mind.

Annamarie Rinehart: 35:39

So I think I'm really lucky in that I work with such a small group of teachers, because I am in one building that I know everybody really well, and I'm able to be in their classrooms all the time, like all the time, every single classroom every single day, and not everybody has that luxury. So for me, I think it's a little bit easier, just because I do know what I consider their strengths, things that they find to be frustrating hurdles that they're trying to overcome. So I feel like grouping that way could come like develop some really cool ideas could just result in some really amazing things. But then I also think, you know, content area is a really easy one. I feel like a lot of times, our related arts teachers or specials, or whatever you call them, sometimes are required to show up to these trainings, and they are totally the people that are like, this does not apply to me. And I don't blame them, because a lot of times it's not geared toward them. So, you know, grouping them, I think would be great, especially because a lot of buildings have like one of each of those teachers, it's not often you go into a building, and there's multiple PE teachers or multiple music teachers. So if you can group them all together and give them something relevant to whatever it is you're talking about. I think that's super important, too.

Katie Ritter: 36:56

Yeah, I liked that. I liked that some of your ideas? Well, all of your ideas weren't just, like ability level or and meaning of viability. I mean, like comfort with technology, like grouping them in other ways. So yeah, I think that's clever. Emily, would what would you add if either to the grouping or just to the participation slash collaboration question? Yeah. So

Emily Cowan: 37:19

I think in a way, you did a great job covering the collaboration piece. So I can go ahead and say that, you know, engaging the teachers and getting them to be an active participant, something that I like to do is sprinkle in some other tools. So if I am training on a concept or, or one tool, I still like to sprinkle on some of those easy to use, you know, learn it today, use it today, tools. So some of my favorite would be like Mentimeter, I can ask a quick question, I could generate a word cloud super easily. Padlet is a great one for a back channel for teachers to share ideas, respond to prompts. And that gives me a good place to go back to and kind of see if there are questions I need to address or ideas that can be shared outside of that Padlet. Flipgrid is one of my favorites to kind of reflecting that metacognition, thinking about what they they learned that day. So there are a lot of different tools that I like to just sprinkle in there for him.

Katie Ritter: 38:23

I like that. And do you find that that makes them go? Oh, that was easy. I could use this in that way, too.

Emily Cowan: 38:29

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like they walk away like, okay, not only did I walk away learning about X, Y, and Z, but now have a tool that because I had to go on there and use it myself. I know that I could turn around and use this in my class tomorrow. So I think you're kind of giving them more bang for their buck. And I think that they realize how easy and effective those tools work for them.

Justin Thomas: 38:50

So you both have talked a lot about that engagement. I know, Emily, you said you're cutting the fluff from those PD sessions. So my question now is, what is the sweet spot for the length of a PD? Like, is there any kind of timeframe that you really felt? Have? You've gotten a really good PD session where teachers really leave feeling like they've been well equipped with? What the tool was that your training teach them?

Annamarie Rinehart: 39:15

So Emily, and I actually hosted a Twitter chat on this topic. And this was one of our questions, because we wanted to know, I mean, we had our own opinions. But we were curious to see what the rest of the world thought. And what we found was that people felt like the sweet spot was between 15 and 30 minutes. 15 I think would be really tough. To do a live session that way. You know, a couple of us have played around with doing like a flipped PD where we record kind of almost like a commercial for the tool, or concept, highlight a couple of things, send it out to the staff and then host like a live q&a or discussion session. So that it's kind of on their own time to watch the content, learn it and then digest it, bring it, you know all their questions or concerns to us in a live session. But I would say squeezing a live session into any less than 30 minutes is tough. It's tough. But I think any more than that, you don't want to sit in front of their computer and listen to you for that long.

Emily Cowan: 40:22

Yeah, and I can speak from experience, one of the school districts I'm working with that I'm completely virtual in, they have utilized me as a 30 minute PD provider. And then the rest of my afternoon is spent four individual appointments that teachers can sign up for, and 30 minutes is a challenge to really give good content, or a really in depth overview of a new tool has been a challenge. I will say 30 minutes for a tool is pretty effective. But if you want to give them like big ideas or concepts, it's hard. But I also know that it's important to them, because I know that that threshold, you know, some of them have gone over a little bit and been about 40 minutes, but I if it were any longer than that, I know I would lose them. So I'm with you on like that. 30 minutes is sweet. 40 minutes, I think you're still okay. But anything above and beyond that feels a little a little painful to them. From my experience. Yeah,

Katie Ritter: 41:23

I mean, that sounds incredibly hard. How are you deciding like, what to chop out from those. So like, Emily, when you say, big concepts give us like one of the big concepts that you've struggled to cram into 30 minutes? Yeah, so

Emily Cowan: 41:38

one of the big challenges for these teachers, I had sent out a Google form and ask them what was keeping them up at night, what is stressing them due to COVID. And time and time again, it was grading it was that there was no time to grade that there was too much to grade. Now that they're virtual, because a lot of times we take for granted that we can walk around and do a quick check. And we know how our students are doing, and they don't have to necessarily turn something in. Well, now when they're virtual, they're turning 100% of their work in. And so the teachers were like, how do I handle this. And that was a big challenge, because I wanted to give them enough ideas that they felt like they could walk away and be like, Okay, I learned something this is this, this piece was new. But I also didn't want to inundate them. So it was a very, like high level overview, I picked five tips. And I tried to relate it to their content, but I really couldn't dive in and give as detailed of examples as I would have liked. So normally, I would have gone, you know, and talked about as an English teacher, you can do X, Y, and Z. Whereas a math teacher this applies in this way, I kind of had to cut that and say, here's the big idea. Here's one example. And then schedule time with me, if you need to dive in and look at it from a science lens from a social studies lens or whatever content I didn't use as my example.

Justin Thomas: 42:59

I really like that the idea of kind of editing it a little bit to a specific skill set. And then kind of going back and re talking with those teachers under that that lens, as you said, I know from my experience, I have have usually with the staff meetings, I have felt maybe 10 minutes to give kind of a tip or trick. So I've kind of used this kind of like that movie trailer right where you try and like highlight one little bit about it or something like that. So I try and find some tools that are kind of quick tips, you can show it, get a good consensus of what the idea of it is, and then going back and talking with those teachers. But well, we'll say for coaches to that, maybe you have that about that much time, you could even just pick like one specific, one specific tool or something like that one little tip that you need to use for like EdPuzzle, you can talk about how you just upload your video, and then you can make cuts that way. Or maybe for like Gmail, the schedule of sin. So just sort of like facets within the greater tool, I think can really help just sort of put it under that lens. And then they're still learning little tips and things but it's not all just put into one session.

Katie Ritter: 44:07

Yeah, I mean time you guys have mentioned that a lot time is of the essence these days. So if you're feeling like you are having to chop a lot of good content out right, like you, I mean, think of everything that you're trying to balance as a coach, you're trying to keep it relevant for everyone. You're trying to keep it as short as possible to be cognizant of their time you're trying to make it immediately applicable to all of their settings for as many people as possible. Yet you're faced with like the you know, you they will only maybe pay attention for 20 minutes or you only have 10 minutes at the staff meeting or you know, whatever that case may be. So do you feel like there that virtual PD can really foster authentic learning for our educators? Do you feel like we are just sort of checking a box as a coach to offer some of these things?

Annamarie Rinehart: 45:07

Like it definitely can result in authentic learning. Because, I mean, when we were asked what we cut from face to face PT, there wasn't much. So if we're saying that virtual PD is not a great way to learn them, you could argue that we're maybe seeing like PD in general isn't a great way to learn. And we know that it is. So I think, really, the how effective something is, depends so much on things we've already said, like the why the relevancy, getting teachers engaged. And so I think our role in this in order to avoid burnout, and to make sure that teachers are getting the most out of our sessions is like, we just had to get more creative, because that's how they're going to stay engaged. And we're likely going to be modeling things that we want them to be doing with their students to I feel like that's a huge part of all of this, like Emily talking about using Mentimeter. I showed that to a teacher this year, a couple of months back, and it was like, I can't wait to use this for my warmup tomorrow, right. So like, if we can show some of those things and models, some of those best practices. Hopefully, they would translate into the classroom, which I think I mean, what better measure of teacher learning than us seeing what we're doing in our own sessions? them doing that with their own students? I think so. I don't know. It's tough, but I definitely think authentic learning can be you know, accomplished, especially if you're giving like this teacher, the student view like Emily talked about, too, I think teachers always want to see what are my students going to be seeing? What's that experience gonna be like for them so that they can be kind of ahead of any of those questions that might come up? When they actually try it with their students for the first time. So? Yeah, I definitely think it's possible, even though it's tricky.

Katie Ritter: 46:57

Yeah. Well, I love how you said, I mean, the the focus kind of the, in the center of your answer there was taking the opportunity to model for teachers, right. So if we were, you know, maybe in a coaching cycle, or working one on one with a teacher and modeling a lesson, you know, or, like how to use a tool or a teaching tools to students, whatever that might look like, and to model that for the teachers, there's a great opportunity, and maybe there's an argument to even be said that, like, they need us to be modeling for them now, and throughout all of our virtual PD. Now, more than ever, and while it is, you know, we just listed all of the challenges that that we as coaches are facing and leading virtual PD, but aren't our teachers facing all of those same challenges? And, you know, and then some, I mean, only, I never would have thought your point of, you know, now they are having to grade everything, right, instead of having that just kind of like informal formative check in and seeing and hearing, you know, you don't you you have to really work those opportunities into your teaching, you know, maybe through either some tools, but even then you're still having to go back and actually follow up to see who answered what in kind of embedded formative assessment or you are collecting things to grade. So you know, their teachers are facing all these challenges, too. So I love your emphasis Annamarie on modeling. And I think that is, you know, everything we're talking about, I think that is such a huge takeaway for any of our listeners, like, it doesn't matter. If you're only given 10 minutes, it doesn't matter if you're given you know, 30 minutes, whatever it is, like you need to do your due diligence of modeling, that type of instruction that you want to see your teachers doing for your teachers in your PD.

Justin Thomas: 48:51

Obviously, at the very beginning of the school year, I think both of you are just like me, August was super busy. And schools are coming at us with we need to figure out what we're doing because some schools are heading into, you know, virtual, completely virtual, some schools are going to try a hybrid setting, some schools are going to try in person, but knew that they're going to have to potentially switch that up the following week for how things went. So I know there was a lot of PD sessions just dedicated the very beginning of the school year, but then that was a lot of information that the teachers got right at the very beginning. And here we are in March, we're kind of almost through the homestretch. We gotta get through some testing and things like that. And then we're going to be on the downhill to get through the school year, but how have you used these strategies or these ideas and I think that you've had for PD and kept this sustainable because I think for some teachers, they got hit with a lot of great information the beginning and then they had to do things for the students and this and that and then next thing you know, you kind of marched in some of those ideas are foregone just long in the past conclusion. So how have you used these PD sessions to continue to use that sustainability?

Emily Cowan: 50:00

I think one way to, you know, keep teachers interest and keep them coming back to PD is to really listen to their needs. And those might be the ones that are stated explicitly to you, like, I need a tool that will do this, or I need to improve this lesson, because I did it this way last year. But sometimes it's those side conversations or the things that aren't as explicit. You know, they told me they needed grading, they needed to figure out a way to solve the grading problem. But in other comments that I had seen throughout the forum, it kind of led me back to that, like, I don't know how to know what my students know, I don't have ways to really gauge their understanding. So listening to the explicit, and what they're reading between the lines and kind of making that the why and making sure that the teachers know the why before the PD really has been helpful, and like bringing them back for more knowing that they've been listened to, and that you're really trying to help them.

Katie Ritter: 51:03

Yeah, Emily, I love your emphasis on like, letting them know the why ahead of time, because I think it goes back to, you know, Anna Marie, I think you were talking earlier about the importance of the choice for the teachers right now to right, so if we're worried about the time, and I have to sort of divide and conquer my time, but I know what this is. And if it's relevant to me or not, then I can decide if I need to spend the time to show up or not. Right. So you're kind of tackling multiple points that y'all have talked about by really making that, you know, I think just saying like, Hey, I'm going to teach you like Google Forms, right? Like that. That's not helpful. Like, what is it about Google forms that you're teaching them? Right? Is it to create, like, student directed like instruction through the use of like, go to like response based on answer? Is it self grading quizzes? Is it like, you know, the feedback options that can be provided to students with each answer? And, you know, so like, focusing on that piece more of the pedagogy, the why, and sharing what it is, I think, is super important. So I'm gonna, I'm kind of thinking on the flip side here of making all of these practices in the PD sustainable? And are we reaching this point that people just need a break from the PD? Like, are we reaching the saturation point where it's like, I just can't absorb any more between like the realities of my life? From my, you know, 7am to 3pm, right? It's not a nine to five, but what or 7am, to 3pm, and education, and then I go home, or I'm trying to, I have kids on remote school, and I have a job and I'm teaching, you know, like, are we just reaching the saturation point? And our teachers feeling? Do you think just so overwhelmed with virtual PD, that they're just saying, I just want to put this on a shelf and not look at it? And if so, how are you dealing with those conversations?

Annamarie Rinehart: 53:01

1000 million percent, yes. To all of that. And it is, honestly, it's gotten to the point to where, you know, as students start coming back to buildings, teachers are like, I don't want to see the computer, I don't want to see the iPad, like, you guys are gonna use pencil and paper, and I get why they feel that way. Like, I don't blame them at all. I mean, just like we said, at the very beginning, everybody is kind of tired of this. So we're actually trying something out, I was able to meet with admin, and I'm super excited about this. But I have been able to walk around again, I'm in a one building. So I'm very lucky and unique in that way. But I was able to, like kind of identify several teachers who have found, in my opinion, an excellent balance between the two. And, you know, the two being Pencil Paper am still continuing to use the tech that they were using during remote learning. And we've asked them to share out at the next staff meeting things that they feel like are working really well, why they're doing what they're doing. Because I mean, hate to say it, hopefully this never ever, ever, I mean, knock on whatever happens again to us, but we never thought this would happen in the first place. So I just think it's, it's, it's such a fine line, because we totally empathize. Obviously, we would prefer to be together and have seen each other in the office and things like that. But it's, I just think it would be such a disservice to everybody for them to throw out everything that they've learned in the more creative ways that they've had to teach. So, you know, kind of striking that balance between keeping some of those things present in the classroom when they're still there, or when they come back. And you know, definitely giving everybody a break as well. Yeah,

Emily Cowan: 54:56

I like that. Go ahead, Emily. Oh, sorry. No, and thinking from Uh, from my building one of my buildings perspectives, they have been really great to their teachers in letting the scheduled PD days to be more about personalized learning where teachers are able to kind of focus in on what they need at the time, which has been really great. And has, you know, stopped me from having to be the bad guy and provide a lot of PD. So I've really been able to only provide big trainings for things that they need. So they needed training to properly use a tool that the district had deployed earlier this year. So we did that I had great participation, but I'm not doing as much of the extra PD that I would normally do. Because I don't want them to put it on a shelf, I don't want them to forget. And on the flip side, thinking ahead to next year, or even to this summer, as as we prepare to go back, it's thinking about what is PD going to look like to remind the teachers kind of like AnaMarie said, like to remind them that there are great things that they did during virtual learning, let's not throw that away, you know, there's plenty that we can scrap. And I've had a lot of teachers talk to me about, you know, I tried this this year, and I want to do it again next year, like this was so much more than just a substitution. And so that is really exciting. So for me, it's thinking about ways in the summer and in the fall to remind them and to encourage them to maintain some of the activities that they did this year.

Katie Ritter: 56:35

Yeah. And Emily, something you said just made me think of something else that I know, you know, we've had a lot of discussions about on our team. You know, and I'm just gonna kind of elephant in the room for what out there, um, if our role is to as coaches is to, you know, work with teachers one on one, but also, I don't know, a coach who's not also tasked with providing professional development opportunities, right. I mean, again, kind of back to what we talked about in episode one, I mean, a tech coach is really trying to change the culture, right? And get everyone to sort of embrace this idea of lifelong learning and continuing to try and fail and learn from it and try again, right. So if that is our role, and we're expected to provide these opportunities, and throughout this pandemic, we have teachers who are reaching this kind of this saturation point. And you know, Emily, you said, and I think, I think it's so important that you're recognizing that people are reaching that point. And so you're backing off a little bit, but have you experienced these feelings of am I doing my role? Is someone gonna look at me and think I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing? Because I'm not providing as much PD. And so how are you balancing that right now? Or do you feel like administrators even have that expectation of you right now?

Emily Cowan: 57:56

If I could say that I feel that every day that would not describe it enough. I feel like this year as a coach has been a challenge and feeling adequate and feeling like you're going above and beyond it has been, you know, we're saying that teachers need to find a balance and using technology. Coaches also need to find a balance. And it has been such a challenge, because I want to push my teachers, I want to provide them with great resources, I want to give them PD on new tools. And I want to host Lunch and Learns i want i There's so many things I want to do that I just, you know, some of them I've tried and I'm not getting the attendance, I would have hoped for some of them. I've completely scrapped because I wasn't getting attendance. So it's really hard to feel like you're doing enough. My admin has been great. Every time they see me, it feels like they're checking in on me and just saying, you know, like, do people even want to work? Like, are people reaching out to you? Are you okay? Is everything going? Well? Do you? Do you need any support, which has been great. So they, you know, I know that they're not looking at it as a you're not doing enough. And I mean, they understand the role that their teachers are in right now. They, they see it, they feel it, they wish they could, you know, change the same things we wish we could change for the teachers. So it's been positive, but it's really been hard to feel adequate.

Annamarie Rinehart: 59:19

Yeah, I would agree. I feel like I know you guys have heard me say this. But I felt like the most popular girl in school and August. And now I don't really feel that way anymore, because everybody is just like so over technology. And even though just like all of us on our team, I offer to help with things that don't involve tech, like tech is not the end all be all. I am totally there to also just be another set of eyes and ears or just like somebody else to sit down and plan with if they've got an upcoming end of the unit project or something. And if if tech could make it better, great, but like, I'm not going to force that on anybody. I'm just there as a resource. And I think that's been. I mean, it's a hard thing for people to remember, I still think they, they think of us and they think of tech. And so I think that's, that's really tricky, but helpful when people are just done with tech. And the other thing, you know, like Emily's talking about admin, I have just found that I'm keeping my regular meetings with my admin, to clue them in on what's been going on in the building. Like all the positive things, I'm seeing things that I feel like people are struggling with, you know, ideas for planning, upcoming PD, your staff meetings, or whatever it may be, I just feel like having that regular FaceTime with that person to provide that reminder, like we're doing lots of really great things, and your teachers are doing lots of really great things is so important. And then, kind of the last one I feel like is, I love Twitter, now that I'm a tech coach at four, H. Thank you, Katie. And so I just make sure to kind of brag about the cool things that I see going on in the building. All I try every day, because that also not only shows that I'm in there with teachers and with students and seeing what's going on and staying connected, but it also is just like really great PR for, for the school and everything that's going on there.

Katie Ritter: 1:01:21

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks. I want I you know, as you guys were talking about that, and everyone feeling overwhelmed, it just reminded me that I know all of our coaches have been feeling really overwhelmed with like, Am I doing enough this year, you know, they, they don't want it, they asked me not to do the lunch and learns this year, or, you know, whatever anyone's individual circumstances. So I just think coaches everywhere listening, just need to hear that, like, you are enough, you are doing enough, this is a crazy year, like stay at it. If people need a break, they need a break. A little bit. So So I think, you know, you guys have done a really nice job of finding other ways and other areas that you can go to support. And that's just what we need to do is continue to adapt and support and things will go you know, back to normal eventually.

Annamarie Rinehart: 1:02:08

And when in doubt, PD on the potty is always a great thing to do, right, Katie? I mean, like, meet them where they're at, if you can't get FaceTime with them, and they're not gonna show up to your training space up in the bathroom. Yes.

Justin Thomas: 1:02:21

I do like that. And even I'll kind of chime in on just the ability to kind of adapt. I'm running some Google sessions, and they've actually had some pretty good, pretty good turnout, which I've been pretty excited about. But even there's some weeks where, you know, you go to talk to a teacher, like, Hey, we got a session today, and like, oh, man, I gotta cover for another class and this and that. And, and, you know, I understand I 100% get it that you're not going to be, you know, wanting every single time there's a session to like, go to the session. So to kind of combat that have just been trying to kind of make some videos to so I say, hey, why don't you know, on your own time, when you got like, a few seconds here, you can watch this video, and then we can check back in at our next session and go from there. So I know, that's been really helpful for a lot of those teachers, because you know, even kind of how my day was the day you come in thinking you're going to be going one route, and then suddenly you get something tossed your way. And next thing you know, it's not going the way that you had initially planned. So those days happen, especially in this year. And I think that just kind of being adaptable, like you said is so really, really important for that. And kind of segue into our next question with this. We've talked about teachers getting the virtual PD burnout, but what about coaches? Right? I mean, if you're constantly running these different sessions on various tools, and in some cases, you're not having like the full bind, you're trying to plan it, you're trying to get new ideas. What what is this happened to you at all with a little virtual PD, PD kind of just exhausted with it right and virtually no, like Emrys we got to stay 3d, we got three new people, you know, meeting. So overall, what kind of tips would you give coaches if they're kind of feeling this burnout from running all these PD sessions?

Emily Cowan: 1:04:01

Yeah, so I think it's really easy to burn out. You know, part of the reason we are coaches is because we were previously educators, and we become educators, because we crave that interaction with other people, whether that's students or teachers, but we want to be face to face. And so this is exhausting. And it's, it's hard to keep the momentum going and keep the excitement going. So, you know, I try when possible, you know, it's not always in our control, to present on things that I love and that excite me. I always said this as a teacher, you know, if you don't show excitement in the subject, then the students aren't going to be excited. And I always said you never start a session or start a lesson and say like, this is really boring, but we have to do it. So when you can choose to present on something that you actually are excited about. And if it's not something You're excited about find at least something that you really like about it, focus on it, and try and amplify that, because they're really going to feed off of your positivity. So staying positive, showing your personality, being yourself are all things that I think help from burnout. Instead of being that robot that says, first you click here, then you click here, and, you know, just kind of going through the motions. Yeah,

Annamarie Rinehart: 1:05:28

I agree. 100%, I think that, you know, we look for feedback on our sessions. That's one of the things that like our team does, we send out feedback forms, and even though every time I've like, finished a session, I'm like, I'm gonna click this feedback form and see if I totally blew it, or if they liked me, and like, you know, the positive things that I see are, you know, staying upbeat, we like, you know, use your sense of humor, like, if you can keep people smiling and laughing. And, you know, if you need to throw in an anecdote there to like, kind of let them know, you've been in their shoes, or, you know, I had a student who did X, Y, and Z. And so I use this, and it worked great, you know, anytime you could, I think, make that personal connection, it helps you as the presenter, and I think it helps the people listening to you as well. Because, you know, to a district where we've never been, we've never actually met any of these people in person. I mean, we're complete strangers, they're strangers to us, or strangers to them. And a lot of us are probably feeling, you know, super disconnected from everybody. So I feel like, you know, it helps everybody, when you can sort of feel like you have a personal connection with the people that you're talking about, even in this really weird space.

Justin Thomas: 1:06:40

Yeah. And I think making that connection with those teachers. And even when you talk about something that happened to you, when you're in the classroom, it makes them kind of remember, oh, yeah, you guys were teachers to you understand, you're not just someone that just kind of floating around with no understanding of kind of what we're going through. So I really liked that point, with even bringing up some of those stories are, you know, this worked really well, when I use it as a teacher, or maybe this didn't work so well. And that's why I modified it to go through with a new strategy. So I really liked that point.

Katie Ritter: 1:07:10

Yeah, I like that, Justin, I always like, I always like sharing my failures with people. Because one, like, if I can laugh at myself, I might use them up, right, like, and, you know, the whole Funniest Home Videos, I mean, people kind of whether we want to admit it or not, you kind of take little joy and other people's pain. If I can be the one and fallen flat on my face, and you just get to like laugh and learn from it. You know, it kind of kind of helps ease people. So I like that. That's good. Dustin. Well, okay, ladies, we we really appreciate you sticking with us. And given us all of this wonderful information. We've got one final question for you. And you can each answer we can just tag team, but I'd love to give our listeners three top tips to get them through with virtual learning for sorry, virtual PD sessions for however long, they may need to be continuing to lead and implement virtual professional development.

Annamarie Rinehart: 1:08:09

Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna sound kind of like a broken record here, especially with what we just talked about. But my number one is show your personality. Don't take yourself too seriously. Keep it positive, keep it moving. If you can crack a joke, or like Katie said, kind of make fun of yourself or share an embarrassing story. I think it goes a long way.

Katie Ritter: 1:08:29

Love it? Yeah, that's

Emily Cowan: 1:08:31

definitely important. I think one of my tips would be to listen to your teachers. Like I said before, not not explicitly what they say but those side comments that you hear and present on those topics. So making that's kind of like saying, like, listen to your teachers and be relevant, especially in this time, they really want things that are going to benefit not just one more tool.

Annamarie Rinehart: 1:08:56

Well, yeah, and then I think probably a good third one would again, just be mindful of time and if you are given 10 minutes, make it you know, the best 10 minutes it can be if you're given 30 You know, shaved on some of your content. And if you are participating in a day long boot camp, make sure that even though that's all a lot of time like build in time for people to like get up and walk around go pet their dog, you know, so like, be mindful of time means a lot of things. But yeah, I think that would be the third one for me.

Katie Ritter: 1:09:31

I love that and Anna Marie, I might add a little sub piece to your third one. And as you were talking, it just got me thinking like if you only have 10 minutes, Find a buddy whether it's a teacher, another coach, someone who can like go through your materials like you you if you only have a short amount of time, make sure those links work. Make sure that is the right link to the right virtual meeting. Make sure your instructions make sense like having a second set of eyes to make sure that you don't run into any hiccups From a logistical standpoint. We'll just help that time go so much smoother.

Annamarie Rinehart: 1:10:03

Yeah, for sure. That's a really good idea.

Emily Cowan: 1:10:05

Bonus Tip.

Katie Ritter: 1:10:09

Tip three eggs. Awesome. Well, ladies, thank you so much. This is, um, you know, again, like I said, I just think it's so relevant, I can just almost see our coaches heads nodding who are listening to the podcast with all of the pain points that we talked about. So thank you so much for sharing these. You guys can all reach out we'll include Emily and Anna Marie's Twitter handles and the link to the show notes. So you can find them and reach out if you want to follow up on any questions with them. Feel free to reach out to that you can do that. So just a couple of things to wrap us up here at the end of our podcast, we are super excited that you are invited to a coaches camp hosted by our instructional tech coaches at forward edge this summer. So we will provide the link in our show notes for you to view information about our coaches camp, but in short, it is going to be held on June 16 and 17th. Here in Cincinnati, Ohio, it is limited to 20 participants and you can come in person, we will also have a virtual option for those folks who can't travel or don't feel comfortable traveling or gathering face to face. But essentially, we're going to help you create career long connections with like minded tech coaches, we're gonna help you build a foolproof strategies for creating coach and teacher relationships, as well as learning how to execute coaching cycles, that move tech integration needle and fill up your coaching calendar. And also how to create a culture of coaching and tech integration at your school. So we are super excited. This is the two day coaching that we put our own coaches through here at forward edge. So we are really excited to be sharing that out with other people. So so feel free to check that out. And our podcast listeners are going to save a little money by letting us know that you listen to the podcast. So more information to come because the link is not available at the time we recorded this episode. There at the show notes. Oh goodness,

Justin Thomas: 1:12:18

oh, even saving a little bit of money he's going to be real nice for this one is going to be an awesome coaches camp, June 16 and 17th. Also Tune in next April 6. That's two weeks from today, as we talk about our deal with the coaching role during testing season. Oh man, that's always just that gloomy cloud that's on horizon is that testing season? So

Katie Ritter: 1:12:42

you're Justin.

Justin Thomas: 1:12:43

Oh yeah, it's gonna be coming. So we're going to try and get you through that law on April 6, two weeks from today.

Katie Ritter: 1:12:50

Awesome. Thanks. So be sure to subscribe to restart recharge wherever you listen to podcasts. And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter at our our coach cast. And I do just want to also add that the podcast website is restart recharge podcast.com

Justin Thomas: 1:13:09

Also, feel free to reach out and let us know what topics you want us to discuss. We want to hear from you. We want to see what are the hot topics out there that we should be bringing to the table and talking about for you. So press the restart button, recharge your coaching batteries and leave feeling equipped and inspired to coach fearlessly with the restart recharge podcast

Katie Ritter: 1:13:30

attack coach collective. Okay, quick question. Did you hear a ding dong?

Unknown: 1:13:39

No