A Day in the Life of a Coach: Part 2

Coaching Corner Series: A Day in the Life of a Coach: Part 2

Joyce Escorcia: Hello, everyone. Welcome today to the latest installment of the "Coaching Corner" webinar. I am Joyce Escorcia with the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning. Thank you again for joining us. I've got with me today some of my great colleagues, Ashley Nemec and Sarah Basler, and then, we have Melissa Jaen that's manning the chat box and the Q&A. So, we're excited to see you here, and just as a reminder, that the Coaching Corner webinars are really aimed at giving you an opportunity to learn more about specific topics related to your role. Also, kind of digging into maybe some resources and strategies that could be useful, and also, giving us an opportunity to kind of ask questions and connect with each other around things that can be useful in our role. And we want to go ahead and remind you to put the next Coaching Corner webinar on your calendar, and that's going to be July 22 of 2020 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. So, we'll look forward to seeing you then, as well. And before we get started today, we wanted to kind of just take a moment and pause. So, we know kind of in the midst of everything that's going on around us, that it can be hard to really focus, and so, we wanted to just take a moment to kind of clear our minds and get us in a good place to kind of connect with each other now. So, we're going to watch this little video and just kind of take a moment for ourselves.

[Video begins]

Susan Kaiser Greenland: Hi, I'm Susan Kaiser Greenland, and I'm here to talk to you today about the clear perspective that everybody is born with. We're all born with this clear, calm perspective, like the water in this glitter ball. And look, if I put the ball in front of me, I can still see you. Can you see me? That's the clear perspective we're born with that's not clouded by the events of everyday life, but with the stress and strain that we have of life, everybody I'm working with, they're under a lot of stress. The kids have a lot of homework, a lot of after- school activities. These things tend to cloud our perspective, see? Can you see through clearly anymore? Can see through a little bit, but there's still things in there that cloud our minds. So, we take time. We feel our breathing, we rest, and look what happens. All those things that were clouding our perspective, they settle to the bottom. They don't go away. They're still down there, but they're not clouding our perspective anymore. So, if this is what happens with the stress and strain of everyday life, what happens with negative emotions, like the green glitter in this ball? Let's say that that's anger or jealousy or envy or frustration. Negative things – they really cloud our perspective, so much so you can't see through at all anymore, right? But the same thing is true. We just take the time. Feel our breathing. Rest a little bit. Those bad things settle to the bottom. Now, have those negative things gone away? No, they're still at the bottom of the ball. I wish mindful awareness could get rid of all of the bad things in life, but it can't. But what it can do is it can help us clear our perspective so that we can see our inner and our outer experience clearly with kindness and with compassion for ourselves and for other people.

[Video ends]

Joyce: And so, I'll just say that's probably one of my favorite mindfulness activities, and I know I find myself even more now than before kind of going back to that, having my own kind of snow- globe moment, realizing that I need to let things settle – the good, the bad, the everything in between. So, if that's a resource that you really liked and found useful, just know that we've included a link to that video in with your resources for this webinar. And so, now, we know that kind of across our Coaching Corner community, there's a lot going on, and we may kind of find ourselves in unchartered waters. Like, we've never been here before, and, you know, we're not sure, you know, which way we're going. And so, some of you participating today may or may not be coaching or supporting coaches due to the program closures. You may not be supporting coachees in the same way as you were before. So, no matter where you are, just know we're here to support you. We're here kind of with you, and we want to share some resources and strategies to support you in your role as a coach. And just know that whether it's things that you can use now, whether it's things that you can use kind of in the near future when we kind of get back to our new normal, you know, you might find yourself as a coach that you're kind of spending more time and reestablishing – kind of reaffirming those collaborative partnerships, and that's completely OK. Just know that that's OK, that going back and coaching and supporting your coachees, that that might feel and look a little bit different, and you find yourself kind of in that place of reestablishing and reaffirming these collaborative partnerships. And just know that's completely OK, and it's part of the process. And so, we wanted to start out just by asking you and having you tell us a little bit about what your new normal looks like right now. So, what are some of those kind of innovative ways that you're interacting with your coaches and/or supporting coaching? You know, so what's kind of happening? I know from our MyPeers community and from other kind of social-media groups that I'm a part of, there's some really amazing things that are happening. So, if you want to use your Q&A widget to kind of let us know what are some of the great things that you're doing, we would love to hear from you. And no worries. If we don't get to mention all the great and wonderful things that are happening just because of time, we're going to kind of collect those together and post them to MyPeers, as well, because these are great ideas that we could all use across our community.

So, I'm going to pull up the Q&A widget. Yeah, and just kind of see. I'm going to pull it over here, so it'll be a part of our kind of conversation right now. And so, here, I'm seeing things like using Zoom meetings, weekly Zoom meetings, even using Google Hangouts. Virtual coaching via my teams. And I even see on here that Jennifer says she's brand-new and this is her first webinar, so thank you for joining us today. Let's see what else. E-mails, phone calls, Duo. Lots of video opportunities. I know, right? We're getting to kind of maybe dip our toes or get a little deeper into the virtual coaching, so that's pretty amazing. And some are kind of posting lesson plans and kind of resources to think about. Meeting and sitting out in the garden – that's another great one. Working with coachees with whatever – kind of – they're working on in the moment. I think that's great, as well. Thank you for sharing that. Google Classroom, private Facebook groups ... Some are doing kind of those Zoom calls and actually reviewing previous ... Action plans. Let's see if we see anything else kind of pop up here. There's so many things kind of coming through. Kind of providing some of that in-the-moment support, providing resources that can support families. Those are all great things, and there's no kind of – there's no wrong answer. We're all right in supporting our coachees and kind of the work that's going on. Posting things in both English and in Spanish, so that's great, as well. So, please keep posting those up there. And I guess ... We're going to kind of gather a list, and maybe we can kind of have a chance to kind of come back to those. Oh, Carolyn says that she makes videos to kind of share with coachees, as well, so I think that that's a great idea. Again, we just kind of wanted to see in here. We're going to pull those together in something that we can utilize in MyPeers, kind of keep the conversation going. And so, we also wanted to start by sharing – kind of maybe reminding some of us about, you know, some useful resources. And so, many of you might be familiar with the Head Start Coaching Companion, and you maybe even tried to use it in the past or maybe have a renewed kind of curiosity about it now. And so, just as a reminder, like this is a resource that kind of can allow you some flexibility in kind of communicating and interacting with your coachees. The Head Start Coaching Companion is really useful to share videos and resources with coachees. We also know that many coachees are getting creative with kind of how they're using and supporting kind of their children and families. So, the Head Start Coaching Companion can kind of be a great place to kind of stay in contact, as well. And so, for example, say if your coaches are videoing themselves kind of reading a story or conducting lessons, then they could upload those videos here for you as the coach to kind of review and to provide additional support around, as well. I was on a support call for the Coaching Companion, and this group, what they were doing was they had a group coaching cycle set up with all of their coachees, and they were just sharing resources with everyone all at once and almost kind of used it as a discussion board, as well. So, there's lots of ways that you could use the Head Start Coaching Companion, and we have a link to that provided in the resource handout for this webinar. I wanted to kind of give that a plug. It's such a great place – such a great free resource that you can use now.

And then, another great resource is from the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center about tele-intervention and distance learning to inform distance coaching and to really help you kind of find other resources to kind of support your coachees and programs. And so, I do want to say that there's a lot to look at here, so, when you have a few minutes, just kind of take a look and kind of see what's there and what, you know, could be useful to you in your role, and just another resource. You have a link to that also within that resource handout that you have for the webinar, so, another great place full of resources and things for you to use. And then, we also wanted to give you just a little bit of information on kind of how we got to this webinar topic for today, because if you notice, it's called "A Day in the Life of a Coach, Part Two." And so, that's because we did part one of this webinar, "A Day in the Life of a Coach," back in November of 2017, and it has probably been one of the most popular, most referenced Coaching Corner webinars in our community. And so, we heard you, and we wanted to do a part two and kind of dig a little deeper into some of those practical details that really resonated with you about being a coach. So, kind of what we found that really resonated the most with you were details and tips related to time management, and so, that's where we wanted to kind of start off the conversation today. And you also have a link to part one, so if you didn't see it, no worries. You have a link to this included with the resources of the webinar today. And just a little kind of overview of what our time is going to look like. We're going to begin to dig a little deeper into time-management strategies that can help you make the most of your coaching and also explore considerations for coaching across different program options and talking about some considerations kind of for our new normal now, you know, what that could look like, and then identify strategies for planning and implementing different coaching delivery formats. We're just going to kind of dig a little deeper into all of those things today. And so, now, I'm going to turn it over to my wonderful colleague, Ashley, who is going to kind of talk to us about time management a little bit.

Ashley Nemec: Thanks, Joyce. Yeah, so, we know that outside of your coaching duties, you're juggling other priorities each day, and it can feel overwhelming. And so, we kind of just wanted to discuss time management and how this looks fulfilling your coaching role both in person and also working remotely. So, as you all know, there are a lot of tasks that coaches balance in their daily lives. Everyone has their own ways of organization that works for them, and that's great. We definitely encourage you to find what works for you, but one thing that we could all do is take time to write down what are all of your daily tasks, priorities, weekly tasks, priorities, just so you can see them visually and see what it looks like. And this just helps you to stay focused and see when things are due and prioritize certain tasks. We created a sample of what this might look like, and as I go through these slides, you're going to see we kind of color-coded by type of task. Again, something different might work, and maybe you want to color-code by individual coachees you work with or different programs you work with, as well. So, there are many ways that you can do this. This is just an example, and this is an example of someone who might be working live in person. So, in the orange, you might have color-coded administrative tasks and meetings, class coverage, bus monitoring. Maybe you're also part of a team that helps conduct program assessments, such as the TPOT, or class. Then, in the green, we have your actual coaching contacts with coachees, so your focused observations. Maybe the time it takes to travel to and from those focused observations and your reflection and feedback meetings.

Again, you might choose to color-code specific coachees that you work with here. And then, these are kind of room for other tasks, such as writing in when you have lunch and when you have a break, because that self-care is really important, and it's definitely time to plan those breathing moments throughout the day where you can kind of just take it easy a bit. Your notes, prepping for those focused observations, prepping materials, doing research, organizing paperwork, and then, checking in and taking time to build those relationships with coachees. So, you can kind of see in this sample one way of what you can do in organizing your schedule. And so, how do we start to create a schedule like that? What do we prioritize? That's the question. So, when writing out your schedule, you want to first identify things that have specific time points, so that might be specific weekly meetings you have, a specific time of a call that you have scheduled or a focused observation that you have scheduled, writing in those specific dates and times.

So, that is one strategy, but we also want to hear from you. What are some ideas of strategies that you can share for how you manage all of your other tasks, as well as your coaching caseloads? You can write that in the Q&A box. Just waiting for some people to type in some ideas, and it's OK. Maybe you're here to learn, and that's OK, too, because we have a lot of tips that we're going to share today. But as I'm talking, if you have any ideas of how you kind of manage your priorities and tasks that you want to share, we have the Q&A box where you can type that in. So, we know also change happens, so even the best-laid plans have to be altered at some point, and our current circumstance is a good example of that. And we know that your schedules most likely look very different today. Many of those extra tasks that you would do on site, such as classroom coverage or TPOT assessments or bus monitoring, they're not happening right now, and maybe they've been replaced with some new tasks. Maybe you have more virtual meetings that you're attending. Maybe you have more time for professional development, and Sarah's going to talk about that later, as well. We've also gained new coworkers in our environments. We have pets, we have family members, we have children, roommates, and we might need to think about how we balance our time to meet their needs, as well as our own. So, that could include scheduling tasks that need the most of your attention during a downtime that your child has or nap time. Or maybe if you have a partner at home, you and your partner have to communicate ways that, you know, one partner can take over child care from 1:00 to 3:00, and then, in the morning, you have to do child care and vice versa. So, we understand that everyone has their own unique needs right now, and that's OK. We just encourage you to find a schedule and solution that best works out for you. So, we wanted to discuss some ideas for those tips and strategies that you might find helpful when adjusting your schedule at this time. You're still going to start the same way by – when creating that schedule of writing in things that are time-sensitive. So, those meetings, those phone calls ... any administrative tasks you have that might have a deadline that you have to complete, then you can prioritize your coaching duties. So, this might be your virtual calls with the coachee for searching resources for them that you want to share. This also falls under ... If you're using Head Start Coaching Companion, that can be a great time-saver right now. So, when we were coaching live on site, maybe it took a week to get a resource to a coachee, whereas now, if you have something like Coaching Companion or e-mail, you can get those resources immediately to them. And it's also a great way to upload, as Joyce was saying, some of those videos and provide instant feedback. And then, finally, that's when you can kind of fill in your flexible tasks, so catching up on paperwork or the resources that you need to research. Coaching might also look different now, not just your schedule.

So, focused observations might not be happening for some of you, as you're not seeing coaches in their practice environment. You might resolve this by viewing past videos if you have a video library of them and providing feedback that way and thinking of ways for them to put practice in. If videos are unavailable, maybe you might start by assessing or reassessing coaches' new needs or revisiting the action plan to talk about where these new needs may have arised and practices that might help to target that. If you're a coach that works with home visitors, maybe they are still meeting families virtually and you can hop on a virtual visit with them, of course, with the family's permission, to observe the use of family coaching practices. I know there's been a lot of – We've heard a lot of stories of how coaches have supported coachees in finding new ways to connect with families and with children, so those virtual contacts, such as reading a story aloud or leading a music and movement activity or conducting circle time, sharing personal messages with each child in their class. So, we heard from you. A lot of you are using those virtual platforms like Zoom or Skype, and if those platforms aren't available, you know, seeing if they can record on a smartphone or a computer. And maybe those count as a focused observation right now, and you can provide feedback or help coaches think about how to embed practices that they're working on in their action plans in those moments. And we're continuing to meet with coachees. It's virtual, and thinking about the coachees on your caseload, are there coachees that need more support right now, and we have to schedule more calls, or are there coachees that are doing fine and maybe they need less calls? So, kind of thinking about that part of your schedule. It's still important to stay on task with tracking your coaching contracts and sessions. So, capturing the information can be very helpful to you as a coach. It can also be helpful to your program to know what's working well right now, and then, where are some areas you might need to problem-solve and readjust as everyone's new needs seem to arise? There are some positives right now, too. I think we've had to think about new and creative ways to communicate with coachees or helping coachees connect to families and children. Many of you have learned new and different ways to use technology that you might want to continue as we transition back to programs, and then, if you think about it, if there's ever a time where we do have to physical distance again in the future, we've done this already, and you have some tools in our toolbox now that you can go in and readjust as needed.

Another time, you know, whether you're coaching virtually or at a distance, is when those cancellations come up, what do we do? So, thinking, "How can I adjust my schedule when this happens?" So, perhaps starting off, is there another coachee that I could fit into that time slot that's available for an observation? And if that's the case, then you just prepare as normal. I know on our little sample schedule, we had written, prior to the focused observation, some time to look at the coaching log, review the action plan, and look at notes from the previous session.

So, even though I know coaching might look different, there are still ways that we can address the different components of the PBC cycle even if you can't view it live in the coachee's environment. So, let's look at some examples of what a Plan B might look like. On our MyPeers community, one of you shared a story of how you were able to support a coachee virtually. The coachee recorded herself conducting a read-aloud and then, sent the video to the coach, who was able to watch the video and provide feedback and brainstorm strategies to strengthen that coachee's practice. Even though she was coaching at a distance, think about what are these practices that we're trying to work on, and how can we embed this in new ways? Maybe also revisiting the action plan. Maybe some of those practices you're finding aren't relevant right now, and there are new and different practices that you and your coachee need to target, and having those conversations, as well. Thinking outside the box. Maybe some of the families and children that your coachee works with don't have access to virtual platforms, and thinking, "How can I help this coachee still practice?" Maybe they are a parent at home and have young children, and they could video record themselves using the practice with their own children and video recording that and getting feedback. So, kind of thinking outside the box. How can we still make this work? In home-based settings, your coaching – when coaching live in home-based settings, we need to prepare for visits getting canceled, because I know it happens all the time. Life happens, kids get sick, doctors’ appointments happen, so helping have those conversations with your coachee to have those conversations beforehand with families, I always like to tell my coaches have those conversations. Make it part of your protocol of what happens during initial visits with new families on your caseload to kind of talk about what is the protocol for when a visit is canceled? So, asking right then and there, "Is it OK if we reach out to you if another family cancels for my coach to come in and do a focused observation?" And from there, you can kind of create a list of families who have said they're open to that opportunity, again, letting them know in that moment they can say no if they're not available, but that is another tool that you can use when visits are canceled. In our current situation, home visits are not likely physically meeting with families, but maybe they're doing virtual visits.

So, some families may be open to you participating in focused observations virtually. That resource that Joyce shared has great resources about how to communicate virtual visits with families and have some video examples of what that looks like, so they can kind of see what that looks like and feel good about it. And not all families, as I said before, have access to technology, so thinking about other ways that they can connect, whether it's through phone calls or sharing resources. Other strategies are trying to schedule your home visits or your focused observations earlier in the week with families, and then, that way, if those cancelations happen, you and your coachee have that list of families that said it's OK to call and check in to see if you can do a focused observation, and if they're on that caseload for the week, seeing if you can fit them in later. Thinking about when focused observation is moved, what are the other tasks that you can move into that time slot where the cancelation happens, and thinking about those priorities, and maybe embedding the cancelation protocol in your coaching agreements with families, and writing in, like, if they're OK with it, this is the steps that we will follow, and just making everything very clear. So, the important thing is you never want to pop in unannounced for a focused observation. You don't want to alter and have a negative effect on your collaborative partnership that you take so much time to build. You also don't want to affect the relationships that your coachees have with families. So, sometimes, when things get canceled, there's no way to reschedule the focused observation. We have to think about what those other tasks are that we could do. So, maybe they're entering in coaching activities into a data spreadsheet or a data-reporting system. Maybe it's preparing for your next observation by reviewing your coaching notes and their action plan. Maybe it's taking time to research and gather resources that you need. Maybe, as Sarah is going to talk to us very shortly about, getting those training certificates completed or professional development opportunities. If you're still coaching live, maybe that's a great time to do one of those class or TPOT assessments. If your reflection and feedback gets canceled, you can follow the same protocol and strategies I just shared. And even though coaching might look different now and things still get canceled, it's the same protocol. You can also find some of those tips and strategies useful.

Finally, we just want to say, it's very helpful to have one calendar. We know that, again, you work on different ... We might be on different teams or different initiatives in your programs outside of coaching, but if everything's in one place, it just helps you to kind of streamline everything, stay focused, and it keeps you from overbooking yourself or missing important meetings or deadlines. This is also a great way of thinking about what you can say yes to if during some of those meetings things get – new tasks get brought up ... You know, being realistic in what you can take on and communicating that. So, saying, "You know what? I can't get that done this week. I can have it to you next Friday," and then, letting the group decide if that's a task that you can take on. So, these are some examples of online calendars. We also have some links in the resource handout. And finally, managing that paperwork. It's important – This is something that gets pushed back very often, so it's helpful to block out time in your day or your week when you can work on this. For some of us, this is kind of a mindless task. And so, thinking about in your day, if that's a mindless task, you're that type of person scheduling it for later in the day where maybe you typically have less energy. If this is something that is the bane of your existence and it's hard for you to do, scheduling at a time where you're more energized for doing things in your environment, like drinking a mood-boosting tea or lighting a citrus candle that will kind of help bring your energy up. We also have included a resource Excel spreadsheet in the resource widget and the resource handout that you can use for your coaching activities. We asked you about time management – what are some strategies in MyPeers that you all are doing, or how your physical distancing has made your coaching look different and your day look different? And we heard many different things, such as how your 9:00 to 5:00 schedule doesn't work right now, because maybe you're a parent and you have to help your child with their e-learning experiences or child care, and so, that they're prioritizing tasks at quieter times, like nap times, where their child doesn't need them. I also heard an amazing idea is ... What I do, too, is prioritizing maybe your top three things that you have to complete that day or that week, whether it's in your work or your home life or both, to kind of help create a space where you're not feeling so overwhelmed. So, I want to turn it over to Sarah so that she can talk to us about professional development.

Sarah Basler: Thanks, Ashley. OK, so now we want to talk about really making that time for ourselves and our own personal professional development. Often, as a coach, we think about those resources and PD that are relevant for coachees that we're coaching, but we are just as important. So, we're going to talk about some things to keep in mind. We know that during this time, many of you do have a little bit more time to prioritize your professional development.

So, when we think about managing our different priorities, just as Ashley shared some great ways to kind of manage our calendar and manage our time, we also want to manage our personal professional development, as well. Typically, when in our normal day to day, weekly schedule, PD might not be part of that, but it's really important to take time for yourself and really plan ahead or block off time that helps support you in your role as a coach. Just as I said, it's really important. We're often wrapped up in thinking about how we can provide meaningful opportunities for those that we coach, but we are just as important. During this time, it's possible that PD is now your new priority because maybe coaching isn't happening the way that your program had planned. So, it could be a great time to catch up on some of those opportunities that you may have missed in the past. Either way, it's really important for your growth and development as a coach, so don't forget about your own PD. OK. So, when life as a coach gets busy, it's easy for you to turn down opportunities for your own professional development because it seems like maybe you don't have time, or as Ashley was mentioning, things get canceled and you have to rearrange things. But before you say no to your own personal PD, you want to think about how you can make your PD happen. So, prior to the coaching you're starting, it's important to check with your program supervisor to see how you can make PD a priority. Programs that are really invested in making coaching work really understand how important it is for your own growth to plan in those PD days, so find out how many days that you have allotted to you. It could be that you have a set amount yearly, and the good news is – is that many conferences or training events are planned years or months in advance.

So, think about the type of professional development that you need or that you're interested in and research that, block off your calendar, and really make a plan and hold that space.

Coaching Corner webinars are a really great option because they happen bi-monthly, so every other month, they're the same time. So, they're easy to schedule. You can count on the day and the time that they're going to occur, and the good news is – is that if you're unable to attend the live webinar, they're recorded. So, you could – if you missed the live recording – you can watch on demand, so it can be convenient for you. If maybe something does pop up that you're unable to make the webinar work for you, you can watch on demand. There's often lots of opportunities and things that are recorded like that. Alright, so knowing what type of training that you need. So, a coach needs targeted practice training, so this would be opportunities for that ongoing professional development and related to their coaching practice. So, this could be adult learning principles or about coaching strategies. A coach may also need training on content. For example, if a grantee has adopted a new curriculum, the coach should have training on that new curriculum to support implementation. So, you want to really make sure that you as a coach understand those targeted practices that you're going to be coaching around. A coach also needs PBC coach training. There's a two-day training on the different components of PBC, and it follows the PBC model. So, it's really important that if you are coaching and using PBC that you understand what that looks like and how to do that effectively. And then, of course, if your program decides that they want to participate in TLCs, which stands for Together, Learning, and Collaborating, that is also a two-day training, so if you plan to facilitate TLC groups, you should have planned to attend these trainings. Professional development could include training, and we know that now more than ever, coaching opportunities for – We're looking for more opportunities to get PD virtually. As many programs are not on site, trainings are not being held live.

So, a few things to consider when you are thinking about attending trainings, check with your regional TNTA. They have really been pivoting to try to make virtual trainings more accessible, so see what's available. Also, the ECLKC offers a variety of PD opportunities and resources.

We're going to talk a little bit more about the IPD and the 15-minute in-service suites later, but those are also great opportunities for professional development. OK, so when we talk about targeted practice training, everyone that coaches is going to have a focus that's selected by the program that you coach for or the PBC implementation team, and what is selected as the focus of coaching is based on the needs of the program. So, teams will come up with – they'll look at data from the last program year and decide, based on their unique needs, what the focus should be and what coachees – what kind of training they would need, and that's going to vary program to program and coach to coach. So, each coach will really need to think about their unique experiences and background because that will really play into the type of training you need depending on what kind of knowledge that you had previously. So, some things that a coach might need to be trained on could be strategies or practices that education staff could use to support children that are dual-language learners or children with disabilities or developmental delays. Something that comes up often: helping children with challenging behavior or children that have experienced trauma. So, finding out what the needs of your program are and what they might be facing is really important. Coaches could also use professional development related to the focus of coaching. So, some programs decide to focus on the class tool, or maybe coaching is going to be homed in on pyramid-model practices. It could be that your program has selected to coach around math or literacy. It could be that you're coaching home visitors and you're using the hovers, or it could be that you are coaching on a specific curriculum. You want to make sure that you really have a good understanding about these practices that you are asking coachees to use. So, this list of these things that I've discussed, it's not exhaustive. There are so many things that a program could coach on, but it's important that you have that knowledge and know what it is that your program is coaching on. Many of the examples of strategies and practices that we discussed can be found online or offered virtually, so if you find yourself with some extra time right now because maybe coaching isn't happening or you have a little bit more time, we encourage you to kind of dig into websites and see what is offered virtually. Many curriculums offer a variety of those online resources or PD opportunities, and sometimes, there could be a fee associated with some of these trainings. But typically, a program could have some money set aside for professional development, so just check with your supervisor to see what is available to you.

So, after a coach has been trained specifically on the coaching models, so if you're using PVC, or if you are going to utilize TLCs in your program, a coach still needs ongoing training around how to hone their coaching skills or practices. So, a coach might want to attend training on how to use specific coaching strategies or how to use the different components of PVC, so maybe strategies on how to build the collaborative partnership, how to action plan. A coach might want to learn a little bit more about how to effectively conduct a focused observation or ways to use reflection in the reflection and feedback meeting to really engage coachees, and how to deliver effective, supportive, and constructive feedback. Often, you will find trainings – I know that some of our Coaching Corner webinars focus specifically on the different components of PBC, and it's really important to think about what it is that you need to be a more effective coach. It could be that you want to gain a little bit more knowledge about how adults learn, so you might attend some adult learning principal trainings. Or it could be that your program uses a specific platform or program to utilize coaching, like Head Start Coaching Companion. We've heard lots of programs use ChildPlus, or maybe you use Excel for data management. It's going to be really important to know how to use those programs if you utilize them, so seeking training on those. Maybe it's how ... You might attend a training on how to manage data, or maybe you have site-specific trainings that you need to learn where to file coaching paperwork, and another resource that coaches can tap into is their regional TNTA. As I mentioned before, many – many places are utilizing and pivoting to a virtual platform, so just check in and see what's available to you. So, often, coaches need support in knowing how to handle different situations that you might face as a coach. It could be that you need support to know how to engage different coachees, or maybe you have questions about what strategies to use for challenging behavior that you might face or addressing different ways to give supportive or constructive feedback. It's really important to build a community of coaches that you can reach out to and share ideas, ask questions, and really troubleshoot those difficult situations that come up for you in your day-to-day life as a coach. It's a great way to really make sure that you have the support you need and really having that community that you can go to. It's really important to also have a coach for the coach, and you can engage in a parallel process. So, using practice-based coaching, the coaching model with a coach, so maybe a supervisor is the coach of a coach. And the good news is that this type of support doesn't really have to be in person. We can utilize all the technology that many of us are learning to use during this time. So, you could offer support one-on-one or through e-mail, through phone calls or teleconferencing. But knowing what your support system is and knowing who to reach out to if you do have questions is going to be really – really important.

So, just as PBC involves identifying and dressing very specific needs of education staff, it's really important to identify what your needs are as a coach. A coach can receive support virtually or at a distance through monthly community of practice calls. That could be a group of coaches that get together and discuss common things that are coming up with working with different coachees, and as mentioned before, these don't have to be in person. They can be conducted via Zoom or Skype. Coaching networks, either state or regionally – If you're a part of a coaching network, check and see what kind of opportunities that you have available to you. And then, social media is also another great way where you can connect with other coaches and ask questions, gather resources. So, for example, the MyPeers platform that we talk about a lot here, we utilize, is a great place to get your questions asked, to find resources, and it's also important to build it into your daily routine to connect regularly with other coaches. So, whether that be through a community of practice, whether it be setting aside 10 minutes to check out MyPeers, ask a few questions ... We have a link provided with the resources of this webinar for MyPeers if you're interested in becoming a member, and it's just really important to set aside that time for yourself where you're getting your questions answered, and you can reach out for that support that you might need. So, we want to hear from you. Use the Q&A widget and tell us, what are some of your favorite ways to connect with other coaches and get that support that you need? It can be prior to, or it can be how you like to connect virtually. So, use that Q&A widget and let's see how you guys are connecting. I know that for several of the projects that I work on, we have biweekly coaching calls, or we can ask questions that come up and get that support that we need. Even when I have tough situations come up, if I'm coaching, I often reach out to other coaches that I know and kind of ask for advice for how to broach certain situations. And waiting for some responses to come in. How do you like to connect with other coaches? We have someone says, "I meet with two other Early Head Start coaches every three months," and the last time, they met via Zoom. So, they utilize technology there. We have someone that does weekly conversations, and they call it coffee talk. So, they talk about situations, and they can problem-solve. That's a great way to figure out and get support that you need.

So, Melissa says she's the only coach within her program, but she's met some other coaches in other programs, and she's able to reach out to them if she needs support. Zoom meetings with other coaches to discuss questions. "We practice with each other and share resources that we found meaningful." That's a great way to get prepared for a reflection and feedback meeting. So, maybe practicing coaching strategies that you might use or testing out a question that you might ask to see, practice what that might look like when you do that with others. That's a great way. It looks like in region three, they have a round-table meeting where they meet every season to kind of come together with the other coaches. Daily e-mail. E-mail is a great way to just shoot out a quick question or share a resource. Coaching meetings and work groups and e- mail, and then, being a part of a coaching practice group was very helpful for Courtney. And then, coaching networks, MyPeers, coaching meetings ... Yeah, so, it sounds like you guys are using a lot of creative ways to get the support that you need and reach out and hear from other coaches. Thank you so much for sharing those great ideas. Alright, so, it's really important that you make your needs known. In order to be the best coach that you can be, it's important that you are getting the support that you need and the training or the resources that can help you with your role as a coach. We've included a couple of resources within the resource list in the resource widget. One way is to assess your own strengths and needs, so we've included the "Coach Strengths and Needs Assessment," and it's broken up by the PBC components, and there's practices under each component. It's really important that you identify the areas that you feel really confident and comfortable delivering. It's also really important to acknowledge and find out the areas or practices that you might need a little bit more help with. And then, as we – we've also put the "Coaching Strategies" handout in the resource widget, as well. It's usually used to identify what strategies coachees are comfortable receiving, but you could use it to determine what kind of strategies you are comfortable giving. And it looks like ... We ...

Oops, we are running out of time, but we have shared lots of great resources within the resource widget for you, and I'm going to turn it over to Joyce so that she can wrap us up and close this out.

Joyce: Thank you, Sarah. And so, we've talked about a lot of great things, but it really comes down to the importance of really just taking care of yourself and just to know that, you know, we know that right now more than ever, you're probably managing different priorities. So, to kind of take care of yourself, take time for yourself. And sometimes, that doesn't have to be big things, it can be small things, and just – whether it's like eating lunch during lunch time and not working and doing lunch, taking five minutes to go take a walk, any of those things, because really, a healthy you is a better you. And so, we just really want to encourage you and just taking that time for yourself. Here are some other great resources we just want to kind of give you. Again, these are all included for you in your resource list. A lot of great things on the ECLKC. PBS has some great things. The other two apps you see listed have some free content also available, and we ask you in MyPeers, kind of, what are some of the things you're doing for yourself? It was anything from a walk, coloring with your kids ... So, just remember, it's important to take care of yourself, and we're here to support you. If you're looking for resources related to COVID, on ECLKC, there's a great resource if you haven't already seen that. There are resources for yourself and for those that you're supporting. Thank you so much for joining us today. You know, we're here together in this. We're walking it out, and, you know, if you have continued questions and things, please, let's just continue the conversation on MyPeers. You're going to be prompted to fill out an evaluation. Once you do that, you can download your certificate for today, and we look forward to seeing you in a month here soon. Thank you.