Accelerating Learning With Real-Time Feedback & Coaching

Erin Stanley:

All right, welcome everyone. Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to join us. Please introduce yourselves in the chat. We’d love to know what school you’re from, or where you’re joining us from. My name is Erin Stanley, I’m on the GoReact marketing team, and I’m joining you from Utah, just a little south of Salt Lake. My very favorite part of my job is talking to GoReact users, hearing about their experiences, and hearing about how they’re making a difference in their communities, and their schools. There are so many amazing educators making a difference out there, and so I am especially excited to have our two guests with us today, and to have you all to help join in this conversation.

So the webinar is going to be about 45 minutes, but we’ll leave the last 10 to 15 minutes open for questions. So, throughout the presentation go ahead and drop any questions that come up in the Q&A. You can see it at the very bottom of your screen. And we are also recording this, so if you have to drop off early, or you want to share it with a colleague, don’t worry, we’ll send you the link after the webinar.

So, I want to introduce our two guests. Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz is from the Meadow Center for Preventing Educational Risk at University of Texas Austin. Michelle actually started her career as a special education teacher, and new teacher mentor, and now she has 23 years of experience in the field, and she helps educators at all different levels, directors, administrators and teachers to build sustainability with literacy, and with instructional practices.

LeAnn McGraw is the superintendent at Sierra Blanco, ISD in West Texas. So LeAnn started as a science, reading and CTE teacher in the grades six to 12, and then she moved on to be principal at a couple of different schools in Texas, and now she’s in her current role as superintendent, and she’s especially known for being an innovative leader, and implementing research-based instruction.

So, before I turn the time over to Michelle and LeAnn, I want to ask a poll question of our attendees. How are you all currently conducting your observations? So, this answer might’ve been different three or four years ago. We’re seeing this change a lot, but curious what you all think. So, it looks like in-person and hybrid are tied for the two top choices. That’s really interesting. I find it especially interesting that hybrid is so high. So, you’re doing both. You’re doing in-person and remote, which we hear from a lot of places. All right, thank you for participating in the poll. So, Michelle and LeAnn, I’m going to turn it over to you, and then I’ll hop back on at the end for questions.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

Thank you, Erin. Yes, my name is Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz, and I’m going to start us off, and it’s really just going to be kind of relaxing. It’s just going to be kind of a conversation. LeAnn and I are just going to share our experiences with GoReact. GoReact does a lot of different things, but primarily both of us use it for the coaching component. And it’s interesting when I looked at you guys’ poll, and that you do in person, and hybrid. And I would say from my experience with the university, I’ve worked on various projects, different federal grants, and so forth, where I spent a lot of time traveling across the State of Texas doing instructional coaching, and it was all in person.

And for the last 20 years I have been a fully 100% remote employee, because I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, whereas my employer is UT Austin in Austin. And so I did a lot of traveling into schools and so forth. So, GoReact is a new experience that I’ve added to the way of coaching. So, I use GoReact on two different projects with the university. I’m going to talk about the first project that I use that’s more research. It’s actually a random control trial research project. And then the second project is where LeAnn comes into play, and it is a coaching, it’s more of a case study, where we teach school districts on how to use a coaching model.

Just real quickly, the research project, this is how I use it for this particular research project, like I said, I’m in Dallas. All of the schools that are participating in the research project are in Austin. Also, this particular research project is an intervention project with students on the autism spectrum. Well, we know with kids with autism spectrum, a lot of change does not work well for them. So, the idea of me pushing into the classroom in-person, randomly, to do observations would interfere with the instructional delivery, because kids on the spectrum tend to have a hard time with change.

And so how we use GoReact is our interventionists are recording all of their sessions, and so I’m giving coaching in real time each day while they’re doing it. And so, what’s nice is I can give them comments, I can give them feedback in real time. It stops right there, at the moment on that particular video, backs up about five to 10 seconds, they can see what their student did, they can see the instructional, what they did, and I can give them feedback, so we can keep the project going, and keep the intervention going. So that’s how I use it with the particular research project. Because of time constraints, money, I can’t go out on a regular basis all the way to Austin and observe them, and also because of the nature of our learners. So, that’s how I use it with the research project.

Well, initially when we got GoReact, it was through a project that was a coaching project, Aim coaching, and LeAnn was participating in it in a different school district. And it actually came about because of COVID, because we needed to record the videos for the project, and also they were, if you don’t know Texas, it takes a long time to get to places. If I wanted to personally go see LeAnn and I was to drive, it would take me about nine and a half hours to drive there, three hours to fly, and then an hour and a half to drive from the airport to her school. So Texas is really, really big. And so, that’s how GoReact helps us, because then we can stay in touch, and have more coaching.

So, I’ve done in person, and hybrid, and I would have to say that GoReact is the nice complimentary piece to get you more coaching. And what I have found with my 20 years of experience going out into the field and doing in-person and hybrid, phone, email, Zoom, that GoReact actually moves the process quicker, and actually makes change faster. And here is why, because with LeAnn, we started learning the coaching model, and so we were just recording videos of teachers teaching and so forth, and she was learning the whole process. The GoReact allows her to get into the classrooms more, and in different ways. And so, I’m going to let her start talking about how she uses it at the campus. And so, this could be something that you could add to your coaching model to actually fill in the gaps, and actually give more coaching. Go ahead, LeAnn. You and I will tag it.

LeeAnn McGraw:

Let me… Okay. So, she’s exactly right. So I use it exactly how she uses it on her first project, when she’s unable to be in the room, I use it to do walkthroughs, and observations of my teachers. They record themselves on the GoReact for a lesson. Then from that, I watch them, I watch them when I’m getting ready in the morning, I watch them when I’m in the car. I can do that part of work that I don’t have time to do during the week, so I can watch it. I can leave comments. Just as she said, when you leave the comments, it’ll reverse back, and show them what’s going on right before they see the comment. So, if you’re talking about something specific, then they can see exactly what it is you’re commenting about. Also, they can reply back to your comments. So I’ll say, “Hey, I watched your videos this week, please refer to the questions.” And I might give them an overarching question about the lesson, or I might give them some suggestions in a certain area.

Either way you use it, they’ll get an alert if it’s set up as an alert, which it’s able to… Then they’ll get an alert saying I responded, and then they’re able to see my questions, or to see my comments and tweak their instruction, and then we’re looking… That kind of tells them, “Okay, next week I’m going to look for whatever I asked you, suggested that you try.” It also just prompts those conversations. So I don’t just do the video, and on the research at first I didn’t like just doing the video, because you miss so much by being in the classroom. So it definitely doesn’t replace in-person observations at all, or in-person walkthroughs, but it allows me to be in there more. I’m in a small school, K through 12, pre-K through 12, about 113 kids, 14 teachers, and I’m doing everything. So, I can’t be everywhere all the time. So it allows me to be there when I can’t be there, but then also be in person.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

So, also I want to add to what LeAnn’s saying. She is saying she’s coaching in real time, meaning we’re watching the video, and let’s say I noticed they did choral response. Oh, and I immediately right there, I’ll say, “Doing choral response is a great way to engage all of your students.” That’s a good opportunity, that you did that very tight, your routines, or whatever. So I’m making a comment and they actually get the feedback in real time. The difference is, in complimenting that with in-person, is in-person, when we’re sitting and we’re observing, and you know this, those of you that are doing in-person, or even hybrid, you’re watching the whole lesson, and then you have to wait to actually have an instructional conversation with the teacher. So, that’s good, but this is another way to complement that, to where they see in real time what you’re talking about.

So you don’t have to wait 45 minutes after the lesson’s over, or three hours at the end of the day to have a conversation about that lesson. They can actually see it, watch themselves teaching, and see what you’re talking about with the comment. So, it’s almost like coaching in the ear, in real time. So, it’s a great way to move the needle. And what I’ve noticed watching some of her teachers, because she didn’t mention it, but she has several that are brand new. For example, she has a teacher that’s a PE teacher, never taught in the classroom before. Compared to September and now, her instruction delivery is like twofold. It’s unbelievable as a new teacher, and I think it’s because they’re getting that real in time moment, and watching themselves actually teach.

Because just think about it, if you’re watching a teacher teach, and then you have an instructional conversation at the end of the day, they have to recall what they actually did when they were up there, and we know when you get somebody in the room, you’re all nervous and you can’t really remember what you did. So, this is just another way of them seeing, and almost self-reflecting on themselves, and their own instructional practices. So, with that being said, with instructional self-reflection, share with them what you do with regards to that.

LeeAnn McGraw:

I was like, “You’re leading straight into me.” So, when it comes to that, I’ve used it lots of ways. So, we use it for the regular walkthroughs, but also, I’ll ask them to watch their video. Either it’s directed to watch the video for certain things, or sometimes I just say, “Watch the video.” I have forms that I use to have them kind of checkpoint, or take notes on things that they’re seeing in different areas, and then we will meet about it. And typically in that case, we meet in person. So they’ll watch the video, I may direct them on certain things to look for, that I give them a device to record on, and then we’ll come back and we’ll have that one-on-one conversation on what they saw. And to me, it’s better that way, because they’re finding what it is.

Or, I mention, “Pay attention to how you do your background knowledge with your students, or how you do your vocabulary.” And then from there they find what I’m wanting to find, but instead of me always like, “This, this, this, this,” so they don’t feel like the coach is just on them all the time, they’re finding it themselves, and they’re actually much harder on themselves than I would be. So, we also use it to peer observation. So, of course when you first start, if you’re coaching, I noticed someone commented that they’re new in their coaching. You cannot just make them vulnerable out there to everybody. When we first started it, it was locked to where no one could see the videos except for me. I can see each of their videos, but they can’t see each other’s. But then once the process progressed and we got more comfortable, then I started asking, “Can I share your video with so-and-so so that they can see how you do this.”

Now, I also have them do those in-person observations. Again, it doesn’t replace that in-person, but it sure is another great way to do it, because being at a small school, we’re low on subs. Sometimes you don’t even have the same teacher to be able to show them the same thing. So, I’ve actually even used some of my videos from my previous campus where I was principal to show teachers something here where I’m now superintendent. So, if they did a really good job with their vocabulary then I might share just a portion, and you can take the videos and cut out what you don’t want, just do a little three-minute section of it if you need to, and so it’s handy in that way as well. And so I’ll show them a three-minute video. And so, you’re also offering mini PDs to your staff that way. Then we’ve also used it for presentations. I’ve pulled videos with their permission, and been able to use that, again, in a presentation to show examples of the different concepts of our initiative that we’ve got in place.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

So, I see a question here where somebody’s asking what real time. It’s not literally in real time, unless I happen to sign in when they’re literally recording, then it would be, but yes, obviously they’re busy teaching, they can’t see the comments that somebody is making until after the video has been uploaded, and they get an email notification, “Hey, somebody made a comment on your video.” So, the difference is if you’re in person, and you’re watching the instruction, you would have to wait until it’s completely done, and set a meeting with them to do the debrief and reflect. Which part of this coaching project, that was what it is. It’s in-person planning, pushing into the classroom, doing your observation, or co-teaching, or modeling, and then you have that reflect and that debrief afterwards.

All that this platform does is capture the video so that you can give comments. There is the power in having that face-to-face conversation with teachers. So, where the real time piece comes in is if I’m a teacher, and I’m watching my video, and I noticed that LeAnn made all these comments, and she makes a comment at three minutes into the video, once I click on that comment, and I look at it, it rewinds about five seconds, and shows me exactly what she was commenting on. So, that’s the part what I meant by real time. It attaches your comment, what you want to say, with what just happened.

It would be like me sitting in the classroom, and a teacher does something really awesome, but I can’t say anything until I see them in person. So, that is just how this little one piece sometimes will move the needle for teachers who need to see what you’re talking about when you give them specific feedback. Sometimes they may be like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even remember what I did.” And so this kind of sandwiches the feedback with real time, they get to see themselves teaching in real time, when it rewinds back. That’s what I meant by real time.

So, also, we’re going to talk about how you can capture also data in order to help with initiatives, and so forth. Like I said this initially, my relationship with LeAnn is for a project. It’s a case study where they initially did research on a coaching model, the Aim coaching model, and this is just a case study where we come into the school, and they’re actually going to try it, and let’s see how it works, how it works for you, customize it, make it, and so forth. This is the last year of it, and so our relationship with LeAnn was is, “How do you want to do this coaching model, make this work for you?” She’s very remote. She has less staff than a lot of the larger school districts that have hired coaches. And so, that’s where this platform came in, and that’s where it really helps.

How I gather data is when she does comments, I’m looking at how she’s giving the comments, and then I give her feedback on, “That comment wasn’t specific enough. That was more of a directive instead of an instructional move with coaching, you’re being a boss, take the boss hat off, let’s have an instructional conversation.” So I give her feedback like that. Also, sometimes she’s actually in the classroom, and so I’m watching her, like I actually watched a video where she did a model lesson for the teacher, so then her and I can have a coaching conversation later about what I saw. And so that’s how I use it, and then I can give data to my people. “Yes, she’s got the coaching model and here’s how I know.” She uses it to actually keep track of initiatives, because she flags certain things. Let’s tell them how you do that.

LeeAnn McGraw:

So, there’s a concept in there where you can set up your own flags. So, sometimes when I’m watching, I’ll comment every now and then, but sometimes if I have a teacher that is doing all teacher-centered instruction, and not a student-centered, then I will go through, and literally just… You just click a flag, and I’ll flag it every time she’s the one doing it, and then I have another flag for student interaction. So then it’ll show you a nice little graph, and you can show your teacher that and have a conversation with the fact of how many times did the students interact. Because she might say, “Oh, there’s lots of interaction in my classroom,” when there’s really not that much interaction. She just thinks there is, because she’s doing all the talking and very busy, when in fact the kids are doing very little.

And so, you can take any initiative you have, if you want to be checking for objectives on the board, if you want to be checking for student understanding, if you want to be checking for whether they’re doing any assessment. So you can name your flags, you can have as many as you want, I think. I have 13, I think. You can name them however you want. And every time you see that, you just push the flag, you just flag the button, and so then in the end, you’ve got this nice data to look at, and that alone is a whole nother conversation.

So if I have a teacher that’s really, really struggling with an area, or is not moving on the initiatives that we want them to, then I’ll note that, along with doing my regular comments back and forth for coaching, I can do both of those at the same time. So, I’m not going in one time to do our initiative check, and one time to do my pact Aim coaching. I do it all together. And so, it probably has more features than I even know about, but so far I’m learning a little as we go, but that is definitely one. And like I said, it’s nice because it gives you the true data with a nice graph down there, and you can have that conversation, and show it to them.

You can even have them watch their video, and have them… Show them how to use the tags and have them tag, or document, tally. I don’t know if they can tag on their end, but they could tally the same titles that you’re looking for, and then you can have them come back and say, “So what did you find?” “Oh, the kids really aren’t communicating with me very much.” Or, say they’re always calling on the same kids. You could give them a list of the kids, and have them watch their own video, and tally how many times they call on each kid, and then they’re like, “Oh, I never called on this one, this one and this one the entire class period.” So, no matter what way you’re looking at it, or direction you’re trying to pull from it, you can use it a lot of different ways. A lot of different ways.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

So, the next component that I’ve seen a difference with GoReact is the relationship building. It’s just another piece to build that relationship with your teachers, or whoever you happen to be supporting. LeAnn, I would say, is more of a hybrid type approach. She’s there on the campus, she already has relationships with her staff. All GoReact does is just complements what she’s already doing in person, when she pushes into the classroom and observes teachers, or she has meetings with them and so forth. It’s almost like it gives her an additional touchpoint. She gets to touch the teachers, interact with the teachers in a different way.

For me, I am more remote. My other job, the other project that I use this for, if you recall, I said I’m 100% remote. I’m in Dallas, they’re in Austin. I have seven tutors, or instructional interventionists that I worked with. I have only met them in person twice. And between those two days, I would say it was one full day. So, what I found in order to help with that is I make sure I’m always making some sort of comment on all of their videos that they do on a daily basis, because I didn’t meet them. I don’t have that one-on-one touch with them. And so, sometimes it’s in a sense is I just make sure that I’m always making a comment. So, if I can’t watch a full video, I watch the beginning of it, I scan to the middle, and make a comment, and I end it. It sends the message to them, I’m there, I’m always there. I’m here if you need anything. And I always wrap it up for a question for them to go back and reflect on their instruction, and to interact back to me.

So I always, on my other project, always end it with a question, because it forces that almost that, I’m trying to get that back and forth interaction, as if I was there with them, meeting them in the hallway, doing faculty meetings, and so forth. So, I’m trying to create that relationship, and it is working. I didn’t know if it was going to work, because this is really the first year that I’ve actually done GoReact 100% remote, and it works. So that would be the only suggestion, is if you are going to be fully remote, where you’re not really going to have that much in-person contact, I would suggest using the GoReact often to keep that relationship there. So, talk to them about how the relationship between the staff, the whole coaching mindset, climate, interaction between your staff, because now they all know they’re being recorded, and they can go and so forth in your sharings. Do you see a difference?

LeeAnn McGraw:

Yeah, so the first campus I was at was very reluctant to take this on. They didn’t want to have a video in their classroom. They didn’t want whatever. And I think I had only been there maybe six months, or something like that when we started this, and they thought I was crazy. But once they got it in there, it was not… Sometimes you have to push people over the edge a little bit. So, once they got it in there and started realizing, one thing I definitely don’t use it for as a coaching tool, as far as negatively. It is just to help you be a better coach. I think the scare of the video in there, number one, is who’s watching it? And we were reassured that only I’m watching it, no one else even has access to it.

And actually when I was on the project myself, and the project person was watching it, like Michelle watches it on this project, but they know that they’ve met them, they know who’s watching them, they know it’s not to try to criticize. And so once you get past that, the staff grows tremendously. They start being okay with each other, watching each other, and then I’ll say, “Hey, so-and-so did this part really well. Why don’t you watch their video?” And then once they watch the video, before I know it, they’re coming to tell me, “After I watched that video, I went and talked to Ms. Rohan and asked her where she’s getting her articles from, because they’re so much better.” Or whatever. It just starts them doing their own collaboration. Even if initially that wasn’t there.

When I brought it to this school, they were so eager for any kind of professional development, or any kind of support that the video part didn’t bother them. But I did four, and then at Christmas, I just started four more, four more that were high school. Every age group is a different breed. So, with the high school they were a little bit hesitant of that, but I think now the students, the teachers, everybody are just used to the iPad being in the room, videoing, and the teachers will say, “Well, I had to get onto them.” So what? It’s part of… I mean you do have to get onto them. It’s called classroom management.

I think when they get past that, GoReact is an awesome platform for being able to be there, but not always be there. And I think it doesn’t replace, it doesn’t replace the in-person, it doesn’t replace the in-person conversations, but it gives you more of that, and it actually, to me, helps initiate that collaboration with the teachers, and it helps initiate that conversation, because you put that question in there, you put that comment, and you go find them, or they come find you and say, “Hey, what did you mean on this part? Because I watched it, but give me some ideas of how I could do that differently.” You see what I’m saying? So it initiates, and I think fosters those relationships on a campus.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

And then another thing that GoReact has done, actually this was new that I tried this this year, and I had LeAnn do it at her campus as well, is with my first project, how I told you is we have the students that are on the spectrum, and they don’t like change. And so, this has been really helpful, because I’ve seen actually the students grow. The less interruptions, the less change that was happening with the intervention, you can see them being smoother interacting with their interventionists when they come in. There was less change, less interruptions. So, I think it works really well.

Also, I have one particular student on the project that the growth is slower. And so, I’ve had conversations with the tutor, she was a little frustrated, like, “What am I doing wrong?” She would call and say, “Can I Zoom with you? I think I’m doing something wrong. They don’t seem to be progressing.” And I’m like, “But they are, because I’m watching them every day, and they are.” And so I had the capability, whereas I wouldn’t be able to do this if it was just in person.

I asked her, “I want you to go back, and I want you to watch the second lesson that you ever did with this child, compared to the 20th lesson that you just finished.” When she did that, she was like, “Oh, they have grown.” I’m like, “Yes, they have grown.” I thought she was going to quit on me. She didn’t, because she saw the impact that she was making on this particular student that maybe their progress wasn’t as obvious. Also, so with that, since I had that experience with that particular instructional coach, or that instructional tutor, I was like, “You know what? Let me just try this with all of them.”

And so I did have my tutors go back, and watch their first lesson, compared to whatever lesson they were doing, and ask themselves. I gave them the… Posed them the question as, “Do you notice anything that may be that you have taken on as teacher led, that you need to release to the student?” And then I gave them a couple other self-reflection questions when they watched both of those videos, and I saw a shift in their instructional delivery on the very next lesson, because some of them realized, as you and I know, that when you start using the same program over and over, because this is an intervention program they’re using, you tend to get less explicit, or you go too fast because you’ve done it over and over. And I noticed a shift in their instructional delivery. Some of them slowed down, some of them let go of scaffolds that the student didn’t need, because they watched an earlier video compared to a current one. So, it was really powerful to even use it like that. And you even did this with some of your teachers, so what did they think about that?

LeeAnn McGraw:

I think they saw the same thing. Like I said, from the very beginning, whenever they see themselves, then they’re kind of amazed. And I actually had a conversation with one, he’s a fairly green teacher, hasn’t been teaching very long. He’s finishing up his alternative cert, and I said, “So just in general, what do you think about this whole Aim coaching using the GoReact videoing? What do you think about it?” And he said, “I never would’ve thought that it would’ve made me grow as much as it’s made me grow.” He said, “And it’s given me confidence.” And he said, “I think it’s because of all the feedback that I’m getting.”

So in other words, where he used to be nervous, and nervous about his teaching skills, nervous about being on the video, whatever. Now he just does his thing and he actually has taken our project that we’re doing, and tried to apply it into math, where it’s really on reading, and he’s just doing all kinds of things, and he’s not scared to put any of it on video, and is coming to me saying, “I videoed my lesson and I tried something new, so make sure you watch it this weekend and give me feedback.” Because sometimes… You do have a whole campus full of people, so sometimes they don’t get feedback every time.

But when I first initiate it, you definitely give them feedback every time, and then when they get into stage two, I’m kind of like, “I’m letting you try stuff, so I may not always watch every single one.” But they do. They come to me and say, “Hey, watch my video from today. Something really good happened. Let me know what you think.” Or, “I tried something new, let me know what you think.” So they’re coming and making me do my job better by like, “Hey, you got to watch it. You got to watch it this week. You got to watch it this week.”

So, I think it’s good in that case too, and I feel like that opens up the communication. It’s not… Because I do have to take off my administrator hat and put on my coaching hat, and at my old campus, we thought that might be a little difficult, but it’s funny here, I’m superintendent, not principal, but yet playing that coaching role as well, and they’re so comfortable with me, and everybody benefits if they’re comfortable. I mean, they know when there’s a directive, and it’s given that they need to do it, so there’s no confusion in that other hat, but they appreciate that coaching part.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

Yeah. I see a couple of questions here. Somebody asked what type of technology is used to record the lessons. For my intervention research project, the instructional tutors have an iPad that has a case on it that has it just set up like a tent, if you know what I’m talking about. It’s like tabletop, and they just set it off over in the distance because some kids get really distracted by seeing themselves, so it’s set up off in the distance, and it does pretty good at picking up their voice. And then with LeAnn, they have actually… She purchased tripods with the iPad that sits on the tripod, and it’s actually further back in the room, and I can still hear it. Sometimes you got to play around and I got to give them feedback on, “Can you position it a different way so I can see the board?” And so forth. Like I said, this is just complementing. You can gather so much more information if you’re doing it in-person versus on a video, for sure, but it complements.

LeeAnn McGraw:

Sorry. You can also use a laptop.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

Yes.

LeeAnn McGraw:

I think you could use a Chromebook, too. Pretty much you can use anything that you can position, that will be able to see you, just like a camera, anything that you could position that will be able to see you and record the volume. I mean, the other day the teacher said, “I didn’t use an iPad. That thing drives me crazy. I just used my laptop.” I’m like, “As long as I can see it and hear it, I don’t care what you use.”

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

Exactly.

LeeAnn McGraw:

And the GoReact, you’re able to have it on your phone, which for recording purposes wouldn’t be great, but for reviewing, or even them watching themselves or stuff, you can do it on a phone, iPad, a computer, a Chromebook, any of the above.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

So, just also for just a little more clarification on how GoReact works is they actually sign into GoReact, and hit the record button on the GoReact platform, and then hit finish, and it uploads, and it’s housed in that. The reason why also with that there’s a difference, because I have seen it to where people record, and then you have a recording sitting on a computer, or they’re putting it out there in the cloud. GoReact has its own protected and secured place where you can house those videos, and what’s nice is they stay there. So, after you finished watching them, you can archive it into a folder, and save it. But if you ever want to pull it out and watch it again later for whatever reason, you can, they don’t go anywhere right away. So, that’s nice, because I’ve done different types of recordings where you just record a video, and you save it to the cloud. Well, I’m not sure where it went, and sometimes it’s harder to access, whereas GoReact is almost like your own filing cabinet.

You can create folders just for individual teachers. Like she said, I can only see my folder, and I drop it in there. Or, you can open the folder, where everybody has access to each other’s videos, and so forth. I’ve even actually done a video on GoReact, of me modeling how to do something I saw one of the interventionists do, and it was easier for me to do a video like this on GoReact, to show them, versus trying to explain it to them. And then what I did is I just shared it with them, and so it was a easy way for me to do a mini little PD just like that. So, it’s recorded with in GoReact, they sign on and they do it.

Somebody asked microphones, any other. I guess you could, I guess you could. I mean, get it. I’m not that techy savvy on all of that information and so forth. There’s another question on here. It says, “Is there any type of AI component, or is this all manual feedback?” It’s all manual. AI is not watching them. This is you. So that’s why this is a personal coaching component that complements any in-person stuff that you do. You go into a teacher’s classroom, you have any conversations. This just complements it, because you got to watch the video in order to make a comment, but once you make a comment, it’s tagged to that line, or that minute, or moment in the video. And so when the other person is looking, and reading, and they’re clicking through and reading all those comments, it’s going to show them in the video exactly what you were commenting on.

So, no, AI doesn’t do it. I would say the only thing that AI does is you can go to your profile, and you can set it up with notifications that, like I get a notification when my interventionist uploads a video that I haven’t watched. That’s how I could keep track of who I’ve watched, who I haven’t watched, and so forth. Also, you could set notifications up that, if I comment, like if I was watching LeAnn and I commented to her, she would get an email that says, “Hey, I said something,” on her video. And then if she says something back to me, I’ll get an email that says she responded back to me. So, that’s probably AI there.

Also, an AI component in there is when you go in to look at the video, it’ll give you color coding, like it’ll say green, and that means it has not been viewed, or it has a little green dot and it means that there’s comments there that haven’t been read, or responded to, and so forth. If there is nothing there, then that means that video… No action has been taken on it since the last time you opened it. So, I would say that’s the AI component, but when it comes to giving feedback on a video, no, it’s you watching the video, and giving feedback. And so, I don’t really have… I can’t think of anything else. Can you think of anything else that you’ve done, LeAnn, with it?

LeeAnn McGraw:

No, no, I think that’s it. I think that’s it.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

Yeah. I think the next assignment that LeAnn has for my particular project, she’s going to do a GoReact video of herself doing a reflect, or a debrief session with teachers, and then sharing it with me. And the reason why we’re going to do that is all of my interaction with her has been me Zooming in, and being there when she does it, and stepping in when I need to, or being there in person. This time what I’m doing is I’m gradually releasing myself from that. She’s going to do that debrief, and reflect session by herself, with the teacher, and then I’m going to watch it, and give her feedback.

And then I’m going to have her go back and watch herself so that she can see her mannerisms, how she positioned herself with the teachers and stuff. So that’s really what we’re going to do, is I’m pulling myself back. We’re going to use it as a professional development moment with her. That’s our next goal on that. So I don’t have anything else to share. So, I don’t think we have any more questions unless anyone else has any, now that we’ve… Go ahead. Thank you, Erin.

Erin Stanley:

That’s really exciting. I love hearing your very specific experiences with it. I started my career as a music teacher. I wish I had had the support that I feel from you two, the way that you are watching their videos, and commenting, even though you’re not there in person. That feels like support. That feels like somebody’s got your back, and wants you to become a better teacher. That was for sure missing in my education, so I’m jealous. I’m jealous of your students you’re watching.

I will add about the AI component, our product team is currently beta testing some AI features. They’ve been very carefully designed to make sure that we are staying true to authentic assessment, and that the AI that is incorporated just makes it easier for users. So, there are some exciting things coming soon with that, that I think are going to help all the users just make it more efficient, and easier for everyone to use. So, that’s exciting as well. I have one just last question for both of you to finish up. Any advice to new instructional coaches in general? What kind of advice would you give someone who’s just starting out as a coach?

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

I would say first starting out as an instructional coach. If you’ve never ever coached before, I would find your coaching person, your philosophy on when it comes to coaching. When I think of coaching, it’s really just in the moment, personalized professional development. As long as you keep that mindset, then it really doesn’t matter exactly what style you do. Also, a suggestion if you’re just starting out with coaching is making sure that, always keeping the mindset that everyone gets a coach. Not just those who are struggling. Everyone gets an instructional coach, it just looks different. You may differentiate it based on what the student needs, or the adult, or whatnot.

Also, one other piece of suggestion I would give is if you are introducing any brand new initiative, whatever it may be, curriculum, instructional delivery strategy, or idea, program, whatever, that you give everybody equal for at least six weeks. And the reason why is it takes about four to six weeks for people to hate it, don’t like it, complain it, get over the hump, see a little bit of success, and get their rhythm going.

So, once they get through that, and you hold them with the fidelity, and I know fidelity is a bad word, and no one likes it, but it just means that you’re just giving it a chance, and you’re sticking with it the way it is designed until you get over that little bitty hump, then you can really do that differentiated coaching based on the individual. So, just keep that mindset that everybody gets it, no matter what, and that it’s actually in the moment, professional development, that’s all it is. You keep that mindset, then you can go and explore whatever different philosophies are out there, because there’s lots. What about you, LeAnn?

LeeAnn McGraw:

First of all, I’d like to say thank you to Michelle, because I have been very lucky to have her for what, a couple of years now, and I think it helps the coach to have a coach.

Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz:

Yes.

LeeAnn McGraw:

I thought I was a very good administrator, but I was like, “I really don’t know how to… I mean, I can tell them what I would do, but how do you coach?” It really is something you have to learn, because I’ve learned… I had a few hard rocks along the way on my end too. So, I think it’s very important to, if you have that person to coach you, to be open to that coaching, because we all have personalities, and you’ve got to put that to the side and just use good strategies, and there are strategies for coaching.

I think being very organized, and being very clear about what you expect when you’re coaching. People are nervous because they don’t know what you’re looking for. If you tell them, “This is what we’re doing with it. Along the way, I’ll tell you, ‘Try this,’ and next time I’ll watch it and we’ll see what you’re doing.” Then they’re fine, because they know what you’re doing. The unexpected is what scares people. If you’re just very straightforward, very out in the open on how it’s going to work, I think it’ll be more successful. And then expect what you expect. Like I said, in the bathroom, in the mornings, getting ready, getting my nails done. Wherever I have to make that happen, I will not implement something to my teachers that I’m not going to follow through with.

And if you’re not commenting on these videos, it’s like a lesson plan. We all know how that goes. “Oh, I turn my lesson plans in every week, but I get no feedback. So do they even look at them?” It’s the same thing with the videos now, like she said, six weeks. That’s kind of how this is set up with us. And so, once you get past those six weeks, we move them into phase two. When they go into phase two, I say, “Okay, now you have a little bit more flexibility, the expectations are… See what you can do with it.” Kind of thing. Not exactly, but it goes that way.

And so when you get to that second phase, you can kind of dip off a little bit and say, “Well, I’m just letting you practice some.” But for that first six weeks, it might be hard, but to implement something with fidelity, and to really make it stay, she talks about the sustainability, to really make it sustainability there, you need to just hardcore it for those first six weeks, and then you learn how the tool works for you. Because I never thought I would be using the tool the way I’m using the tool, in the capacity that I’m using it in. I mean, whenever I was first introduced, I thought, “Okay, they’ll video and I’ll give them a comment back.” But we have done so much more with it to make coaches grow, or teachers grow, and even coaches, she’s done stuff with me on it to make me grow that it can be used so much bigger once you realize the tools, and the availability in there.

Erin Stanley:

Thank you guys so much. This has just been a brilliant conversation, and there’s so much good to ponder. The last thing I’ll say before we end is I want everyone to be aware that our virtual conference called Reaction is coming up April 10th through 11th. This is a free conference available to all educators. We have sessions in the K-12 space, in the higher ed space, lots of different disciplines. We’re going to be talking about AI. You’ll probably hear a little bit more about AI product updates, self-reflection, assessment strategies, designing, learning to be really impactful, all these great conversations that are happening right now in education, as well as some sessions, of course, on GoReact. So, the link is in the chat there. You can check out the schedule, see what you think. And of course, register. It’s free to register. So, thanks again everyone for joining us. Thank you so much to Michelle, and LeAnn, and have a great day.