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well Susan thank you so much for having
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me I'm Elena Aguilar I am a coach an
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author a teacher a podcaster a mother
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and I'm really excited to be here for
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this conversation today absolutely so
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we're just gonna dive straight into it
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because I want to hear all about your
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process for writing and what your focus
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is has what your focus has been and
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where you're shifting to which I think
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is really interesting so
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um in the past you've written a lot
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about coaching can you talk to me a
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little bit about your philosophy around
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coaching and how it impacts the
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instructional process
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yes
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so
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I'll first just share a little anecdote
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which is that when I became a teacher
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one of the things I noticed really
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quickly was the incredibly High turnover
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rate of teachers I first taught in
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Oakland California in the public schools
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and my students were the ones who
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actually said to me are you going to be
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here next year are you going to stay
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through the end of the year and I said
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yes of course and they said well so many
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of our teachers don't and I came to see
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that really quickly the incredibly High
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turnover rates of teachers and the
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overwhelm and stress and burnout I
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received some coaching in my first
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couple of years as a teacher it was very
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technical very focused on instructional
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strategies and what I really needed
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support on was the how do you manage all
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of this the emotions the just the
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everything
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so fast forward about about 15 years or
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so I became a coach first at the school
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that I had helped to found and one of
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the things that we were really concerned
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with was the high turnover rate of
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teachers and
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so the coaching methods that I developed
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were in some ways built upon the
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strategies that I'd experienced as a
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coachee so there was instructional
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coaching and focusing on students and
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engagement all that and I also sort of
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intuitively just began coaching people
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around what I now call their beliefs and
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ways of being because that was where we
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could get into in part the conversation
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around burnout and stress and overwhelm
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and just the emotions of it many of
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which are beautiful and positive and
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encouraging but
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um the transformational coaching model
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that I've developed Is Anchored in a
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sort of three domains which are
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we coach around people's behaviors
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beliefs and ways of being I call that
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the three b's behaviors beliefs and ways
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of being so behaviors are the more
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familiar instructional coaching
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strategies that folks are probably uh
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have experienced or are trying beliefs
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is around beliefs around who you are who
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your students are that's where we get
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into conversations around equity and
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more and then ways of being is where we
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explore emotions and identity and who we
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are who we want to be and so it's really
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a holistic model that is
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um that was created from my own
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experiences as well as from what I
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observed that teachers and really I
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would say human beings need which is to
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be seen in our full Humanity with the
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emotions with all the conflict and the
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questions and also a model that does
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include let's talk about data let's talk
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about student
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um engagement and parent involvement and
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so on and so on so that's the model that
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I have created called together that I
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write about that I still practice as a
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coach and that I have seen tremendous
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impact from
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yeah and what I love about your model
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Elena is that you do acknowledge the
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teachers are human and that we're not
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like the superhero that can't show
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emotions and so I so appreciate that
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you're willing to dive into that and
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allow us to actually have those emotions
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I think I remember back to my student
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teaching when I mean I had professors
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tell me straight out there there is no
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room for emotion in the classroom
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there's no room for crying there is no
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room for
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um having emotions around the students
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or even around your colleagues so that
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you can even even if you had a horrible
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day and you needed to break down just
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for a minute you couldn't even do that
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because it was seen as unprofessional
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and so your model is so refreshing and I
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think is so meaningful for all of us
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because you do acknowledge that key
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component of emotion and how it does
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impact the other two areas our belief
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systems and our ways of being because
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the that's who we are right
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and we all know that as human beings and
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as teachers we know that however we are
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feeling will have an impact in the
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classroom it will have an impact on
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students and the other thing I think
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that I I want to shift the Paradigm on
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or help people remember is that emotions
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aren't good or bad they're just
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information and some of that information
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is incredibly energizing and galvanizing
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can keep us teaching so the things that
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we think about as the positive emotions
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which again they're not really positive
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they are just what they are but that the
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emotions such as love and commitment and
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passion and all of that is what can keep
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so many of us in the classroom and in
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the work year after year and so you know
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as can a sadness and anger and fear in
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all of those when we explore them and we
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understand the messages those emotions
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are trying to share with us they're
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giving us information and yes I got the
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same messages when I started teaching I
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was told by my first principal people
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leave your emotions at the door do not
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bring them into the school building in
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the school building you have to be this
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that you know don't smile until after
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Thanksgiving and all that kind of thing
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like that was what that is asking us to
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do as human beings is disconnect from
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our Humanity we're not effective when we
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are shutting down parts of who we are we
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just aren't and every action we take
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emerges from a belief and every belief
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is connected to a way of being through
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our full humanity and so as a
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transformational coach we look for those
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threads those through lines between
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behaviors beliefs and ways of being so
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that we can actually create
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transformational change and not just
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compliance based change or you know I
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used to coach a lot of teachers before I
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started using really a truly holistic
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model I would coach them around
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behaviors and then think okay they did
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that they made that change three months
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later they were back doing the thing
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that I was like wait I thought we worked
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on this why are the kids in rows again
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why is the classroom silent I thought
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we'd worked on that
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um and that was before I started really
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digging into beliefs and in that case uh
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just specifically like what are the
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beliefs around silence in the classroom
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and students talking what are the
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teachers beliefs and how does that
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affect the choices that they make and
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there and then the effect on students um
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um yeah it's incredible how everything
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does relate to one another I'm curious
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because you've been at this for a really
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long time
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um in terms of of looking at teacher
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burnout and why we have this this
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teacher retention issue and I think it
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Rose to the surface a lot during the
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pandemic because I think that's an
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extreme right
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um but this has been around since before
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the pandemic so do you see a change or a
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shift in what has been the cause of
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teacher retention issues versus what
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they are now
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yeah I appreciate that question and the
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acknowledgment that
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we had an incredible problem with
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burnout before the pandemic because I
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feel like there's been such an emphasis
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on like well this is the hardest year
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ever this is it I think the situation
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has been exasperated and the pressure
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for teachers has always been tremendous
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and has just grown so it's it's really
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just been an issue of
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um you know of a sort of an exponential
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impact on teachers and it's and I think
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the underlying causes are still the same
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and that's why in responding to the
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burnout the retention really burnout is
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depression I think it's important for us
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to acknowledge that often uh and to name
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that burnout is really sort of emotional
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overwhelm which I would say which often
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shows up as depression which often could
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be really classified as depression
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um burnout kind of obscures the more
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serious
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um
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you know underlying issues but I think
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that the the really deep underlying
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issues uh have to do with a whole lot of
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system issues with the way that
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um teachers are
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are treated or thought about are the
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amount of responsibility and so I think
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there's both what's needed is both an
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individual
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um response in terms of really an
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individual teacher's response as well as
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a systemic response and so when I talk
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about an individual's response
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um that's really what I write about in
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my book onward which is about
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cultivating emotional resilience there
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are things that we can do there are
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things that are within our sphere of
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influence or even our sphere of control
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that we can do to build our resilience
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to feel better to
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um to to navigate the burnout the
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depression the overwhelm the
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responsibility and to be able to make
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some clear decisions there are things we
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can do and there are teachers I know who
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have thrived in
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in the pandemic and that's been um
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incredible to see and it they're
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definitely outliers and that is not to
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overshadow the difficulty and the stress
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that so many teachers have faced and
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that's why again I say there's two
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things that need to happen one is a
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total system overhaul of the really the
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education experience the teaching
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profession and there are things that
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individually we need to do and that
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includes setting boundaries and saying
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and knowing when to walk away and
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knowing what
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um having a real Clarity on our sphere
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of influence and our sphere of control
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and being able to say like yes this I
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have to let go of but this I could do
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something about if I learn the skills to
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advocate for myself or my students or to
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speak up or to engage in the kind of
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healthy conflict that we need to be
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seeing in our school so there's a
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tremendous amount that Educators can do
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to in improve their experience and to
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navigate the challenges and I always and
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is one of my favorite words and the
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system needs to change yeah but we can't
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we can't affect the change of the system
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if we're completely exhausted and burnt
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down just sort of scrambling to stay
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alive so we need to shore up our own
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resilience so that we can have the
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energy to change the system yeah so when
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you talk about
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um that we have are empowered with
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things that we can do in order to to
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change and shift that conversation what
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are some examples that you've seen
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so let's start with what is closest to
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our sphere of control it is either
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within our sphere of control or it is
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closest and that is the thoughts that we
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have the thoughts that we have
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create the emotions that we have
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so
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let's say a student
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let's say you give your students a
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direction you ask them to do something
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and you see a student sitting in the
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front she rolls her eye she puts her
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head down on the desk she might even
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Mumble something about you and you might
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think what did she just say about me
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what happens next is where you can have
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a tremendous impact on your emotions and
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your resilience the meaning that you
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make of that student's behaviors things
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will happen they will always happen
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people will do things students will roll
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their eyes what we tell ourselves what
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the meaning that we make
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can lead us in all kinds of different
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directions so if we say to ourselves
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she doesn't respect me
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teachers are the most disrespected
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people in
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our professional sphere
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I don't know how I can keep doing this
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how can I do this when I'm treated like
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this by students by parents by admin by
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everybody
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now that set of thoughts
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is going to
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is going to lead to physiological
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changes in your body right it's going to
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lead to your stress hormones
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um flowing increasing moving through
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your body that contributes to the
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emotion so it's helpful to understand
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what emotions are they are in part a
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result of sort of our biochemical shifts
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in our body and those are affected by
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our thoughts and so that can generate
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the anger the grief the frustration we
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could have other thoughts in that moment
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we could think
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I wonder what's going on with her or
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she's tired or clearly she's frustrated
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and maybe she's frustrated with what's
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going on in the classroom maybe there's
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other things I wonder if there's
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anything I can do I wonder if I could
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connect with her I wonder you know
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what's going on with her but so I'm
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saying there's a there's a like don't
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take it personally message here
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um when we take it personally that
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generally can undermine our resilience
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so there's a whole lot more to say about
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the thoughts we have the impact they
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have in our resilience but that is a
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place for us to really dig into
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understanding we create to a great
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extent we create our own reality and
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that's really hard to accept that took
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me a long time to accept like my
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thoughts create my reality no I want to
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blame everybody else I want to say it's
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admin it's the system
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and again it's uh it's not black and
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white and the system does affect our
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well-being and health but there are
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things that we can influence and control
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in terms of our day-to-day experience
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our emotions our thoughts so
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um that's onward my book is organized
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around 12 habits that Educators can take
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to cultivate their own resilience and
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that includes understanding emotions and
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understanding how to work with emotions
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includes understanding ourselves
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building Community taking care of
00:15:22
ourselves it includes the habit of play
00:15:26
and create and appreciate and celebrate
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and so it's not everything in this is
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not a Panacea but there is a lot we can
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do yeah and I'm smiling because
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um my own coach has actually walked me
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through a framework we call ctfar which
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is circumstances you're going to have
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circumstances thrown at you but then the
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things that you control are your
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thoughts and so you identify what
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thoughts you're having and What feelings
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then result from those thoughts and then
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what actions result from your feelings
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and then what the results are from your
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actions and that you can if you can get
00:16:00
to a point where you're aware enough
00:16:03
to pause yourself in the middle of the
00:16:06
cycle that is where the power lies and I
00:16:09
I hear that from you from this framework
00:16:11
that you've been working on with
00:16:12
teachers and I think that's the key
00:16:14
right if we can stop ourselves in the
00:16:16
moment and identify and acknowledge that
00:16:19
it's in our heads what are the thoughts
00:16:21
that we're having what are the stories
00:16:22
that we're telling ourselves that brene
00:16:24
Brown says often
00:16:26
um I think that's a super powerful
00:16:29
um and it does it empowers teachers to
00:16:31
be able to have control of their own
00:16:34
destiny which oftentimes we feel so out
00:16:36
of control that that's helpful I just
00:16:38
want to acknowledge that it's super hard
00:16:40
it's super hard to do that right and
00:16:42
sometimes you can catch yourself in the
00:16:43
moment and sometimes it's later when
00:16:45
you're debriefing with somebody but it
00:16:47
is really hard and it does take practice
00:16:50
and cultivating that habit and that's
00:16:51
what one of the chapters in onward is
00:16:53
called be here now and it's the one in
00:16:55
which I plug meditation as a strategy
00:16:57
meditation is really just the daily
00:16:59
practice of what's going on in my mind
00:17:01
and how can I cultivate awareness of
00:17:04
that
00:17:05
um but I do I just I want to just say
00:17:07
like yeah it is really hard it's hard
00:17:11
um our the potential for our impacts on
00:17:13
children when we learn how to meet
00:17:16
students needs when we learn how to do
00:17:19
that better we'll see the results that
00:17:21
we all came into this profession to see
00:17:24
we'll see the student achievement the
00:17:26
student experience that we all long to
00:17:29
see I know that's why Educators got into
00:17:31
this and um and we can do that through
00:17:35
the learning we can do that we need to
00:17:38
do that we can do about our own in our
00:17:40
own skill set it is possible it's the
00:17:44
passion that you have for this is
00:17:46
incredible to watch so thank you so much
00:17:48
for joining us today
00:17:50
um if people want to stay in touch how
00:17:52
do they get into your sphere how can
00:17:54
they stay in touch with you
00:17:57
so I do have a podcast that's the Bright
00:18:00
Morning podcast that might be a place
00:18:02
folks want to start that's where I offer
00:18:06
a lot of tips and tools and demonstrate
00:18:08
coaching conversations my website is
00:18:12
brightmorningteam.com I'm on the socials
00:18:15
uh that you can find the links on our
00:18:19
website
00:18:21
um so those would be some good spots to
00:18:23
start with that's fantastic well thank
00:18:25
you so much for joining me today I
00:18:26
really appreciate it and I can't wait to
00:18:29
dive into my next PD session I'm excited
00:18:31
hey thank you Susan this was a great
00:18:33
conversation
