20 Minutes of Teaching Brilliance (On the Road with Trust-Based Observations)

Welcome to 20 minutes of teaching brilliance on the road with Trust Based Observations.

Every week while training school leaders, Craig Randall, the developer of Trust Based Observations, witnesses brilliant teaching during their 20 minute observations.

Wanting to share that teaching brilliance with others, we talk shop with those teachers, learning what they do that is so impactful.

We hope you enjoy.

Craig: Hi, and welcome to another edition of 20 Minutes of Teaching Brilliance on the Road with trust-based observations.

A few weeks back I was in my home state of Washington, which is always nice to be able to do work in my home state in Soap Lake Washington.

And I lived in half a half an hour from there about 20 years ago in a place called Moses Lake.

I was there and Crystal Meryl's class and Crystal teaches there.

In Washington State we have a. A preschool, kindergarten, pre-kindergarten, kind of a mixed class.

And she teaches that and.

It was truly a masterclass in all the things that anybody who works at that level knows you have to be masterful at classroom management and relationships.

Like the way that it functioned was just, it was mind blowingly fun and brilliant for me to watch, and so I'm super excited to have.

Crystal on today's episode.

So Crystal, would you do us a favor and introduce yourself to the audience?

Maybe tell us about your background, what you're doing, how you got into teaching, just whatever you wanna share.

Krystal Merriel: I was actually born and in Moses Lake, Washington and raised here in Soap Lake.

IK through 12 through Soap Lake.

And ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to come back and teach at the school I graduated at.

Craig: Wow.

Krystal Merriel: I had one teacher that really made that relationship building piece with me throughout high school and.

At one point in seventh grade, she's like, you gotta get your stuff together or you're not gonna make it.

And at the time, I, if it weren't for her and my parents, like we had moved away for a little bit, we came back and it was the best thing that could have happened.

So just having that impact.

And then when I graduated high school, I graduated in 2010 and I decided, I'm gonna go, I'm just gonna start at Big Bend.

I got my AA in early childhood

Craig: community college for those that don't know.

Yep, go ahead.

Krystal Merriel: Yep.

And then I went to Grand Canyon University.

I did a lot of online based at the time I was attending Job Corps.

I was making choices that were trying to build my future.

So doing some different things.

At the same time, I was still living at home with my family.

I was taking care of one of my nephews full-time, and so I was doing all online classes and I got my bachelor's in elementary education and special education one.

The last couple days, right before I finished my student teaching, there was a POS position at the school that I applied for and they offered it to me, and when we came back from winter break, I started full time.

I hit the ground running right after student teaching.

So a big experience taught me that I needed, that.

I had a lot to learn still.

so during that time I enrolled in Grand Canyon again and I went back for a master's in Autism Spectrum disorder.

A lot of the kiddos that I was working with had benefits from different things that.

We're working like visual schedules and transitions and different pieces that we used for students with autism.

So that had been helpful.

I started at Soap Lake in 2013 while I was working on my aa, my nephew started preschool and so I'd go in and I'd volunteer in his classroom.

like I said, when I started my position, I started in 2020, right before COVID shut the world down.

I started in January and then we shut down.

Craig: Oh gosh,

Krystal Merriel: So I got to experience all the chaos, and then I worked in the special education department at our school until 2023 when the current position for transitional kindergarten opened up.

And I was like I wanna change.

And that's kind of where I am now.

I've been able to build the relationships with a lot of the kiddos and just continue on, like they know who I am between preschool, up to sixth grade.

I coached at the school, so a lot of the middle school, high school know who I am as well.

Craig: let me jump in on a couple things.

So local girl making a commitment to giving back to her community.

That's my theme based on what you said.

But I want to ask about one more thing.

You, the very first thing you said was that one teacher.

And so first off, who was that one teacher And two, tell me more about like her saying you need to get your stuff together, and whatever else she did that made that impact in you and what Dr.

Did.

Was that a factor in your becoming a teacher, that person that did that for you, wanting to do that for others?

Krystal Merriel: So sh, her name was Sherry Nichol and she was definitely the one teacher that every student went to when they just needed a heart to heart, and that's what we called it.

We'd come in we'd be frustrated, we'd be in tears and we'd say, can we have a heart to heart?

She'd be like, yeah, do we, can we shut the door?

We shut the door.

We'd have that heart to heart.

During my middle school days I was a challenge.

I was that kid that, no, I didn't wanna listen to you.

I wasn't gonna do my work.

I came to school to hang out with my friends.

I came to play sports.

When that started happening, she saw the decline and she's like, Nope, we're gonna get this together.

And continued it.

And then when I got into high school, I had her, started having her in seventh grade.

so I had her seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th, and she passed away mid senior year.

And it was bittersweet for me because I had her three, four times that year.

And so I had her as a ta.

I had her for a yearbook teacher.

I had her for my senior CWP class and my English class.

And I was just like I can't go in her classroom right now.

And a few, at the time, the principal was like, you need to go to class.

And I'm like, I mentally cannot be in that room.

And so I would go and we'd get, someone would gimme the work.

I'd do the work.

It was fine.

But it was definitely a lot for me.

A lot of the time I would be, because I had her right before her lunch, so I'd pushed her out to her truck with her husband.

And so it was definitely hard for me adjusting to and not having her there all day.

Craig: Yeah, like things that stand out from that and it's just, it's so important and think it ties into what you're doing, even though you're doing it with little ones, is what I heard was high expectations.

Accountability combined with deep care.

that's just what resonates with me.

And that's a beautiful segue into let's talking about your class that day, because that's what I felt your class was as we were watching you.

Like teaching four and five year olds is hard.

We all know behaviorally, if you can manage four year olds, you can manage anybody but a high school teacher who is gonna have a way tougher time going and managing that.

And part of that is care and relationships.

and so let's start with the rapport and relationship and just talk about how that manifests in your class with these little kiddos.

Krystal Merriel: One of the big things that our district does we start in May, April, may, we do a kindergarten roundup and a transitional to kinder roundup.

And we have our new kids come in, we meet them.

We don't know whose class they're gonna go in, but we talk to them.

We get to interact and see who can we who are they gonna respond pretty good with.

And so that's our first part of like, just building that rapport.

It kind of builds it with the families.

Because I am from Soap Lake, I know a lot of the families.

So I definitely have a little advantage over a teacher that may not live or have been in the community is that I have grown up with some of these parents.

Craig: Sure.

Krystal Merriel: they're my age or a little bit older, a little bit younger, but we're all right there within, you know, a 10 year span.

Craig: So really like that.

It's that, I mean, one that roundup like a district initiative starts the relationship building process even the year before they come.

And then there's a certain power in being local and being part of their community.

I. So if we move it beyond that, like to the specifics of when, now when you're in that class working with the kids, talk to me about like, I mean like I saw, I like, my list is like 10, 12 deep of things I saw like respect and dignity, all the different great praise f phases, phrases you had like, there was one little girl and you were like.

She did something and you said, good job.

What?

Like, you know, and the kids just, they eat that stuff up and like your tone is so positive.

It's a safe learning environment.

I have high expectations.

I have body language where you're working at their level.

I have gratitude.

Or one of the students was telling another student what to do and you were thanking her for giving that other student a reminder.

You were having accountability feedback to students respected dignity.

Talk to me about how all that factors into your philosophy on teaching or into teaching, or the importance of it.

Krystal Merriel: when we come into the new year, every year we start with a two week, we do half days.

It's a lot of play-based.

We're learning our routine, we're learning how to play with each other, and we're learning our expectations.

And that's what we focus on the first two weeks straight.

I don't worry about, you know, we're not touching pencils, we're not touching paper.

We're just playing.

We're building a relationship.

We're getting down.

I have a para in my classroom all day.

We're interacting with kids.

We're finding out what they like, what they don't like.

Kind of like we know that one of our students was about to have a baby brother, so we got to talk to him about that.

We have another one that's like, oh, I have a baby at home.

And then it kind of brings out the other kids in the classroom that's like, well, I have an older brother at home.

And just giving them the

Craig: how little kids do that

Krystal Merriel: to Yep.

To share all about what they wanna talk about rather than it being my guidance.

There's sometimes where I'm like, okay, we're gonna answer my call.

And there's some days where I'm like, okay, this is your chance.

You guys are gonna raise your hand and I'm gonna call on you, but you are gonna tell me what you wanna tell me.

And I think that was a big part of respect.

Like they felt like they had the time to be heard.

One of the things that we have started doing since winter break is I bought a little speaker and a little microphone, and at the end of the day.

We go around the classroom, we might not do it every day depending on how fast we get.

we do an outside learning time.

We come in from outside learning.

If we get in fast enough, we do it.

And I usually ask them, what was something you liked about today?

What was something you wanted to change?

And they love it has a voice changer.

So they get to choose a voice that they get to say it in.

And they all laugh as passing this microphone around, sharing all their answers and it was it's one of their favorite things.

Craig: They there's so much here for me to unpack.

So one, just starting out with routines and expectations, and we'll dig into that more later when we dig into the, to the behavior part, but what I really heard you say start with is it's about knowledge of individual students and making it about them and their lives first.

If I do that because we all like to talk about ourselves, right?

And what's going on in our lives, and especially at that age, it's so developmentally normal to do that.

And building that name purposefully to what you're doing.

That starts that.

So they trust you and we know if they trust you and love you, they're more likely to do what you wanna do too when we get to the behavior side.

But then that's so interesting, the little speaker mic thing that they get to talk to and then they have choice within that, right?

In terms of the voice they want to do.

And then that's such an esteem and confidence builder.

And of course I'm sure they get to hear themselves and that's, that has to be totally thrilling for them too.

That is brilliant.

I love that.

I've never heard that before.

So tell me, so you, it's a, some kind of a speaker and Mike, and so you ask them the questions and they come up.

Is it like an interview or is it like they

Krystal Merriel: So what we do is we just take the mic and we're in our circle at the end of the day getting ready for our goodbye song, and we just pass the mic around.

And if they're not ready, they say, I need to go at the end and we come back to them.

And they've been pretty good about, like, the first couple times I'm like, oh, do you know, or do you need help?

And now they're like, no, I can, you come back at the end.

And they're prompting it rather than we're having to prompt them of like, okay, do you want a turn now or later?

Craig: They want their turn with that because it's so cool to them too.

Right.

Krystal Merriel: yes.

Craig: So is it something they record?

It's just they're saying it, but because they're saying it with the speaker and microphone, it just feels more amplified, no pun intended because of that.

Is that what we're really talking about?

Krystal Merriel: Yeah, it's not recorded.

Occasionally we'll record like one or two students throughout the week to try to send like, Hey, this is what your kids said today.

Look how cute they are to parents.

Craig: And

Krystal Merriel: But other than that, yes, parents do love it.

They're, they love seeing pictures and videos.

Unfortunately, I can't take pictures all day.

I have to

Craig: Oh, of course not.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a bonus.

Krystal Merriel: try to get, we get pictures and my parent and I have a shared folder in our drive and we just, as we take pictures, we dump our pictures into the drive and at the end of the year, I make a little book and send them home for all the kids.

Craig: Oh, that's a great touch too, that I love that speaker and Mike, 'cause you're doing something that you would normally do.

oftentimes I'll see anyway, but just that simple little adjustment of the speaker and Mike, It just raises the bar on engagement for the students.

It's brilliant.

I love it.

let's jump to classroom behavior management.

You talked about clear expectations and routines, and I definitely want to go more into that because man, if they don't, I mean at that age we know you're teaching school social rules really is what you're doing.

You're teaching them how to do school because they don't know how to do school.

But I've got like another huge list.

I've got like interventions.

There's little student on the desk you to take off.

But like even the routines, like clear expectations and routines, the kids were dancing along to a video.

When we got in there and then the video stopped and without you even saying anything, the kids immediately got into a circle.

My sense was they even knew where they were supposed to sit on the circle.

If not, they just know how to get into a circle really well.

Anyway, but I've been in classes enough, I see more people through the lens of observation than any human being, and that is not easy to have that type of self-regulation that four year olds know how to do that.

Let's just start with that.

How does that happen?

How do you manifest that?

Krystal Merriel: So at the beginning of the year, we actually had them line up in lines and sit behind each other.

And the kids kept complaining.

They're like, I can't see.

I can't see.

So we were like, okay, how can we problem solve this?

And we were like, would a square be better?

Would a circle be better?

And I kind of, I let the kids lead the decision.

Because ultimately I can see them.

they're the problem that they're gonna have, can they see me?

And so we tried a couple different ways and they were like a circle.

Let's do a circle.

So I put the sit spots and I don't do it assigned.

I've done it assigned.

I did it assigned all last year, and I didn't feel like it did any better or worse.

Because then it teaches them, okay, well you can only sit by this kid where I'm trying to build the skill of, okay, if you are sitting by your friend and you know, you guys talk a lot, you should probably not sit by them.

And that's one of the statements.

If I notice like two of the friends and they're talking, I'm like, oh, I see two friends sitting together.

I need one of them to move.

And my kids have learned like different phrases where it's like, oh, that's me.

I need to move.

That is rather than me saying, okay, you need to go move over there.

I'm like, one of you guys gotta move.

And they do move.

Craig: So you're, that's so interesting because one, and I think it's a little bit of themes from what I saw, choices, you give them choices so frequently in what they do and by giving them choices that empowers them and it empowers them to make good choices.

And it also, it leads automatically to self-reflection and then therefore self-regulation.

So just that little thing.

And then it would, I'm still astounded.

Chris told it, maybe even more astounded now that it's a choice every day who you wanna sit to, and yet they're able to get into a circle in like 10 seconds when that song ends.

And you didn't even tell them to get into a circle.

They just do it.

Like, how do you get that?

Krystal Merriel: A lot of practice at the beginning.

That's part of that

Craig: Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Krystal Merriel: two weeks.

And then when we go into full days, we practice it again because now we're here longer and we get a little bit emo more emotions when we're here longer 'cause we're tired now and we don't wanna be here.

We miss our mommies and we miss our daddies.

One of the statements I tell them is, I was like, I miss your mommy and daddy too, but they're gonna be there after school right now.

You're spending time with me.

And a lot of the kids, they're like, oh, okay.

Or it's like, I'll ask them, do you wanna go draw a picture for your mom so that she knows you missed her?

Those are kind of different things that we've done to help.

Craig: Do you, so when you're doing this, you a lot of practice like, and when was I there?

March, like the beginning of March and so we're six months into the year, two thirds of the way, almost through the school year at that point.

But they're doing this also without any conflict or complaint along the way.

Now I sit here that you, 'cause believe me, I've seen that a bunch.

Like did that kind of thing happen at the beginning and then you had to help them to work through that?

Krystal Merriel: We have it occasionally have.

One kiddo that he, he needs an orange spot.

And so there, but we only have three.

So we've kind of had a class discussion where we want him at the carpet.

So if we're on an orange spot, is there a way that we could invite him to come sit with us?

It might mean you scoot over and you guys are sharing the orange spot.

Most of my kids have been really accommodating, especially with this little guy making sure that we keep him included rather than no, you can't have this spot trying to problem solve it.

Or it's okay, well they made it there first.

There's this spot or this spot available.

And that's kind of what he's leaned away from so much the orange.

Now it's more he wants to be near the teacher.

It's okay, then you have to be at the carpet first, and then you know where the teacher's gonna be.

Craig: So much self-regulation with the way you're doing that's building in and teaching them.

I'm just.

They're just adult success skills.

They're learning as four and five year olds.

And then not only that, but then the part about the kids like being compassionate towards their peers just by bringing it up as a discussion and they're having understanding and empathy that, alright, well if that's what he needs, okay, we'll do it.

And without even complain, it's just what we I love that.

Absolutely.

We talk about a term called withitness.

And that's really, Marzano coined that phrase, and it's really the teacher who has the eyes in the back of their head and like you were working with a little girl that needed a little extra help to get whatever you were working on.

I can't quite remember what it was right now.

And it was little centers and so while the centers were going on, there were two little boys that were.

I won't say struggling, but didn't quite have it.

Right.

And like you were working with this little girl, but just somehow that teacher within this radar popped in and you were like, Hey, can you two remind me how we play with chains?

And there was another one where, like, oh, like one of the rules is there's two people to a center and you're like, oh, there's two people there.

You pick a different one.

So do you mind talking a little bit about all of that and how that part works?

Krystal Merriel: Sure.

So, with our center times specifically the one you're talking about is our brain bins.

So

Craig: The brain bins.

Thank you.

I love that term by the way.

Krystal Merriel: We got that from an observation that we did in p. And so is what it is.

It's just a small tub, like a shoe size tub.

It has different activities.

I have 18 of them in our room.

They're on one shelf, and the rule is, the first step is when you take the lid off, the lid has to go underneath your bin.

The second rule is you can only have two people in the bin.

Other than that, you can choose where you play.

You can choose how long you stay at the bin.

You can choose how you use it to a point.

So for example, the two little boys that you referred to, they were building a snake and they were going across the classrooms wrapping around my teacher table, and so this was something that.

Had started the week before and I'm like, okay guys, this is this what we're supposed to do with this bin.

And so that showed me that, okay, we needed to have a discussion about what the appropriate use of that bin was that

Craig: reminders.

Krystal Merriel: And so we did that.

And then just giving them that reminder rather than being like, you can't do that.

It's like, okay, can you guys remind me how we use that?

Rather

Craig: so much more positively when you give them a choice and you re and you honor their respect and dignity instead of making them feel defensive.

Krystal Merriel: Yes.

Craig: Look, let's talk about, let's finish up by talking about differentiation, because you know where all of your students are in that class.

And so the work that you were doing that day, that was the more academic work, like you knew instantly who do I want starting at the carpet with me.

But you also knew as you're watching around, like who needs extra help.

To get up and go and work around and just, so let's just talk about all of that piece because it's hard.

Krystal Merriel: Yeah.

So typically whenever we do a circle time activity or get ready for a lesson, I try to bring all my kids to the carpet and I'm sitting at the carpet.

There was one time, that I sat in a chair at carpet and they all called me out on it and they're like why are you on a chair?

We're not allowed to have chairs at the carpet.

And I'm like, you guys are right.

That is the rule.

Thank you for reminding me the expectation of carpet time.

it was our expectation and I wasn't following the expectation.

I can't say anything other than follow the expectation.

Craig: Gotta walk the talk.

Krystal Merriel: so what I do is I model it.

I ask them how they feel.

if they feel like they can do it on their own.

If they say yes, I typically, I'm like, okay, here's your work.

Go ahead and try it.

If you need help.

Let me know.

And then as as they're working, I am pulling over.

I have a couple that need that direct teacher prompting or that need just a little bit more time.

So I start with my most the student that needed the most prompting from me at that time.

And I started with him at the carpet and I had a few others that came over and joined us that they could do it.

They just felt like they needed to be down there at the carpet with me.

And I was like, okay, you guys sit here, we're gonna work together.

And we were kind of all on the same page.

Some kids moved faster than others.

I tried to do one page at a time, and lately my kids are asking, they're like, can we have all of our pages at once?

Because we do two or three pages of tracing or color this, find this letter, trace this

Craig: Right, the letters.

Yep.

Krystal Merriel: So I was like, oh, okay.

So that tells me that these kids are hired, they're ready to move on, where these kids need a lot more and they're still on page one.

So that's kind of been a helpful way to differentiate as well is knowing that.

That my group that wants three pages, they can start with as many as they want, is what I usually do is I put the three stacks on the carpet and I was like, if you want one, you can grab one.

If you want all three, you can grab all three.

And then I pull over the ones that I need help with or that need help from me.

I have a radar of which ones I know are gonna need the extra support.

And I'm constantly double checking to make sure they're working at their table.

If not, I'm bringing 'em over to the carpet, asking them, are you needing help or are you just needing a quiet space?

Like kind of check, just the verbal check-in.

What are they needing at the time?

And like one little girl, she told me, she was like, no, I got this.

And I was like, okay, you go try again and I'm gonna check on you in a few minutes.

And she's like, okay.

Well, a few minutes passed and when I called her back over to check in on her, she was still at the same point and I was like, okay, you're showing me you need to be over with me, so I'm gonna have you come back to the carpet and we're gonna work together.

Craig: You're checking for understanding or informatively checking through walking around, through, as you described at my radar, but then giving them opportunities, giving them choices knowing the readiness level of each student, providing extension activities and double checking along the way, and then guiding them more directly when it's needed.

Those are all the different things that I'm hearing you say, and I think they're all fantastic.

Crystal, I think there'll be people that might want to reach out and learn from you you know, whether it's the brain brand or all the great stuff you're doing at the beginning of the year and along the way to help them have that class function as smoothly as it does.

And so, would you mind sharing your professional contact information in case anybody wanted to reach out?

Krystal Merriel: Yeah, that's fine.

Craig: Thanks.

Krystal Merriel: So my email is my, the first letter of my first name and then my last name, ATL schools.org.

So it's K-E-R-R-I-E-L.

Craig: K-M-E-R-R-I-E-L, ATL for, so

Krystal Merriel: So it should.

Craig: Schools.

Two R, sorry, M-E-R-R-I-E-L.

I'm looking at it and I still got it wrong it'll be in our show notes for anybody that wants to see it.

Crystal, thank you so much.

It has been an absolute pleasure.

It was a pleasure then, and it was even more of a pleasure today to, it's more fun to get to watch you, but it was almost equally as pleasurable to get to talk about it today.

So thanks so much for being on 20 minutes of Treating Brilliance.

I really appreciate your time.

Thank you for listening to 20 Minutes of Teaching Brilliance.

If the show resonated with you, you can help other teachers by liking, sharing, and subscribing.

More importantly, if you don't like the way you're being evaluated, don't like being nitpicked and scored, then check out Trust Based Observations at TrustBased.

com, where we know the path to growth is through safe spaces for risk taking.

Tell your principal about it, and change your school's observations to a model of trust and support, and join the thousands of teachers who now experience the joy of observations the way they're meant to be done.