[00:00:00] Olivia: Hi there. I'm so happy you're here. Your time is precious. And because of that, I want to let you know right away what you'll gain by listening to the very last second of this episode. My conversation with Morgan Davis highlighted how her district is reimagining coaching support through coaching impact circles.

[00:00:21] Olivia: In this bonus episode, I offer my insights after facilitating a learning lab with a hosting coach, as well as a few coaching one-on-one sessions. My biggest takeaway, that the most important thing. It's how responsive and fluid and flexible we need to be in order to meet the needs of the coaches that we're serving.

[00:00:43] Olivia: Stay with me. I am so happy to have you as a listener today. This is Schoolutions: Coaching and Teaching Strategies, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that offers educators and caregivers strategies to try right away and ensure every student receives the inspiration and support they need to thrive.

[00:01:07] Olivia: I am Olivia Wahl and this is my bonus episode for Season 4, Episode 12 with Morgan Davis. And I love Morgan for many reasons. Um, she is a really good friend of mine and I always appreciate how she pushes me as a coach to Make sure that I'm really clear on my why, why am I doing this work? Why am I showing up and trying my best to serve school districts?

[00:01:38] Olivia: And, um, I have this great privilege to not only work in classrooms with teachers and their children, but also to support the coaches in school districts. And I want to just share a couple of. You know, big aha moments for me, not just based on what we, Morgan and I talked about, but it's really been this school year, um, working with a cohort of coaches that has just been one of the most wonderful experiences I've had and has pushed me as a learner.

[00:02:12] Olivia: Morgan talked about the idea of coaching inquiry circles and. The work that we need to do as thought partners for each other to lift the level of our practice and there's a school district I'm serving where there are four elementary coaches and two of the coaches specialize in mathematics, two of the coaches specialize in literacy and we're kicking off coaching labs this year and kind of building the plane while we're On it.

[00:02:43] Olivia: And I realized right out of the gate, these coaches are so smart about their expertise and we need to be thought partners for each other. And yes, we have all of these structures of the way coaching labs are supposed to look and feel, um, what needs to happen before I'm on the ground in their district.

[00:03:04] Olivia: What needs to happen with who's hosting and the event or the experience we're going to live. And with all of that said, we have structures, but the most important layer is how are we all going to be responsive and really listen to each other's needs the week before, but also on the ground in the moment.

[00:03:31] Olivia: And so what the coaching labs looked and felt like with their first iteration that was developed over this past summer was, is a outsider, I would zoom with the coaches ahead of time, they would build their coaching origin statement or context letter and. I would craft some targets for each of them around, um, this is what I think based on your context letter would really hit for you potentially in an upcoming visit, and I have several visits with them over the school year, and then one coach out of the four would host a coaching experience or a coaching lab.

[00:04:12] Olivia: And, uh, one of the other colleagues would come and be a part of it, or all of them could, but their time is so precious with teachers, that we decided there would be one coach that shares in the lab experience, and then I would offer one on one coaching support to the other coaches each visit. And immediately out of the gate, what I realized is that even though the coaches provided their context letter, um, or their origin statement of, you know, why they chose to be coaches, it was even more important the week before I was on the ground in their district to recalibrate and say, okay, actually, what's happening now?

[00:04:54] Olivia: What do we need to focus on now, based on what happened this past week? And my target slightly changed for each of those coaches based on what they were curious about and what was a spark for them. So I want to pause and offer you those four lenses that were very helpful for those coaches. But I've now also used these with teachers before I'm on the ground to kick off coaching cycles in their district.

[00:05:24] Olivia: So. Here are the four lenses. I ask teachers or coaches to share. What is a dilemma? That you or a teacher or student are facing, so that could be something that we study and host a lab around or even have a coaching cycle around is a spark. Another is what's a wondering or a topic that you'd love to study together.

[00:05:49] Olivia: A third could be something that you as a coach, a teacher, or a student are feeling stuck or wrestling with or grappling with. I think we need to have more moments as educators. To really think through and talk through what we're feeling that we don't have answers to so that our work is from a stance of curiosity.

[00:06:12] Olivia: A fourth lens is something that the coach or the teacher want to be more efficient with or about. And so having those four buckets to choose from really helped coaches say, Oh, well, this is something I'm interested in or this is something I want to talk about. And it was so much more authentic as a spark before I was on the ground to launch the lab.

[00:06:38] Olivia: And then I arrived and the coach that was hosting the lab was so gracious and looked at me and said, you know, I can, we do this, can we alter the schedule and meet this period? And so I can work with this teacher. And, and it was just this give and take this constant negotiation in a really healthy way of.

[00:07:01] Olivia: Of course we can do that because you are giving your time outside of a coaching cycle, perhaps to do this work. And we did some data gathering. We looked at exactly what she needed to work on with a specific teacher. And then we planned for that. We'll call it an event for the sake of this episode. And so we planned for that event and we actually mapped out, you know, what are some targets.

[00:07:28] Olivia: That we would have if we have 45 or so minutes or 40 minute chunk of time with as a coach and teacher meeting, what would that look and feel like? What what are we trying to get out of this experience? And this was a math focused conversation around, you know, when you have four other grownups in a classroom that are all serving children in different ways, how in the world can we make sure that each of those grownups' professional capital, also known as their strengths, are really being capitalized upon to serve kids the best ways possible?

[00:08:05] Olivia: So. That was the target for that meeting or that session with the teacher. And then we crafted some different experiences. What do we need to do as tasks in order to plan for those different roles and ways of supporting the grownups in the classroom? And we had that map, that overall timeline, and then the coach.

[00:08:29] Olivia: Decided, okay, well, this is what also needs to happen because we're using a specific math curricula that has all different lenses or ways that different grownups can work with children. There is a first thinking, there is an intervention, there is an extend your thinking. And then our conversation evolved to.

[00:08:52] Olivia: Well, wait a second. This really also speaks to the PLC at Work framework of, you know, what do children need to know? How will we know that they're getting what they need to know? What do we do for the children that are not getting what they need? And then what do we also do for the children that already knew what we thought they needed and need some extension or enrichment?

[00:09:20] Olivia: And we realized what a gorgeous way for the different grownups in the classroom to serve kids during that math block or during that math workshop. So that was ultimately the task that this coach took on with the teacher. We planned for that event, gathered the data, the coach knew exactly what she wanted to craft, um, for this experience.

[00:09:44] Olivia: And then another coach. Was there the whole time as a thought partner? What about this? What do you think about this? And brainstorming. And so this work isn't about a perfect session or a perfect meeting with a grade level. It's so much more around, you know, how can we accomplish these different targets or different experiences with teachers and make sure we're serving children in the best ways possible.

[00:10:14] Olivia: So fast forward to the actual meeting and. Actually, I'll, I'll reverse time because the coach that same day, um, when I had left the building and was supporting other coaches in one on one sessions. She did a dry run through of this workshop with that teacher knowing that the following day I was going to be present as well as the other coach in the session to offer feedback to the host and so she Mapped that out with the teacher.

[00:10:45] Olivia: She tried it and then she was able to give us feedback the next morning Before the session of what went well, what felt like, okay, we need more time here or there. Then we're all sitting there. The teacher comes in and, um, we get to live this coach conversation almost as flies on the wall, but also it was authentic because that would be weird with just having two people sitting there and not really engaging with the conversation.

[00:11:15] Olivia: So there were a couple of moves this coach made. That still linger with me today, and I want to just name them so often we think that if someone is processing that we can take notes for that person, but what I saw the coach do. is instead of her typing up the lesson for the teacher in the moment, they were talking through what needed to happen, but in a Google doc that was shared, the teacher was processing what she needed to do step by step, taking all of the words on the page of this curriculum and making it her own.

[00:11:55] Olivia: Instead of the coach doing that work for her. And what I watched the coach do, she was interpreting and looking at, you know, what does, based on what the teacher's typing, what does this tell me about her understanding of the why behind the mathematics or the task that the children are going to be doing and is the coach's coach.

[00:12:17] Olivia: I was in my notes naming, okay, why did that have an impact on your coaching of that teacher and how powerful that was in turn. And the other piece that I saw this coach do so beautifully, we need time to process. We need time for quiet and thinking in these conversations, whether it's two of us, whether it's a grade level, there's got to be quiet processing time.

[00:12:50] Olivia: And so this coach allowed for moments of quiet work time in that 40 minute workshop or 40 minute meeting. And what she did, she noticed when the teacher may have had confusion around the why behind the mathematics. And quickly was creating beautiful models that the teacher could then use potentially with students or with other colleagues that were in the classroom at the same time to give the why behind the work.

[00:13:21] Olivia: What a gorgeous use of time. And so I watched this magic happening and it was just amazing. And then the teacher, the period was done. The teacher left. And, um, she was going to try implementing that plan. And here's some things that I just want to name. The first day that all of the grownups in the classroom had these redefined roles.

[00:13:49] Olivia: The coach came back after that day and said, You know, it was kind of a hot mess. The kids didn't really know what to do. They were confused, but we gave it a go. And then the second day happened. They didn't give up. They didn't give up. They go back the second day with a similar plan. The teachers all have similar roles, but now it's day two of where the children, this was a fifth grade class, The children now know, oh wait a second, there are multiple adults in the classroom, but each of those adults has a really well defined role that I now understand after living this for a day.

[00:14:32] Olivia: And so I kind of know as a fifth grader, the questions that may be asked of me or the expectations. And the second day was so much more smooth. And I think a huge reason for that is. We didn't give up. We tried again. So I, I just want to, to say, you know, when you're trying new structures or when you're trying to redefine roles of how grownups are working with children in classrooms, it's so important to give it time and to allow children to feel the new structures for a while.

[00:15:12] Olivia: Also start small. Our original intent was to have four different rotations for children to be moving throughout. And we realized, holy cow, that was way too much. We actually should have probably just started with two or three rotations where the teacher was able to be free and having a pulse on the whole class.

[00:15:35] Olivia: What's going on while the other grownups in the room were able to work with just their small group to get that going. So, so much goodness. And then shifting to those one on one sessions. I want to give a huge shout out to my colleagues in the profession because this podcast has given me opportunities to build many connections and to build a community of professionals that are in this world and trying to do right by kids.

[00:16:06] Olivia: And I reached out before I was on the ground that week based on what the coaches were interested and getting smarter about their sparks. to a couple of colleagues and said, you know, would you be willing to zoom with one on one with a coach? And this was on their own time. It was not a paid gig and they immediately responded.

[00:16:28] Olivia: I would love to do that. And so the one on one sessions were incredible because We took the time with each session was about three hours of a. m. or p. m. session, and we took about one hour with different colleagues and in my learning community to zoom with these coaches and let the coaches pick their brains around their expertise.

[00:16:54] Olivia: And then the coaches and I took that knowledge and crafted some pretty amazing tools that the coaches were able to then use and continue with in their work with teachers. The third lens I want to speak to, so I had, and this was all in one week, it was such an incredible week and I can't wait to be back in this district soon.

[00:17:16] Olivia: So we had the coaching lab hosted by a coach and a fellow, um, colleague sat in on those sessions. Then the, per, the coaches that weren't hosting the lab each had their own one on one time. And some of them chose to Zoom with some colleagues and we created resources based on that conversation. One of the other coaches, actually two of the other coaches, chose to create resources for teachers that would streamline that idea of the why.

[00:17:48] Olivia: So, we re read excerpts from Jim Knight's Instructional Playbook and decided to start creating some one pagers and what those one pagers serve as, you know, a, a single statement that explains, you know, what is this structure or what is the purpose of this, um, way of meeting or being in the school setting.

[00:18:12] Olivia: And then, uh, Jim Knight always speaks to the Hattie effect. We chose to pivot and shift to offering different resources or a couple of nuggets of research that align with this different structure or practice in education. And then we included, again, this is from Jim Knight's work with the Instructional Playbook, We included how that structure serves teachers, how that structure serves students, and then crafted a checklist of what this would look and feel like if we were in the classroom setting.

[00:18:51] Olivia: And we started to create these one page documents that had all of this, and we crafted one around classroom structures, we crafted one around coaching cycles. we Um, and then I carried that work with me to the high school the following week and teachers created a one pager for, um, self reflection, student self reflection.

[00:19:17] Olivia: Principals created a one pager for the PLC at Work process with the specificity around that what do we do for kids that are not learning what we need them to and what do we do for students that are and they already know it and need enrichment. Lots of possibilities. The most important thing was a conversation I had with one of the coaches on my way out the door, um, after that week of the lab and the one on one sessions.

[00:19:46] Olivia: And she said, when you're back, can we make the schedules even more flexible? So we don't miss any of our coaching cycle work. So where we started with this idea of people signing up for an AM or a PM session. Now we're going to be even more fluid and it may be that we meet for one period and then the coach jumps into a classroom with a teacher continuing their coaching cycle and we come back and meet.

[00:20:14] Olivia: So I think the most important thing I learned from that week is how responsive and fluid and flexible we need to be in order for it to meet the needs of the coaches that we're serving. It also reminds me that Coaches need community. We need thought partners. And we need to be able to be vulnerable within our small groups and to say like, this is hard for me, or I need some help thinking through this.

[00:20:46] Olivia: I hope this gives you some nuggets of goodness that will give you different ways or some different ideas of ways to work with coaches, teachers that will best serve the students in your care. Thanks for tuning in. Take Care. Schoolutions: Coaching and Teaching Strategies is created, produced, and edited by me, Olivia Wahl. Thank you to my older son Benjamin, who created the music that's playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts, or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Now, I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email at schoolutionspodcast@gmail.com. Let me know your strategies for staying flexible within your district's professional learning and classroom structures. Tune in every Monday for the best research about coaching and teaching strategies you can apply right away to better the lives of the children in your care. And stay tuned for my bonus episodes every Friday, where I'll share how I applied what I learned from the guests in schools that week.

[00:21:53] Olivia: See you then!