Schoolutions: Teaching Strategies to Strengthen School Culture, Empower Educators, & Inspire Student Growth

The Art of the Classroom Visit: Insights from Morgan Davis on Effective Coaching Practices

• Olivia Wahl • Season 4 • Episode 2

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In this episode of Season 4, Episode 2, I welcome back Morgan Davis, a coach with Jeffco Public Schools in Colorado. Join us as Morgan dives into her insightful strategies for supporting teachers and fostering a thriving classroom environment. 🏫

Morgan shares her approach to starting the school year strong by visiting every classroom and integrating herself as a coach into the daily life of the school. Discover how she uses research-based methods to identify strengths and build on them, ensuring teachers feel supported rather than evaluated. 📚✨

In this episode, you'll learn about:

  • Morgan's Classroom Visits: How she makes initial visits meaningful and non-evaluative.
  • The Role of Coaching: Balancing support and observation without adding to teacher stress.
  • Confidentiality and Transparency: How Morgan maintains trust while navigating her supportive role as a coach separate from the evaluative role of administrators.
  • Effective Communication: Strategies for providing feedback that truly supports teacher growth and development.

Plus, get a glimpse into Morgan’s successful integration of new resources and how she bridges the gap between teachers and caregivers. Whether you’re a coach, teacher, or administrator, you’ll find valuable insights to enhance your practice and support your team.

✨Check Out Morgan’s Recommended Resources to Support Your Classroom Visits:

📣Episode Mentions: 

#EducationPodcast #CoachingStrategies #ClassroomManagement #TeachingTips #EducationalLeadership  #TeacherSupport #ProfessionalDevelopment #ClassroomVisits #TeachingResources #FlexibleTeaching #CoachingInEducation #TeacherEngagement #EducationInnovation #LearningEnvironments #EdChat #TeacherCommunity #InstructionalCoaching #EducationExcellence #TeacherGrowth #ClassroomDynamics #TeacherProfessionalGrowth #ClassroomDynamics #TeachingTips #ParallelPractice #Schoolutions #MorganDavis #MorganDavisConsulting #OliviaWahl

When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

[00:00:00] Olivia: Hi there. I'm so happy you're here. Here's what you'll gain by listening to the very last second of this conversation with my friend and colleague, Morgan Davis. In this episode, Morgan and I discuss how her school district is reimagining coaching support through coaching impact cycles. These cycles are a blend of learning labs, research-based practices, And team coaching that emphasizes inquiry, vulnerability, and continuous learning.

[00:00:32] Olivia: You'll learn why team coaching notes can be a powerful tool for collective growth, why creating spaces for authentic teacher collaboration doesn't always require heavy structure, and why the most effective coaching structures maintain a spirit of inquiry rather than showcasing perfection. Stay with us.

[00:00:54] Olivia: I am so excited to have you join our conversation. 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.

[00:01:16] Olivia: I am Olivia Wahl, and I am so happy to be back with my friend and colleague, Morgan Davis. Morgan always introduces herself as the teacher's teacher and coach's coach. And Morgan, I know we've had several conversations. Um, you are one of my go to people when it comes to thought partnership, coaching, pushing me along.

[00:01:38] Olivia: Um, listeners, if you haven't met Morgan yet, um, it's critical, you know, that she is with Jeffco Public Schools. Jeffco, um, serves around 81,000 students across 166 buildings, which is incredible. Um, our conversation today is going to focus, Morgan, um, I follow you on social, of course, and You posted a couple of reels about a week ago around coaching impact cycles and I thought, oh, this hits, this is exactly what I'm leaning on right now with coaching coaches and coaching cycles or labs. So I'm excited to have this conversation with you. Before we jump in, uh, what's a research piece of research or a researcher who is a researcher that you're leaning on lately?

[00:02:28] Morgan: Yeah. So, um, I have had the privilege of being a part of this larger coaching community with as many schools as we have in our district, we have a huge coaching community. So a quick shout out to my coaches, um, Katie and Vicki, who continue to bring us back to Ron Ritchhardt’s Cultures of Thinking in Action.

[00:02:47] Morgan: And so, um, as we started to launch these coaching, what they're calling coach impact Um, they keep bringing us back to the idea that if, um, we want classrooms to be thinking spaces, we have to create thinking spaces for the adults in our buildings as well. And um, they talk about, or Ron in this book talks about inquiry-based conversations where teachers work to make meaning together and that, um, that should feel really authentic and it should feel, um, it shouldn't feel like a manufactured experience.

[00:03:23] Morgan: It really should be the kind of work we need to do in order to step back into our classrooms as better teachers for the students that we serve. So, um, I'm leaning quite a bit on even just the first chapter, you know me, I like, I get to the first chapter and I stop because it's so good. 

[00:03:39] Olivia: Yeah. That that's again, that resonates so strongly because even last week um, I was facilitating learning labs at a high school and one of the exit ticket responses said, you know, we need more choice. We need more, um, inquiry-based lab experiences where we're circling up with folks that have common, um, interests, common topics that we want to study. So, can you define for us what is a coaching impact cycle or circle?

[00:04:13] Morgan: Yeah, so, I actually had to reach out to Vicki last night because I was like, um, help me understand why you called it this. And we have a strong history of, um, studying coaching models in our district. And so we've, um, definitely anchored to gym nights impact cycle. And so I reached out to Vicki and I said, um, tell me why it's called that.

[00:04:37] Morgan: And one of the things they talked about when we first launched these was they wanted to bring together some of the best things we've done in the past. So yes, our study of Jim Knight. Um, we used to at one point do, um, communities of practice that were coach-led. What was tricky about those is, just like as teachers, when they come to professional development, if we ask teachers to be in charge of that, they often can't be present in both roles, right?

[00:05:02] Morgan: Like to be learner and presenter or learner and facilitator or collaborator and facilitator is often really difficult. So, um, They decided this year to have them run by or facilitated by central leadership. And we also have a history in our district of, um, learning about learning labs from Sam Bennett.

[00:05:22] Morgan: She was with our district, um, a few years ago. And so they wanted to kind of meld all those things together and name it something that could allow it to become what it needed to be. What's interesting about it now is that we're now in teams of, um, I think four to eight coaches are in each group or small community.

[00:05:43] Morgan: And the work is starting to look very much like learning labs. So we're anchoring to research and, um, in a few weeks I have a group of, I think six coaches coming out to observe me doing something and trying on, um, what we'll talk about in a little bit, the risk that I'm taking. So it is starting to look very much like learning labs.

[00:06:03] Morgan: Um, and it still has this sort of organic feel that it will become whatever it needs to be to serve the coaches in the room. So I'm super excited about it. It's something that anchors me back to a time that kind of reignited my passion for coaching, which was when we had Sam out. So, um, we'll see, we're, we're a few months in at this point.

[00:06:24] Morgan: So… 

[00:06:25] Olivia: Well, what's always really helpful for me as a learner is to go from my known to new. What? Huh. And, uh, then I joke, then I can have a now, but I need to make those connections. And so something I, um, I wanted to learn from you is we know with labs, since you just said it feels more and more like a lab structure.

[00:06:45] Olivia: There's that priming work that has to happen. There is planning for the lab experience. And there's usually a host, a host teacher or a host coach or a host classroom that we're trying to work in. So, um, yeah, And then, um, based on that, we plan moving forward and perhaps even have a second dose in that space or, um, with the coach.

[00:07:08] Olivia: So what are the similarities you're feeling, uh, with this experience that Resonate Lab? 

[00:07:15] Morgan: Yeah. So, um, the priming work that we're doing is happening during our coach learning. So right now, um, there's a lot of conversation about, um, in our district about academic monitoring and. Um, teachers doing the student work ahead of time.

[00:07:32] Morgan: And so we're doing that as, um, kind of whole district work, both with principals, APs and coaches are all doing that work. Um, and, uh, then in these, um, small circles or small communities, we're doing additional research on the ways of coaching in that space. So we've read articles about how to be a warm demander.

[00:07:54] Morgan: Um, we've anchored back to something that you mentioned, um, in last week's podcast or two weeks ago, um, The idea of coaching, heavy coaching light. So we're definitely anchoring to research that's preceding the lab. So we might call it priming or pre work, but what I see it as is like, um, another researcher that we're anchoring back to is, is the idea of coherence, right?

[00:08:16] Morgan: The idea that everything should have this red thread through it. So what we did back in August should be evident in our lab that's coming up in December. Um, then we are, I am the first, um, in our small community, I'm the first coach to risk publicly. Um, so we'll have that host experience at my building where we'll do some prebriefing before we go into classrooms.

[00:08:41] Morgan: And then I've set up a team to help, to allow me to go in with this team of coaches. Um, and then we'll debrief and the goal would be for them to help me better understand my risk and, um, and learn alongside them. Like I need their insights because this is something I, I love about labs is this isn't something I have figured out yet.

[00:09:04] Morgan: It's not, um, it's not something that I have all the answers to. And it was a really big distinction that we made. Um, I went to kind of a, a preplanning meeting for these. impact circles. And one of the things that I felt really strongly about was they made the distinction between we're not coming to observe effective coaches.

[00:09:26] Morgan: What we're coming to observe is effective practice. And I even remember pushing on that and saying, but what if we don't know if it's effective? Like, what if we don't know? And that's what we're trying to figure out. So I'm super thankful. Um, Katie is my PLC coach and my professional learning coach, and she's the facilitator of the lab.

[00:09:46] Morgan: So she came out and we did some pre work for an eye, which is similar to what we do with a teacher who was hosting a lab, right? 

[00:09:53] Olivia: Yeah. 

[00:09:54] Morgan: So she's doing some precoaching with me. Um, and then she's carrying the research that will kind of give people context for the work that I'm doing when they land in my building in December.So a lot of the same things that we would experience if we were with a, um, a teacher in a lab, um, they're providing or creating the space for us to do the same.  

[00:10:16] Olivia: You just really hit home for me of why our work must be grounded in inquiry. Um, that sense of curiosity. And I know that's something that we both believe to be true so deeply.

[00:10:30] Olivia: And again, last week, a teacher said, you know, I want this experience to be where we are doing something really well, and we want to showcase and have people come see the work that's happening. And I paused and said, that's a different structure. That's, that can be, we call a showcase or a celebration, and that may happen at the end of a coaching cycle.

[00:10:55] Olivia: Again, just to reiterate in my mind, the whole idea of a coaching lab, a principal lab, a teacher facility or hosted lab, it's all about the messiness, not the perfection. And ideally, I also think they could happen in the midst of a coaching cycle, um, or in the midst of when Uh, frustration bubbles up. Um, last week we were joking Denise Goldin-DuBois is working with the school district as well.

[00:11:24] Olivia: And I adore something she said a long time ago. If something's frustrating you in the classroom, make it a target. Make it a target. And that's, I think of that. I don't see, um, concerns about kids or concerns with teachers as negative. I think to me, it's, oh, wow. This is a possibility that we can try to figure out the why behind what's going on and keep asking the questions behind the question.

[00:11:53] Olivia: So Morgan, you're hosting, what's your risk? What do you, what do you want to try?

[00:11:58] Morgan: Uh, one of the things I think we talked about on our last episode together was this idea that they're wanting to increase the volume of time that admin and coaches are spending in classrooms. Um, so we've got learning walks or what they're calling now sprints to see.

[00:12:19] Morgan: The things that are happening in classrooms. And so, uh, one thing that was really important to me was to keep that separate from the work admins doing. Like as a coach, I can't be walking around with the same checklist or for the same purpose. My goal is to, um, not monitor necessarily, but, um, to continue to, um, celebrate and find that growth edge.

[00:12:42] Morgan: So, um, one thing that I'm trying. Is the idea of coach notes, but for a team. So, um, in order to elevate the, the impact of our professional learning communities, our weekly team meetings, I wanted to see if I could, or what the impact would be if I provided the feedback I typically provide to individual teachers, if I instead set it in front of the team.

[00:13:08] Morgan: So. Again, I don't have that all figured out. I'm learning along the way. I am sailing forward and yeah, and I, one of the things I'm the most excited about is to set some of those trial and errors in front of other coaches and say like, what am I getting right and where am I missing the opportunity to make this more impactful or, or is it even, is it even the right move? I don't even know. So team coach notes is the risk that I'm taking right now. 

[00:13:39] Olivia: Um, one of my favorite moments with you, um, and you didn't even know you put a reel out there in the universe. And it made me laugh. Oh, it was the perfect moment. And I needed it. You said, you know, the team coaching notes are only as effective as if you actually send them.

[00:13:56] Olivia: Yeah. That's the, that's that whole, like we have the best of intentions and then life happens. Right. So. Yes. I know with an individual coaching note, often we're looking to be asset minded. So we're naming what we see and hear teachers doing and saying, students doing and saying in the classroom. And then we're often offering nuggets of research that can have that person's back to, uh, say like, here's what you said.

[00:14:24] Olivia: You believe here are some practices that we lived together in the classroom. And then here's some research to calibrate that work. Um, and then we often ask questions that we truly don't know the answers to. So. Then help me go from known to new. What do you include or what have you been playing around with in the team?

[00:14:43] Olivia: No. And who do you send it to? Who is the team? 

[00:14:46] Morgan: Yeah. Um, I have been playing around with that, that, um, part of it isn't changing. So one of the things that I am doing is, um, we're implementing a new math curriculum this year, and so. One of the things I'm trying to do is anchor them back to the professional learning we've done so far.

[00:15:02] Morgan: So we've had professional learning on talk moves. We've had professional learning on the lesson design of this particular curriculum. We've had professional learning on providing access to students who might be struggling or providing challenge to kids who are ready. Um, I am trying to categorize things that I'm seeing across classrooms.

[00:15:24] Morgan: So instead of saying, this is what it looked like and sounded like in your classroom, I'm anonymously saying, this is what it looked like and sounded like in classrooms at your grade level or among your team. Oh, I love that. So, uh, the teacher said, and the students responded, or. One thing I'm trying to get better at is to name the student impact.

[00:15:42] Morgan: So this is what the teacher did. And this is what then I saw students do. Um, it's tricky to do that if you don't go in with that lens, but that was, um, just this last week or just gosh, um, Monday, this last week. Uh, that was the work I was doing to kind of improve this practice among other coaches. So same sort of thing as I'm hoping to do with them later this, um, in December is to get their insight and where, where am I missing the mark?

[00:16:09] Morgan: And that was one with that student impact piece. So, Um, the anchor to research is a little bit more, um, implicit in these coach notes because I want to keep them really brief. 

[00:16:20] Olivia: Yeah. 

[00:16:21] Morgan: So the anchor back is to the professional development we've had. So I might categorize a particular, uh, group of sounds, looks and sounds like as talk nerves so that it's, it's bringing them back to that PD that we've done in the past.

[00:16:35] Morgan: Um, and then I've, I've included some wonders and, um, I was originally trained through cognitive coaching. And so I lean on the reflecting map questions of, um, their acronym is DOC. Like what decisions were you making, um, before the lesson or in the moment? What are you noticing about students or other teachers in the classroom, other adults that you're working with or who are working with students and then, um, the C is for compare.

[00:17:00] Morgan: So, decisions, others, and compare. So, how did this lesson compare to the design that was in the curriculum or how did it compare to what you hadn't, um, planned for? So I'm kind of leaving them with these kind of open ended questions for reflection that they can then consider before they come back to our team meeting or PLC, and then the part that I'm really not sure about.

[00:17:24] Morgan: is our district also has a focus right now on bite-sized, bite-sized feedback, right? So what is the next step? So I phrased these as, um, here's a trend I noticed across the classrooms and here's how PLC could support this. So I noticed a trend that pacing might be a struggle. Um, work warmups were lasting anywhere from, from 10 to 30 minutes.

[00:17:46] Morgan: Or, um, I noticed that a few of you were running out of time at the end of the lesson. So pacing is something we could work on and here's how PLC could support that. I did that, um, and have also been playing around with how to do that because of the instance where I forgot to send the coach note. So I walked into this team and they were talking very, very pointedly about the two things that I had mentioned in my note.

[00:18:13] Morgan: Um, I had mentioned two next steps that we could, um, grapple with together that I thought might be a struggle. And they were talking about those two things. And I said, okay, pause for a second. I just got here. So I just want to make sure before we go any further, has everybody read my note? Just to make sure that we were all calibrated.

[00:18:32] Morgan: And they said, what note? And I was like, um, the note that I sent the other day, and they were like, they went, started scrolling back through their emails. You didn't send a note. Oh, Morgan. And so, like, in my mind, I'm um, wondering how we got to this place where they knew what my notes said and I didn't even send it.

[00:18:56] Morgan: So now something that I understand, well, first of all, teachers are amazing, right? Like what I learned from this experience is that maybe all they need is time and space to have the reflective conversation. Maybe those few kickoff questions are enough for us to get to next steps. Um, if we have time and an anchor experience.

[00:19:18] Morgan: So this team, I had observed them all teaching the same lesson, um, and so they had this similar experience and they had a little bit of time between my observation or my time in their classroom and our debrief. So they had already started talking to each other in between. Those are all the conditions for true collaboration.

[00:19:41] Morgan: Yeah. Um, and so I'm, I'm like, those are things I'm still trying to figure out. So I'm kind of changing that section of the coach notes, tweaking it and like, what is, what is it, what happens if I do it this way or what, what's the impact to the team if I ask this question or format it this way or in the one I'm going to do tomorrow, I left that completely off. I want to see if just time and space with those reflective questions is enough to get us to a next step. 

[00:20:10] Olivia: so that, that portion of our conversation, I think I will be rewatching over and over and over because you just offered about 15 different strategies that completely make sense to me. And also they're nuggets of what I am trying right now.

[00:20:33] Olivia: And so it's like, you're, I'm walking in your mind, you're walking in my mind of just what I love about this. Yeah, it's, it's amazing to me of how our universes are constantly threaded together and we don't even know it, um, because I felt compelled as well, if I am not going to share the coaching notes, the individualized coaching notes with admin, um, and I want that trust and vulnerability to be able to be true at that level.

[00:21:02] Olivia: I still need to offer the principals and the district leadership. Brushstroke or a broad lens of the patterns I'm seeing. So I was playing around. I hadn't called it a team coaching note, but I was playing around with a debrief note. And so after a week of coaching cycles, um, I have been sending the leadership team, uh, a debriefing note that.

[00:21:29] Olivia: I break down with the 4T's and so here are the teachers that I served, here are the topics that we studied together and discussed. Here are the tasks that we tried together that aligned with those topics and here's how we played with our time. Here's the time allotted. Um, but then I've also been communicating.

[00:21:50] Olivia: These are patterns that I saw across the district or across the building. What I love. Is the idea now of going in two weeks from now. And in my mind saying, here are the teacher practices. Here's the impact, immediate impact on students that I saw, because I think that's so helpful for grownups that are working with children.

[00:22:14] Olivia: It's a second set of eyes watching that impact that they sometimes don't see or get to see because they have 30 other children demanding their time and attention. Right. Um, so that's profound. And I am so grateful because I always offer transcripts and I get feedback often that people love to have the transcripts out while they're watching or for professional learning.

[00:22:39] Olivia: So everything you just shared, Morgan, I think will have a ripple effect for many coaches across the world to be able to play with this. And what I love most about you as a thought partner is that you, you don't shy away from taking risks and the messiness of this work. And it's the parallel practice that we value so much.

[00:23:02] Olivia: We cannot ask teachers or other coaches to try, um, being vulnerable in front of other people if we're not doing it ourselves. And that's a huge part of this. Um, so. Outside of making sure you send the coaching note. And, you know, I think also having grace with yourself and celebrating teachers are amazing.

[00:23:24] Olivia: So they were already doing that hard work because they just needed time. They needed time to collaborate and talk that wasn't governed by someone else telling them what to talk about. Um, what else have you learned? What are a couple of takeaways so far from this experience that you could illuminate for us?

[00:23:43] Morgan: Yeah, I think, um, something that I'm still grappling with, something I'm still hoping to learn out of this is, um, Is, is what is the impact to our team time? Because right now it's feeling very self-serving. I'm trying something new to see if I can identify the impact. And so asking for 10 minutes in our team time to debrief this note feels very self-serving right now because I'm trying to see what the impact is to teachers. So, I can't quite name what these 10 minutes will net back to the team in front of me, right? 

[00:24:26] Olivia: Okay. 

[00:24:27] Morgan: Yeah. And every team is different. So the first note that I sent was very, um, light. It was, um, all celebration and a few guiding questions. You heard me say, that's the one I'm going to do again tomorrow because I just want another crack at that.

[00:24:40] Morgan: Like, as light as I can make this, um, I want to, I want to try to say less so we can reflect more, if that makes sense. So I'm trying to get it down to instead of, sometimes I can go on and on. So if the same is true in my coach notes. So instead of like elaborating and adding on and let me try adding this or doing that, I'm trying to take away as much as I can to get to the impact that I want, which is teachers number one, seeing that.

[00:25:10] Morgan: Not just the 10 minutes we're spending in professional learning communities talking about your lesson, but the 75 minutes that we spend every week together really does make a difference for kids. It really does. And I think teachers understand that and I want it to be visible. I want it to not just be implied of our time together.

[00:25:31] Morgan: So Um, I'm trying to do that kind of minimalistic shrinking of the note before I start adding anything new. Um, so I'm still sort of grappling with that. The second team that I did this with had actually asked, um, if we could do a lab, an upcoming lab. And so my goal in going into all their classrooms was to get kind of what Keri was talking about a few weeks ago.

[00:25:56] Morgan: Um, the idea of, I needed the reality, right? I needed that. I needed to understand what was happening in their classrooms. based on what they named as their problem of practice so that I could better name the target for our lab or offer a few targets. So the other thing I'm learning is how these coach notes fit in with the other structures for coaching.

[00:26:15] Morgan: So how do they fit into, um, one on one coaching cycles, right? I'm in a few one on one coaching cycles. So those teachers are getting individual feedback as well as team feedback. So I'm kind of learning how those play together. I'm learning how these team cycles are feeding back to our whole group professional development structure.

[00:26:36] Morgan: So it's informing me what might be our next steps for upcoming professional learning as an entire staff. And then, um, this team that's asking for labs is actually inspiring another round of labs or, um, a series of labs that we all do again in the winter, likely they haven't just, they haven't completely nailed this down yet, but, um, in the winter we might do another series like we did last year.

[00:27:01] Morgan: And so this is also helping me to start prime, um, that work. So what, what will the targets be? What might the topics be that teachers can then choose which lab fits them best? So I'm getting a lot of data right now. And again, that goes back to it feeling very self serving. So my goal in the next few weeks is to learn as much as I can.

[00:27:22] Morgan: And I love this opportunity to like invite the coaching community in and say, like, again, Where am I getting this right? And what isn't like, what, where, what am I missing? I feel like I'm missing the big picture. Um, or, or some of the details as well. So, um, inviting the coaching community in to help me do that so that I can turn it back.

[00:27:42] Morgan: Um, to the service of teachers and make that part visible. Um, it's just hard to handle all of that all at the same time, and I certainly don't have it all figured out yet. So I appreciate the opportunity to talk more about it. 

[00:27:56] Olivia: I think too, you said in the beginning of our conversation, it's so challenging. It's so difficult. To be a facilitator and a learner at the same time. Um, and so I, I want to then circle back to the two coaches. Um, that are facilitating this experience for you. And, um, I'm going to start to wrap conversations with inspiring educators for us, and so I'd love for you to give them a formal shout out again, and just explain, you know, how often are you coming together with all of the smaller cohorts?

[00:28:34] Olivia: Because I think that's also, if you can be super clear about your process as a coach. That's another pay it forward impact that will be shared with that community as well. So yeah, shout out formal shout out to those two amazing coaches. And then how often are you coming back together? 

[00:28:55] Morgan: Yeah. So, um, huge shout out to Katie and Vicki.

[00:28:58] Morgan: Um, they have, Um, had different roles. Um, Vicki is a specialist. Um, I first started working with her. I've actually known her for a very long time. We were in our master's program together. Um, but she, um, her expertise really is in learning labs and then Katie's expertise is in PLC. And they kind of this year fallen under this larger umbrella in our district of professional learning coaches.

[00:29:21] Morgan: So what I love about that is we've got, um, a diverse group, um, of perspectives Coming together to build experiences for coaches so that it's not all about PLCs or it's not all about learning labs. It's, it's really like the best of all of it. So really huge shout out to them. What I love about the, the work we'll meet, um, I believe we'll come together three times, including my lab in December and each time from now on a coach will host.

[00:29:50] Morgan: So I'll get an opportunity to watch two other coaches host in their buildings with things that they're grappling with. Um, they also. Start instrumental in our whole group coaching work. So just this last Monday, we came together and, um, added on an additional piece of research. We had time to talk with coaches at our tables that weren't in our coaching lab or coaching circle.

[00:30:15] Morgan: So there's lots of parallel practices there too, the same way we provide for teachers and teachers provide for kids, that whole group space. Gives us a chance to calibrate and cross-pollinate with people. We wouldn't necessarily be with otherwise. Um, then these small circles are kind of our small group or professional learning community as coaches.

[00:30:35] Morgan: And then Katie's been amazing to give me that one-on-one time as host so that I can, um, I mean, when she came out for our first meeting after I agreed to host. I just had like blank pages in front of me and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I know what I want. So help me. And she asked great questions.

[00:30:58] Morgan: And, um, but by the time we left, I had pages and pages just kind of scribbled and scratched out. And, and some days that's overwhelming. I like every time I get a new piece of research, I just want to like add it on. And like you heard me say, like, there also has to be this. minimalistic, I have to start stripping things away or it becomes too much.

[00:31:22] Morgan: So how, what's the critical attributes? What are the critical pieces? And that's the kind of work that these two coaches are helping us figure out together. It's amazing. I wish everybody, I hope everybody has it. 

[00:31:35] Olivia: Well, I think because we're taking the time to have this conversation and put it out there in the world, you're offering, um, Possibilities for folks that didn't even know that this could happen.

[00:31:48] Olivia: Um, and it's also inspiration to get it going. If you don't have this type of script structure currently in your district or you're a super small school district, that's okay. Because you can reach out and look at a regional lens of, um, in New York state, we have BOCES, the Board of Cooperative Education Services, and there are different BOCES, um, that serve regions.

[00:32:11] Olivia: And so each BOCES has typically around 10 school districts. That would be a way to get these coaching, um, cohorts going. I cannot thank you enough, Morgan, for sharing all Of these different possibilities for growing together. Um, and one of my favorite moments in this conversation is when you made me realize it's not just adding new research, new research, new research.

[00:32:36] Olivia: It's also critical that we all of ourselves center on what have we learned together and how does this connect back to what we've learned and naming that for ourselves, just like we want for our children. So, um, thank you for starting my day off on this really exciting, no, I'm ready to hit the ground running now.

[00:33:00] Olivia: You're right. Um, you're, you're just, you're an incredible coach and teacher's teacher and coach's coach, Morgan. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I love the conversation. Yeah. All right. Take care, friend. 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.

[00:33:25] Olivia: You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts. Or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Thank you to my guest, Morgan Davis for sharing how her school district is reimagining coaching support through coaching impact cycles. Now I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email at schoolutionspodcast@gmail.com.

[00:33:50] Olivia: Let me know what tools you use to measure collective growth, how your district carves time for reflection, and, how you maintain a spirit of inquiry, rather than always trying to showcase perfection. Tune in every Monday for the best research-backed coaching and teaching strategies you can apply right away to better the lives of the children in your care.

[00:34:12] Olivia: Stay tuned for my bonus episode every Friday, where I'll share how I applied what I learned from the guest in schools that week. See you then.

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Olivia Wahl

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