July 14, 2025 • 52 mins
What happens when talented, dedicated educators feel stuck despite their best efforts? According to Casey Watts, the answer isn't about working harder—it's about seeing clearer.
After two decades in education as a teacher, coach, and district leader, Casey discovered that the persistent gap between administrators and classroom teachers wasn't due to lack of commitment or expertise. The missing element was clarity. When leaders say, "Nobody's getting on board with our initiative," while teachers simultaneously claim, "We have no idea what's going on," something fundamental is broken in the communication chain.
Casey's journey into education wasn't planned—in fact, she once declared she would "never be a teacher." But after navigating through music and psychology studies, she found herself in a classroom, initially struggling through a challenging first year before discovering her native genius in working with students. This experience shaped her understanding that many educators need support to move from merely surviving to genuinely thriving.
Through her Clarity Cycle Framework, Casey guides educational leaders through a systematic process that bridges communication gaps. The approach starts with identifying an area of focus, analyzing root causes, setting specific goals, and conducting "listening tours" to gain stakeholder insights. Rather than imposing top-down mandates, the framework empowers everyone to contribute to the vision while mapping clear paths forward.
Casey shares a powerful case study of a Los Angeles school where teachers were individually analyzing data but implementing vastly different strategies in isolation. This unintentionally widened achievement gaps as students moved between classrooms with inconsistent approaches. By applying the Clarity Cycle, the school established collective practices that dramatically improved both teacher confidence and student outcomes.
Today, Casey focuses on bringing clarity to three essential areas: organizational direction, leadership identity, and authentic collaboration. She challenges the "faux collaboration" prevalent in many schools and offers practical strategies for building truly cohesive, clarity-driven teams where everyone feels valued and empowered.
Ready to transform your educational leadership? Connect with Casey at catchingupwithcasey.com and discover how clarity can precede capacity in your organization. When everyone understands both the destination and the path to get there, remarkable progress becomes possible.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Principal JL (00:01):
Today I'm very excited to bring in my friend,
casey Watts, to the show.
Casey has spent 20 years ineducation as a teacher, coach
and district leader, workingalongside with talented
educators who, despite theirdedication, often felt stuck,
overwhelmed or just goingthrough the motions.
(00:22):
She realized the problem wasn'teffort or expertise, it was
clarity.
Through her clarity cycleframework, casey is helping
school leaders cut through thenoise, align their teams and
turn collaboration into realprogress.
Today, casey will share hereducational leadership journey
insights and what she's learnedabout leading with purpose.
(00:44):
Now let's get to theconversation with Casey Watts.
Welcome back everybody toanother episode of the
educational leadership.
Today I'm excited to bring inCasey Watts to the show.
(01:08):
Casey, welcome.
Casey Watts (01:09):
Hey, thanks for having me.
I am pumped to be here, excitedto have a conversation all
about my journey in educationand where I am now.
Principal JL (01:18):
Awesome.
Well, Casey, I'm going to askyou the same question.
I ask everybody on the showwhat inspires you to become an
educator?
Casey Watts (01:28):
It is such an interesting question because I
grew up saying no, I'm not evergoing to do XYZ for a lot of
different things, so I willnever be.
I'm not going to marry beforeI'm 26.
I'm not going to be a soccermom.
I'm not going to have a min'm26.
I'm not going to be a soccermom.
I'm not going to have a minivan.
I will never go into education.
(01:49):
I'm not going to be a teacher.
I don't even like kids.
I said never to a lot of things, and all of those things
somehow have become true.
So I got married before I was 26, was the soccer mom, had the
minivan, and, lo and behold, Ibecame an educator.
And so I actually started offmy educational journey really
(02:11):
thinking about, thinking that Iwas going to pursue music.
So I went to a college thatreally excelled in their music
program, and when I got thereand started going through that
music program, oh my goodness,they drilled music into you, and
so it was so much more theoryand you eat, breathe and live
(02:33):
music all the time, and it justwasn't for me.
I needed music to be a hobbyinstead, and so I was like, ok,
well, I'm going to go intopsychology, since I don't know
what to do, let me just go intopsychology.
So I shifted my major topsychology and then realized
that everything the psychologyprofessor was teaching about I
(02:54):
felt like was describing me andI was like, ok, no, psychology
is not for me because I'moveranalyzing myself.
And I decided to go intoeducation.
And you know, I enjoyed myclasses, I excelled in my
classes, graduated, and itwasn't till after my first year
(03:15):
of teaching that I realized likeeducation really is for me and
being with students is for me.
But it took that time of kind ofmuddling through all of these
things that I said I was nevergoing to do for me to realize,
you know what, what my pathreally was going to be.
And I don't know that thereever was a specific moment where
I was like this is it Like thisis meant for me?
(03:38):
Because my first year teachingI taught fourth grade and it was
miserable.
I had moments where it wasgreat and grand, but a lot of it
was really hard, so much sothat I decided I'm going to try
to find a different professionand I couldn't find anything.
So I ended up moving into asecond-grade classroom and it
(03:59):
was just that little shift,having one year under my belt
that I needed in order to beable to thrive in the classroom.
And so you know, when peoplesay, is there a moment?
There wasn't a specific moment,it was just all of these small
moments that culminated to merealizing this is what I excel
(04:21):
at and I've got some.
This is where my native geniusis is working with students, and
that's all there was to it.
From there, I've been ineducation ever since, and I've
been in education for 20 yearsnow.
Principal JL (04:34):
Awesome.
Well, you kind of hit on acouple of things there.
I know, like a lot of peoplethat I interview on this show,
education may not have been thefirst thing.
Some people, yeah, I mean yeah,they knew since they were like
fourth grade, right.
But a lot of us are like Idon't want nothing to do with it
.
I wanted to be a physicaltherapist.
I wanted to go trainprofessional athletes.
(04:56):
That was my passion at the timeand then I realized I really
like coaching and then thecoaching and teaching kind of
all came together and I kind ofrealized, through a series of
events, kind of like you and Ithink you also pointed out a
couple of things there wherethat first year of teaching is
tough because A you're comingout of you know college a lot of
(05:18):
the times and you don't knowwhat you don't know until you're
in the role.
And that's a lot of education,no matter where you're at.
If it's your first yearteaching, your first year in
leadership, your first year atthe district office, you don't
know what you don't know untilyou have those experiences.
And so I'm really glad that youstuck with it and you are now
(05:39):
here, 20 years later, and it'sworked out, because get through
that first year.
I say that first year is goingto be tough.
I had a daughter that justfinished her first year of fifth
grade and she had her ups anddowns.
I'm like, get through the firstyear.
The second year will bedifferent and when you have that
year in your belt, you justknow, hey, this is what the
expectations are and you justknow what you need to do, and so
(06:02):
I really appreciate you sharingthat.
So let's talk about yourteaching a little bit.
What about teaching helped you,or what are some moments in
teaching that help you take thenext step in leadership?
You know, I believe you wentfrom like teaching into coaching
and kind of talk about that.
You know, piece the teachingpiece.
But then how did it?
(06:23):
How did you transfer into thecoaching role?
Casey Watts (06:29):
Yeah, I have been really, really fortunate in my
experience as an educator.
So I and I've been to severaldifferent campuses, several
different districts and I haveserved in many different roles.
But my teaching experiencespans from first grade to fifth
grade, both self-contained anddepartmentalized.
But one of the schools that Iworked at for probably the most
(06:54):
of my career was a universitycharter school Charter School.
It really truly was one of thebest campuses that I've ever
worked at, because there wassuch a high level of expectation
and standards for our teachingthe only campus that I've ever
been at where the entire groupof teachers held a very similar
(07:20):
pedagogy and philosophy and weregrounded in that.
And you're constantly going intoothers' classrooms to learn
about their craft, perfect yourcraft and we also had college
students coming in to observeand student teachers, things
like that.
So when I started working atthat campus and had student
teachers coming into myclassroom, it sparked a
(07:44):
different kind of energy in me,because you're looking out at
this sea of I'm talking like sixto 12 college students in your
classroom and you know they'reabout to go through the same
thing that you have been throughand you know there's so much
for them to learn that they justdon't know about no-transcript.
(08:29):
But just because you're an adultdoesn't mean that you've
developed the social awarenessand self-awareness skills to be
able to manage yourself well inthose really sticky situations.
So that was probably one of theturning points that made me
think OK, so many teachers aregetting out into the field and
they're crashing and burning orthey're only surviving for a few
(08:51):
years before they decide.
This is not for me, and I wantpeople to be able to thrive.
And so that was the turningpoint that led me to move into
instructional coaching and thenleadership at the district level
, because I feel so stronglythat people should feel
(09:13):
empowered and confident in theirroles, because that's the only
way that they're going to thriveinstead of survive.
So that was really probably oneof the turning points that
shifted my trajectory.
Principal JL (09:25):
Yeah, I know, like for me, I've been in a lot of
different schools.
I've been in rural schools.
I've also been in big metroschools in Omaha and for me, you
know, I didn't see aninstructional coach until I was
in a bigger district.
Because you don't have them atthe rural schools here in
Nebraska.
You have to figure it out, havethem at the rural schools here
in Nebraska, you have to figureit out.
(09:46):
A lot of the instructionalcoaching comes from principals
and they have to understand whatgood teaching is so they can
help those teachers and, I think, instructors.
So people understandinstructional coaches at like a
school district that's a biggerdistrict that can't afford them,
honestly, is kind of wherewe're at.
They are kind of like thatextension of a principal because
they're helping teachers getbetter at their craft and their
(10:07):
strategies.
They're not there to, like, youknow, we're going to play the
gotcha game.
They're not there to do that.
They're there, hey, I'm tryingto help you.
So when the principal does comein and sees what you're doing,
you have strategies, you havethings, skills, so you can
demonstrate, you know thequality of education that you're
giving the kids, and so a lotof people think instructional
(10:30):
coach oh my God, they're goingto.
They're going to, they're goingto beat me up, but no, actually
I would embrace them if I was ateacher, and I actually did.
I embraced my instructionalcoach at Ralston, Mr Dan Bosser.
If you're here listening tothat Great guy.
I learned a lot of differentthings.
We did instructional rounds,different things like that, and
(10:52):
so I never had that experienceuntil I got into that school
district and those things reallyopened my eyes to seeing a lot
of different content areas andhow they teach differently.
But also you know how we dothings similarly.
So I really want to like letpeople know like instructional
coaches are are great to have ifyou can have them, but also
(11:13):
your principal or assistantprincipal at those small
districts are your instructionalcoaches too.
So let's talk about yourinstructional coaching.
You have some stories aboutthat.
Um, some aha moments or thingsthat kind of go.
Yeah, this is what what I meantto do when it comes to leading
in the classroom yeah, I willtell you my my very favorite
(11:35):
thing is to work with teams ofteachers.
Casey Watts (11:37):
So I do appreciate and love the individual coaching
, but it's when I was able toget teams of teachers together
that I felt like my gosh.
If I could do this every day,all day, I absolutely would and
growing from each other, andit's incredible to see all of
(12:06):
the different expertise beingput out on the table up for
grabs for other people.
And so when I think aboutinstructional coaching, those
are the moments where I camealive is working with teams of
teachers.
But it was even more incredibleto go back to classrooms and
see teachers implementing whatthey had learned from others.
I'll never forget one time wehad a PD where we were thinking
(12:31):
about how to encourage studentdiscourse and one of the
teachers brought to the PDhexagonal thinking, which, if
you're not familiar with it, goto Cult of Pedagogy.
She's got a whole blog post andepisode about hexagonal
thinking and there are lots ofthings out there about this
strategy.
But a teacher had implementedit in her classroom, she brought
it to the PD, she shared itwith everyone, she led the PD.
(12:55):
We were only facilitators andthen all of these teachers were
thinking about ways they weregoing to implement this in their
classroom, and it led tolearning walks where we went to
observe the different ways thatpeople were implementing this
strategy and just the look ontheir faces when they were
seeing.
You could just see peoplecoming alive, you know, like you
(13:15):
could see the light bulbsclicking, and that was one of
the most powerful moments, whereteachers took on the ownership
of learning a new strategy andthen were eager to go observe
other teachers.
Because you know, that's notalways a comfortable thing and
sometimes, as instructionalleaders, it's hard to get
teachers to a point where theywant to go into classrooms or
(13:38):
actually where they invitepeople into their own classrooms
.
So that's probably one of themost powerful moments for me as
an instructional coach is seeingthat moment come to life.
Principal JL (13:50):
Yeah, I mean you say a lot of things that made me
start to reflect on my teachingand going back and doing those
instructional rounds or learningwalks we called them that too,
too.
But when you get to see otherteachers teach and you get to
see quality teaching fromdifferent areas of and I was at
a high school so I saw a lot ofdifferent content areas that
(14:12):
opens your eyes like hey, that'sinteresting.
I never thought of that and Ithink if you have that open mind
or that growth mindset as aneducator, you get a lot out of
those things.
I know people with fixedmindsets have a hard time with
that because they're like leaveme alone, I want to stay in my
classroom, I don't want to doall this, I just leave me, let
me do my thing.
But at the same time, you're notgrowing as an educator and I
(14:35):
think part of our job aseducational leaders is to help
people grow.
But I think having thoserelationships and those
connections really help you getto know people but hopefully
open them up to wanting to trynew things, and I always say try
something, don't be afraid offailure, because if you're not,
you're not going to grow, you'renot going to get better.
(14:56):
So let's talk about frominstructional coaching into the
district leadership role.
What was that districtleadership role?
What inspired that districtleadership role?
What inspired that move intothat?
You know what transpired foryou for that opportunity.
Casey Watts (15:13):
Yeah, Well, I'm going to be really honest with
you.
So first of all, the districtrole was district instructional
specialist.
So my role there was to partnerwith principals and teachers
and really and truly it didn'tstart off this way, but it's
really.
What led to my book is bridgingthe gap between the adults on
(15:36):
campuses, and so I served reallyas a coach for teachers, but
also as a coach for principalsand administrators, department
heads, and trying to bridge thatgap.
Because it's so interesting.
How you know, you hear from myexperience, I hear from both
narratives.
(15:57):
So I hear the principalnarrative who are they're saying
we've got this initiative orwe've got this program we're
trying to implement, Nobody'sgetting on board.
Or we've set the expectationand they're not following it.
And then, on the other hand,you have the teams of teachers
who are saying we have no ideawhat's going on.
And I kept hearing that againand again and I was like, oh my
gosh, we've got to bridge thisgap, because until we bridge the
(16:20):
gap between the adults oncampus and until we're speaking
the same language, then we'renot going to see our student
gaps decrease.
And so that was really my roleas an instructional specialist
at the district level.
But when I moved into thatposition I was truly trying to
(16:41):
be a ladder climber and that wasmy goal, from being a teacher
to being, you know, like youhave all of these ideas of how
you're going to climb the ladder.
But it wasn't until I becamelike got into that role as a
district instructionalspecialist, I was like, OK, wait
, I've got to look at thisladder differently.
We've got to lay the ladderdown and instead of thinking
(17:01):
about climbing the ladder, Iwant to think about how I'm just
laterally going across theladder and growing at each rung
of the ladder.
So how am I growing anddeveloping people as a classroom
teacher?
I've done that.
Now let's try instructionalcoaching.
How am I growing myself andother people as an instructional
coach, Now a districtinstructional specialist.
(17:23):
And then, of course, you know,I moved from district
instructional specialist intospeaking and consulting and so
I've started to think about mycareer differently because of
those things.
But so I'm not really thinkingabout climbing the ladder
anymore.
It's not about that, it's aboutgrowing and developing over
(17:44):
time.
And that's not the question youasked at all.
But really, truly, I mean,that's how it kind of, that's
how it transpired frominstructional coaching to
district instructionalspecialists is just how am I
going to make an impact not juston teachers, but on
instructional leaders as well?
Principal JL (18:01):
Yeah.
So, getting into that districtrole, you started seeing the gap
.
You started seeing, you know,the unclarity.
Yeah, that kind of inspired youto take that next step right.
You started seeing some, hey,there's something here that's
not quite right, there'smiscommunication, people don't
(18:22):
know what they're doing.
And that's really important forpeople to understand.
When you're in a leadershiprole and you're not being clear
with your staff, you need tobring clarity so they understand
, because it's not like theydon't want to do things.
And I think when you buildthose relationships and you
bring clarity, you are able todeliver things so they
understand it to where it's notjust hey, we have to do this
(18:45):
because the district office isshoving it down our throats.
That happens, we all know that.
But at the same time, you knowhow could you take something and
make it to where we can ownthis initiative or the things we
need to do?
A to satisfy the requirement,because we get things from state
and federal government leveltoo that get rammed down our
(19:08):
throats.
I'll talk about this.
Last year, every senior had tofill out a FAFSA before they got
as a part of our graduationrequirement.
And I tell you, not everysenior filled one out, but then
you had to look at signing awaiver.
And if they didn't sign awaiver, guess who was signing
waivers at the end of the yearfor seniors that didn't do any
of those things Me, theprincipal, because I had to
(19:31):
comply to this thing.
Now I try to make it easy on mystaff, like, okay, we're going
to do it this way, we're notgoing to worry about if they get
it in or not, because I havethe ultimate veto power to sign
away what I need to sign.
So we did that.
So there's things that you justhave to comply to.
But I think when you're able tobring something and bring
clarity to it and being able toget everybody together on it,
(19:54):
even if you disagree with it, atleast you're together and
moving forward with whateverinitiative that is.
So let's talk about that alittle bit.
You started seeing this gap andso it inspired you to take that
next step.
But you know, is this part ofwhere you have the creation of
the Clarity Cycle Framework.
Talk about that a little bitand kind of how that all evolved
(20:15):
in that role as a districtinstructional leader.
Casey Watts (20:18):
Yeah, oh, and I'll also talk a little bit about how
I shifted into consultingaround the Clarity Cycle
Framework too.
But you know, I startedconsulting probably seven years
ago and I really was focused onliteracy as a consultant.
And even then, you know, Ithink hindsight you can see
(20:40):
these things that you didn't seeoriginally.
But after working in my role asan instructional specialist
with the district, I was able tolook back on all of these times
that I met with teachers tofocus on literacy now, seeing
(21:05):
that disconnect between theteachers and the administrators.
And so you know, when you, whenthat light bulb comes on, it's
like you're reflecting on all ofthe times in the past where
these things were probablypretty prevalent.
But when I started working asan instructional specialist and
I was trying to, I was noticingthese different narratives.
The thing that I kept hearingeveryone say, myself included,
(21:25):
is we've got to get on the samepage, but no one was doing
anything about it.
You know, like we're sayinglet's get on the same page,
we've got to be on the same page, but it's really easy to say
that and it's even easy to say,ok, our strategy for getting on
the same page is we're going toimplement the same, everybody's
going to use the same curriculum.
Or, in order to get on the samepage, we're going to make sure
(21:49):
that everybody has this muchplanning, like a two-hour
planning block every month.
That's a strategy.
But until you bring clarity tothat strategy, really nothing
changes.
It's kind of like you know, Irecall one time a principal
wanted her teachers to have moreeffective PLCs.
Well, her strategy forimproving PLCs was we're going
(22:14):
to have everybody create anagenda and they're going to turn
that agenda in Great fine D&D.
But agenda means somethingdifferent to everybody.
And just because you have anagenda does not mean that you're
going to see effectivecollaboration.
And sure enough, we go intoclassrooms and somebody puts up
an agenda and on that agenda itsaid copies, grades, lesson
(22:38):
plans, that's it, that was whatwas on the agenda.
That's not an effective PLC.
And when I started seeing thesethings again and again the
strategy, but disconnected fromactually making progress I was
like, okay, we've got to zoomout to see the big picture, and
then we've got to zoom in andscript the critical moves to get
(23:00):
to that big picture goal.
So this is what we're wanting.
What does that mean?
Like, how can we leverage thestrengths that we have and what
are the improvements that needto be made.
Along the way and I was readingthe book Switch by Chip and Dan
Heath.
It's how to change things whenchange is hard, and they talk a
lot about casting vision andscripting critical moves.
(23:22):
So I started implementing thethings that I learned from that
book and other books, like fromSimon Sinek and Andy Stanley,
john Maxwell.
I put all of those thingstogether and created a map for
our campuses, for teachers, toget to an area of focus or goals
that the principal had saidthis is what we want to work on.
And that too, that in and ofitself was kind of a challenge,
(23:45):
like I would go into principalsoffices and tell and say, tell
me what your instructional focusis this year.
And it would be either cricketsor them saying, well, I'm not
sure like what do you mean bythat?
And so we had to develop anarea of focus before we could
script the critical moves to getto that, to the goals under
that focus.
(24:06):
And a couple of years afterbeing in this role, I had a
kindergarten teacher come up tome and she was pursuing her
master's, getting her principalcertification, and she said I
just how did you do it?
Like, how did you go aboutgetting everybody on the same
page?
And to me it just felt naturalto do these things and so I said
, well, I just zoomed out, seelike where is everybody, and
(24:29):
then just kind of zoomed inagain to map it out.
And she said, okay, but that'snot good enough because that
doesn't tell me exactly thesteps that you took.
And that's where the ClarityPsychical Framework was born.
I started thinking about whatshe was asking for and I said,
okay, let me just take a momentto reflect on how we did get
everyone on the same page andI'm going to map it out, I'm
(24:52):
going to create this frameworkthat displays what that actually
looks like, how you go from thestrategy to the complexity of
clarity paired with thatstrategy.
And so there you have it.
I started working with thosecampuses where I was with the
Clarity Cycle Framework and itended up branching out into the
(25:13):
consulting that I did withcampuses across the nation, and
every campus has the sameproblems.
And because I was seeing thesame problems again and again, I
was like what is it that we'remissing?
It's clarity that we aremissing.
Principal JL (25:30):
Awesome, yeah, and that's you know, a lot of you
know.
With clarity, I mean, it'sreally important I think I've
talked about it a few times aswe're going through the episode
but, understanding, you have tohave that clarity.
So you talk about the claritycycle framework.
Could you give an example whatthat might look like for a
school district to where hey,here's the thing we need to
(25:52):
bring clarity to, and kind ofwalk us through what that looks
like, just so we can kind of getan idea?
Casey Watts (25:58):
Yeah, A lot of the time I will, actually I will say
most of the time when I workwith districts or campuses, they
are wanting to.
They have the issue ofoverwhelming numbers of students
in tiers two and three.
And when we look at that andthey're like how do we fix this?
We realize it's a tier oneproblem, right Like we're
(26:19):
lacking high quality tier oneinstruction, Right Like we're
lacking high quality tier oneinstruction, and we make the
assumption that that peopleunderstand what we mean when we
say high quality tier oneinstruction.
But that's an assumption thatcan't be made.
Just because you are ineducation, even if you've been
in it for many years, doesn'tmean we all share the same
(26:40):
common definition ofhigh-quality Tier 1 instruction.
Some people don't even knowexactly what Tier 1 means.
So we have to be sure thatwe've got a common language
there.
So we start with an area offocus, Like if we like Tier 1
instruction, that's our area offocus.
It's like a big umbrella and itshould fit underneath the
campus or district mission andvision.
(27:01):
When we have that area of focus, we analyze it at great lengths
because, as I mentioned earlier, we can see a problem.
But unless we get to the rootof the problem.
We're just slapping on band-aidfixes again and again, like a
PLC agenda or another product orprogram that we hope is going
to fix this Tier 1 instruction.
(27:22):
So we analyze that area offocus, the problem, and when we
analyze it we start to noticethese consistencies and patterns
.
Those consistencies andpatterns become our goals.
So it's like we're startingwith macro and then we're going
to micro.
We've got these couple of one ortwo goals that we're really
going to focus on to improveTier 1 instruction.
(27:46):
Then we don't stop there.
We're going to go at an evenmore micro level and in order to
script out the critical movesto reach these goals, I have
instructional leaders go onlistening tours and they're
gaining insight fromstakeholders about this area of
focus and these goals that we'veset.
(28:06):
Because we want them to takeownership of these goals.
We want to hear from thembecause we might hear from our
stakeholders and realize maybeour goals need to shift a little
bit.
Maybe what we thought weregoals aren't really the goals we
need to be working toward andwe also can see what are
strengths we can leverage rightnow.
(28:27):
And then, after we've gainedinsight from stakeholders about
this area of focus and goals.
We then actually start to castvision, map out the critical
moves to get there, and then westart thinking about how we're
going to provide feedbackregularly and celebrate
systematically, solely focusedon this area of focusing goals.
(28:49):
And then, finally, the verylast step of the clarity cycle
framework is to consider howwe're going to calibrate and
sustain progress so it doesn'tfall flat over time and become
just that other thing that's onthe plate.
Principal JL (29:05):
Yeah, what I love about listening to the clarity
cycle is it's a systematicapproach.
It's hey, this is where we'reat.
Here are some things we'veidentified.
We're going to take what weidentify and this is how we're
going to get there.
But we're not just start, youknow, stopping there.
We're actually going to havefollow-ups.
We're going to gain morefeedback, more information, more
(29:26):
data and then utilize that tomake shifts if we need to.
But then celebrating wins and,you know, looking at, hey,
what's the progress, look like,how are we doing.
I think those things are reallyimportant because then it shows
people, hey, we are makingprogress towards the goals we
have.
And I can speak to just thispast year we implemented a new
(29:47):
attendance policy.
We got everybody hey, this iswhat we're doing, this is what
we're on board, this is yourrole, this is our role.
And what I would do is I'd giveupdates.
I would say, hey, this is wherewe're at on our daily average
attendance, this is where we'reat on our chronic baptism, and I
would give them every six tonine weeks, about every quarter
I'd give an update.
But I wouldn't just give anupdate to my teachers, but I
(30:11):
give update to everybody myadministrators, my staff, my
district office leaders, so theycould share with the board kind
of the progress as we're goingthrough the year, cause I would
compare last year, this lastyear's data, with the year
before just to show, hey, thisis where our growth is at,
Because if you didn't let themknow how we're doing, it
(30:31):
wouldn't encourage them to keepdoing the things they're they
need to keep doing.
And so that that's kind of onejust example just in this past
year how I kind of did somesimilar maybe it's not the
clarity cycle, but it's justthose little things to help
people know that, hey, we'reworking together on this, we're
making progress, let's keep upthe good work.
(30:53):
Because, I'm telling you, myassistant principals were
probably the ones that workedthe hardest because they had the
most responsibility.
Now, teachers had theirresponsibility for classroom and
different things like that, butI saw everybody.
But I really wanted to makesure my assistant principals
knew, hey, I really appreciateall the hard work they're doing,
because they were taking on apiece that was probably the
(31:16):
biggest piece out of all of it,and I wanted them to have
motivation or understand this iswhere we're at.
What you're doing matters andwhat you're doing is working.
I think that's really important.
So let's talk about yeah, goahead.
Casey Watts (31:29):
I was just going to say.
I mean, you just described theclarity cycle in action,
actually, and what I love aboutwhat you said is how you're
actually including anaccountability piece, because
you are communicating withpeople like outside of the
campus, so district levelleaders, et cetera and that's an
(31:49):
accountability measure foryourself.
You know, even if they're notasking for it, you're putting
that in place for yourself sothat you can continue to make
progress.
It's awesome.
Principal JL (31:57):
Well, and the reason why I did that with the
district level people is becausethey were a part of this
getting implemented.
I had to go through a processto get district level approval
and school board approval,because we have things in place
with this accountability piecefor our attendance and it's
actually we basically created athree-tier MTSS system for
(32:19):
attendance.
Hey, this is our level one,this is what it looks like and
this is what ourresponsibilities are at level
one, here's our level two andthen here's our level three.
But they needed to know whatwas going on and the progress
we're making, because if thingsgot to them, at least they could
say, hey, they're makingprogress because they are a part
of the accountability piecewhen it came to our attendance
(32:42):
policy.
Because they would have, if wehad to go to a hearing or, you
know, if they didn't like thedecision that was made on our
building level, they'd have togo to the district level.
If they didn't like what theysaid, then they can go to the
school board.
So we have this wholesystematic approach, but yet I
wanted them to know what's goingon.
And then, of course, theyreported to the school board
(33:03):
just to say like, hey, thank youguys for supporting us on this
and this is the progress we'remaking and I just I thought I
felt that was just importantfrom a building level, principal
standpoint, to let them know.
You know, hey, I didn't want tojust share the wins inside our
building, but I wanted to shareit out with our district leaders
because they were a big, hugepart of allowing us to do what
(33:27):
we were doing and so that wasthe best part.
So that's kind of like thebackground or why I did that as
well.
But, like you said, it was anaccountability piece as well.
But I just want to make sureeverybody was on the same page.
Oh boy, so let's talk about.
You got into consulting, you'respeaking, you have your clarity
(33:51):
framework.
What got you and what got youto step away from that district
leadership role, to go into that?
You probably might have talkeda lot, a little bit about it,
but I really wanted to get thefull picture of what led you to
make that decision to step intothe role you're doing and then
talk about some of the thingsyou're doing right now, Cause I
(34:12):
see you all over the place like,hey, I'm going here, speaking
here and doing all these coolthings and I just want you to
kind of share what got you intothat and then you know what
you're up to right now.
Casey Watts (34:22):
To share what got you into that and then you know
what you're up to right now.
Yeah, I, you know.
Like I told you, I've beenconsulting for a while but in
the last five years ittransitioned from like literacy,
a literacy focus, toinstructional leadership and
leadership in general.
But when I, when I started tonotice like hey, even even down
(34:44):
to like yes in my conversation.
So I love going to conferencesand presenting, I love
interacting with the audience.
You hear all of these storiesand it's like this, it's like
it's on repeat.
You know the same stories againand again, with this disconnect
between, you know,administration and teachers, or
teachers and parents oradministration in the community,
(35:05):
just all of these differentnarratives.
And I, when I completed, likewhen I completed the book and I
had the Clarity Cycle Frameworkit was, it's been implemented in
several different campusesacross the nation two things I
realized Number one, I can't dotwo jobs at one time anymore.
And number two, this is whatI'm most passionate about having
(35:31):
an impact on is that bridgebetween administrators, teachers
or just the different adults ona campus, in an organization.
And so clarity precedingcapacity became my mantra.
Like I, just, I find it socrucial that people understand
that clarity precedes capacityin every way, no matter where
(35:55):
you go, but we don't always knowexactly how to create clarity.
That's kind of where I am now.
I focus on bringing clarity tomany different things, but there
are three primary areas offocus.
When I talk about clarity,obviously I have the Clarity
Cycle Framework, and that isreally clarity of direction,
(36:17):
where we're headed and how we'regoing to get there.
But I also started recognizingthat we're lacking clarity in a
couple of other areas too.
We're lacking clarity on ouridentity as leaders, so we lack
emotional clarity, goal clarityand social clarity.
So I work with leaders forleadership training so that they
can become reflective leaders.
(36:38):
And then the last thing that Ibring clarity to is
collaboration.
We are I think most of usprobably will only ever
experience faux collaboration,which is to say, fake
collaboration, and I work withcampuses to foster effective
collaboration so that they canreach that collective efficacy
that we're always hearing andtalking about but can't seem to
(37:00):
get there.
And so I help teams toimplement norms, protocols and
models for their meetings andcollaborative planning times.
They're going to help them toeffectively collaborate so
everyone feels valued, inspiredand empowered, and that's that's
what I'm talking about when I'mon stages or at workshops or
conferences.
(37:20):
I'm talking about clarityaround those three things every
single time.
Principal JL (37:27):
Awesome.
Hey, do you have a story about?
Hey, I came in to work withthis school.
Have a hundred of them, butjust pick one.
Casey Watts (37:53):
I wish I could.
I wish I could show you likeI'm just going to try to paint a
picture but a school that Istarted working with in Los
Angeles last year.
We started working together inAugust of last year and the
focus was tier one high quality,tier one instruction.
The focus was tier one highquality, tier one instruction.
But underneath that area offocus, they really wanted to.
(38:13):
The principal who initiatedcontact with me and we started
working together.
We she really wanted teachersto be able to collectively
analyze data and what washappening is they were
individually analyzing data, butall going back to their
classrooms and implementing awide variety of strategies, just
(38:34):
kind of throwing spaghetti atthe wall to help students make
progress.
And there was no sharing of thedata.
It was just we're going toanalyze it individually.
I, as a principal, I'm going totalk to you about your data and
hear what your goals are.
But you know, the thing aboutthat is when teachers go to
their different classrooms, it'slike you said.
We have so many people going in, closing their door and doing
(38:57):
what they feel is best for theirstudents and what is
comfortable to them.
But the problem with that isthat if teacher A is going into
a classroom, teacher B is goingto classroom, teacher C is going
to the classroom and they'reclosing the door and doing what
they feel like is best forstudents.
Then you've got studentsreceiving all kinds of different
(39:17):
methods of instruction andwe're unintentionally creating
the larger gaps and we're havingstudents.
Students are moving from oneclassroom to another.
This is what the whole campuswas experiencing.
Students are moving from oneclassroom to another, or this is
what the whole campus wasexperiencing Students are moving
from one classroom to anotheror from one grade level to
another, not only having tolearn new content, but also have
(39:37):
to having to learn a new way oflearning, and so it was really
impacting the student, studentconfidence.
It was significantly impactingteacher confidence, which was
the other goal.
She wanted teachers toconfidently implement
high-quality instructionalstrategies and track progress
(39:58):
with those, and so those twogoals are what we focused on.
Over time, we went through theclarity cycle framework with the
campus leadership team.
They brought me in to work withteachers on high-quality
instructional strategies.
I was able to observe inclassrooms and gather data on
their instructional practicesand over time, like we took
(40:20):
together with my clients, Iusually create a slide deck that
they are able to go in and addto over time.
And oh my gosh, these.
If you could just see theseslides there's probably 70 plus
slides in this slide deck whereevery time the principal is
meeting with teachers to analyzedata or to analyze
(40:42):
instructional and practices,she's adding to those slides so
that not only can she see wherethey've started and how far
they've come, but the teacherscan see that as well.
The other day she sent me wekind of go back and forth on
this app called Marco Polo andshe will send me Marco Polo
videos of her staffcollaborating together.
(41:02):
They are noticing significantimprovement in teacher
confidence, but also in studentlearning, and it's been
extremely powerful.
So she's gone through theClarity Cycle Framework.
She started to develop theseclarity-driven habits of
leadership and next year we'rejust going to work through
(41:24):
coaching, like I'm just going todo some leadership coaching
with her so that she canmaintain that progress with her
campus.
So that's just one story ofseveral, but it's my favorite.
Principal JL (41:36):
You bet yeah, no, and I think your story really
shows, you know, kind of likethis is where they're at, here's
some issues.
You kind of took us throughthat clarity cycle and framework
with that story so we couldkind of see it.
You see it in real time there,just so we go.
Okay, I can see how this couldwork.
The whole goal is we're goingto probably have some reflective
administrators listening to theshow and I want them to get
(41:59):
that picture of what it may looklike and how could that be
implemented and utilized fortheir school to bring clarity
and to help them proceed and beproductive and collaborate
effectively.
I think you talked aboutsomething you got to collaborate
, but you got to be effective atit.
You can't just say, yeah, we'remeeting and we're collaborating
(42:20):
, but you actually have to bringpeople to the table, bring
ideas and then have those realconversations, not just fluff,
you don't just speak and doengagements and do consulting.
You also have a podcast calledCatching Up with Casey, and so
what inspired the podcast andwhat do you?
(42:41):
What is the purpose, what isthe goal of your podcast that
you have called Catching Up withCasey?
Casey Watts (42:47):
It's kind of transitioned over time.
You know, I started the podcastI don't even know how many
years ago and when I firststarted it my purpose was to
share great instructionalpractices that I was
implementing in my classroom.
So that's how long ago.
It started is when I was aclassroom teacher.
And then you know you havethose big pockets of time where
(43:09):
you're not coming back to thepodcast.
But it's so interesting to seehow the podcast has evolved over
time with how I've evolved as aleader and practitioner.
But now the whole the solepurpose of the show is to help
leaders understand how clarityprecedes capacity and because of
(43:31):
that on the show we bringclarity to all things leadership
.
So when I visit with people Ihave guests on the show and I
love connecting with otherpeople because people have so
many great things to share.
But we're bringing clarity towhat hope looks like on a campus
.
We're bringing clarity to whatour definitions of different
(43:54):
common terms are.
We're bringing clarity to thehabits of leadership.
So it is a clarity drivenleadership podcast so that
leaders can build cohesive,clarity driven teams.
Principal JL (44:08):
Awesome.
I love how you talk about theclarity piece, right, how can we
read clarity to these differentpieces and leadership?
And I'd give people you know Iencourage them to come listen to
your podcast.
I've listened to it.
There's some great content onthere and she has some good
reels, and so I would say,definitely check out the
Catching Up with Casey podcastand make that a part of your
(44:31):
educational leadership, as wellas this one right Routine when
it comes to listening topodcasts and getting some more
professional development.
Now, we talked about a lot ofthings today.
Casey Watts (45:03):
If you could give you know leaders advice, or
maybe inspiring leaders orpeople that are currently in the
role in leadership.
What advice would that be thatyou've seen that would be really
effective or really helpful forthem to know and understand?
My number one piece of advicethat's coming to mind, based on
what we talked about, is to letgo of assumptions and lead with
clarity.
Let go of assumptions meaningwe can't make assumptions about
the adults on a campus, on ourcampus, just because they are
adults and just because they arein education.
(45:24):
Instead, we want to bringclarity to all things on our
campus that deserve clarity,that are going to impact student
learning.
So just take a step back andlook at your campus and think is
there clarity around oursystems, our procedures, the
logistics behind ourorganization?
(45:44):
And then also step back andthink is there clarity around
our philosophy and our pedagogyon this campus?
So that's my primary piece ofadvice to leaders.
Principal JL (45:57):
Awesome.
I really appreciate that advicebecause I'll tell you, being a
building principal, when thingsaren't clear, it's not like they
don't want to do it, it's notlike they're not doing it
because they don't want to.
A lot of it's because they'renot understanding.
And if you can bring theclarity or the why to what we're
doing, I think that's reallyimportant.
(46:18):
I learned that as a coach likeI'm going to let my, my, my
athletes know this is why we'redoing what we're doing.
It may suck at times, but youknow we got to do certain things
to get to where we want to bewhen it came to just being a
coach and an athlete Same thingas a principal with teachers.
Hey, there's going to be thingswe don't like to do, but I
(46:39):
think they're important becauseit will bring us to where we
want to go.
But at the same time, we wantto enjoy the process.
We want to understand and haveclarity with what we're doing so
they can get to where they needto go.
Because if everybody's gettingwhere they need to go in the
process, then we're going to beable to better every day.
(47:00):
You know, one little thing herewill build over time to get us
to these big picture goals thatwe have for ourselves.
So that's really great advice.
I really appreciate you.
You know bringing that out andthat clarity piece is really
(47:23):
important, especially if you'rea first year or a new leader.
That's going to be your biggestthing is being clear with
everything so they understandwhat the expectations from you
to them are, but also it justhelps everybody stay on the same
page.
So, casey, we talked about alot of things.
We're kind of winding down onthe show today.
(47:44):
I really appreciate you beingon.
If people want to reach out andconnect with you, how could
they do that?
How could they learn more aboutCasey and the work?
Casey Watts (47:54):
Yeah, the best place to go is, first and
foremost, my website,catchingupwithcaseycom, and then
you also can find me on mostsocial media platforms.
I will say I am most prevalenton LinkedIn, so my social media
handle is catch up with Casey.
So just imagine you're catchingup with me over a cup of coffee
and we're going to talk aboutall things.
(48:14):
Clarity.
Principal JL (48:16):
You bet, and we're going to have those things in
the show notes for everybody.
Casey, it was great having youon the show.
Do you have anything to saybefore we go?
Casey Watts (48:25):
I don't think so.
I appreciate you having me on.
This has been a greatconversation.
Principal JL (48:29):
What a great conversation with Casey Watts.
Her insights about bringingclarity as an educational leader
is impactful.
Her passion for helping leadersmove from stuck to productive
leadership is contagious.
If you took something away fromthis episode, I would love for
you to share it with someone youknow that needs to share it
(48:50):
with someone you know that needsto hear it.
If you're wanting to know howto bring clarity into your
leadership, I would love for youto connect with Casey.
Her contact information will bein the show notes Until next
time.
Be 1% better.
Today I'm very excited to bring in my friend,
casey Watts, to the show.
Casey has spent 20 years ineducation as a teacher, coach
and district leader, workingalongside with talented
educators who, despite theirdedication, often felt stuck,
overwhelmed or just goingthrough the motions.
(00:22):
She realized the problem wasn'teffort or expertise, it was
clarity.
Through her clarity cycleframework, casey is helping
school leaders cut through thenoise, align their teams and
turn collaboration into realprogress.
Today, casey will share hereducational leadership journey
insights and what she's learnedabout leading with purpose.
(00:44):
Now let's get to theconversation with Casey Watts.
Welcome back everybody toanother episode of the
educational leadership.
Today I'm excited to bring inCasey Watts to the show.
(01:08):
Casey, welcome.
Casey Watts (01:09):
Hey, thanks for having me.
I am pumped to be here, excitedto have a conversation all
about my journey in educationand where I am now.
Principal JL (01:18):
Awesome.
Well, Casey, I'm going to askyou the same question.
I ask everybody on the showwhat inspires you to become an
educator?
Casey Watts (01:28):
It is such an interesting question because I
grew up saying no, I'm not evergoing to do XYZ for a lot of
different things, so I willnever be.
I'm not going to marry beforeI'm 26.
I'm not going to be a soccermom.
I'm not going to have a min'm26.
I'm not going to be a soccermom.
I'm not going to have a minivan.
I will never go into education.
(01:49):
I'm not going to be a teacher.
I don't even like kids.
I said never to a lot of things, and all of those things
somehow have become true.
So I got married before I was 26, was the soccer mom, had the
minivan, and, lo and behold, Ibecame an educator.
And so I actually started offmy educational journey really
(02:11):
thinking about, thinking that Iwas going to pursue music.
So I went to a college thatreally excelled in their music
program, and when I got thereand started going through that
music program, oh my goodness,they drilled music into you, and
so it was so much more theoryand you eat, breathe and live
(02:33):
music all the time, and it justwasn't for me.
I needed music to be a hobbyinstead, and so I was like, ok,
well, I'm going to go intopsychology, since I don't know
what to do, let me just go intopsychology.
So I shifted my major topsychology and then realized
that everything the psychologyprofessor was teaching about I
(02:54):
felt like was describing me andI was like, ok, no, psychology
is not for me because I'moveranalyzing myself.
And I decided to go intoeducation.
And you know, I enjoyed myclasses, I excelled in my
classes, graduated, and itwasn't till after my first year
(03:15):
of teaching that I realized likeeducation really is for me and
being with students is for me.
But it took that time of kind ofmuddling through all of these
things that I said I was nevergoing to do for me to realize,
you know what, what my pathreally was going to be.
And I don't know that thereever was a specific moment where
I was like this is it Like thisis meant for me?
(03:38):
Because my first year teachingI taught fourth grade and it was
miserable.
I had moments where it wasgreat and grand, but a lot of it
was really hard, so much sothat I decided I'm going to try
to find a different professionand I couldn't find anything.
So I ended up moving into asecond-grade classroom and it
(03:59):
was just that little shift,having one year under my belt
that I needed in order to beable to thrive in the classroom.
And so you know, when peoplesay, is there a moment?
There wasn't a specific moment,it was just all of these small
moments that culminated to merealizing this is what I excel
(04:21):
at and I've got some.
This is where my native geniusis is working with students, and
that's all there was to it.
From there, I've been ineducation ever since, and I've
been in education for 20 yearsnow.
Principal JL (04:34):
Awesome.
Well, you kind of hit on acouple of things there.
I know, like a lot of peoplethat I interview on this show,
education may not have been thefirst thing.
Some people, yeah, I mean yeah,they knew since they were like
fourth grade, right.
But a lot of us are like Idon't want nothing to do with it
.
I wanted to be a physicaltherapist.
I wanted to go trainprofessional athletes.
(04:56):
That was my passion at the timeand then I realized I really
like coaching and then thecoaching and teaching kind of
all came together and I kind ofrealized, through a series of
events, kind of like you and Ithink you also pointed out a
couple of things there wherethat first year of teaching is
tough because A you're comingout of you know college a lot of
(05:18):
the times and you don't knowwhat you don't know until you're
in the role.
And that's a lot of education,no matter where you're at.
If it's your first yearteaching, your first year in
leadership, your first year atthe district office, you don't
know what you don't know untilyou have those experiences.
And so I'm really glad that youstuck with it and you are now
(05:39):
here, 20 years later, and it'sworked out, because get through
that first year.
I say that first year is goingto be tough.
I had a daughter that justfinished her first year of fifth
grade and she had her ups anddowns.
I'm like, get through the firstyear.
The second year will bedifferent and when you have that
year in your belt, you justknow, hey, this is what the
expectations are and you justknow what you need to do, and so
(06:02):
I really appreciate you sharingthat.
So let's talk about yourteaching a little bit.
What about teaching helped you,or what are some moments in
teaching that help you take thenext step in leadership?
You know, I believe you wentfrom like teaching into coaching
and kind of talk about that.
You know, piece the teachingpiece.
But then how did it?
(06:23):
How did you transfer into thecoaching role?
Casey Watts (06:29):
Yeah, I have been really, really fortunate in my
experience as an educator.
So I and I've been to severaldifferent campuses, several
different districts and I haveserved in many different roles.
But my teaching experiencespans from first grade to fifth
grade, both self-contained anddepartmentalized.
But one of the schools that Iworked at for probably the most
(06:54):
of my career was a universitycharter school Charter School.
It really truly was one of thebest campuses that I've ever
worked at, because there wassuch a high level of expectation
and standards for our teachingthe only campus that I've ever
been at where the entire groupof teachers held a very similar
(07:20):
pedagogy and philosophy and weregrounded in that.
And you're constantly going intoothers' classrooms to learn
about their craft, perfect yourcraft and we also had college
students coming in to observeand student teachers, things
like that.
So when I started working atthat campus and had student
teachers coming into myclassroom, it sparked a
(07:44):
different kind of energy in me,because you're looking out at
this sea of I'm talking like sixto 12 college students in your
classroom and you know they'reabout to go through the same
thing that you have been throughand you know there's so much
for them to learn that they justdon't know about no-transcript.
(08:29):
But just because you're an adultdoesn't mean that you've
developed the social awarenessand self-awareness skills to be
able to manage yourself well inthose really sticky situations.
So that was probably one of theturning points that made me
think OK, so many teachers aregetting out into the field and
they're crashing and burning orthey're only surviving for a few
(08:51):
years before they decide.
This is not for me, and I wantpeople to be able to thrive.
And so that was the turningpoint that led me to move into
instructional coaching and thenleadership at the district level
, because I feel so stronglythat people should feel
(09:13):
empowered and confident in theirroles, because that's the only
way that they're going to thriveinstead of survive.
So that was really probably oneof the turning points that
shifted my trajectory.
Principal JL (09:25):
Yeah, I know, like for me, I've been in a lot of
different schools.
I've been in rural schools.
I've also been in big metroschools in Omaha and for me, you
know, I didn't see aninstructional coach until I was
in a bigger district.
Because you don't have them atthe rural schools here in
Nebraska.
You have to figure it out, havethem at the rural schools here
in Nebraska, you have to figureit out.
(09:46):
A lot of the instructionalcoaching comes from principals
and they have to understand whatgood teaching is so they can
help those teachers and, I think, instructors.
So people understandinstructional coaches at like a
school district that's a biggerdistrict that can't afford them,
honestly, is kind of wherewe're at.
They are kind of like thatextension of a principal because
they're helping teachers getbetter at their craft and their
(10:07):
strategies.
They're not there to, like, youknow, we're going to play the
gotcha game.
They're not there to do that.
They're there, hey, I'm tryingto help you.
So when the principal does comein and sees what you're doing,
you have strategies, you havethings, skills, so you can
demonstrate, you know thequality of education that you're
giving the kids, and so a lotof people think instructional
(10:30):
coach oh my God, they're goingto.
They're going to, they're goingto beat me up, but no, actually
I would embrace them if I was ateacher, and I actually did.
I embraced my instructionalcoach at Ralston, Mr Dan Bosser.
If you're here listening tothat Great guy.
I learned a lot of differentthings.
We did instructional rounds,different things like that, and
(10:52):
so I never had that experienceuntil I got into that school
district and those things reallyopened my eyes to seeing a lot
of different content areas andhow they teach differently.
But also you know how we dothings similarly.
So I really want to like letpeople know like instructional
coaches are are great to have ifyou can have them, but also
(11:13):
your principal or assistantprincipal at those small
districts are your instructionalcoaches too.
So let's talk about yourinstructional coaching.
You have some stories aboutthat.
Um, some aha moments or thingsthat kind of go.
Yeah, this is what what I meantto do when it comes to leading
in the classroom yeah, I willtell you my my very favorite
(11:35):
thing is to work with teams ofteachers.
Casey Watts (11:37):
So I do appreciate and love the individual coaching
, but it's when I was able toget teams of teachers together
that I felt like my gosh.
If I could do this every day,all day, I absolutely would and
growing from each other, andit's incredible to see all of
(12:06):
the different expertise beingput out on the table up for
grabs for other people.
And so when I think aboutinstructional coaching, those
are the moments where I camealive is working with teams of
teachers.
But it was even more incredibleto go back to classrooms and
see teachers implementing whatthey had learned from others.
I'll never forget one time wehad a PD where we were thinking
(12:31):
about how to encourage studentdiscourse and one of the
teachers brought to the PDhexagonal thinking, which, if
you're not familiar with it, goto Cult of Pedagogy.
She's got a whole blog post andepisode about hexagonal
thinking and there are lots ofthings out there about this
strategy.
But a teacher had implementedit in her classroom, she brought
it to the PD, she shared itwith everyone, she led the PD.
(12:55):
We were only facilitators andthen all of these teachers were
thinking about ways they weregoing to implement this in their
classroom, and it led tolearning walks where we went to
observe the different ways thatpeople were implementing this
strategy and just the look ontheir faces when they were
seeing.
You could just see peoplecoming alive, you know, like you
(13:15):
could see the light bulbsclicking, and that was one of
the most powerful moments, whereteachers took on the ownership
of learning a new strategy andthen were eager to go observe
other teachers.
Because you know, that's notalways a comfortable thing and
sometimes, as instructionalleaders, it's hard to get
teachers to a point where theywant to go into classrooms or
(13:38):
actually where they invitepeople into their own classrooms
.
So that's probably one of themost powerful moments for me as
an instructional coach is seeingthat moment come to life.
Principal JL (13:50):
Yeah, I mean you say a lot of things that made me
start to reflect on my teachingand going back and doing those
instructional rounds or learningwalks we called them that too,
too.
But when you get to see otherteachers teach and you get to
see quality teaching fromdifferent areas of and I was at
a high school so I saw a lot ofdifferent content areas that
(14:12):
opens your eyes like hey, that'sinteresting.
I never thought of that and Ithink if you have that open mind
or that growth mindset as aneducator, you get a lot out of
those things.
I know people with fixedmindsets have a hard time with
that because they're like leaveme alone, I want to stay in my
classroom, I don't want to doall this, I just leave me, let
me do my thing.
But at the same time, you're notgrowing as an educator and I
(14:35):
think part of our job aseducational leaders is to help
people grow.
But I think having thoserelationships and those
connections really help you getto know people but hopefully
open them up to wanting to trynew things, and I always say try
something, don't be afraid offailure, because if you're not,
you're not going to grow, you'renot going to get better.
(14:56):
So let's talk about frominstructional coaching into the
district leadership role.
What was that districtleadership role?
What inspired that districtleadership role?
What inspired that move intothat?
You know what transpired foryou for that opportunity.
Casey Watts (15:13):
Yeah, Well, I'm going to be really honest with
you.
So first of all, the districtrole was district instructional
specialist.
So my role there was to partnerwith principals and teachers
and really and truly it didn'tstart off this way, but it's
really.
What led to my book is bridgingthe gap between the adults on
(15:36):
campuses, and so I served reallyas a coach for teachers, but
also as a coach for principalsand administrators, department
heads, and trying to bridge thatgap.
Because it's so interesting.
How you know, you hear from myexperience, I hear from both
narratives.
(15:57):
So I hear the principalnarrative who are they're saying
we've got this initiative orwe've got this program we're
trying to implement, Nobody'sgetting on board.
Or we've set the expectationand they're not following it.
And then, on the other hand,you have the teams of teachers
who are saying we have no ideawhat's going on.
And I kept hearing that againand again and I was like, oh my
gosh, we've got to bridge thisgap, because until we bridge the
(16:20):
gap between the adults oncampus and until we're speaking
the same language, then we'renot going to see our student
gaps decrease.
And so that was really my roleas an instructional specialist
at the district level.
But when I moved into thatposition I was truly trying to
(16:41):
be a ladder climber and that wasmy goal, from being a teacher
to being, you know, like youhave all of these ideas of how
you're going to climb the ladder.
But it wasn't until I becamelike got into that role as a
district instructionalspecialist, I was like, OK, wait
, I've got to look at thisladder differently.
We've got to lay the ladderdown and instead of thinking
(17:01):
about climbing the ladder, Iwant to think about how I'm just
laterally going across theladder and growing at each rung
of the ladder.
So how am I growing anddeveloping people as a classroom
teacher?
I've done that.
Now let's try instructionalcoaching.
How am I growing myself andother people as an instructional
coach, Now a districtinstructional specialist.
(17:23):
And then, of course, you know,I moved from district
instructional specialist intospeaking and consulting and so
I've started to think about mycareer differently because of
those things.
But so I'm not really thinkingabout climbing the ladder
anymore.
It's not about that, it's aboutgrowing and developing over
(17:44):
time.
And that's not the question youasked at all.
But really, truly, I mean,that's how it kind of, that's
how it transpired frominstructional coaching to
district instructionalspecialists is just how am I
going to make an impact not juston teachers, but on
instructional leaders as well?
Principal JL (18:01):
Yeah.
So, getting into that districtrole, you started seeing the gap
.
You started seeing, you know,the unclarity.
Yeah, that kind of inspired youto take that next step right.
You started seeing some, hey,there's something here that's
not quite right, there'smiscommunication, people don't
(18:22):
know what they're doing.
And that's really important forpeople to understand.
When you're in a leadershiprole and you're not being clear
with your staff, you need tobring clarity so they understand
, because it's not like theydon't want to do things.
And I think when you buildthose relationships and you
bring clarity, you are able todeliver things so they
understand it to where it's notjust hey, we have to do this
(18:45):
because the district office isshoving it down our throats.
That happens, we all know that.
But at the same time, you knowhow could you take something and
make it to where we can ownthis initiative or the things we
need to do?
A to satisfy the requirement,because we get things from state
and federal government leveltoo that get rammed down our
(19:08):
throats.
I'll talk about this.
Last year, every senior had tofill out a FAFSA before they got
as a part of our graduationrequirement.
And I tell you, not everysenior filled one out, but then
you had to look at signing awaiver.
And if they didn't sign awaiver, guess who was signing
waivers at the end of the yearfor seniors that didn't do any
of those things Me, theprincipal, because I had to
(19:31):
comply to this thing.
Now I try to make it easy on mystaff, like, okay, we're going
to do it this way, we're notgoing to worry about if they get
it in or not, because I havethe ultimate veto power to sign
away what I need to sign.
So we did that.
So there's things that you justhave to comply to.
But I think when you're able tobring something and bring
clarity to it and being able toget everybody together on it,
(19:54):
even if you disagree with it, atleast you're together and
moving forward with whateverinitiative that is.
So let's talk about that alittle bit.
You started seeing this gap andso it inspired you to take that
next step.
But you know, is this part ofwhere you have the creation of
the Clarity Cycle Framework.
Talk about that a little bitand kind of how that all evolved
(20:15):
in that role as a districtinstructional leader.
Casey Watts (20:18):
Yeah, oh, and I'll also talk a little bit about how
I shifted into consultingaround the Clarity Cycle
Framework too.
But you know, I startedconsulting probably seven years
ago and I really was focused onliteracy as a consultant.
And even then, you know, Ithink hindsight you can see
(20:40):
these things that you didn't seeoriginally.
But after working in my role asan instructional specialist
with the district, I was able tolook back on all of these times
that I met with teachers tofocus on literacy now, seeing
(21:05):
that disconnect between theteachers and the administrators.
And so you know, when you, whenthat light bulb comes on, it's
like you're reflecting on all ofthe times in the past where
these things were probablypretty prevalent.
But when I started working asan instructional specialist and
I was trying to, I was noticingthese different narratives.
The thing that I kept hearingeveryone say, myself included,
(21:25):
is we've got to get on the samepage, but no one was doing
anything about it.
You know, like we're sayinglet's get on the same page,
we've got to be on the same page, but it's really easy to say
that and it's even easy to say,ok, our strategy for getting on
the same page is we're going toimplement the same, everybody's
going to use the same curriculum.
Or, in order to get on the samepage, we're going to make sure
(21:49):
that everybody has this muchplanning, like a two-hour
planning block every month.
That's a strategy.
But until you bring clarity tothat strategy, really nothing
changes.
It's kind of like you know, Irecall one time a principal
wanted her teachers to have moreeffective PLCs.
Well, her strategy forimproving PLCs was we're going
(22:14):
to have everybody create anagenda and they're going to turn
that agenda in Great fine D&D.
But agenda means somethingdifferent to everybody.
And just because you have anagenda does not mean that you're
going to see effectivecollaboration.
And sure enough, we go intoclassrooms and somebody puts up
an agenda and on that agenda itsaid copies, grades, lesson
(22:38):
plans, that's it, that was whatwas on the agenda.
That's not an effective PLC.
And when I started seeing thesethings again and again the
strategy, but disconnected fromactually making progress I was
like, okay, we've got to zoomout to see the big picture, and
then we've got to zoom in andscript the critical moves to get
(23:00):
to that big picture goal.
So this is what we're wanting.
What does that mean?
Like, how can we leverage thestrengths that we have and what
are the improvements that needto be made.
Along the way and I was readingthe book Switch by Chip and Dan
Heath.
It's how to change things whenchange is hard, and they talk a
lot about casting vision andscripting critical moves.
(23:22):
So I started implementing thethings that I learned from that
book and other books, like fromSimon Sinek and Andy Stanley,
john Maxwell.
I put all of those thingstogether and created a map for
our campuses, for teachers, toget to an area of focus or goals
that the principal had saidthis is what we want to work on.
And that too, that in and ofitself was kind of a challenge,
(23:45):
like I would go into principalsoffices and tell and say, tell
me what your instructional focusis this year.
And it would be either cricketsor them saying, well, I'm not
sure like what do you mean bythat?
And so we had to develop anarea of focus before we could
script the critical moves to getto that, to the goals under
that focus.
(24:06):
And a couple of years afterbeing in this role, I had a
kindergarten teacher come up tome and she was pursuing her
master's, getting her principalcertification, and she said I
just how did you do it?
Like, how did you go aboutgetting everybody on the same
page?
And to me it just felt naturalto do these things and so I said
, well, I just zoomed out, seelike where is everybody, and
(24:29):
then just kind of zoomed inagain to map it out.
And she said, okay, but that'snot good enough because that
doesn't tell me exactly thesteps that you took.
And that's where the ClarityPsychical Framework was born.
I started thinking about whatshe was asking for and I said,
okay, let me just take a momentto reflect on how we did get
everyone on the same page andI'm going to map it out, I'm
(24:52):
going to create this frameworkthat displays what that actually
looks like, how you go from thestrategy to the complexity of
clarity paired with thatstrategy.
And so there you have it.
I started working with thosecampuses where I was with the
Clarity Cycle Framework and itended up branching out into the
(25:13):
consulting that I did withcampuses across the nation, and
every campus has the sameproblems.
And because I was seeing thesame problems again and again, I
was like what is it that we'remissing?
It's clarity that we aremissing.
Principal JL (25:30):
Awesome, yeah, and that's you know, a lot of you
know.
With clarity, I mean, it'sreally important I think I've
talked about it a few times aswe're going through the episode
but, understanding, you have tohave that clarity.
So you talk about the claritycycle framework.
Could you give an example whatthat might look like for a
school district to where hey,here's the thing we need to
(25:52):
bring clarity to, and kind ofwalk us through what that looks
like, just so we can kind of getan idea?
Casey Watts (25:58):
Yeah, A lot of the time I will, actually I will say
most of the time when I workwith districts or campuses, they
are wanting to.
They have the issue ofoverwhelming numbers of students
in tiers two and three.
And when we look at that andthey're like how do we fix this?
We realize it's a tier oneproblem, right Like we're
(26:19):
lacking high quality tier oneinstruction, Right Like we're
lacking high quality tier oneinstruction, and we make the
assumption that that peopleunderstand what we mean when we
say high quality tier oneinstruction.
But that's an assumption thatcan't be made.
Just because you are ineducation, even if you've been
in it for many years, doesn'tmean we all share the same
(26:40):
common definition ofhigh-quality Tier 1 instruction.
Some people don't even knowexactly what Tier 1 means.
So we have to be sure thatwe've got a common language
there.
So we start with an area offocus, Like if we like Tier 1
instruction, that's our area offocus.
It's like a big umbrella and itshould fit underneath the
campus or district mission andvision.
(27:01):
When we have that area of focus, we analyze it at great lengths
because, as I mentioned earlier, we can see a problem.
But unless we get to the rootof the problem.
We're just slapping on band-aidfixes again and again, like a
PLC agenda or another product orprogram that we hope is going
to fix this Tier 1 instruction.
(27:22):
So we analyze that area offocus, the problem, and when we
analyze it we start to noticethese consistencies and patterns
.
Those consistencies andpatterns become our goals.
So it's like we're startingwith macro and then we're going
to micro.
We've got these couple of one ortwo goals that we're really
going to focus on to improveTier 1 instruction.
(27:46):
Then we don't stop there.
We're going to go at an evenmore micro level and in order to
script out the critical movesto reach these goals, I have
instructional leaders go onlistening tours and they're
gaining insight fromstakeholders about this area of
focus and these goals that we'veset.
(28:06):
Because we want them to takeownership of these goals.
We want to hear from thembecause we might hear from our
stakeholders and realize maybeour goals need to shift a little
bit.
Maybe what we thought weregoals aren't really the goals we
need to be working toward andwe also can see what are
strengths we can leverage rightnow.
(28:27):
And then, after we've gainedinsight from stakeholders about
this area of focus and goals.
We then actually start to castvision, map out the critical
moves to get there, and then westart thinking about how we're
going to provide feedbackregularly and celebrate
systematically, solely focusedon this area of focusing goals.
(28:49):
And then, finally, the verylast step of the clarity cycle
framework is to consider howwe're going to calibrate and
sustain progress so it doesn'tfall flat over time and become
just that other thing that's onthe plate.
Principal JL (29:05):
Yeah, what I love about listening to the clarity
cycle is it's a systematicapproach.
It's hey, this is where we'reat.
Here are some things we'veidentified.
We're going to take what weidentify and this is how we're
going to get there.
But we're not just start, youknow, stopping there.
We're actually going to havefollow-ups.
We're going to gain morefeedback, more information, more
(29:26):
data and then utilize that tomake shifts if we need to.
But then celebrating wins and,you know, looking at, hey,
what's the progress, look like,how are we doing.
I think those things are reallyimportant because then it shows
people, hey, we are makingprogress towards the goals we
have.
And I can speak to just thispast year we implemented a new
(29:47):
attendance policy.
We got everybody hey, this iswhat we're doing, this is what
we're on board, this is yourrole, this is our role.
And what I would do is I'd giveupdates.
I would say, hey, this is wherewe're at on our daily average
attendance, this is where we'reat on our chronic baptism, and I
would give them every six tonine weeks, about every quarter
I'd give an update.
But I wouldn't just give anupdate to my teachers, but I
(30:11):
give update to everybody myadministrators, my staff, my
district office leaders, so theycould share with the board kind
of the progress as we're goingthrough the year, cause I would
compare last year, this lastyear's data, with the year
before just to show, hey, thisis where our growth is at,
Because if you didn't let themknow how we're doing, it
(30:31):
wouldn't encourage them to keepdoing the things they're they
need to keep doing.
And so that that's kind of onejust example just in this past
year how I kind of did somesimilar maybe it's not the
clarity cycle, but it's justthose little things to help
people know that, hey, we'reworking together on this, we're
making progress, let's keep upthe good work.
(30:53):
Because, I'm telling you, myassistant principals were
probably the ones that workedthe hardest because they had the
most responsibility.
Now, teachers had theirresponsibility for classroom and
different things like that, butI saw everybody.
But I really wanted to makesure my assistant principals
knew, hey, I really appreciateall the hard work they're doing,
because they were taking on apiece that was probably the
(31:16):
biggest piece out of all of it,and I wanted them to have
motivation or understand this iswhere we're at.
What you're doing matters andwhat you're doing is working.
I think that's really important.
So let's talk about yeah, goahead.
Casey Watts (31:29):
I was just going to say.
I mean, you just described theclarity cycle in action,
actually, and what I love aboutwhat you said is how you're
actually including anaccountability piece, because
you are communicating withpeople like outside of the
campus, so district levelleaders, et cetera and that's an
(31:49):
accountability measure foryourself.
You know, even if they're notasking for it, you're putting
that in place for yourself sothat you can continue to make
progress.
It's awesome.
Principal JL (31:57):
Well, and the reason why I did that with the
district level people is becausethey were a part of this
getting implemented.
I had to go through a processto get district level approval
and school board approval,because we have things in place
with this accountability piecefor our attendance and it's
actually we basically created athree-tier MTSS system for
(32:19):
attendance.
Hey, this is our level one,this is what it looks like and
this is what ourresponsibilities are at level
one, here's our level two andthen here's our level three.
But they needed to know whatwas going on and the progress
we're making, because if thingsgot to them, at least they could
say, hey, they're makingprogress because they are a part
of the accountability piecewhen it came to our attendance
(32:42):
policy.
Because they would have, if wehad to go to a hearing or, you
know, if they didn't like thedecision that was made on our
building level, they'd have togo to the district level.
If they didn't like what theysaid, then they can go to the
school board.
So we have this wholesystematic approach, but yet I
wanted them to know what's goingon.
And then, of course, theyreported to the school board
(33:03):
just to say like, hey, thank youguys for supporting us on this
and this is the progress we'remaking and I just I thought I
felt that was just importantfrom a building level, principal
standpoint, to let them know.
You know, hey, I didn't want tojust share the wins inside our
building, but I wanted to shareit out with our district leaders
because they were a big, hugepart of allowing us to do what
(33:27):
we were doing and so that wasthe best part.
So that's kind of like thebackground or why I did that as
well.
But, like you said, it was anaccountability piece as well.
But I just want to make sureeverybody was on the same page.
Oh boy, so let's talk about.
You got into consulting, you'respeaking, you have your clarity
(33:51):
framework.
What got you and what got youto step away from that district
leadership role, to go into that?
You probably might have talkeda lot, a little bit about it,
but I really wanted to get thefull picture of what led you to
make that decision to step intothe role you're doing and then
talk about some of the thingsyou're doing right now, Cause I
(34:12):
see you all over the place like,hey, I'm going here, speaking
here and doing all these coolthings and I just want you to
kind of share what got you intothat and then you know what
you're up to right now.
Casey Watts (34:22):
To share what got you into that and then you know
what you're up to right now.
Yeah, I, you know.
Like I told you, I've beenconsulting for a while but in
the last five years ittransitioned from like literacy,
a literacy focus, toinstructional leadership and
leadership in general.
But when I, when I started tonotice like hey, even even down
(34:44):
to like yes in my conversation.
So I love going to conferencesand presenting, I love
interacting with the audience.
You hear all of these storiesand it's like this, it's like
it's on repeat.
You know the same stories againand again, with this disconnect
between, you know,administration and teachers, or
teachers and parents oradministration in the community,
(35:05):
just all of these differentnarratives.
And I, when I completed, likewhen I completed the book and I
had the Clarity Cycle Frameworkit was, it's been implemented in
several different campusesacross the nation two things I
realized Number one, I can't dotwo jobs at one time anymore.
And number two, this is whatI'm most passionate about having
(35:31):
an impact on is that bridgebetween administrators, teachers
or just the different adults ona campus, in an organization.
And so clarity precedingcapacity became my mantra.
Like I, just, I find it socrucial that people understand
that clarity precedes capacityin every way, no matter where
(35:55):
you go, but we don't always knowexactly how to create clarity.
That's kind of where I am now.
I focus on bringing clarity tomany different things, but there
are three primary areas offocus.
When I talk about clarity,obviously I have the Clarity
Cycle Framework, and that isreally clarity of direction,
(36:17):
where we're headed and how we'regoing to get there.
But I also started recognizingthat we're lacking clarity in a
couple of other areas too.
We're lacking clarity on ouridentity as leaders, so we lack
emotional clarity, goal clarityand social clarity.
So I work with leaders forleadership training so that they
can become reflective leaders.
(36:38):
And then the last thing that Ibring clarity to is
collaboration.
We are I think most of usprobably will only ever
experience faux collaboration,which is to say, fake
collaboration, and I work withcampuses to foster effective
collaboration so that they canreach that collective efficacy
that we're always hearing andtalking about but can't seem to
(37:00):
get there.
And so I help teams toimplement norms, protocols and
models for their meetings andcollaborative planning times.
They're going to help them toeffectively collaborate so
everyone feels valued, inspiredand empowered, and that's that's
what I'm talking about when I'mon stages or at workshops or
conferences.
(37:20):
I'm talking about clarityaround those three things every
single time.
Principal JL (37:27):
Awesome.
Hey, do you have a story about?
Hey, I came in to work withthis school.
Have a hundred of them, butjust pick one.
Casey Watts (37:53):
I wish I could.
I wish I could show you likeI'm just going to try to paint a
picture but a school that Istarted working with in Los
Angeles last year.
We started working together inAugust of last year and the
focus was tier one high quality,tier one instruction.
The focus was tier one highquality, tier one instruction.
But underneath that area offocus, they really wanted to.
(38:13):
The principal who initiatedcontact with me and we started
working together.
We she really wanted teachersto be able to collectively
analyze data and what washappening is they were
individually analyzing data, butall going back to their
classrooms and implementing awide variety of strategies, just
(38:34):
kind of throwing spaghetti atthe wall to help students make
progress.
And there was no sharing of thedata.
It was just we're going toanalyze it individually.
I, as a principal, I'm going totalk to you about your data and
hear what your goals are.
But you know, the thing aboutthat is when teachers go to
their different classrooms, it'slike you said.
We have so many people going in, closing their door and doing
(38:57):
what they feel is best for theirstudents and what is
comfortable to them.
But the problem with that isthat if teacher A is going into
a classroom, teacher B is goingto classroom, teacher C is going
to the classroom and they'reclosing the door and doing what
they feel like is best forstudents.
Then you've got studentsreceiving all kinds of different
(39:17):
methods of instruction andwe're unintentionally creating
the larger gaps and we're havingstudents.
Students are moving from oneclassroom to another.
This is what the whole campuswas experiencing.
Students are moving from oneclassroom to another, or this is
what the whole campus wasexperiencing Students are moving
from one classroom to anotheror from one grade level to
another, not only having tolearn new content, but also have
(39:37):
to having to learn a new way oflearning, and so it was really
impacting the student, studentconfidence.
It was significantly impactingteacher confidence, which was
the other goal.
She wanted teachers toconfidently implement
high-quality instructionalstrategies and track progress
(39:58):
with those, and so those twogoals are what we focused on.
Over time, we went through theclarity cycle framework with the
campus leadership team.
They brought me in to work withteachers on high-quality
instructional strategies.
I was able to observe inclassrooms and gather data on
their instructional practicesand over time, like we took
(40:20):
together with my clients, Iusually create a slide deck that
they are able to go in and addto over time.
And oh my gosh, these.
If you could just see theseslides there's probably 70 plus
slides in this slide deck whereevery time the principal is
meeting with teachers to analyzedata or to analyze
(40:42):
instructional and practices,she's adding to those slides so
that not only can she see wherethey've started and how far
they've come, but the teacherscan see that as well.
The other day she sent me wekind of go back and forth on
this app called Marco Polo andshe will send me Marco Polo
videos of her staffcollaborating together.
(41:02):
They are noticing significantimprovement in teacher
confidence, but also in studentlearning, and it's been
extremely powerful.
So she's gone through theClarity Cycle Framework.
She started to develop theseclarity-driven habits of
leadership and next year we'rejust going to work through
(41:24):
coaching, like I'm just going todo some leadership coaching
with her so that she canmaintain that progress with her
campus.
So that's just one story ofseveral, but it's my favorite.
Principal JL (41:36):
You bet yeah, no, and I think your story really
shows, you know, kind of likethis is where they're at, here's
some issues.
You kind of took us throughthat clarity cycle and framework
with that story so we couldkind of see it.
You see it in real time there,just so we go.
Okay, I can see how this couldwork.
The whole goal is we're goingto probably have some reflective
administrators listening to theshow and I want them to get
(41:59):
that picture of what it may looklike and how could that be
implemented and utilized fortheir school to bring clarity
and to help them proceed and beproductive and collaborate
effectively.
I think you talked aboutsomething you got to collaborate
, but you got to be effective atit.
You can't just say, yeah, we'remeeting and we're collaborating
(42:20):
, but you actually have to bringpeople to the table, bring
ideas and then have those realconversations, not just fluff,
you don't just speak and doengagements and do consulting.
You also have a podcast calledCatching Up with Casey, and so
what inspired the podcast andwhat do you?
(42:41):
What is the purpose, what isthe goal of your podcast that
you have called Catching Up withCasey?
Casey Watts (42:47):
It's kind of transitioned over time.
You know, I started the podcastI don't even know how many
years ago and when I firststarted it my purpose was to
share great instructionalpractices that I was
implementing in my classroom.
So that's how long ago.
It started is when I was aclassroom teacher.
And then you know you havethose big pockets of time where
(43:09):
you're not coming back to thepodcast.
But it's so interesting to seehow the podcast has evolved over
time with how I've evolved as aleader and practitioner.
But now the whole the solepurpose of the show is to help
leaders understand how clarityprecedes capacity and because of
(43:31):
that on the show we bringclarity to all things leadership
.
So when I visit with people Ihave guests on the show and I
love connecting with otherpeople because people have so
many great things to share.
But we're bringing clarity towhat hope looks like on a campus
.
We're bringing clarity to whatour definitions of different
(43:54):
common terms are.
We're bringing clarity to thehabits of leadership.
So it is a clarity drivenleadership podcast so that
leaders can build cohesive,clarity driven teams.
Principal JL (44:08):
Awesome.
I love how you talk about theclarity piece, right, how can we
read clarity to these differentpieces and leadership?
And I'd give people you know Iencourage them to come listen to
your podcast.
I've listened to it.
There's some great content onthere and she has some good
reels, and so I would say,definitely check out the
Catching Up with Casey podcastand make that a part of your
(44:31):
educational leadership, as wellas this one right Routine when
it comes to listening topodcasts and getting some more
professional development.
Now, we talked about a lot ofthings today.
Casey Watts (45:03):
If you could give you know leaders advice, or
maybe inspiring leaders orpeople that are currently in the
role in leadership.
What advice would that be thatyou've seen that would be really
effective or really helpful forthem to know and understand?
My number one piece of advicethat's coming to mind, based on
what we talked about, is to letgo of assumptions and lead with
clarity.
Let go of assumptions meaningwe can't make assumptions about
the adults on a campus, on ourcampus, just because they are
adults and just because they arein education.
(45:24):
Instead, we want to bringclarity to all things on our
campus that deserve clarity,that are going to impact student
learning.
So just take a step back andlook at your campus and think is
there clarity around oursystems, our procedures, the
logistics behind ourorganization?
(45:44):
And then also step back andthink is there clarity around
our philosophy and our pedagogyon this campus?
So that's my primary piece ofadvice to leaders.
Principal JL (45:57):
Awesome.
I really appreciate that advicebecause I'll tell you, being a
building principal, when thingsaren't clear, it's not like they
don't want to do it, it's notlike they're not doing it
because they don't want to.
A lot of it's because they'renot understanding.
And if you can bring theclarity or the why to what we're
doing, I think that's reallyimportant.
(46:18):
I learned that as a coach likeI'm going to let my, my, my
athletes know this is why we'redoing what we're doing.
It may suck at times, but youknow we got to do certain things
to get to where we want to bewhen it came to just being a
coach and an athlete Same thingas a principal with teachers.
Hey, there's going to be thingswe don't like to do, but I
(46:39):
think they're important becauseit will bring us to where we
want to go.
But at the same time, we wantto enjoy the process.
We want to understand and haveclarity with what we're doing so
they can get to where they needto go.
Because if everybody's gettingwhere they need to go in the
process, then we're going to beable to better every day.
(47:00):
You know, one little thing herewill build over time to get us
to these big picture goals thatwe have for ourselves.
So that's really great advice.
I really appreciate you.
You know bringing that out andthat clarity piece is really
(47:23):
important, especially if you'rea first year or a new leader.
That's going to be your biggestthing is being clear with
everything so they understandwhat the expectations from you
to them are, but also it justhelps everybody stay on the same
page.
So, casey, we talked about alot of things.
We're kind of winding down onthe show today.
(47:44):
I really appreciate you beingon.
If people want to reach out andconnect with you, how could
they do that?
How could they learn more aboutCasey and the work?
Casey Watts (47:54):
Yeah, the best place to go is, first and
foremost, my website,catchingupwithcaseycom, and then
you also can find me on mostsocial media platforms.
I will say I am most prevalenton LinkedIn, so my social media
handle is catch up with Casey.
So just imagine you're catchingup with me over a cup of coffee
and we're going to talk aboutall things.
(48:14):
Clarity.
Principal JL (48:16):
You bet, and we're going to have those things in
the show notes for everybody.
Casey, it was great having youon the show.
Do you have anything to saybefore we go?
Casey Watts (48:25):
I don't think so.
I appreciate you having me on.
This has been a greatconversation.
Principal JL (48:29):
What a great conversation with Casey Watts.
Her insights about bringingclarity as an educational leader
is impactful.
Her passion for helping leadersmove from stuck to productive
leadership is contagious.
If you took something away fromthis episode, I would love for
you to share it with someone youknow that needs to share it
(48:50):
with someone you know that needsto hear it.
If you're wanting to know howto bring clarity into your
leadership, I would love for youto connect with Casey.
Her contact information will bein the show notes Until next
time.
Be 1% better.
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