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Schedules

“Schedule or be scheduled” may be the rallying cry for any teacher who becomes a literacy coach. Often the job and its responsibilities are ill-defined, and the danger is that you will find yourself with many responsibilities dumped into your position if you don’t define the job yourself. The definition for many literacy coaches begins with a schedule and knowing how to prioritize tasks. Here is where we share examples of how different literacy coaches and leaders have divvied up the minutes, hours, days, and months of their time in ways that lead to balance and success.

Latest Content
Coaching Minute: Coaching Groups of Teachers

Ruth Ayres offers a useful tip when planning your coaching calendar: Create groups of teachers.

Coaching Minute: Creating a Sign-Up for Coaching

Kate Mills and Tara Barnett streamline the sign-up system for working with a coach.

Coaching Minute: Invitations for Secondary Teachers

Instructional coach Holly Wenning shares ways to invite secondary teachers to work alongside a coach.

Coaching Minute: Leveraging a Calendar for Leadership

Jean Russell explains how a simple trick with a coaching calendar can build in more time and expectations for leadership growth.

Integrating PD into the School Calendar

Nothing takes the wind out of a coach’s sails more than flat PD sessions. David Pittman realizes the problem sometimes isn’t what is offered, but when it is provided. He works to create a calendar for the year that reflects the ebb and flow of teachers’ stress levels.

Scheduling Study Groups for the Year

Jennifer Allen shares her selections and schedule for book study groups throughout the year.

Time to Plan

When the school doors close for the summer, literacy coaches and school leaders face the landscape of a blank calendar for the new school year. Ruth Ayres thinks through how to prioritize time in a way that supports your beliefs and values.

Coaching Minute: Rethinking Time

Jennifer Schwanke finds that one of the biggest changes in moving from teaching to leadership is control (or lack of it) over her time.

Dropping In Versus Scheduling

Ruth Ayres explains why setting a coaching schedule is crucial for success, even if the work is mundane and challenging at the same time.

When Teachers Design the Professional Development Calendar

Melanie Meehan finds that a simple process early in the year that gives teachers more control over the professional development plan builds excitement for new learning.

A Yearlong Coaching Calendar

Dana Murphy too often finds herself feeling like she's begging to go into classrooms. The solution? Create a yearlong schedule and put the onus on teachers to sign up for a coaching cycle.

Reigniting Your Coaching Schedule in December

Brian Sepe ponders the best uses of his coaching time when he is between cycles. He shares three options for building relationships with teachers.

“Got a Minute?”: Rethinking My Schedule and Priorities

Matt Renwick rethinks his strategy of responding instantly to requests for his time, considering his priorities as a literacy leader.

Getting Out of the Tater Tot Office: The Importance of Visibility

Gretchen Taylor ponders what literacy coaches can do to make their presence and the possibility of collaboration better known to teachers, focusing on her work in public spaces and on her coaching calender.

I Have Time

Ruth Ayres explains why these are the three most important words for literacy coaches to say throughout the day.

Coaching Minute: Punctuality

Heather Rader explains why starting meetings on time is crucial for the learning climate in this quick video tip.

Coaching Minute: Ending the Day

Heather Rader shares a quick video tip about the importance of closing rituals at the end of the coaching day.

Coaching Minute: Birthday Tip

Heather Rader has a quick video tip for organizing low-stress birthday celebrations for colleagues.

Coaching Minute: Set Your Alarm

Heather Rader has a tip for ensuring you stay on schedule and "in the moment" during your meetings in this brief video tip.

Coaching Owls, Larks, and Hummingbirds

Heather Rader finds that understanding whether teachers work best in the morning or afternoon can be crucial in timing professional development.

Planning for a Year of Study Groups

Jennifer Allen plans for next year’s study groups and other ongoing professional development offerings each spring, to give teachers lots of time to choose which groups might meet their needs.

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