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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 in the Moment

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan explain why unstructured coaching support time may be some of the most valuable to include in your schedule.

Planning Classroom Visits: Organizing Purposefully

Principal Karen Szymusiak has tips for getting the most out of classroom visits, including setting up master schedules that follow similar formats.

The Dangers of Overplanning

Jennifer Allen discovers there are limits to planning, and too much of it can hinder growth in professional development settings.

Creating a Master Schedule

Karen Szymusiak explains why large blocks of time for literacy instruction are crucial, and how she worked as a principal to develop a master schedule for the school that included them.

Alignment and Community: Planning a Year of Professional Development Opportunities

Jennifer Allen plans a year of study group offerings designed to help everyone align their classrooms to the Common Core, and build community at the same time. The article includes a sample calendar for the month of October.

Off the Dance Floor and Onto the Balcony: Getting the Big Picture in Schools

In the day-to-day triage of our schools and the sense of urgency that pushes us to always be accountable for every minute of the day, we need to keep the big picture in mind. Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan help school leaders figure out how to use their time wisely in the early days of building relationships.

Walk-Arounds: Gathering Data to Test Assumptions

Do you have a tattler in your midst? Not a child, but a teacher complaining about the work habits of a colleague? Jennifer Jones explains her proactive use of walk-arounds to gather data and confront misconceptions.

Collaborating with My Principal on Student-Centered Coaching

Heather Sisson is inspired to try something new with her staff, but first she needs to think through the proposal with her principal.

Book Hooks

Jennifer Schwanke uses the charming “book hook” activity to recommit to keeping reading and classroom visits at the heart of her work as a principal. Download a copy of the “book hook” template to commit to this practice in your school, too.

Curriculum Work: Making Meaning Together

Jennifer Allen ponders what professional development structures support authentic changes in curriculum tied to the Common Core.

Calendaring a Literacy Coach

The joy and challenge of literacy coaching lies in creating a good structure for the day. Heather Rader has suggestions for short- and long-term planning on the coaching calendar.

Creating a Coaching Schedule

Tammy Mulligan and Clare Ladrigan give advice on creating schedules for literacy coaches that integrate district goals and teacher interests.

The Digital Declutter: Developing a Life Beyond Distractions

Matt Renwick offers a no-nonsense approach to a digital declutter in an effort to manage his time. Inspired by the book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, Matt shares practical ways for educators to consider a digital declutter.

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