How Are You Spending Your Coaching Time?

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Through August 3, my book Differentiated Mentoring and Coaching in Education, is 25% off here – no code needed.
 
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It’s a common coaching dilemma: With so many roles to juggle—some chosen, some assigned—coaches often find their time pulled in too many directions. When the to-do list grows too long, it becomes harder to engage in deep, sustained work with teachers. And without focused coaching time centered on instruction and student learning, the real impact of coaching gets diluted.
 
That’s what happened with my friend, Emily, a school-based coach who is deeply involved in her school community. She helps with morning announcements, assists with fundraisers, collaborates on Instagram reels with her principal, coordinates the annual readathon, and attends district literacy meetings. It’s no surprise that Emily is seen as a valued leader on campus. But there’s a downside: all these responsibilities chip away at the time she could be spending where it counts most—talking with teachers about instruction.
 
Instructional coaches wear a lot of hats. Some of those hats are part of the job description, while others seem to appear simply because a coach is helpful, available, and willing to say yes. A coach’s calendar can become a collection of meetings, committees, events, emails, coverage requests, and “Could you please…” responsibilities. Add in the interruptions that inevitably come with working in a school, and the time available for sustained coaching shrinks.
 
We know from research that coaching has the greatest effect on student learning when it includes activities like conferring with teachers, modeling strategies, observing classroom practice, and assessment-related activities. These actions, especially when part of intentional coaching work, create space for meaningful collaboration. They lead to thoughtful reflection on student needs, instructional strategies, and curriculum planning—work that improves teaching and learning.
 
So how can coaches protect time for this important work?
 
It takes a mixture of structure and adaptability. A weekly agenda that allots the majority of your time to high-impact coaching practices ensures your commitment to these priorities. At the same time, flexibility is needed. Tasks shift, and surprises pop up during the course of the day,
 
Coaching has the biggest impact when time to collaborate with teachers around instruction and student learning is prioritized. When these activities are intentional and sustained, they create the conditions for teachers to reflect, make adjustments, and strengthen their practice. Building our calendars around such activities ensures that our time is well-spent.
 
However, it’s also true that effective coaching is opportunistic – sometimes a spontaneous hallway conversation can lead to a powerful coaching moment. Or a teacher might stop by with a question that opens the door to a much deeper conversation. A coach may notice something during a classroom visit that is worth following up on. We don’t want to eliminate that flexibility. Some of the best coaching moments may never have appeared on the calendar. The key, though, is to stay grounded in what matters most and be intentional with how time is spent. Flexibility works when it is built around clear priorities.
 
Where Does Your Coaching Time Go?
 
Because effective coaching is a blend of calendaring and acting on opportunities, it’s important to know how your time actually gets spent. So I’ve made a gift for you! If you’d like a free form that will track how you spend your time, click HERE and I’ll send you links to the form and to a video tutorial. Using this tool, you’ll end up with a nice pie chart of how your time is being used. Spending your time on what matters most is important, and knowing how you actually spend your time will help you make adjustments to increase your impact.
 
If you discover that large pieces of your “pie” are spent attending meetings, responding to email, or schoolwide responsibilities that are not directly tied to instruction, you can make adjustments so that the majority of your time is spent in the coaching activities you value most.
 
There’s no “perfect” pie chart, and the goal isn’t to eliminate every responsibility that isn’t direct coaching. Schools need coaches who contribute to the larger community, and some tasks are simply part of the job. But it’s important to prioritize high-impact coaching activities. Teachers benefit from coaching conversations, classroom visits, modeling, co-planning, and collaborative assessment work, so calendaring and protecting blocks of time for those activities is a must. Working alongside teachers to improve instruction and student learning is at the heart of your role, so your calendar should reflect that, while still leaving some room for the unexpected,
 
Teachers are eager to work with a coach when they see the impact on student learning. Student learning improves when coaches spend the majority of their time working with teachers (and planning for that work). If your schedule tends to get overloaded with other activities, consider one change you might make as the school year gets underway to make teacher interactions a bigger piece of your pie. Use the time tracker early in the year, and every so often use it again and take another look at your pie. Is there a slice of your pie that could be bigger? Your time tells a story about your coaching. What story do you want you pie chart to tell?
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

This podcast episode has ideas to help teachers start the school year feeling connected and valued:
 
https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2022/07/designing-back-to-school-for-belonging-with-dr-susie-wise.html
 
 
The power of written conversations (good for PD and classrooms!):
 
https://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2014/10/12/written-conversations/
 
 
How coaches support hesitant teachers:
 
https://learningforward.org/2026/07/07/coaches-can-go-deeper-to-support-hesitant-teachers/
 
 
Making group work more productive:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/student-group-work
 
 
Consider what you already know:
 
https://peopledevelopmentmagazine.com/2026/07/26/the-quiet-voice/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? You can find My Coaches Couch, the podcast (with different content) in your favorite podcast app or at MyCoachesCouch.podbean.com. Or check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! It’s 25% off through August 3. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!