When school administrators leave home in the morning, they have no idea what they will face during the school day. The responsibilities related to running a school are many and varied, with issues requiring immediate attention often popping up unexpectedly. Research indicates principals mainly affect student learning through their work to shape teacher attitudes and behavior, especially in instructional practices. This means conducting classroom observations and providing feedback to teachers is arguably the most important responsibility for a principal.

The Network for Educator Effectiveness recommends each teacher receive 6-10 classroom observations each school year. This recommendation is based on many studies confirming that frequent classroom observations with timely, objective feedback and effective coaching are the key to achieving instructional improvement. So, how can principals get out of the office and make those observations happen?

Understand your goals

The first step is to determine which teachers need only six observations and which may need more. Many of the teachers in the building are likely to be on track and already possess an acceptable level of instructional skills. With those teachers, classroom observations and feedback support their efforts to hone their instructional skills. The rest of the teachers fall into one of three categories: those you need more chances to observe due to lingering questions about their instructional skills, those who you already know need improvement, and those you have serious concerns about. These groups of teachers are the ones who need additional visits.

Develop a ‘time budget’

Once you have a clear goal in mind of how many observations you need to complete during the year, you can map out a plan for fitting them into the schedule. For help in sticking to your plan, we need to look to time management experts. Let’s begin with developing the mindset necessary to manage time. Every minute of your time is important and has a cost. Create a budget for your time and stick to it, just like you do for school finances. First, figure out which tasks will help you meet your big goals and prioritize time for them. Next, consider the tasks that are required but perhaps don’t leverage those big goals. Try to delegate some of those tasks or complete them satisfactorily but as efficiently as possible. Although operational issues can’t be ignored, they can be prioritized behind tasks that are associated with instructional leadership.

When creating a time budget, it is important to guard your time but recognize there will be unavoidable interruptions. Always include some wiggle room in your schedule and remember that most of us overestimate how many tasks we will be able to complete in a day. Try to use the 1-3-5 rule of planning that claims a regular human can only accomplish 1 big task, 3 medium tasks, and 5 small tasks in one day.

Delegating is often difficult for good leaders. Many highly effective leaders feel that if something is going to be done right, they must do it. Try to recognize the difference between having things done the right way and having them done your way. Allow others to help you. Your teachers and assistants may welcome opportunities to take on leadership responsibilities. You can correct anything that is not completed accurately, but accept that things done differently from the way you would have done them are not necessarily wrong. Developing the mindset that your time is too valuable to waste on non-priorities and that you must devote as much time as possible to tasks that improve learning for students will go a long way toward freeing you to focus on the important work of a principal.

Create the system to meet your goals

Setting a goal to complete a specific number of classroom observations during the school year is easy. Breaking that goal down into the number you need to complete each week is also easy. Those are simple math problems. The hard part involves creating a system that will help you meet that goal. An effective system can begin with imagining what might cause you to fail – and then planning to overcome those obstacles before they can occur.

Another system component involves making tiny changes that can add up in a big way over time. This might mean setting out to complete one classroom observation before lunch every day rather than focusing on the big goal of 6-10 observations per teacher. Next, that tiny change needs to become a habit. For example, to complete that one observation every morning, make it obvious. Select the teacher you will observe the next day and set out what you will need before you leave each day. When you arrive at school, your first order of business is right there in front of you. Stacking a new behavior on top of one that is already firmly ingrained can help the new behavior become a habit. In other words, if you make time to grab a cup of coffee every morning around 10 a.m., try going out for your first classroom observation at 9:45 and get the cup of coffee when you complete it. Before long, the two behaviors will be paired in your thought processes and behavior.

A developing habit can be encouraged by making the desired behavior easier to do than to skip. By getting your laptop or tablet ready to go for observations first thing in the morning and setting it on your chair, it becomes easier to go out and do the observation than to regroup to do something else. Finally, making the new behavior satisfying can encourage its repetition. Many people find habit tracking to be very satisfying. It’s as simple as putting an X on the calendar every day that you complete a morning observation. Before long, you’ll find that you don’t want to interfere with the streak of Xs you have going. The longer you continue your streak, the better you feel about your instructional leadership. Your new habit becomes a part of your identity and is much more likely to become a lifestyle change.

One hurdle all humans face is overcoming impatience. It takes time for new behaviors to become habits and for habits to pay off in results. We must stick with the changed behavior long enough for its effect to become apparent in our results. However, experts tell us that if you have worked on a habit for 30 days straight, and it doesn’t seem to be sticking, you might need to tweak the system you are using.

Of course, one tiny change may not be enough to help you meet your overall goal. To do that, you may need to complete more than one observation before lunch each day. And there will undoubtedly be some days where none are accomplished at all. Experts recommend that after establishing the “one before lunch” habit, you might increase the number to two before lunch, etc. Experts also recommend when a day is missed and your streak is broken, that you get right back to the habit as quickly as possible. It’s best to miss no more than one day of a new habit.

Find a to-do list that works for you

In addition to creating a system and developing habitual behaviors that support your goal, we can borrow some tips and tricks from time management experts. For example, finding a to-do list that works for you can be a great asset in getting things done. There are many styles and formats both in print and electronic. Try out several until you hit on one or a combination of methods that work for you. Regardless of the method you use, experts agree on a few recommendations:

  1. Your to-do list, calendar, and habit trackers should all be kept in one place.
  2. The weekly setup should allow all appointments to be viewed at a glance with space for the items to be accomplished during the week and space for long-term or next items.
  3. Tasks can be marked as complete but should still appear on the list so you can refer back to them as needed.
  4. It can be helpful to be able to insert blank pages for taking notes or reorganizing when necessary.
  5. Some work-based online tools are shared between colleagues. You may want a personal tool that allows you to track everything that applies to you personally and use the shared tool only for shared projects.

Follow time management best practices

These additional time management suggestions seem especially appropriate for school administrators and their work:

Email

  • Schedule a time for email. Don’t look at it at other times of the day. Let people know your schedule so they’ll know when to expect a response.
  • Set up email folders. Today for items that will take longer to answer than you have at the present. Clear this once per day. Later for items you’d like to read more carefully but that won’t require a response. Work on this folder as time permits. If possible, pass on items that someone else can take care of by forwarding the message.
  • Create email templates. Create an email message with blanks to be filled in for messages you find yourself typing over and over. Save it as a draft, and when you need it, just copy, paste, and fill in the blanks.
  • Use one email account for all important communications. Maintain a different account you use to give your email address to vendors, websites, etc. You can safely check that one occasionally and probably trash it all.

To-do lists

  • Keep a single to-do list so you aren’t chasing down random sticky notes.
  • Have your administrative assistant create a list each day of phone calls, messages, requests, etc. Set a time (or two) each day for the list to be passed on to you. Unless it is a true emergency, you can deal with these all in a chunk just as you do email.
  • Make sure items on your to-do list leverage your goals.
  • Stop organizing your to-do list and get started doing the things on it.

Pomodoro Technique

  • Many people swear by the Pomodoro technique recommending you break work into chunks of 25 minutes followed by a 5-minute break. You set a timer for 25 minutes and get as much of one task done during the 25 minutes as possible. The slight stress of the timer may help you focus on the task and avoid distractions for 25 minutes. If you don’t have 25 minutes, use 15 or 20. The idea is still the same – focused work for a set period.
  • Find your golden hours, the period of the day when you are most productive. If you are a morning person, consider getting an early start to tackle those items that need your best thinking. Not fully alert until after 10 a.m.? Then start your morning another way and make time for focused work later in the day.
  • Reward yourself. Take a quick walk around the building or engage in another activity that rests your brain and re-energizes you when you have completed a period of focused work. Research shows people who take short breaks are far more productive than those who work longer. The best ratio is 52 minutes of work followed by 17 minutes of rest. The most productive people in the study got away from their desks during the rest period instead of checking email, etc.

Schedule

  • Clear up all small tasks left from earlier in the week on Friday so you can enjoy your weekend and hit the bigger projects first thing Monday morning.
  • Schedule time for your family. Often if it is not written on the schedule, it never happens. Conversely, if it is on the schedule, it is more likely to take place.
  • Create a habit of checking your plan for the day first thing in the morning. People who do so are much more likely to report feeling that their time at work is productive and that they leave work feeling that the day was successful. People who check their email and voicemail first thing in the morning report feeling the opposite.
  • It can be helpful to schedule the times that you plan to regularly be out in the building visiting classrooms. Let your administrative assistant know this time is not to be interrupted for anything less than a true emergency.
  • Develop a signal for faculty such as an open/closed office door. When the door is open, they are welcome to interrupt. When the door is closed, interruptions should only be for things that can’t wait. Teachers feel that the principal is available, but a boundary is established for times when it is needed.

Say No

  • If saying no is hard for you, try using a response that lays the blame on your goals. For example, if someone asks for help in planning an event for a very worthy charity, you may know that you just don’t have the time, but you still have trouble turning down this worthy cause. Try saying, “I would love to say yes; it’s a great organization. However, my priority right now has to be X.” If it will be possible, you can add, that you will plan to attend, make a donation, publicize the event in the school newsletter, etc.

Meetings

  • Limit the number and length of meetings. We tend to hold meetings because it is the 1st Tuesday of the month rather than only when a meeting is necessary. Meetings also tend to last exactly one hour whether necessary or not. Try changing that with your faculty meetings. If you only have some information to disseminate, use email or record it so they can watch it at their leisure.
  • Use a Pecha Kucha (PK) method for sharing reports at meetings. Each report gets one slide (a picture with a few words) and the person can talk for 20 seconds. At the 20-second mark, the slide switches to black, and you pause for a few seconds to see if there are any questions or comments. Not everything can be explained in 20 seconds. If a longer report is needed, send it out before the meeting. During the meeting, the 20-second PK summary can be followed by questions. If a slide generates several questions, the topic is added to the discussion section of the agenda. Don’t get bogged down during reports.

Professional Learning

  • Staying current on effective instructional practices also requires a good deal of an administrator’s time.
  • Blogs, journals, and newsletters all bring the latest in research and instructional practice right to the computer screen. By keeping a file of email to read when time permits, you can quickly access the materials while in waiting rooms, standing in line, and waiting to pick up the kids from soccer practice. Reading time is limited, so be selective about the sources that are included in your “To be read” folder.
  • Although it can be tempting to do some catching up while teachers are involved in professional development activities in the building, try to participate with them instead. This is the best way to learn what teachers are thinking about and what they are trying in their classrooms. Learning along with teachers allows the principal to contribute to the discussions and be seen as a member of the instructional team. It also emphasizes the importance of the learning.
  • Focus on evidence-based practices. If teachers get sidetracked by unproven or disproven strategies, the principal should be the leader who brings the train back on track. Alignment of curriculum, research-based instructional practices, formative assessment, and meeting standards are the broad areas that should be the focus of professional learning, practice, and instructional improvement.
  • Use data to guide the selection of the PD topics your faculty will pursue and the school’s improvement effort goals.
  • Encourage continuous learning and experimentation. Teachers will never know if a practice will be effective for them unless they try it. Not every experiment will be successful. The important thing is that the teachers try and that the administrators reward risk-taking.

Managing school operations can keep a principal behind schedule and stuck inside the office even though we know conducting frequent classroom observations is one of the most important things they can do to influence the quality of the instruction provided to students. Remember, you can’t manage time, but you can manage your use of it! The methods are simple, but they must be used consistently if they are going to work. Start with one or two of the suggestions mentioned in this article, and then build on more. At NEE, we encourage administrators to be focused on the tasks that can make the biggest difference for students, including:

  • Working with teachers to identify instructional practices to be focused on, strengthened, and used regularly.
  • Conducting frequent observations to look for those strategies in classroom instruction.
  • Providing timely feedback to teachers about their use of instructional strategies.
  • Encouraging peer observation and self-evaluation through video to provide more frequent support.

We hope you come away with at least one new idea or strategy to try. And, as always, if we can support you with any of your NEE implementation goals, we are only a phone call or email away. You can reach the NEE Help Desk at 844-793-4357 or nee@missouri.edu. We are always here to help!

The Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) is a simple yet powerful comprehensive system for educator evaluation that helps educators grow, students learn, and schools improve. Developed by preK-12 practitioners and experts at the University of Missouri, NEE brings together classroom observation, student feedback, teacher curriculum planning, and professional development as measures of effectiveness in a secure online portal designed to promote educator growth and development.