Organization and Systems from a Traveling Coach with Laura Williams, Ep. 69 Buzzing with Ms. B: The Coaching Podcast

How can you stay organized if you’re an instructional coach who travels to different campuses?

On this episode of the Coaching Podcast, I’m joined Laura Williams of Down River Resources. She’s a traveling coach for rural school districts.

During the interview, we talk about how she stays organized and focused while working at multiple schools. She shares the strategies she uses to communicate and follow up with teachers even though she doesn’t see them every day.

There are two essential tools Laura uses most in her work – a notebook and a calendar. These simple tools are also useful for collaborating with the administrative team and as a log for documentation.

As we all know, instructional coaches have a lot of responsibilities. Things can slip through the cracks, even if you write them down. To help overcome this, Laura uses “pause points” to stay on target and follow up with teachers. These are times when she is intentional about looking at her calendar and notebook to make sure important things don’t get missed.

Coaches often neglect their basic needs because they are so busy. During our chat, we discuss how to create a schedule and why you need to include your lunchtime. Laura also explains how she schedules mind breaks to help her stay attentive until the end of the day.

She describes her systems including the must-have items she keeps in her car and how she organizes her digital files. In addition, Laura explains what a “focus folder” is and how to set them up using only a manilla folder and post-it notes.

Laura shares tons of suggestions about what you can do to stay organized and increase student achievement. You’ll want to listen to it more than once and take notes.

Ready to listen? You can listen below with the media player, or search for Buzzing with MS. B: The Coaching Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts!