How do I find time for classroom visits as a busy principal?
You won't find time. You have to make it. That's not a motivational cliché — it's the practical reality. There's a well-known principle that says work expands to fill the time available for it. If you don't schedule classroom visits, everything else will consume your day.
The approach that works is scheduling short blocks — 10 to 30 minutes — throughout your day, and scheduling more of them than you think you'll need. If you want to complete three visits and you know that about half your blocks will get interrupted, you need six blocks on your calendar. It's simple math, but most leaders have never done the calculation.
The other half of the equation is reducing the interruptions that pull you out of classrooms. Most of what feels urgent can actually wait five or ten minutes. Having a direct conversation with your staff about what constitutes a true emergency — and what can wait — is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make.
I walk through a complete scheduling system in Now We're Talking!, Day 6.
From the Book
Now We’re Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership
About the Author
Justin Baeder, PhD
Justin Baeder, PhD is Director of The Principal Center, where he helps senior leaders in K–12 organizations build capacity for instructional leadership. A former principal in Seattle Public Schools, he is the creator of the Instructional Leadership Challenge, which has helped more than 10,000 school leaders in 50 countries around the world:
- Confidently get into classrooms every day
- Have feedback conversations that change teacher practice
- Discover their best opportunities for school improvement
Dr. Baeder directs the Instructional Leadership Association, the premiere professional membership for school leaders, and is the author of three Solution Tree books on instructional leadership:
- Now We’re Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership
- Mapping Professional Practice: How to Develop Instructional Frameworks to Support Teacher Growth (with Heather Bell-Williams)
- Cultivate and Activate: Building Teacher Capacity for Instructional Leadership (with Keith Fickel)
Justin is the host of Principal Center Radio, a long-running audio podcast featuring more than 400 education thought leaders and more than 500 books, as well as The Teaching Show and The Eduleadership Show. A prolific education commentator, he has more than 250,000 followers and 30,000,000 annual impressions on social media, and is frequently consulted by major media outlets on issues of education research, policy, and practice.
As a consultant, trainer, and speaker, Dr. Baeder has worked onsite with groups across the US, Canada, and Central America, and virtually with groups across the Middle East, Australia, and around the world. He is a frequent speaker at conferences, and regularly provides administrator professional development on classroom walkthroughs, teacher evaluation, and instructional leadership.
He holds a PhD in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies from the University of Washington and an MEd in Curriculum & Instruction from Seattle University, and is a graduate of the Danforth Program for Educational Leadership at UW.