Administrative Tasks
I find it interesting that most interns do not seem to understand what an administrative task looks like. As the AIAC chair, I don't think I am leaking a big secret when I say that interns regularly score their Internship Directors and Supervising Music Therapists the lowest on teaching administrative tasks during internships. I find this tied to an unclear definition of "administrative tasks (ATs)."
Yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time with my two interns teaching them about scheduling (AT). I demonstrated my process in a way that would be easy for them to see. I placed the names of all 93 students on sticky notes (I LOVE super-sticky post-its in all types of colors and sizes!) and placed the names on the cabinets in the music room. I then took a large piece of paper, divided it into four sections (lessons, small group, individual and ???), and asked my interns to place each child in a place on the paper. They had to place all kids in the category where they fit the best - the ??? category was reserved for kids that were new and unknown to us.
After all kids had been sorted, we started talking about prioritizing students based on interest, need, and goals. We grouped students together, we talked about pairings, we arranged our dream groups, and then set off to finish the schedule.
Aaah, scheduling - a never-ending process of negotiation, rearranging, and compromising (all on my part) to get the kids that I want together together in the music room.
During this entire process, I kept reinforcing the concept that scheduling is an administrative task - as well as session planning, staff meetings, advocacy for music therapy, and marketing. We shall see how my interns rate me on teaching administrative skills!
Yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time with my two interns teaching them about scheduling (AT). I demonstrated my process in a way that would be easy for them to see. I placed the names of all 93 students on sticky notes (I LOVE super-sticky post-its in all types of colors and sizes!) and placed the names on the cabinets in the music room. I then took a large piece of paper, divided it into four sections (lessons, small group, individual and ???), and asked my interns to place each child in a place on the paper. They had to place all kids in the category where they fit the best - the ??? category was reserved for kids that were new and unknown to us.
After all kids had been sorted, we started talking about prioritizing students based on interest, need, and goals. We grouped students together, we talked about pairings, we arranged our dream groups, and then set off to finish the schedule.
Aaah, scheduling - a never-ending process of negotiation, rearranging, and compromising (all on my part) to get the kids that I want together together in the music room.
During this entire process, I kept reinforcing the concept that scheduling is an administrative task - as well as session planning, staff meetings, advocacy for music therapy, and marketing. We shall see how my interns rate me on teaching administrative skills!
Comments
Post a Comment