Scheduling Nightmare... OVER!

Administrative tasks are some of the most frustrating for me, but they are necessary evils if you want to be a therapist. It is important to know how to make a budget, how to organize your materials so you can use them, how to repair materials, and how to schedule your time. This week's task was scheduling not only my time but the time of three other departments...

This should have been an easy task, but people made it SO much more difficult than it had to be. First of all, we did not have a meeting where everyone was present. Secondly, people who were supposed to pass on information to the entire team did not do so. Third, we had lots of difficulty with people who absolutely refused to consider the changes that others needed for the good of the team.

Being a good team member is an important administrative skill.

I gave up lots of the things that I wanted (and still think I need) in order to get the most effective schedule, but it was important to do so in order to get something that works for us all. Next year I will be running sessions at varying start times because the art therapist needs time in between groups to reset her room and get her supplies organized. So, instead of having group times that start on the hour, I will have sessions that start at 10:45 and end at 11:45. It will take some time to get used to, but it is the new reality. I also have to change my session duration for four classes because the others do not feel that they can keep the students' attention for more than 30 minutes. Okay. It means less actual therapy, but the students in question are my more concrete processors, so we don't do lots of verbal processing of the music experience anyway. It will take some getting used to, but it will be worth it in the long run.

One of the things that I have to remember in all of this is that I am not the only one who has to make changes to accommodate the wishes of others. We all have made sacrifices in order to support the vision of our principals of our "new school."

Our school is moving into a "Pod" format - something that other schools here do. Kids are assigned to a "Pod" and do all of their subjects, electives, and daily tasks within the "Pod." Our schedules are changing to accommodate the request of our administrators to provide the teachers in each "Pod" some common planning time so they can meet with each other during the day. So, every student in a "Pod" will be doing some special service each and every day. All of the high school aged kids will be in something from 10:45-11:45 Monday through Thursday. Fridays will be special interest group days.

I was disappointed at the beginning of this week about my dashed hopes for a drastic change in schedule, but I feel better now that I know what may happen during the next school year. Of course, the way things go, all of this work may not actually happen, but we have a beginning...

 

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