Being an Internship Supervisor: Snow Days and Last Sessions and Just Getting Finished!

I have a suspicion that tomorrow will be our first snow day of the season, and I have an intern who needs to finish up hours before graduating on Wednesday. I do not want to extend the internship again, so I am planning on being present during our snow day, even if I have to spend the night in my office rather than driving home. I am currently sitting here, waiting to take my shower and head out because I do not want to get to work too early, especially since I am planning on staying there for the entire night. Right now, there is only one school district in the area we serve that has closed - on one website - all of the others are not registering any closings that affect my clients.

I get an incentive to show up on inclement weather days - an additional day off to use when I need it. I will add this upcoming snow day to my sick time so I can have some more of that time.

My intern is expected to graduate on Wednesday. We need 26 more hours to reach the 1020 hours needed by AMTA and my program, and I do not want to extend the internship time again. So, I will be asking my intern to accompany me on tomorrow's expected inclement weather day.

On snow days, we offer 30 minute music therapy sessions for every classroom. It is a long, tiring day, but it is also lots of fun. I pull out games and TMEs that we don't do often because snow days are supposed to be fun days. Sometimes we play baseball with paddle drums and squishy balls. Sometimes we watch videos and play cards. Other times, we have silly task Olympics. There isn't much that has to be therapeutic on snow days, but it always is. We emphasize the idea that all the students who live at home get to sleep in, relax, and not do school work, so our students deserve that privilege as well. I have enjoyed these days in the past, and I am kinda looking forward to tomorrow because of it all.

Interns have not always been able to join me on these days, but when they do, they get a glimpse into some of the challenges of having a residential population. We have to be very flexible on these days because everyone comes to music therapy - not just the students that are on the schedule. This means that some classes will get more music therapy than they are scheduled for while others get less time with us. 

If we have multiple snow days in a row, we tend to all be really cranky. We have had one stretch of five days of snow days at one point, and I hope to NEVER have to do THAT again!! It was difficult to keep our residents engaged in anything at all with that snow day attitude stretching for an entire week. Let's hope that doesn't happen this time around. One or two snow days are pretty easy to navigate, but more than that in a row are just frustrating on so many levels.

For now, though, it is time to take my shower, gather my sleeping bags, and get ready for a long evening. As long as the power is on, I have things to do and stuff that I can work on. I have food to eat and water to drink, so I am set. Have a good day, all. See you when I see you!