There's been a number of procedural snags this year--snags that call for new routines and ways of doing things. As I noted before I had a terrific teaching assistant last year that helped me with all the procedural aspects of teaching and learning. This year it's just me so I have to make changes so that I can do this work on my own and take care of the 25 students in front of me too.
The first step is to identify the time to follow-up with students for the many notices that I collect. Young children don't always remember to deliver a notice to their families or then return it to the class. Reminding and following up is part of the job. I also have to make time to complete the many paper work forms and follow the many directions that accompany those forms. I'm trying to set aside time every morning to do those tasks. It's not simple on top of the many curriculum materials I have to prepare, emails to answer, and meetings to attend and lead, yet it must be done.
Further, there's a bit of follow up that needs to happen to bring any event or paperwork full circle and I have to do that too. I was definitely spoiled last year by having a top notch teaching assistant who truly did help out with all the procedural matters related to running a classroom. This year I need to update routines to reflect the fact that it's only me. I'll think about the needed changes this weekend.
