I have been really obsessed with the book “The Checklist Manifesto.” To say it’s changed my life would be a little wild, but it has definitely changed my perspective. A lot.
One of the things that I learned about the power of checklists is that is helps us manage the cognitive load of all teachers have to handle in a day/week/month/year. I mean, we don’t need anyone to tell us that we just have TOO MUCH TO DEAL WITH.
Things gets lost in the shuffle – we forget things that we would ordinarily remember. We are running around like crazy. More is definitely not more!
Checklists help us deliver the important stuff reliably across time – I think a series of simple checklists might really be able to help us manage all that we have to do.
As I was writing a new presentation I’m giving on a webinar in few weeks, I really though about what a checklist would look like in real school life, so I’d like to share some ideas with you and see what you think! I have three to share…here is the first:
Working with/Talking with a Parent
|
1 |
Prior to call, pull any data, notes or information you need to reference |
|
2 |
Greet the parent and tell them how happy you are to talk in person/by phone |
|
3 |
Confirm the purpose of the call and let the parent know the amount of time you have for the call |
|
4 |
Encourage parent to share concern/information related to the purpose of the call |
|
5 |
Summarize what you hear the parent saying, “So, I want to make sure I understand what you’re sharing with me…” |
|
6 |
Propose 1-2 solutions to the concern or propose 1-2 next steps and have the parent choose which he feels is the best |
|
7 |
Confirm with the parent when these solution/next step will take place |
|
8 |
Compliment the parent for taking time to work with you – end on a positive |
Brilliant! I love The Checklist Manifesto, too. Good to realize that even elite doctors and pilots need reminders. We’re all limited in how much we can process at once. And who has more going on tha
This list is especially helpful. We had 1 GREAT teacher who had 2 of our kids at different times, and every teacher’s conference she neglected to tell us what was going well with our kids. I know that’s not how she thinks and she’s generally a positive person. I think it just fell off her radar. A checklist could have helped!
Amen!