Clinical Skills Confidence: Collaboration with Teachers
It’s been a little bit since I’ve done a Clinical Skills Confidence post, but this is an area that I feel like I’ve definitely gotten much better at this in the past years. If you’re a CF or you’re new to a school this year, I’m sharing my 5 best tips.
- A lot of people will tell you to eat lunch in the faculty lunch room. If you can work this into your schedule and want to do it, that’s great! But I have never been able to because I do my billing during my lunch and to me, it’s more important to get out on time to get my daughter from daycare. If you can find a way to make this work though, do it.
- Use the copy room to your advantage. Teachers are always in the copy room. Use it as a place to introduce yourself, strike up conversation, etc.
- Make yourself visible. Stop by the classrooms. Do this when the kids are there and when they’re not. It’s how I’ve formed relationships with many of my teachers. You don’t even have to talk about work – I’ve asked about family, kids, hobbies, etc.
- Email often. It might take awhile for teachers to really know who you are at first. Email is great to ask quick questions, find out how students are doing in the classroom, and get input for goals. I always email the general education teacher (and special education teacher if the student has one) to discuss new speech/language goals.
- Be approachable. Remind teachers that if they are concerned about a student that your door is always open. Now that this is my 6th year at my school, teachers feel comfortable coming to me to ask about a student. They also sometimes just stop in to chat, which I love!
It takes time to integrate into a new school. I’ve been at lots of different schools so far in my career, and I also approach it the same way. Be open, be friendly, but also be firm with you need to be (I’m talking scheduling here!!!). You have so much knowledge to share and it will become apparent as you get to know staff. It’s definitely an overwhelming task in the beginning, but I promise that if you put forth some effort, it will pay off in the end!