1. 📋 Create a checklist for student visits.
Here's a great summer task: Create a template checklist for your student shadow day visits.
Don't recreate the wheel each time you host students. Your checklist will be helpful whether you're hosting a group shadow day or individual visits.
How to get started? I'm so glad you asked. Keep reading ⬇️
1. Plot out all of the steps that go into a student visit. (For this purpose, I'm imagining an individual shadow day, but you'll adjust for your school's needs).
- Send out student visitor interest form 2 weeks before the student visit to get a sense of visitor interests
- Look for schedule match-ups to visitor interests
- Select host buddy
- Email host buddy
- Confirm with host buddy the night before
- Contact teachers to alert them they'll have a student visitor
- Confirm with teachers the day before
- Send a calendar invite to administrators with visitor information
- Etc.
2. Create a template with these tasks. You may want to organize by what needs to happen chronoligically, or by department you'll be working with.
3. Make a copy and create a fresh list for each student visit. Small things make a big difference. Do this once, and you will feel organized the entire season.
Bonus points: Get the input of administrators and teachers on what they wish you would do differently to help them partner with you for these visit days. (You may have to wait a few weeks until faculty return, but that's ok. Get started now, and you can adjust later). Getting their input will be helpful in tightening up your planning, and will make them feel heard. I like a win-win.
