Conveying and Understanding Instructions

Written on 3/10/2020. My, how times have changed (now that this is being written on 3/20/20, just a week into school closings due to COVID-19,) but I believe the idea is universal.

I have been a substitute teacher for about a month. It has been a terrific way to reenter the workforce for me, as it encompasses both my education and experience prior to being a homemaker as well as that of the last 13 years as a homemaker, parent, and youth sports coach.

Today, however, I did not get as much accomplished in the teacher’s plans as I had hoped. Perhaps the teacher, as I do in my practice plans, plan for more than we have time for and then scrap things that we simply can’t get to and put them in future plans.

Failure #1: I didn’t follow my morning routine once I had the lesson plan in hand. 

Traffic was particularly bad despite leaving as early as possible (have to get the kids up and going before I can leave the house.) Still - the moment I have the instructions in hand, I need to get out another piece of paper and start transcribing. I may as well call it translating. Instead, I simply read the instructions and hoped to remember. Ha! Fail.

Failure #2: I didn't rewrite the instructions in outline form. 

Rewriting instructions provides two main benefits to me. First, I can scan the items much easier if they are written in separate lines. When written in paragraph form, I have a hard time seeing the second or third sentence before moving on to the next paragraph. By creating an outline, I force myself to separate out each sentence and pull out the main ideas.

The second part – and perhaps more important – is that I remember what I write. For example, when I cook, I take recipes from a cookbook or online and then rewrite them on a piece of scrap paper. First, I don’t want to get my cookbook nor laptop/smartphone dirty with spatter. Second, I’ll notice details and nuances more closely, such as the doneness that should be achieved which can differ from the time given.

Rewriting the lesson plans enables me to see the objectives and nuances much more clearly and recall them in order with much greater accuracy.

Today, by failing to follow what makes me successful

1. I read the wrong books at the wrong times
2. didn’t do two lessons
3. felt guilty about perhaps setting the teacher back a day 

Perhaps she gave me more than what could realistically be accomplished, but I don’t know because I didn’t follow the one thing that makes me follow instructions successfully.