If I Knew Then...

Many years ago I was hired to be the recess coordinator for the Kindergarten and First-Graders during a summer term. A friend told me about his school district’s summer program and how easy it was to make some good summer money. Since everyone likes easy money, I filled out an application. While my friend was selected to run the pool, a small area with five staff members, I was selected run recess at the early elementary building, a big playground with no staff. Having no personal experience with kids that age, I was more than apprehensive when I headed off to the land of the little people.

The building principal held an initial faculty meeting where the daily schedule was introduced and faculty received their personal schedules and rosters. The meeting took place three days before students would swarm the halls. In the meantime, the faculty prepared lesson plans and classrooms. I wandered down to the gym to survey the facilities. I looked over the equipment; I walked outside and checked out the playground. Everything looked fine and the only real preparation I made was to jot down some basic rules for the playground. I intended to discuss these rules with students before turning them loose on the playground.   

I did survive the first day—barely. It was around ninety degrees and since I was headed to the pool, I didn’t think to take sunscreen. Water was another thing I did not consider during the three days I had to plan. The closest water fountain was inside down by the cafeteria which is way too far to let a first-grader try to find on their own. Since I was the only one on the playground, no one could get a drink. Rain rolled through the area at the end of that first week, and I was caught trying to figure out what to do with forty little kids in a way-too-small gym at the last minute, since it did not occur to me in the three days of preparation I had to plan for such a situation.

The principal made rounds during that first week to see how the faculty was getting along, whether anyone needed anything or not. She did this individually. When she made it to the gym we were enjoying a rainy day inside. The kids were competing in a relay race with jump ropes and basketballs. Between classes she agreed to purchase two water coolers for the playground as well as some sunscreen for me. She readily agreed to purchase the stuff because she had something else to pitch to me. After two days of chaos in the cafeteria she decided she needed some extra help, and would I be willing to do it. She said she could swing a little extra money since I would not have a break all day long if I agreed to help. She would also throw in a free school lunch.

Although I ate lunch for free all summer, I never did get any extra money. Looking back now, and knowing what I know about Project Management, if I had approached that summer school job like it was a project, there are several things I would do differently to make it more of a success. Several factors that would fall under the Scope Creep category occurred that summer making the job very difficult. Dr. Budrovich’s (2011) advice to always get changes in writing is the first thing that comes to mind. Although the principal said she would find extra money to use for my additional cafeteria supervision, there was nothing in writing to make it a binding contract. Additionally, Portny et al. (2008) advises Project Managers to think about a project’s life cycle, considering things that need to take place and/or can take place during the conceive, define, start, perform, and close phases. Portny et al. (2008) and Stolovitch (2011) encourage the use of a risk management chart of some kind in order to keep track of potential issues that could disrupt a project’s momentum. The really hot days and the rainy days come to mind. Perhaps if I had charted out what each day of recess looked like, I would have anticipated and planned accordingly for days we would have to be inside. Even mapping out the playground would have helped me stay organized with where kids would be playing which games, not to mention it may have helped identify the need for closer water. It is impressive, however, to think of how the principal that summer utilized what Portny et al. (2008) and Stolovitch (2011) stress about maintaining consistent communication during the life of a project. The principal held an initial face-to-face meeting to explain our purpose and define the scope of our project. She distributed a document that described our roles and responsibilities. She made face-to-face follow-up visits just after kicking off the project to see if there was anything anyone needed.  

References

Budrovich, V. (2011). “Practitioner Voices: You Can’t Win Them All.” Video Program.

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., & Sutton, M. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken: NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Stolovitch, H. (2011). “Monitoring Projects.” Video Program.