This week’s tip: Reconcile.
Reconciling your TimeTrack is a bedrock part of a SAM Daily Meeting. When you first started the SAM process, your Implementation Specialist asked you to use these questions for each event:
• Did you do it? (Any time changes?)
• Is there any splitting or change in the category of Management/Instruction/etc. and/or the Descriptor?
• Are there appropriate associations in place? Any changes, including deletions for those absent?
• Is there follow up? What can I schedule for you?
After implementation some teams continue to ask each of these questions, pretty much word for word, for every single event. That’s fine. It is likely, though, that over time, you may use verbal shortcuts- like saying the name of the event and then saying “This okay as
is?” or “Changes?” You may not ask the follow up question at all sometimes - especially for
repeating events like “Daily Start”, “Lunch Duty” or others. Sometimes principals engage before the reconcile questions are asked - jumping in and saying what they want changed or
done. Some principals text their SAM throughout the day requests for follow-up and reconciling events.
One question a lot of SAMs use at the end of a Daily Meeting is: Is there anything else you would like me to record or add for you on your TimeTrack? Some SAMs will add a phrase like, “Is there any follow up we missed?”
All of these variations of the SAM Daily Meeting are fine—especially if they allow for a little more reflective practice.