I ran across a neat blog by Karl Fisch about customer service. He had a video from David Pogue’s blog. Now, I usually don’t watch too many videos for a variety of reasons but I did this one.
Now, Karl goes on to talk about customer service in his school:
I’m still the first line of defense – and the only person on-site tasked with this. My high school has about 2,150 students and 150+ staff members, so about 2,300 end users – with about 570 of them new each year. We have just over 750 computers, 50 or so printers, 75 or so LCD Projectors, and a variety of other peripherals such as scanners, digital cameras, camcorders, etc. We have the usual assortment of software, ranging from Microsoft Office to Geometer’s Sketchpad to Audacity, and I also help support our student information system (Infinite Campus). If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know that I also do a little bit of staff development as well.
I’ve been reading Karl’s posts and his videos are great. So why to I bring this up with a ridiculous title?
As an administrator in a small school of 208 students in a community of 1200 people in rural Saskatchewan, I don’t come across nearly as many people or the problems that Karl will have. Yet, I know that I need to serve each of my “customers” with great care and pay special attention to their needs. In fact, with fewer people, the errors can become even more apparent because so many people notice them. Now, I do some of the technical assistance in the school and I tend to be the “go to” person when it comes to use of software and such. I know that the best way to help a person with a computer related problem is to work through it with them so they might fix it themselves the next time. However, like Karl,
Too often I find myself just trying to solve the problem quickly myself, instead of helping the student or staff member learn how to solve the problem themselves. And as more and more tech “stuff” has come into the building, I’ve done a worse and worse job of serving my “customers” – I’ve given them a fish (Fisch?) instead of teaching them how to fish. This is particularly ironic considering my constructivist leanings.
Like Karl, I too have very constructivist beliefs about education yet, in the business of the day, it is sometimes easier to fix things oneself. That is where the pitfall is – easy.
Learning, as I have come to see it, isn’t about being easy – it is about expanding ideas and understandings and then using them in unique ways. Up until recently, I was on the “easy” path with technology, fixing and not showing, using and not sharing. This left my “showing” side with points (30) while the “teaching/assisting/helping” side wasn’t doing very well (0). How did I change this? Serve(d)
Now, I’ve found that by taking the time to work with whomever is having trouble or needing assistance and showing/assisting/teaching, I am developing staff who are willing to take risks, use technology and seek out new opportunities. By helping students and teaches to see applications and places for the use of these tools, I am encouraging a shift. Where before, I would get frustrated with having to do something “again”, now I ask what they have done to help themselves – for them to show me.
Unlike Karl, I have the luxury of smaller numbers which has allowed me to shift how I work. This type of thinking has moved into many of the areas of my administration. I know that if I empower people and help them to with understanding and let them create, things will develop and grow. The hard part? It takes time. And time! This is where our schools may need to be counter cultural and in doing so, be more willing to embrace and use the technologies that are available. It takes more time to show/ assist / teach. Could it be that what we were doing in school before wasn’t completely teaching? Or not the teaching that sticks? As we look at what schools need to be doing, we need to also look at what it means to teach and adjust accordingly. It is possible depending on how you serve.
I’ve been tagged by Lynn over at Learning. Goals – what do I have? Actually, I had to go Donald Taylor’s blog to see what he did. This led me to Ev Nucci’s blog where I found a series of very well explained goals. For those of you new into blogging, this is how you find new ideas and things to read. See, on Ev’s blog was the blog link to the person who started the meme plus the link to the person who tagged her. So, from this meme, I now have 3 new people to check out and see what they are doing. From them, who knows how many other blogs I’ll come across to which I will subscribe.
So, here is what I found to be the “official” rules for this meme:
I’m calling this one “Gotta’ Get Goals” to stay with our theme, and here are the official rules:
1) In a new blog post, list and write about the top 5 to 10 goals that you gotta’ get so that you can truly say you have achieved your wildest dreams in life. These have to be your best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals that you can pick off your goals list. (I know I’ve previously said Do Not Share Your Goals, but we’re making an exception!)
2) In the introduction of your post, explain what you’re doing with the Gotta’ Get Goals project and “put a link and/or a trackback to this post”, for the purpose of giving them the full rules and for me to compile the master list of all participants that I’ll link to in a future post.
3) As with Simply Success Secrets, don’t forget to put a link or trackback to the blogger who tagged you for Gotta’ Get Goals in order to let your readers follow the conversation around.
4) Sharing your Gotta’ Get Goals with your own audience, will also share them with the blogger who tagged you and the bloggers you tagged, as well as their whole audience!
5) There is no limit to how many bloggers you are allowed to “tag”, so go crazy. It will help their exposure as well as your own when they tag back to your Gotta Get Goals post. That’s how meme’s work.
6) Sit back and enjoy the show. As Aaron would say, “watch the [gotta get goals] and the crossover audiences start rolling in!
Now, there are 10 goals that are listed plus a bunch of blogs that I will be visiting in the near future. That’s the great thing about memes!
So, my Gotta Get Goals! listed in no particular order.
1. Laugh – at myself, with friends, with my children, with students, with whomever I can. In the work that I do, it is important to have a sense of humour and not to take oneself too seriously. In fact, messing up and then laughing at it can be a great way to demonstrate your humanness.
2. Pray – daily. With my children and on my own. Make this a priority in my life.
3. Fitness – staying “in shape” so that I can participate with my children in all sorts of activities and be able to enjoy an active lifestyle later in life.
4. Continue Learning – each day be open to learning something new. Seek out new ideas and ways of doing things. Be actively involved in my own learning, not waiting passively waiting for someone to “do it to me!”
5. Enjoy each day – take time to look at the apple blossoms. Life speeds by and unless one makes a commitment to appreciating what is around, it is gone all too soon.
6. Spend time with my children – enjoy them, whatever stage of life they are at. Be with them not worrying about something that is grown-up. See the world from their perspective or at least try.
7. Listen – to people. Develop a sensitivity to hear what is not being said as well as what is being said. Hear past the words and practice letting my feelings go so they don’t overwhelm what is being said.
8. Career – Superintendent. This wasn’t one of my goals when I started. I really wasn’t sure what my goals were then. Now, I see that change in some areas needs to be supported from central office positions. The change doesn’t have to be initiated from top down but needs support in these key areas. Nothing against current people in these positions but it is time to look beyond what we are doing.
9. Travel – learn by doing and seeing. I’ve just begun to travel internationally in the last few years. I spent 19 days in England 3 years ago and it was fabulous especially since I spent it with my wife with no children! I look forward to traveling to different places. I realize that these destinations don’t have to be exotic or far away but can be close to home. The whole idea is to go, see and participate.
10. Eat/drink healthy – what can I say. This is something that just makes like that much better. I don’t want to become a slave to my diet but I do realize that there are things that I need to do to help myself.
There they are in black and white. I have specifically tried to look at things wholistically. We sometimes just focus on goals for work, which are fine but they shouldn’t dominate our lives.
As I was on my way to school this morning, I was admiring all the trees in blossom. I especially like the trees with the bright pink blossoms – I think they’re an apple tree but I’m not really sure. Anyway, I had a team meeting and really should have been hurrying to get there but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a few moments to slow down and appreciate the beauty of the trees. Now, a few years ago, I wouldn’t have noticed them at all. I’d have been focused on getting to the meeting, hurrying along my way. So what changed? Well, how I look at my role and how I view my job are what has changed. So, instead of focusing on just one aspect of the job, I now try to see things in relation to the whole picture.
Well, first off, when we finally all were at the meeting, I shared my experience of how beautiful the blossoms looked and how I wished that they would be around longer. This led to a conversation about the planting we are doing at the school, what some of the grade 1, 2, & 3 classes are doing and growing and what ideas some of the teachers have for further beautification projects. We also talked about how we might build our own greenhouse and have the students grow things. On this upbeat note, we began our team meeting about students who, for some reason, are not doing well and what we might do to help. We talked about adaptations and what might be the best way to assist each student. It was much easier to be upbeat and positive after having discussed the topic of plants and growing. The teachers were in the frame of mind of growing and bettering things and this carried over to the discussion about students.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve read a post or two about principals’ beginning their first jobs and things to keep in mind. I suppose that, after 5 years as an administrator, I could give a few of my own. However, the rules of the job are pretty laid out in some document somewhere. The greatest thing to remember is that this job is, number one, about people. It’s about those students that come into the building each day and their well being and learning. We need to take care of both or the learning won’t happen.
So, like the blossoms on those trees, these students won’t be with us for very long. We have to enjoy them while they are here, encourage them to grow and blossom so that, after they leave, they can bear fruit. So, I kind of see myself as the head gardener with a great group of specialists working in my garden. Not all of them know everything about gardening but, together, they have the knowledge to help cultivate a great orchard of trees. However, they won’t get to see the fruit of their labour because as soon as the trees get ready to bear fruit, they’ll have another group with which to work.
My advice to all those people starting is to be sure to spend time admiring those blossoms. Take time to enjoy them and watch them for their days are short but without them, no tree bears fruit. And take time to walk around, to see the beauty that surrounds you and use that in your discussion with the staff. Let them know that there is more to you than just being an administrator. You see beauty and life around you and want to bring that into the school.
Just outside my window the birds are singing and there is a soft breeze coming in the window. The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day. Think I’ll go for a stroll to enjoy the day and see how the trees in the orchard are doing today.
“Well that went off without a hitch” commented one of the parents today as we were finishing our first attempt at an afternoon with community and students being together. “Community Day” was a great success as 50 community members joined 100 of our students for an afternoon of games, activities and cookie decorating followed by a talent show with many of our student showing off their many talents. It was a great afternoon, to be sure, but it was so great because the group of teachers organizing the event were prepared. They had planned the various events and activities and then planned for the unexpected. The cookies were a hit, as were the puzzles, games, reading and, of course, the talent show.
This was in contrast to the 7 – 9 track meet that was held just three days earlier that was somewhat disorganized and difficult to follow. No one was really sure where they were suppose to be or where to go at the start. Now, the person organizing had most of the essentials put in order but had not thought about some of the finer details or planned for any unexpected problems. This caused delays and resulted in a few parents missing their children’s events because the timetable was not followed. Some parents were a bit upset by this and, at various times, I was told that we really needed to start a track program so that students were encouraged to take part. I thanked parents for their input and suggestions and we’ll talk about this later and examine what we might need to do to make this work a bit better.
As an educational leader, we must plan for successes and take the time to examine and plan for unexpected events that might come along. One things that I keep reminding myself is that no matter how much planning I do, I must be flexible in what happens otherwise I won’t be able to accommodate those unexpected events that come along.
When I began my principalship, I was able to find a guide that has helped me to plan while still remaining flexible. I found this plan in “A Significant Journey: A Saskatchewan Resource for the Principalship”
Now, I shouldn’t say it is a plan. It is more like a series of questions and open ended stem that allow me to see and look at what is going on from a variety of perspectives.
At it’s center is the Planning for Leadership idea. From this main point radiates 7 different things that one should/might consider when doing planning.
Now, I’ve used this for the planning I do within the school proper – staff meetings, parent meetings or meetings that deal with any type of disciplinary reason. I have found that when I look at the web and spend time planning for these events, there are fewer unexpected things that happen and when something unexpected does happen, it usually fits somewhere within the areas that I have looked at. In doing this, I have reduced the amount of time we spend on “information” at our staff meetings. We now spend more time looking at program development and important events within the school. In this way, we have reduced the time our staff meetings take which makes for a much happier staff:)
As I have grown as an administrator, I realize that although I might have some pretty good ideas, if I don’t take the time to plan how they look and what they will mean to the people that are involved, I won’t have the support that I will have if I take the time to plan, looking at all the different ways this might impact not just students and teachers but the community and the division. Thus, when we did our beautification project in the U area at the school, we involved the caretaker, the division grounds manager, parents, teachers, students and staff. By doing this, we were able to head off some hard feelings and get ideas for overcoming some of the things that, at the start, we had not thought about like grass cutting, watering of plants, access by the handicapped and lighting at night. By considering all the areas outlined in the web, we were very successful and were able to accomplish more than we had originally planned.
On the other hand, I didn’t follow this model when we implemented the use of the AR Reading program. Now, teachers thought it was a good idea but we didn’t take the time to include enough people. Although we are now seeing success, it has taken us longer than we estimated because we didn’t plan well. Thus, we have had to reevaluate our action plan for our reading goals. Not the end of the world but it was something that we could have avoided.
Planning. Something that, as teachers, we know is critical to our success in the classroom. As we use different technologies, we are seeing teachers using new tools to plan like wikis. Many teachers now use electronic planners and are becoming more comfortable with using new tools. With the increased use of digital tools, planning becomes even more important for teachers as they must be aware that what they plan may not be doable because of access issues or technical problems.
Planning. For administrators it is vital in all areas of our work. Whether it be educational leadership, supervision, mentoring, teaching or planning a meeting, we must demonstrate to the people with whom we work that planning is important. One might be able to do a presentation off the cuff if needed but for a successful presentation that has the impact we would like it to have, administrators must plan.
This does not mean that spontaneous actions be avoided – like teachable moments they can sometimes be the best time to make a point or gather some information. As I’ve discovered, however, in order to use my time to its best advantage, I must plan what I will do while being ever cognisant that my plans may be trashed by any number of reasons. That is why I don’t overplan my day. In fact, I’ve learned that particular times of the day are best for certain things because there isn’t usually too many distractions. Usually. I’ve also found this to be true when it comes to my own learning. If I leave it to chance encounters with books or magazines, the chance is I won’t do anything. If, however, I plan my learning, even small at small intervals, I know that there is a good chance that it will happen.
As a leader, I’ve come to realize that my time is very valuable to many people for many reasons. In order to be available for those people, I need to be at my best which means that running around in a frazzle isn’t the best way to get things done. By no means do my days flow along to a schedule but, by planning parts of them and being realistic at what I can do and when I will most likely be able to do it, I have become more successful at achieving my goals. By using the planning web, I’ve allowed for much more input which has created even greater opportunities than I had envisioned and brought about partnerships that I wouldn’t have been able to create on my own.
Ever been to a restaurant for a meal and realize that just a bit more salt would really add to the taste of the great meal you ordered. You have the salt passed to you. You take some time to figure out exactly where you will start with the salt and then you begin only to find that some joker has loosened the cap so you end up with the whole shaker on your plate!
How do you feel? What do you do? How do you react?
Well, that is how some of the people who I talked to at the TLt IT Summit07 seemed to be describing themselves. Well, none actually used the above image but it was the image that I came up with from their descriptions. They went in to the conference looking for something that would add to their teaching, making it that much better. However, somewhere during the confernce, the lid to the shaker came off and they were overwhelmed with the amout of seasoning they received during the course of the two days.
Now, this isn’t unusual for a conference. At least I don’t think it is for most teachers. You end up seeing so many great things that you sometimes don’t know where to start. However, in this case, there was some added stress. They weren’t sure how what to do with the meal now that it was covered in salt. They were incapable of cooking it themselves. They knew that trying to brush a little off just wouldn’t work although there will be some who try to do that and end up with a very bad taste left in their mouths and may never venture back to the restaurant or try that meal again to see how great it really might be. Some seek the assistance of a waiter to help them. However, in doing this, some are rude and impatient and do not fully enjoy the meal they finally get. Those that realize that this sometimes happens are able to relax and wait for the replacement meal to arrive. When it does, they begin to savour it, knowing that it took extra time because someone else had created this problem for them.
A whole group of people are headed back to their schools with that overwhelmed feeling. Some are willing to ask for help and patiently wait until it arrives and then they enjoy the meal, taking time to enjoy each bite as they work throught the whole meal. For those who don’t want to take the time to get the help, they end up getting through the ativities but they don’t work and the teacher is left with a bad experience.
Now, one thing that really made me sit up and take notice were the two keynote speakers. Both Ian Jukes and Michelle Noname talked about the need for teachers to begin using the technologies, the idea that students in classrooms are not the same as the students that were there even 10 years ago, that things were changing quickly and there was a need to bring our educational instruction into the new millenium. (They didn’t say it like that but that was kind of the drift.) Now, as someone who has heard this a few times, I wasn’t really too taken aback by what either said and, in discussing this with others, neither were they. However, one of the teachers from the school where I teach was with me and he had too much salt and wasn’t sure what to do about it. So, as we drove back to our community, we discussed and debriefed the various things that he had gathered. This was where some really wonderful things began to happen.
This teacher is a veteran teacher who teaches a whole host of things. As we began our drive from the city limits, coffee in hand, I asked how he liked the conference. His immediate response was
“Great. It was a great conference. But too much information for someone like me. My head is spinning. I have so many things that I only partly understand and that last session I didn’t understand anything. It was over my head. …”
This went on for about 15 minutes as he just talked about all the things that went on. And then it came.
“You know. When we get back, I’m going to do one thing from this conference and you’re going to help me until I get it right. I want to do one thing. There are so many that I can think of but I want one thing …”
The conversation switched as we discussed a few ideas, well, more than a few but one idea would create another. The goal was to do one thing that would impact his teaching. So, if you were me, what would you have suggested and why? Let me know what you’d do to help this teacher to begin the journey.
We spent the whole ride home – 2 hours – discussing the use of technology to increase students understanding and ability to create responses that demonstrate understanding. This led to a discussion of educational learning philosophy which…. It was a great ride home.
I spent the rest of the week trying to get caught up on missing two days. I think I should be there by, oh, mid-July:) But, the excitement that I witnessed as I helped this patron determine to send the meal back and savour what he received, not rushing to get it done. There would be time for dessert, after dinner drink and a nightcap later. Right now, enjoying the meal was paramount.
Now, a few years ago, I wouldn’t have noticed them at all. I’d have been focused on getting to the meeting, hurrying along my way. So what changed? Well, how I look at my role and how I view my job are what has changed. So, instead of focusing on just one aspect of the job, I now try to see things in relation to the whole picture.
How do you feel? What do you do? How do you react?
