Customer Service and Kindness

I had an interesting experience on Sunday afternoon. I believe it fits in well with the K for Kindness message I'm trying to send.

My son is eligible for an upgrade on his cell phone. We happened to be in Silverdale, so we decided to stop in the cell phone provider in person to take care of this purchase. We walked into the store, one we've been in many times, and they have again changed how customers check in and are served. A friendly employee greeted us, asked for my cell phone number, and the reason for our visit. We were then told to feel free to browse.

All the items were tucked away in alcoves around the store, and other customers were busy playing with them or being sold on all the features. Very few seats were available, nor was there any place to stand that wasn't in the way. After about 15 minutes, I started to look around the store. The colors were bright, over-stimulating, and the energy of the employees matched. I listened to one customer trying to get options regarding her family's monthly plan, while the salesperson tried to persuade her to give up the "unlimited data" option because "you aren't really using it anyway". I heard another salesperson try to up-sell a phone. "We're completely out of stock of the iPhone 6, but we have the iPhone 6+ ready to deliver today".

For me, I waited quietly. I have been recovering from a bad cold/flu bug, and Sunday was the first day in a long time I wasn't scheduled to be somewhere. Let me paint the picture. I was wearing my glasses, no make-up, hair pushed back with a headband, and I was dressed for a day off. I'm certain I was not exuding the epitome of "professional", despite the fact that I am, indeed, a professional woman.

When the over-stimulated sales agent finally got to our name, he came right over, asked what we were there for, and then announced, "I can't really help you because you have a little bit of a past-due balance on your account." He then proceeded to lecture me about the fact that sometimes credit cards expire and I could just go online and take care of it. Oh, and did I want to go ahead and order that iPhone 6 (or better yet, walk out the door with a 6+) from him?

No.

I am quite confident that if I had been dressed in my suit and heels, hair styled perfectly, with the right touch of make up, he would not have talked to me in such a way. I am certain other customers heard our exchange -- after all, I was listening to other customers' conversations while I waited -- and since when it is appropriate for a sales person, on the floor of the store, to talk at length with a customer about "a bit of a past-due balance".

Especially after I told him I did not want to discuss that with him, and that I would take care of it right away.

I am proud of myself. I was not unkind, though I was very annoyed. I now have cell phone, home phone, and internet service with this company. They receive a good chunk of my money each month, and on the few times a year I actually go to see them in person, I expect to be treated well.

Quite disappointing.

But what is the real lesson here? In reality, I could easily change cell phone companies, but is one any different from another? We are such a society of incentives, that we seem to have forgotten about civility. What happened to treating people with polite kindness simply because it's the right thing to do? The problem is that one bad experience starts a ripple effect, and as much as I hate to admit it, it created a damper of my attitude for the rest of the day.

It makes me truly appreciate the people who know how to slow down, smile, and be excellent to each other, even if the customer's wishes can't be met right in that moment.

Resiliency

A few years ago, I gave a series of presentations on resiliency. I called it "The ROCK". The ASB/Leadership teacher at our high school asked me to provide some 5-10 minute opening remarks for a group of leadership students who would be spending the day at our school. I had come to realize that 5-10 minutes of air time with kids is a true gift, and I wanted to say something meaningful, something beyond "Welcome to our school! You are all amazing kids and your leadership is truly making a difference in your schools". So, I asked myself, what did I have to say, in 5-10 minutes, that could impact these kids?

That year had been a tough one. Our community experienced a series of losses that left us all emotionally fragile, and many quite traumatized. We saw deaths of students, parents, family members, serious car accidents, all in a 6-month period. We were on edge, afraid even to ask, "What next?", or "Is it over yet?"

A few years before this, we had the Rachel's Challenge staff visit our school a few times. Rachel Scott's message of kindness left a deep impact on my heart. I can make a long list of the times I have been unkind, intentionally and unintentionally, and I knew I wanted KINDNESS to be part of the message.

As I thought about my year, I knew that a lot of people, through their trauma, were seeing the world through the "worst case scenario" perspective. Despite all the tough times, there truly was a lot to celebrate. Sometimes, focusing on the positive during the worst of times is the only thing that helps us through. I knew I wanted OPTIMISM to be part of my message.

My own two children were perhaps the greatest source of inspiration. They were particularly hurt; you see, they had lost their father six months earlier in one of these tragedies. As I struggled to help them process their grief and find reasons to live and be happy again. Teaching them RESILIENCY would be critical.

Then, of course, I had to look at myself. My world had been shaken off its foundation. I, myself, was not feeling very happy or stable. I found myself angry, defensive, frustrated, and unhappy. It was easy to point fingers and play the blame game with others, but I realized, if I really wanted to be happy and healthy again, I needed to work on myself first, and I needed to work hard to understand others' perspective and feelings. In short, I needed to embrace CURIOSITY in order to foster that understanding.

As I looked at those words, I realized quickly that if I rearranged them, they would spell ROCK: Resiliency. Optimism. Curiosity. Kindness. This became the quick speech to the leadership students and it evolved into a 1-2 hour presentation.

Now, looking back over the past four years of our family's recovery, I can see that these keystones have served as my "North Star", my guiding light, my foundation, to help me settle when times have been tough. Having recently been asked to speak again on resiliency, I thought it would be helpful to return to the start of this journey and reflect back on the highs and lows of our healing process. Over the next weeks, I hope to write more about these experiences as I refine the message I want to share with the group.

IGNITE! NASSP 2013 Convention

As Day 1 of the NASSP 2013 convention in Washington, DC comes to a close, my mind is swirling with ideas and questions.

How can we move from our current status quo of student work to begin to integrate "crowd-sourcing"?

Technology: so many possibilities, so little time. I love the idea of "student intelligence". And it's not what you think...

Arne Duncan; hearing the executive director for the US Department of Education was a mixed bag; some of it was clearly "party line" stuff, but the Q&A afterwards was insightful and thought provoking.

And of course, there is the whole dynamic of being in DC on this, the eve of the "sequestration" train wreck.

Crowd-sourcing is an incredible concept. I had not hear that phrase prior to today. Read up on it -- it's a skill set for the 21st century and beyond. How do we help our kids develop the skills to "harness the crowd"? And, the key? It's not just the crowd in our physical proximity. It's the "crowd" around the world.

Student intelligence. When we hear that, we think about "how smart are our kids?", but in this case, it means, "How smart are WE about our kids?" I am fascinated by the idea of data mining and creating a data system that allows us to know our kids better on 50, 60, 70 different data points. NOT JUST ACHIEVEMENT!!

And Arne Duncan -- we were able to spend an hour with him, and he has some interesting ideas. I don't have any problem being called on the carpet, but I detest the phrase "drop out factories" to refer to struggling high schools. But, the idea that we need to help ALL kids be college AND career ready, well, I can wrap my heart around that.

My morning was spent on a tour of the city, visiting the beautiful monuments. I am struck with the signifant differences between today and my last visit in 1998. Now, it is rare to see people on the streets. Government buildings and monuments have strict policies and tight security. This post 9-11 world in which we live is different.

Can't wait to see what the next two days bring. The conference has only just begun!!
 

 Sitting in the high school library this afternoon, we are enjoying discussing the strengths and challenges of our school. I'm quite impressed with the positive energy and creative thinking that is taking place.

Our students enjoy two half-days/early release, which in turn provides our staff much needed time for collaboration and professional development. For the high school staff, our focus is on our accreditation visitation which will happen in May 2013 this year. As we work through analyzing our data, we are coming up with a variety of exciting options to consider for our kids. How can we increase the opportunity for students to earn "dual credit" in high school, meaning high school and college credit at the same time? How can we encourage our "natural student leaders" to use all their influence for good leadership, rather than... something else? :)

Meanwhile, at the middle school, the staff is exploring how better to meet kids where they are, particularly kids whose behaviors are interfering with learning. In many cases, students with emotional/behavioral disabilities are experiencing challenges at school, and the "normal" bag of tricks is often ineffective. The staff is in the process of researching different disabilities that impact some of our students and trying to learn more about what we can do.

All in all, an inspirational day!
 

Middle School Science

Recently, as I was visiting classrooms at Chimacum Middle School, I observed some 6th grade students making doInks. I know that Mr. G has his students using a variety of technology to learn science, but I had not heard of a doInk. It appears to be a short video animation, and the kids were explaining/demonstrating Newton's first, second, and third laws of motion. I am absolutely certain we did not learn about Newton's laws of motion in my 6th grade science class. In fact, I don't remember doing much science in 6th grade.

Several of the kids posted their doInks to their class blogs. I encourage you to check them  out. You can even post comments and ask questions. You might just be able to learn something as well!

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=4771

Thoughts for the End of Winter

I sent this email out to staff and have modified it only slightly here. I'm actually thinking about using this blog to post my Friday Reflections rather than email. Hmmm, maybe all those Web 2.0 presentations I've been attending are finally starting to sink in!

As we approach the day, the end of the second trimester, I am reminded of the importance of several things:

Communication
Being optimistic and curious
Remembering to have some fun

This year again has been challenging in so many ways, but we really do have many successes to share. Just this morning, I was reflecting on the projects and programs our staff, classrooms, buildings, and district are involved in, and it truly is worth noting them. Here are just a few that come to mind on a blustery, winter day when we are all ready for spring:

• Student Led Conferences, advisory, and portfolios
• Senior Projects, with excellent support from our staff and community
• Several National Board Certified Teachers, with more submitting portfolios and applying for the next ound
• *Deep investment into the TPEP process (as scary as it is, we all know more than most teachers/administrators in other districts)
• Excellent participation and success in our extra curricular programs, such as music, sports, science olympiad, Destination Imagination, Majhan Awards, Interact Club...

As we approach the start of third trimester, with Student Led Conferences around the corner, I have just a few reminders:

• Please make every effort to help your students complete their portfolios and to schedule conferences with all your advisory kids.
• If you have a student struggling to complete a portfolio, CHS advisors please let Gary Coyan know, and CMS advisors, please let Shiobhan Fitzpatrick know
• Use advisory time to call parents and schedule/confirm the conferences (I usually have the kids do this)
• Be positive about the experience. Be clear when you communicate about the purpose.

A few thoughts on communication. Remember when we talked about, "If you're out of the loop, you don't know you are out of the loop"? That goes for administrators too. I have had more than one person lately share with me that they do not feel I am being effective. I really appreciate that information, yet I need to ask for more clarity. If there is something you feel I should be doing, please talk to me about it. I would be more than happy to discuss how I set my priorities each day. If you have a question about something I am doing, have done, or am not doing, please ask. I would love the opportunity to talk with you about this. The reality is, I am keenly aware of the tasks I am not able to complete during my work day and am trying to be as wise as I can about putting "first things first", but it does mean than some things are not being completed, and I recognize that those issues are often important to many people. Please just remember that I care greatly about each of you, about our school, students, and community. I would appreciate your optimism and curiosity during these challenging times.

Finally, as I shared with the Middle School on Wednesday, when asked, "How can we keep our heads above water?", here is my suggestion. I used the Principals' Conference as an example. My first priority was to make sure I was in attendance at the two key note addresses. At a national conference, we have the opportunity to hear big names, and this year it was Sir Ken Robinson and Dr. Douglas Reeves. Next, I wanted to be sure to gather information on the Common Core Standards and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Project, so I attended two sessions on these. The next thing I did was consider how I spend my time and how I enjoy spending my time, so I found two sessions on technology as tools and one on cyberbullying and digital citizenship. Finally, I looked for sessions that would be motivational and inspirational in nature and attended two sessions like that.

This pattern really works in life. First, figure out what are the one or two most important things. Make sure they get done. Then, attend to the next set of important things, and make sure they get done. Third, figure out what you are already doing and doing well, and focus some time on doing that even better. Finally, make sure to do something FUN that makes you feel great.

You, your health, your family, these are the most important things. Remember all the things you love and are doing well at your job, and please, always know you are appreciated.

Have a GREAT Friday, and make it a good day,

Whitney

Digital Citizenship

Lately it seems like a lot of my time as a principal is spent dealing with people trying to prohibit technology. In fact, I recently used the word "prohibition" to refer to how some people want me to approach personal electronic devices.

At a recent "copy room" impromptu conversation with a teacher, who demanded I enforce the "No Cell Phone Policy" school wide, and then proceeded to tell me she would be bringing this up at the faculty meeting, I found myself perplexed.

I think it would be ridiculous for me, as the principal, to require all staff to use technology as an instructional too. Imagine the memo: "Attention all staff: As of today, you will be required to allow students to use their cell phones as learning tools in your classroom. That is all."

Can you imagine what would happen?

Why, then, do so many teachers want us to do the opposite and BAN all cell phones from all classrooms?

Why do people want technology prohibition? Have we learned nothing from history?

The fact is, the computing power in the cell phones most kids are carrying is phenomenal. And it's free.

I am growing weary of the technology police.

Instead, why not embrace it, or at lease allow those of us who want to use these tools to embrace it?

Why not teach the importance of digital citizenship?

Why not recognize that students are engaged with their technology because it's just part of who they are and how they communicate?

Why not be curious about all "the hype"?