Don't Make the Customer Wait

Tweet Yesterday my husband and I were at Walmart. We were looking to buy a new television, one that was on sale. After shopping around, we had decided they had the best price for the item we wanted. We went to the electronics department, chose the one we wanted, and then tried to find a clerk to help us.

My husband went to the woman behind the counter and asked if there was someone who could tell us if they had the item in stock. She assured us that someone would be with us in a minute.

We waited.

I saw another clerk checking the price on an item. I asked her if she could help us. She said she would be right back as soon as she finished a phone call.

We waited.

Finally a young man, another clerk, came around and we asked if he could tell us if the television was in stock. He said he was with another customer, but would be right back.

We waited.

A fourth clerk came into the area. Before we could ask him for help, he waited on three other customers. He never asked us if he could help us, even though we had, by that time, waited about an hour. I thought maybe we had put on our cloaks of invisibility.

Finally the young man came back and said that he had to deliver an item to the front of the store and would be right back. He did actually come back in about 5 minutes. We showed him what we wanted and said that if it was in stock, we would like to buy one. He got a cart, went to the back room, and a few minutes later came back to tell us they didn't have any.

Now we could have probably ordered one or gone to another Walmart in a nearby town. But instead we went to a different store. They had the same television for about $50 more. They were courteous, offered lots of information, and quickly brought one out from their storeroom to load in our truck for us. Yes, we paid the extra. It was definitely worth it.

How does this apply to teaching? Don't make students or parents wait. I know that it's difficult, but they should be treated like a customer. Phone calls should returned as soon as a teacher has free time. E-mails should be answered within a day. Students requesting help should be offered it as soon as possible. They should not be put off.

If you're not going to be able to get with a parent or student in a reasonable amount of time (about one day), at least let them know that it's going to take a little bit of time and make arrangements for a time to meet.

Don't be like the clerks we encountered at Walmart. Your customers will go elsewhere.

Make Memories with Your Children

Tweet I was watching the video today of the spiraling light in the sky over Norway. They determined it was a faulty Russian missile launch, but it sure put on a show and got a lot of people's attention. Explanations ranged from a UFO to aurora borealis to a wormhole through space.

It reminded me of a time when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was summertime and my mom, dad, brother, and I were sitting out in the front yard enjoying the night sky. Off to the north, a bright light suddenly appeared. It kept getting bigger and bigger.

We watched it for a long time. I'm not sure if my dad knew what it actually was, but he acted as if he didn't. He played along with the UFO theme. He would say things like, "Did you see that? It just got brighter." "I think it's going away. Oh no, I was wrong, it's getting closer again." "I think I can hear it now. Yes, I can and it's getting louder." "Look, the lights are starting to flash." "Maybe it will land nearby."

The more he talked the more frightened I became. He kept assuring me that no matter what it was, there was nothing to be scared of.

The "UFO" did keep getting closer and closer. The flashing lights kept getting brighter and brighter. It kept getting louder and louder. Finally, it got close enough that we could see what it was...a helicopter. And the lights? They were a flashing marquee that read, "EAT HILAND POTATO CHIPS!"

Of all things...an advertisement. I can remember how relieved I was, how happy I was that it was something familiar. But best of all, I remember the happy memory of that summer evening spent with my family.

Every family needs these kinds of memories. I think too often families today are all running off in different directions. So my helpful hint for today is that families plan to spend some time together every week. Have meals together, plan a family game night, go to a movie together, or just sit and talk to one another. Make some memories.

My Fourth Complaint About Parents

Tweet In my first three complaints about parents I wrote about:

1. Parents who think supporting their children's education means telling the teacher how to do his or her job.

2. Parents who do their children's homework rather than helping them with it.

3. Parents who make excuses for their children, blame other's for their children's behavior, or lie.

The only thing I can say about these parents is that they at least seem to care about their children. They may not have the right approach, may be setting a bad example, and may actually be doing their children harm, but they do take an interest in their child's education and appear to make an effort.

My fourth complaint is about the parents who don't seem to care. There are some parents who are completely unreachable. You can't contact them by phone. They don't answer emails. They don't respond to progress reports or letters mailed home. They don't come to conferences. Their children seemed to be on their own.

Some of these students are remarkably well-adjusted and resilient. Unfortunately, the others are the ones who party every weekend (probably every night), are up all night playing video games, fend for themselves when it comes to meals and getting to school, and often are responsible for younger brothers and sisters. They are also the students whose names eventually end up in the newspaper and in the legal system.

There's a line in the movie "Parenthood" that I think of every once in a while. I'll clean it up a bit, however. The line is:

You know, Miss Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog or drive a car. Hell, you need a license to catch a fish. But they'll let any ***** be your father.

I know it will never happen, but how wonderful it would be if every child that was born was wanted, loved, cared for, and raised to be a responsible, respectful, trustworthy, productive, and caring adult. It is certainly something we can strive for.

My Third Complaint About Parents

Tweet My third complaint about parents has several facets that are all related to each other.

1. Parents sometimes make excuses for their children.

On numerous occasions I had parents make excuses as to why their child didn't have their homework done or why they couldn't take a quiz or test or why they weren't in class. A few of the excuses were valid, but I must admit that I didn't understand a parent keeping a child home from school to babysit for younger children or so that the student could get some sleep before going to work in the evening. I didn't understand missing class for a haircut or not having assignments done because the family had company the night before.

2. Parents sometimes blame others for their children's behavior.

I actually had a mother blame me because her daughter had forged the mother's signature on a progress report. The daughter had a D in class and needed to maintain a C average because she was a cheerleader. I sent the progress report home with the daughter who was supposed to show it to her mother, have her mother sign it, and then return it to me. The report was signed and returned and I never gave it a second thought until the mother wanted to know why her daughter had received a D and was no longer able to cheer. The mother kept accusing me of not notifying her. I explained that I had. She said I hadn't. I explained that I had a signed report. She said that that was impossible because she had never seen a report and had never signed it. I never did get it across to her that it wasn't my fault that she hadn't been notified. The mother ended the conversation by saying, "Well, she's afraid of you anyway." Then she hung up the phone. I just stared at the phone for a few minutes, shook my head, went home, and tried to forget about the incident. Obviously, that hasn't happened yet.

3. Parents sometimes lie.

During the first round of parent teacher conferences in a school year, I used to ask for email addresses because it was always so much easier to contact parents by email rather than phone. When one student's grade dropped to an unacceptable level, I contacted his parents by email to let them know. I didn't get a reply from them, but that was not unusual. The student was an 18-year old senior who didn't need the credit, but the low grade would still affect his grade point average. Being 18, he should have been responsible for his own grade, but it was school policy that parents be notified. When he received a low mid-term grade during third quarter, his mother was irate. She demanded to know why I hadn't notified her. I explained that I had notified her, that I had sent her an email. She told me that was impossible because they didn't even have email. When I said I had the email address she had written down at the first conference, she replied, "Well, that's beside the point." Again, I couldn't make her understand that, yes, that was the point. I couldn't believe that she actually lied to me thinking that she wouldn't be caught.

These are just a few of many instances where parent have been less than cooperative. Thank goodness they make up just a small percentage of the parents a teacher deals with during his or her career. Believe me, if they were all like this, there wouldn't be many teachers stay in the profession.

My First Complaint About Parents

Tweet As a teacher for a great number of years, I have had my occasional run-in with parents. Most parents are great. They want the best for their children and want to support the teachers in their efforts to educate their children. However, there are some who test a teacher's patience.

My first complaint is that many parents feel that supporting the teacher means telling them how to do their job. Parents....please don't do this. Why? Here are some reasons.

The teacher is the one in the classroom everyday, not the parent. S/he is the one who knows what's going on in that classroom. There is a classroom dynamic that many parents do not understand. They see their individual child. The teacher also sees that individual child, but additionally sees that child as part of a group. The entire group has to function well and the teacher is in charge of that. Only a person in the classroom can apply teaching strategies that will work for the group and the individual child. Those teaching strategies can vary from class to class depending on the students. Even in the same subject area, a technique that works in one class may not work in another.

Parents often make unreasonable requests of the teacher, again trying to tell the teacher how to do his or her job. I had several parents request progress reports be sent home on a regular basis. Usually, that's not a problem, but some parents wanted reports everyday. I understand that they wanted to keep on top of their child's work, making sure all assignments were done, but again, they were thinking only of their child. I was often responsible for teaching 150 students. It is almost impossible to meet this parent request.

Another bad situation is when the parent wants the teacher to allow exceptions for their child. I know that every child is different, but when there are classroom rules and deadlines for assignments, every student in the class should be expected to abide by those. If my rules had been unreasonable, I could understand, but they weren't. There were parents who asked if their child could only do half of each assignment. There were parents who asked that their child not be held to any deadlines. There was one mother who wanted me to tutor her daughter one-on-one after school every day. That was fine until other students started coming in after school wanting the same treatment. I did what I could, but on a couple of occasions the daughter had to wait for me to help other students. It wasn't long before the mother had the daughter pulled from my class and placed with another teacher. It's not that I cared so much that the daughter was no longer in my class (actually, it was a relief), but I thought this sent a horrible message to the daughter.

Parents sometimes forget that teaching is a profession. Teachers have taken many classes in psychology and teaching methods and should be considered to be the experts in this field. To me, telling a teacher how to do their job, is like telling a surgeon how to perform an operation. I'm guessing these parents probably do that, too.