Jan 15 2008
Customer Service?
Today was our holiday concert. Sitting in the audience and listening to the multitude of talent our students have, brought a smile to my face. Maybe it was just the season cheer, but I think it was something much more. As I looked at the faces that have sat before me in class, I was reminded of why I teach. I teach because of the kids. I love working with them on projects. I find it exhilarating when they struggle with a difficult topic, but then their face finally lights up with understanding and a feeling of accomplishment. I get a kick out them rolling their eyes at my bad jokes. I love it when my creative juices get going, and I develop a new lesson to make my course more real to them.
The sad point is that I needed to be reminded of why I teach. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I’ve reached a conclusion about the cause of the problem. I believe the problem is that we have too many good ideas but too little time, too few teachers, and too many students to carry them all out. Because they are such good ideas and because we have always been big on “customer service”, we try to do it all. Its as if the teachers of District 86 have embraced Macy’s customer service motto “Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer.” or Aspect’s “Anytime, anywhere” motto. For almost all teachers, this means that we each have 120+ “customers” that require our utmost attention. Keeping this in mind, consider the following great ideas.
IEPs
No educator would deny their importance. According to the U.S. Department of Education:
“Each public school child who receives special education and related services must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Each IEP must be designed for one student and must be a truly individualized document. The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities. The IEP is the cornerstone of a quality education for each child with a disability.”
As I sat in on an IEP meeting a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but wish that my daughters had this sort of personal attention. But that isn’t realistic, is it? Unfortunately, with the time constraints that teachers have, I’m not sure how realistic IEPs are. Consider the teacher that has to copy his notes everyday for an IEP student. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but add up the time it takes each day to walk down to the copy machine, wait in line, make the copy, and then return to the classroom. The time to service one student comes out of the time to service all of our other students. Making an adapted test for each student with an IEP also takes time away from our other students. When I started with this district, classes with students with IEP were held to a class size of 18, and most were even smaller. This is no longer the case and many teachers have several IEPs in a class.
AP & Specialty Classes.
What a great opportunity for students to get advanced and challenging courses. Teachers love the students they get, but the time commitment is huge. AP classes must cover great breadth and that means considerable time preparing for the class. Unfortunately, that time must come at the expense of “regular” courses. Providing specialty classes that meet unique student interests and plans for the future supports SAP’s motto of “Your customers expect your entire operation to revolve around them.” And who wouldn’t want to teach these classes? They sound incredibly interesting.
Unfortunately, they likely add an extra class preparation into the day for the teacher and increase class sizes for other teachers. Take for example a seminar class of 4 students. The 20-26 students not covered by that teacher for that period are in someone else’s class. That not only makes more work for that teacher but takes away from their ability to service their “customers”. No one denies that a “customer” will get better, more personalized service in a class of 24 that they will in a class of 30. What about the teachers that have 4 or 5 preps because of the vast number of course offerings? With 75 minutes of prep time (keep in mind 25 minutes of academic assistance), that’s only 15 minutes of prep time to make each class meaningful and captivating for each student! (Of course, that doesn’t allow for bathroom breaks!)
Email
I can’t imagine not having the convenience of emails at my fingertips. It has become critical in my communications with parents and colleagues. BUT, I spend one prep period a day reading and answering emails. It has made communication too easy. I receive numerous emails from parents probably because parent portal makes it so convenient. I also receive a lot of emails from fellow teachers with ideas, requests, questions, etc. The increased communication is important, but the time it takes comes out of my class preparation and time spent with students.
Technology
I love technology and wouldn’t teach without it, but it requires a phenomenal amount of time if you really add it up. Take for example, the other morning when I came in at 7am. I had a long list of things to get done before 8am. The night before the LCD projector had been taken down for a routine cleaning and I thought I had better check it out. It worked but was out of focus. This now required finding a ladder, getting the ladder back to the room, focusing the machine, and returning the ladder. My plans were shot. Anyone who maintains a website or sharepoint page knows the time it takes to do it right. There are teachers who have spent time in the “One Tablet Classroom” course and in developing materials only to find out that they are lucky if they have a working LCD projector any given day. Where does on the time come from that is spent trying to figure out what to do and contacting the help desk?
Every teacher could add to this list: freshman logger, teacher collaboration, letters of recommendation…. But the point is, all of these great ideas take time. While some may serve certain students better, they often do so at the expense of service to other students whether it be in one-on-one time or in development of lessons that will motivate many. Reason would tell us that if we add something, then remove something else. Keep the great ideas, but reduce class size and insure that no teacher has more than two preps. If we really are all about customer service, then make sure that the decisions made at the top, allow us to service ALL of our students.
I cited a few customer service mottos. I’d like to leave you with a few others that I think are interesting when put into the context of the educational system. Keep that in mind when you read them.
“You are serving a customer, not a life sentence. Learn how to enjoy your work.”
Laurie McIntosh trainer
Washrooms will always tell if your company cares about its customers.
Unknown
Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from which we learn.
Unknown
Customer service is awareness of needs, problems, fears and aspirations.
Unknown
Customers are an investment. Maximize your return.
PeopleSoft Ad
Never underestimate the power of the irate customer.
Joel Ross
People perform best and deliver the best customer service when they like what they do.
Unknown
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
Bill Gates
