The Big Fresh January 12, 2013 Control

Years ago when I was a professor at the University of Maine I was sitting in my office, chatting with a colleague on a snowy January afternoon.  We peered out the window, wondering if we should head home early or wait for the plows to clear the roads. There was a lone figure in the faculty parking lot braving the snow, writing out parking tickets.  “Hey, there’s Joe Cook,” my friend Connie exclaimed. “You know the name of that officer?” I asked. “Joe’s not a campus security guy — he’s an engineering professor,” Connie explained. “For years he would call the parking office to complain about students parking in the faculty lot without receiving tickets. Finally they got so tired of the calls they deputized him and taught him how to write tickets. Now it’s his hobby — he spends a few hours every week prowling the lot and writing tickets. They send him a new ticket pad every month.”

I was horrified and fascinated at the same time — horrified at the thought that maybe that would be me someday, a crazy old professor shuffling through the snow and ruining some unlucky students’ days. Yet I was also fascinated at the ingenuity of the parking department, turning calls from a cranky guy into useful work.

Last fall I met Derek, a second grader who held a clipboard and quietly took notes throughout his teacher Cindy’s morning meeting. I asked her later why Derek was the only child with a clipboard. “Those are Derek’s cleanup notes, ” Cindy explained. “The first few weeks of school he drove me nuts, interrupting morning meeting every minute or so to remind me that permission slips were due that day, or that I’d forgotten to change the date on the assignment board. I finally realized he wasn’t seeking attention — he was truly distracted by all the things he saw that needed to be done or changed. So now that is his task during the morning meeting — to note those things, make changes (like the dates on the board) when he can without disturbing anyone, and have a quick conference with me after morning meeting to run down the list. It takes less than a minute to go through his notes and it is time well-spent.  He is happy, some of the notes quite honestly are helpful to me, and the whole class gets an uninterrupted morning meeting.”

Sometimes you win battles of control by letting go — by turning over the ticket pad or clipboard or a chunk of your book budget to the person who values the task more than you do. And in the end, you and the person you’re in a tug-of-war with may not only be on better terms — more good work might get done too.

This week’s newsletter is all about previewing books, highlighting some terrific websites students can use to browse texts and authors independently. Plus more as always — enjoy!

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