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August 1, 2009
Pretzels and Purple Cows
Can you believe it is already August? August 1st is always a
special day around here - the anniversary of the launch of the Choice
Literacy website (three years old now and going strong). At
this time last year I was in Phoenix, getting ready to fly home on the
red-eye after a 10-day writing marathon with friends. I was
flying on JetBlue, and the airline shared their gate area with another
small carrier from the midwest.
I entered the gate area at 9 p.m. and saw dozens of people sprawled
over seats and on the floor - teens napping with their heads at awkward
angles on backpacks, babies fussing, an elderly couple holding
hands. I glanced at the empty counter of that midwestern
airline, and saw a brief note explaining the flight these folks were
waiting for was delayed eight hours (with a few hours of waiting still
ahead for them).
By my calculation the stranded passengers were in stage 3 of the 4
stages of flight delay grief. Long past irritation (stage 1),
or scrambling to change connections and arrival plans (stage 2), they
had that look of bleached exhaustion that only comes after many hours
of breathing stale air in an airport terminal. (If you've
ever traveled and been delayed, you may have experienced stage 4,
acceptance - you may get home, you may not, but you've acknowledged
it's completely out of your control.)
The JetBlue flight was luckily on schedule, and within a few minutes a
JetBlue gate agent arrived to begin checking in passengers.
She took one look at the full gate area, glanced at the other counter
with its notice about the long delay, and then disappeared through a
door in the wall. Within a minute she came out with a crate
of bottled waters. She set it on the empty counter of the
other airline. Went back for another crate of
water. Went back one last time for a large box of snack
crackers and cookies. She then announced, "I see a lot of
people here have been waiting a long time for a delayed
flight. I thought you might enjoy some water and a
snack. Please help yourselves." She then proceeded
to start checking in people for the JetBlue flight.
I was amazed. Most airlines because of relentless
budget cutting have even stopped giving out the tiny in-flight bags of
pretzels that used to be ubiquitous on airplanes (those little bags of
pretzels cost all of two cents each, so eliminating them takes the
phrase "nickel and diming" to a whole new level). I'd never
seen any airline provide water and snacks to people in a gate area who
were delayed. Yet this gate agent went beyond that, providing
refreshments to customers from another airline. The city the
stranded passengers were flying to isn't even served by JetBlue, so
what would be the point in trying to win them over?
Seth Godin is an entrepreneur who has written about the concept of "the
purple cow" in business. Simply explained, if you're driving
through the countryside, you might be surprised and delighted to notice
a cow grazing in the field. But once you see dozens of
cows, you won't notice them anymore. What would it
take to get your attention? A purple cow - something so truly
out of the ordinary you'd have to stop, get out of the car, and wonder
how in the world it came to be.
That brief period in the gate area was a "purple cow" experience for
me. It made me wonder what kind of management was in place
that allowed the gate agent to act on a kind impulse instantly, without
worrying that she would be reprimanded (or fired!) for giving away $42
worth of snacks. And this at a time when most airlines were
begrudging their own passengers two cents' worth of pretzels.
It made me realize that most "purple cow acts" never happen because
there is no time for a cost-benefits analysis, or getting approval from
three layers of management. Even if you did the analysis and
went through an approval process, you couldn't immediately calculate
the value of the act.
Can your school be a purple cow? Of course it can, but it
takes a level of empowering colleagues that is going to lead to grief
now and again. People will have wonderful ideas for small
kindnesses and exceptional acts that can't possibly move
through the approval process quickly enough, will irritate the wrong
people, and will cost money when dollars couldn't be scarcer.
Yet in the end, those acts that matter - being kind and generous when
it isn't easy and certainly isn't expected - are what stay in the
memory far longer than the ordinary miracles we expect from teachers
every day.
Perhaps one day next month or next year, when a bunch of parents are
hanging out at a barbecue, complaining about high taxes and lousy
schools, someone who has seen a purple cow will interrupt the group and
say, "That may be true for you. But they do the most
extraordinary thing at my daughter's school. . ." or "My son's teacher
isn't like that - you're not going to believe what she did for us last
spring. . ." Purple cows lodge in your head, and you can't
help but share them with others.
For example, this JetBlue story was just shared with thousands of
people reading this newsletter (which takes no ads), written by someone
who doesn't work for JetBlue (and doesn't know anyone who
does). I'm thinking publicity like this was probably worth
the $42 of refreshments that gate agent set out? That's
probably the entire point of purple cow moments - there is no sense
they will lead to great publicity or material gain. They are
just remarkable, unexpected acts that build their own buzz.
This week, we've got new features to help teachers and coaches get the
most out of their collaboration this year. Plus more as
always - enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
Teachers, are you getting the most out of your relationships with the
literacy coaches and other mentors in your midst? In "How to Use a Coach,"
Heather Rader has some thoughtful back-to-school advice for building
more powerful teacher-coach relationships:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/943.cfm
"Purple Cows" all originate with high standards for treating everyone
well. The new "In the Lead" blog highlights the value of the
LAST model from customer service (Listen-Apologize-Solve-Thank) for
diffusing difficult situations. It's an easy to remember
method for any teacher to use when he or she finds herself in a sticky
situation with colleagues or parents:
If your back-to-school energy and enthusiasm level isn't what it should
be, you might enjoy this Cool Cat blog post on professionalism, "Hope
Diamond in Your Pocket." It's a reminder that our work truly
is precious, and defined by our professionalism as we carry it out:
Donalyn Miller (a.k.a. "The Book Whisperer") already knows where the
first conversations in her classroom will begin - with her own history
as a reader:
From the Mailbag - Lots of response to the
"beginning of school - bare walls" and first read alouds posts from
last week. Kim Pithey wrote:
Thank you so much for the validation regarding bare bulletin boards at
the start of a new school year. To go one step further, I have made
strip banners for my largest boards that say: Work in Progress (with
construction worker characters), FaceBoard.com, and YouToo.com. My
students read these banners with a smile and begin to imagine the
possibilities.
Christine Zarkowsky shared:
I was inspired by the read-aloud picks. These
titles are also wonderful for building community.
How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids
Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed
The Golden Rule
One Smile
The terrific Two Writing Teachers blog mentioned the bare walls
article, and posted a companion photo array of what a well-organized
classroom with bare space for student work looks like:
The final Choice Literacy Workshops in 2009 will take place in
Rockland, Maine October 17-18 at the beautiful Samoset Resort. Topics
include CAFE Assessment with The Sisters, Assessment with Clare
Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan, Delight in Words with Franki Sibberson,
and Literacy Coach Jumpstart with Jennifer Allen. If you have
never been to this venue on the rocky Maine coast, you are in for a
treat. You can download the two-page PDF brochure describing the
workshops at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/samoset09.pdf
For Members Only
"Peppers make cats cry." If you want to understand
the wise advice for literacy coaches within this mnemonic device,
you'll have to read Heather Rader's "How to Be of Use"
article. This article pairs well with this week's "Starting
Strong" article on how teachers can use the services of literacy
coaches well. The two articles would be a perfect to read together
at staff or mentor meetings if you want to spark discussions of roles and
responsibilities:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/944.cfm
Karen Terlecky brings lessons from her adult book club to her structure
of book clubs in her 5th grade classroom. The article
includes launching and management tips:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/942.cfm
"The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) visited Maine last fall for
work and fun. We managed to drag them away from the lobster
pot long enough to do a few classroom makeovers, and we've finally got
the footage edited. In this week's video, they help 4th grade
teacher Sarah redo her teacher desk area:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/938.cfm
Finally, if you're trying to foster deeper discussions among colleagues
about literacy and learning this year, you might enjoy our new Choice
Literacy Cluster on Conversation Starters and Icebreakers for staff
meetings and study groups:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/940.cfm
That's all for this week!
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