Category Archives: Daily-Ink

The Vampire Rule for Email

I apply a key vampire rule to give my staff a break from work emails.

After 6 PM staff only get emails from me if the email is invited in. In other words, if they have asked me a question and want an answer, then a response has been invited. But if that invitation for a response isn’t there, I delay email delivery until the next morning.

So like a vampire at the front door, I can’t enter (with email) if I have something to share that is not initiated (and therefore invited in) by my staff. New topics are set to be delivered early the next morning.

From dinner time on, and on weekends, the vampire invitation rule applies for my outgoing emails to staff.

Likes, likes, and more likes

I am fascinated by the whole process of ‘Liking’ something on social media. So many people use it in different ways. For a long time, my ‘liking’ habits looked like this:

  • Facebook: Family, a few friends, ignore everything else.
  • Instagram: I love the photo for it’s artistic qualities, or ‘No like for you!’
  • LinkedIn: Great article, a like will probably also get a share and/or a comment too.
  • Twitter: I really like what you said and want to ‘keep’ it, or someone shared something of mine and I want to thank them.

But that has evolved… or rather devolved. Now a ‘Like’ is just an acknowledgement. I shifted to this unconsciously as I’ve watched others do the same. It wasn’t intentional or thought out at all. I miss being a lurker on Facebook, not caring if others knew I came to visit things they shared or not. I miss seeing my favorites on Instagram only being wonderful photographs. I miss going to my ‘Likes’ on Twitter and only seeing things worth reading again.  I’m still not that much of a ‘liker’ but I definitely ‘like’ far more than I used to.

I’m not sure I’m going to change my habits back? It feels rude. Isn’t that interesting? I feel an obligation to be more generous, more ‘like’-able. I share an anniversary photo on Facebook, someone takes the time to send us well-wishes, I guess I should like their comment. I share something on Twitter and someone responds. I don’t have a response in return, so I should like their tweet as my response/acknowledgement. Someone shares a wonderful family moment on Instagram, I should be nice and like it, after all, they liked my family photo. And so suddenly my habits above became watered down to things I should do to be polite on social media.

We have moved to a world of likes, likes, and more likes… and I’m not sure I like it?

Reducing email

Here is something that I’ve done the past couple years with my staff, to help reduce email.

I have a slide that I present to (all 3 of) my schools in one of the few meetings I have with them all together. This slide, and my description of it, breaks down how to connect with me:

1. Can it wait for a face-to-face meeting? If so, no need to do any of the items below.

2. Call me. I get a phone call, it means come now! This doesn’t happen often, but it happens.

3. Text me. I’m trying to reduce this with #4, but if you need an answer, or would like me to come, without it being an emergency, a text is fine.

4. Microsoft Teams. No more ‘reply-all’ discussions in email! Teams has 2 key benefits to email. First, the conversations are contextualized – I have no idea what’s coming in for email, but when I have a notification in one of my teams, I know the group and topic of the message. Secondly, my teams get priority over the most recent email.

Also, rather that texts, @message me on Teams… I’m going to look here first, before email, to deal with my teams first.

5. Email. Really only used to follow up on emails from outside the teams, such as a parent asking a question or sharing something to be shared with me.

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My final point, I describe a couple very specific circumstances to ‘double-dip’ (such as texting me to deal with a very sensitive email communication that I should address quickly). But, in general I emphasize that double-dipping shouldn’t happen. Choose one means of communication for a specific issue.

What I’m hoping to achieve isn’t less communication with my team, but rather more focussed and timely communication with them. This does not happen when their communication is buried in my email.

Potential

This time of year, the word ‘potential’ resonates with me. There is so much potential in a new school year! What will be accomplished? What surprises await?

What questions can we ask to maximize the potential we and our students have? Here are a few that might be worth asking:

What will I do to build a good culture in my school and my classroom?

What can I do to inspire my students to go beyond the curriculum?

What can I do to support open communication between myself, my students, and their parents/caregivers?

How can I extend the learning beyond the walls of my classroom?

How can I connect my school and my classroom to the community?

What questions and challenges can I give my students to help them become more resilient problem solvers?

The questions we ask help to define the directions we go in, and the goals we want to achieve.

What questions would help you and your students meet or even exceed their potential?

Pocket Watches

My wife owns an Apple Watch. She loves it. I won’t get one because I already feel too tied to my phone, and I don’t want the added distraction. Before getting one, my wife would carry her phone and wear a watch, now they are one and the same.

I have reverted back to the era of pocket watches. No, I don’t own an old-style pocket watch, I just have my phone. But, I haven’t worn a watch in years, and I tell the time by my phone… which I keep in my pocket. I store my ‘timekeeper’ in my pocket.

I’m sure there is still a market for wrist (and even pocket) watches, but excluding phones and phone accessories, that has to be a dying market compared to sales in the last century.

What about in the next century? Surely we won’t be keeping our phones in our pockets, and we won’t be using these phones to tell time. There won’t be any pocket watches of any kind but for novelty. So what will we have in place of these tools?

Will the technology be embedded into us? Will we be wearing contacts that display the time with a simple motion of our eyes, or even by a thought? Will we look at our bare wrist or open palm and ‘see’ data there? And if we achieve this, what other things will become trivially redundant like the pocket watch?

I don’t feel nostalgia when I think of these things. I’m excited about the possibilities, but I do wonder how these tools will adjust our behaviour? After all, I’m not one of those people that just jumped at the idea of putting my phone on my wrist. As we adopt and accept technology into our lives, we do need to think about the unintended consequences. A person only took their pocket watch out of their pocket to tell the time. People looked at their wrists only to tell time. That’s no longer the case. People look at their phones far more than to make phone calls And tell time.

I’m writing this on my phone now. I’m blogging from my phone. I’ve also got headphones on, listening to music from the same phone. Will this glorified phone and pocket watch be something people use 20, 40 or 100 years from now? I don’t think so. It will likely not be a tool we put in our pocket. How will this change our behaviour? I’m sure it will be more convenient, but what unintended consequences will come with these new tools?

Clouded Vision

I have come to realize that very often I see things differently than others. I’m a big picture, rather than detail oriented, person. Yet even when I talk to other big picture thinkers, my perspective seems different… I’m tempted to say off-kilter. The more I learn, the more I realize I’m somewhat clouded in my perspective; somewhat idiosyncratic; somewhat full of shit. 🤪

I am confident, yet part of me wonders why anyone would give someone like me so much responsibility? I am contemplative, yet my thoughts are often scattered. I am decisive, yet I often question my decision-making.

I don’t think I’m the only one that is like this. Many people have clouded vision. When we are angry we are ‘seeing red’ and when we are optimistic we are seeing things through ‘Rose-coloured glasses’. Hmmm.

I’m not sitting here thinking I’m delusional and in need of help. I’m a pretty confident person, rational, and pretty smart too. But I’ve started to realize that my observations of the real world are cloudier than I may have thought. Or at least my ability to observe the same world as others is a greater challenge than I thought. And I think it’s healthy to question how clear we see things, at least in relationship to how others see those same things.

How clear is your vision?

A little reminder to educators

I’m writing this as a reminder to myself as well as to others. This isn’t something I’m preaching, it’s something important enough to keep at the forefront of my mind, our minds, as the new school year is about to begin.

There is always so much to do at the start of the school year, and there is the curriculum that must get started… but above all, there are human beings that are coming into our buildings that we need to get to know.

Human beings who have had wonderful summers. Human beings that lost a loved one. Human beings that arrive to school hungry. Human beings that help take care of their younger siblings. Human beings that love their pets, video games, riding their bikes, fashion, art, history, and science.

Get to know these amazing humans. Start there. Not just with the ones that make this easy, with them all. Take the time, your students deserve it.

Email Workflow- A Generic Response

Email can be overwhelming. Here is something I’m thinking of trying. I plan to make this one of my email signatures, so I just have to select the signature, when appropriate, and hit ‘send’… Then move on.

Please help me make it better!

– – – – –

Greetings,

This is a generic email response to your email below. I receive over 150 emails a day. In my role, running 3 schools, I spend a lot of time away from my desk. This is one of my attempts to direct more of my energy towards my students and teachers, and other parts of my job that should matter more than responding to emails.

If you are receiving this email, please know that:

  1. I read your email.
  2. I thought you deserved a response.
  3. I’m not interested in pursuing what you are offering, or following up on this matter beyond this email.
  4. I am not interested in a response to this email.

Please accept this email with the positive intent with which I sent it… an opportunity to politely respond, while also minimizing the onslaught of emails and email conversations that I receive daily.

Regards, Dave.

Think Good Thoughts, Say Good Words, Do Good Deeds. 

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Objective: Reduce interactions

• If I don’t respond, I get a follow-up email.

• If I do respond, I get a follow-up response… even a ‘Thank you’ means one more email to look at.

What do you think? Also, what other email strategies work for you?

“I’m a hard marker”

This is one of the most puzzling statements a teacher can make, and yet some teachers wear it like a badge of honour.

Who does this benefit? What is the gain?

‘Welcome to my class, you will get a lower mark than your peers in other classes because “I’m a hard marker.” Sure this might be your lowest mark on your report card or it might hinder your ability to get into the university you want, but I’m doing this for you! Yes, that’s right, by being a hard marker, rather than a fair marker, I’m going to give you feedback that will make you even better. I’m sure I could mark fairly and give the same feedback but we both know that won’t motivate you nearly as much as if I’m being hard on you. Because it isn’t about how good you are, it’s about never being good enough to meet my unrealistic standards, which are above the expectations of the course. You are so lucky to have me as a teacher.‘ #Sarcasm

Teachers, please have high expectations. Please help inspire students to do the best they can. And please do so and grade them fairly.

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Two related ideas:

• How important are marks anyway? “The case against grades” by Alfie Kohn

And,

• A recent #Dailyink post: “Start off hard”

Motivational Speakers

Have you ever heard the term, ‘knowing is half the battle’? What a load of crap!

How many people know that:

• Smoking is bad for you.

• Eating poorly can lead to health issues.

• A sedentary lifestyle will take years off of your life.

• Focussing on negative thoughts will reduce your happiness.

How many people:

• Stay in dead end jobs that they hate?

• Remain in unhealthy or abusive relationships?

• Choose to self medicate with elicit or even prescribed drugs?

Most people that do these things, on some level, are ‘in the know’, and that is certainly not ‘half the battle’. I love this quote Derek Sivers, shared on the Tim Ferriss podcast:

“If information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.”

Knowing that you need to change is the first step in the process of actually changing. ‘Knowing’ is the compass that points you towards the battle, as opposed to being half of the battle. Once you have the direction you want to go, then the key thing that needs to happen is taking action towards that change.

Recently I’ve seen a lot of platitudes on Twitter and Facebook, as well as in searches for memes when looking for images to add to these Daily Ink posts. Words of wisdom and encouragement that I’m prone to sharing too. They sound nice. They feel good. They tell you that you are special, ‘You can do it!’, believe in yourself. These are wonderful words of inspiration, but there is nothing actionable about them.

They remind me of Matt Foley in his Saturday Night Live skit, ‘Go for it!‘, where he plays a motivational speaker who essentially says, change your life or you’ll end up just like me, “living in a van down by the river”! While most platitudes and words of wisdom and inspiration do not fall under the category of ‘change or you’ll end up being a loser like me’ they are similar in that they don’t really do more than provide encouragement.

A favourite quote of mine comes from John Grinder and Richard Bandler, the founders of NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming, “What is the difference that makes the difference?” This goes beyond platitudes because it identifies what can be done differently in order to change behaviour. It’s the ‘it’ in ‘You can do it’. It’s actionable.

There are some pretty amazing motivational people out there that understand what it takes to change behaviour in people for the better, and there are also a lot of motivational speakers who understand inspiration but don’t meaningfully inspire perspiration – the work needed to actually change… and to me, this is the difference that makes a difference.