Snow!!!

Snow in Alabama is rare. Mere mention of the word causes school systems to close and people to rush to grocery stores to buy milk and bread. Even if you don't normally consume much milk and bread, that does not matter. It's just part of the drill. Here's a shot of our house on this rarest of occasions.

Goodbye, Dr. Jan

I just learned of the sudden and unexpected death of Dr. Jan Borelli. Over the last several years, our paths crossed in many ironic and wonderful ways. Even though we worked several states apart, I came to find out that she attended college at Auburn University, a mere two hours from my house and that her college roommate was from the city where I currently live.

Jan and I were both Editorial Advisors for the National Association of Elementary School Principals at the same time and shared an interest in blogging. We were avid readers of each others' blogs. When my first book was in manuscript form and was sent to reviewers, the comments of one particular reviewer struck me. For some reason, I had this feeling that of all of the people in the country to whom this manuscript could have been sent, that Jan Borelli had been the reviewer. As it turned out, that was indeed the case. Not only were her comments extremely helpful in honing the manuscript, but following the book's publication, she was an avid supporter.

The picture of Jan with me that you see here was taken at ASCD two years ago. That event marked the first opportunity I would have to present at a national convention. When it came time for my presentation, Jan was on the front row. Later during the convention, I attended her session, joining a standing-room-only crowd. At the conclusion of her session, she publicly recognized me and encouraged everyone in the room to read the book I had authored.

At that conference, Jan had been asked to blog about her experiences at the ASCD conference. Her very kind words were as follows:

But my favorite presentation of the day was by Dr. Frank Buck. Who would imagine that from 5:15-6:15 on Saturday afternoon 240 educators would stay to learn how to "Get Organized: Time Management for School Leaders?" But they did. Frank was fun and engaging, but more importantly, he was "rubber hit the road" on the mark for simple ways to organize our professional endeavors for success. He described and trained us on five tools, techniques and practices to make life easier: the tickler file, the "signature tool," repeating tasks, documentation, and emptying your e-mail every day. We laughed and stayed engaged the entire hour as we learned and had "smack your head" moments of enlightenment. Everyone around me was going to the Exhibit Hall to find the Eye on Education booth to get a signed copy of Frank Buck's book. I know I will be first in line tomorrow!

Others who know Jan will probably nod as they remember times when she gave a "leg up" to those around her.

I enjoyed reading "Dr. Jan's Blog" and sharing from several states away her thoughts about those things dear to her, whether it be turning a school around, the latest accomplishments of family members, or her passion for horses.

Of all of the posts she wrote, my favorite is one from December 2007. I had tried to call Jan at Westwood for several days just before that post appeared and found it odd that nobody was answering the phone on weekdays during early December. The post not only answered that question for me, but provided a look inside the feeling of community that is alive in a place called "The Hippest School in America."

Below is that post in its entirety. I encourage those who have not read Jan's blog to do so and enjoy the wealth of wisdom and wit that is there and that will continue to move and motivate readers even though Jan is no longer with us in body.

The Frigid Plains, Tamales, and Family

In Oklahoma, we have been experiencing the aftermath of a pretty massive ice storm. We were all glued to our windows as the rain poured and the temperatures dropped; and it was all amazing and awe-inspiring. The quiet beauty of the coldness; and then the nastiness started... a lot like a good date gone bad.
At first we just noticed the trees bending with weight; and since we are in the usual dry and dusty plains, we don't have a preponderance of trees... and those we do have, we honor. So, we watched with concern. Then the lines strung from one pole to the next began to buckle from the weight; and as we stood outside we could hear "snaps" of wires breaking and limbs and trees tumbling.

Electricity disappeared, and we were reminded of how important electricity is. People all over the state were scrambling for generators as over half a million homes were suddenly without power; and state records for the horror of the ice storm began to be made. And, my own home was without electricity and phone service and, worst of all, our internet service was gone.

School was cancelled beginning Monday and continued to be cancelled through Friday. Since my school is on a year round schedule, we planned to begin our winter intersession this coming Monday, so it's been sad to lose the excitement that young children inspire as the holidays approach. Wednesday, all my faculty and staff and myriads of parents came to the school to make tamales for our xmas sale to raise funds for a marquee.

It was an endearing time that continued through Thursday for the heartiest of tamaliers. The parents brought their small children and taught us how to make tamales, and we the faculty learned an age old custom. I am pretty sure none of us will forget this ice storm nor the experience of working together for the children of the school. Most of us don't speak Spanish nor do our parents speak English, but there we were shoulder to shoulder in the most difficult and precise act of creating tamales; and we felt a bond that still warms us all, as we sang or hummed Christmas song. I worry about most of the children. I worry about their needs for warmth and food.

Our church, NorthHaven, has been in service to our community here in Norman. Those without homes, food, electricity have found their way to NorthHaven and have found the welcoming presence of our pastor, our pastoral staff, our members. The ice storm gave us more than a lack of electricity and some personal crises; it gave us moments of family and community.

I have not been feeling very bloggy lately. Maybe I'll crank back up or not....

reQall: CLAS Conference Follow-Up

The final tool we examined was reQall. I have no doubt that many of you have already established an account. Here are a couple of posts that cover the service in more depth:

• Oh No...Jott's Not Free (But reQall is) This post provides an explanation based on my initial experiences. Actually, I was mistaken about one point in that post. For you to "share" a message with someone else (have what you say sent in am e-mail to them), they do not have to have a reQall account. All who you have to do is add them to your contacts in reQall.
  
• Demonstration of reQall This video provides an explanation of the service
  
• reQall Videos Here are two more videos which demonstrate the capabilities of reQall.
  

Organization Made Easy! is Available for Purchase

Organization Made Easy! is now available through Eye on Education. Though many of the tools can be used in any profession, the book with all of its scenarios and examples is written for teachers.

Over the next month, you will see posts periodically which highlight topics from the book.

Do You Know What You Want to Know?

Google's ad during the Super Bowl illustrates a point that is becoming more important in our society. Finding information is easy provided we know what we want to find.

Google Docs: CLAS Conference Follow-Up

Google Docs is a powerful, free tool which allows you to post documents which you can access from anywhere, allow selected others to access from anywhere, or allow selected other to edit from anywhere. During the session at the CLAS Assistant Principal Conference, we looked at several example of its use:

• Handling maintenance requests for a school system.
• Handling ticket requests for an event.
• Gathering survey results.

Here are two posts which will give additional insight into the use of Google Docs

• Google Docs in Plain English This short video gives an overview of the concept with just enough depth to get you started.
• Love Letters Through Google Docs If collaboration is your aim, this whimsical video demonstrates how multiple people can view, edit, and improve a document.

Blogging: CLAS Conference Follow-Up

At the CLAS Assistant Principal Conference, we briefly touched on the concept of using blogs as a communication tool. Here are several posts which address blogging:

• Blogs in Plain English This short video provides an overview of what a blog is and how to create one.
• And Then There Was the Blog This post provides my rationale for moving from a paper memo to a blog in order to communicate with faculty as a principal.
• Keeping the Fire Alive This post addresses maintaining a blog so that it does not become a good idea which later dies.
• Leadership Day 2009 In this post, we look at the benefits of blogging for principals.
• Communication Doesn't Have to be Hard Districts benefit from maintaining a blog. This posts examines a practical example of how two districts used the tool effectively.

In addition, in the right-hand column, you will see a button taking you to Your Own Blog in 10 Minutes or Less. This blog consists of a set of post, each taken from a blog I had maintained. Each is designed to demonstrate a particular techniques.

Over the next few days, look for other posts related to topics from the CLAS Conference .

CLAS Assistant Principal Conference

For the assistant principals who attended the CLAS Assistant Principal Conference, this post is designed to help you get started with your own iGoogle page. When getting started with any endeavor, it often helps to see an example. Some months ago, composed a post listing the gadgets that I have on my iGoogle page, what they do, and the quickest way to get them. To revisit that post, click on the link below. If you like some of those, each one is only a click away from being added to your iGoogle page

Click here to see that post.

Here are several related posts that you may enjoy:
iGoogle
iGoogle
Google Reader

Thanks again for coming to the workshop!

January Wrap-Up

For those who may be new to this blog, the past month has been special for several reasons:

• Organization Made Easy!: Tools for Today's Teachers was released a few days ago.
• January was national "Get Organized Month."
• This blog turned 5 years old a few months ago.

To celebrate this trilogy, readers saw the following occurrences on this blog:

• Every day featured a new post...well, sort of. Actually, each day's post was one of my favorites from the last 5 years, more or less a "best of" series.
• Eye on Education teamed up with us to feature blog posts from her on their blog.
• Eye on Education featured a story from my teaching career in their "Tales from a Teacher's Heart" series.

In February, we will resume a schedule of posting new content every other day. At present, there is plenty of material waiting in line to be presented in this space. All of it is designed to help you navigate through life a little more successfully, with a little less stress, and a smile on your face!

If I Had One More Hour Every Day...

During my workshops, I like to ask participants to finish this sentence:

"If I had one more hour every day, I would..."

I ask this question because the concepts from the workshops, if implemented, will save at least an hour a day. In many cases, the amount of time could be far more.

Usually, workshop participants write their responses on slips of paper. During the "Managing Digital Data With Ease" session during Virtual AETC, participants keyed their responses in the comments box. Here is what they had to say:

If I had one more hour every day, I would:

• Sleep
• Spend with my family
• Sleep
• I'd realize how far behind I actually was
• Pray
• Spend time with family and prayer
• Rest
• Do laundry-- 3 kids under 8
• Relax
• Have quiet time
• Clean my house
• Mark more things off my list
• Spend it will my daughter
• Spend time with family, read
• Play with my dogs
• Spend it with friends and family
• Rest and spend time with family
• Clean my filthy house
• Volunteer more
• Sleep
• Relax and enjoy family
• Have quiet time
• Give myself a little more time
• Rest
• Play with the kids
• Sleep
• Spend more time with family and friends
• I would attend more virtual conferences
  
• Play more golf
  
• Read
  
• Enjoy family and friends
  

What about you? If you had another hour every day, how would you spend it?

Of Givers and Takers

After reading the post entitled "Keeping the Fire Alive," Dave Sherman added this comment:

...I have come to a crossroads in my own blogging. I am transitioning from a school district owned blog to my own personal blog so that I can write about more than just school related topics. I am struggling a little with this because does anyone really care about my interests away from education, and should that matter to me? Do we blog for ourselves or for others?...
- Dave

Dave's question is a pretty significant one...do we blog for ourselves or for others? I just hope my answer remotely approaches being as good as the question.

We blog for ourselves
For centuries, people have kept diaries in which they have recorded their private thoughts, thoughts for their eyes only. There seems to be something about the act of writing our thoughts on paper that clarifies those thoughts in our own minds. If I am forced to write it in such a way that it would be understandable to someone else, even if that never happens, then I am forced to make it understandable to me.

There is also a permanence about putting those thoughts to paper. They never change. We can revisit them, and in essence, step back in time for a brief moment. Later, if we choose to share those thoughts, the diary's many entries paint a portrait of who we are and who we hoped to become.

Today's blogs afford us that same opportunity with the added benefit of access from anywhere, ability to add media, and no chance of dropping it in a mud puddle or leaving it on the counter at the grocery store checkout.

We blog for others
By nature, we are interdependent creatures. Our society has reached its present level of advancement not because we are smarter or more resourceful than our forefathers. Instead, we are able to begin where they left off and lay the next layer on the foundation they have built. We have been the ultimate takers, reaping the benefits of their work.

On a personal level, any of us who have experienced success in the various arenas of our lives can surely point to someone else who made the road easier. Someone saw in us potential worth nurturing and went out of their way, doing what they did not have to do, to help spin straw into gold. We took very freely from their wisdom.

If balance is to be maintained, we must move beyond being takers and also be givers. We all have something to share, something to give back, and someone somewhere who has a need which matches perfectly with our gift. Our blogs offer an easy way for us to become givers.

Does anybody really care?
Perhaps the toughest part of blogging is knowing whether or not what we do makes an impact on anyone else. Of course, the same could be said of other venues. I am reminded of a workshop conducted years ago for a group of teachers, none of whom I knew at the time on a personal level. Nine years later when one of them became a close friend I was told, "You changed my life through that workshop." The feedback makes all the difference, and it is that element that tends to be missing.

We must write as if what we say does matter, because that's the only way that it will matter to us or anyone else. At the very worst, our blogs provide for us an outlet for our own creative juices. At the very best, they just might be changing lives, even in subtle ways, for people we may never meet. And in that delicate balance between being givers and takers, we may see ourselves begin to hold up our end.

Today on the Eye on Education Blog

Earlier this month, we asked the question, "How did you make today count?" This same post is featured today on the Eye on Education Blog. To read that entry, click here.

On Change

Our society talks about change. Business books love to talk about change. Our new President even ran on a platform of "change we need."

In a wonderful book I recently read entitled Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers, the author included the following quote that goes so eloquently to the heart of why change is so difficult:

It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear . . . . It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.

—Marilyn Ferguson in The Aquarian Conspiracy

One of my favorite quotes addresses that "in between," that space between trapezes, and that brief moment when we are without our security blanket:

When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and you are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.

—Barbara J. Winter

Comforting words in uncertain times.

Forget the Answer. Do You Know the Question?

Our world is moving forward at a blinding pace, and technology is leading the charge. No matter where we are on the continuum of "tech-savviness," there are those who look to us as being the "tech guru" while we are awed by others who are so much farther down the road than we are. Those who can solve the problems and find the answers are essential. There is, however, another group who is as valuable--if not more valuable. They are the ones who ask the right questions.

Perhaps the most memorable of these experiences happened some 20 years during a talk with the school system's transportation director. Those who work in small school systems wear many hats, and Jim was a prime example. He began to show me the paperwork nightmare that was his system for keeping up with field trips. Calendars with multiple pieces of paper stapled to them littered the desk. Invoices had to be typed at the end of each month for each school listing every field trip taken and the amount owed. In the midst of lamenting about his paper avalanche, Jim asked the question that overnight changed that transportation system.

"Frank," he said as he glanced at the AppleIIGS sitting across the room, "is there any way the computer can help me?"

Jim knew little about computers, and at the time I knew even less about transportation. However, Jim was able to describe the kind of information he needed. It would be a conversation which would have long-lasting effects on both of us.

The next day, I was back in Jim's office with a database I had created on AppleWorks. The input screen was designed to parallel the paper request forms that were submitted to him. Input, thus, was made so simple he could delegate it to an assistant. Jim could simply assign drivers and then view reports which would show him information by date, by driver, or by school. Best of all, the labor-intensive task of typing end-of-the-month invoices was now a simple matter of running one report. What had previously taken hours now took less than a minute.

For years, that school district ran its transportation system from that simple database. Along the way, Jim found shortcuts. That tends to happen when average folk like you and me start to sit down and actually use technology. We get better. Eventually, we get very good at it.

Twenty years later, the names have changed, I have changed school systems twice, and technology has improved dramatically. The essential elements are still there, however. We still need people who can solve problems. And, we still need people who can ask the right questions.

My former school system came a very long way in terms of moving from paper housed in filing cabinets to digital creations housed on its intranet. Spreadsheets I designed locally began to receive statewide use. Above all, we were doing it all with minimal staff and with tools that practically everyone already had at their disposal. The key to it all is that we had a few people who have been around technology long enough to appreciate the promise it holds. When confronted with a problem that involves data or copying information from one place to another, their first thought was to ask the same question Jim asked 20 years ago.

"Dr. Buck, is there any we could get the computer to..." That's a question that those who have worked closest to me tend to ask frequently. "Yes" is the answer they tend to get, and then I can get busy figuring out how to do it.

We need those who can find the answers. But first, we need those who can identify the questions.

I am beginning to understand that we can never find an answer to a question which has not been asked. Whether we are good at finding the answers or good at asking the questions, we can all play a valuable part in the bigger game, provided we choose to play at all.

What questions in your environment have gone unasked for too long? What role can you play in asking them? What are you waiting for?

Becoming a People Person

Recently, a friend told me about a conversation she had with a principal who had just read Get Organized! The principal had this to say:

When I accepted the job as principal, I envisioned myself as being a "people person." But, it just hasn't worked out that way. The paperwork and other demands of the job have kept me so busy there has been no time for people. This book is going to allow me to be the "people person" I had hoped to be.

At first, I thought the comment was strange. Get Organized! says very little about people skills. It's a book about organizing paper, digital information, and time. It is about the stress relief that happens when all of your responsibilities are housed in a comprehensive system. But a book about becoming a people person...?

Actually, the comment is right on target. For the last 10 years, I have opened most every workshop with this poem:

Good-bye, Sir, excuse me, I haven't time.
I'll come back, I can't wait, I haven't time.
I must end this letter--I haven't time.
I'd love to help you, but I haven't time.
I can't accept, having no time.
I can't think, I can't read, I'm swamped, I haven't time.
I'd like to pray, but I haven't time.
--Michel Quoist

The poem illustrates the time pressure we all face. Furthermore, the poem makes clear that those things which are pushed aside for lack of time are often the real treasures of life. Get Organized! was written to help the school leader flourish in a profession and in a world where the time demands so greatly exceed the available time. The strategies in the book conservatively add an hour to every day, and probably much more than that.

What do we do with the time we save? The book is silent there. That answer must come from the reader. During this summer's workshops, I began having participants respond anonymously in writing to this question:

If I had one more hour every day, I would...

At the end of the workshop, I read those responses aloud. As a people, we really do have ideas for what we would do if we had more time, and those responses are as varied as the personalities and interests of the people in the room.

For some, another hour a day would mean time to exercise, time to spend with children, time to resurrect that old hobby, time to learn a new hobby, or for this one reader...time to spend with the people in the building.

Whatever it is you wish to do, whatever noble service you will perform for your school, your community, your church, and whatever good you will bring to your family or yourself...all of it will be accomplished through the dimension we call time.

If I had one more hour every day, I would...

How will you answer that question?

A Success Story

I received this from a participant in a recent Get Organized! workshop:

Dear Frank,

I recently purchased a Day-Timer as my signature tool. Now I don't go anywhere without it; I use it all the time. My family is currently going through a major bathroom remodel. Keeping up with the carpenter, electrician, tile people, and plumber has been made easy with the handy Day-Timer. I keep daily notes and jot down all of my appointments. It's also convenient to have a small phone directory at hand. The Day-Timer also has calendars through 2014! So many times, my co-workers and I would be looking for a calendar. From now on, I am taking my "signature tool" to all meetings.

I plan to make my tickler file before school begins. Right now I'm focusing on completing the bathroom remodel.

Thanks for all of the wonderful, useful ideas!


The signature tool is something that works, as this teacher illustrates. Having one tool that keeps it all in front of us makes life easier!

Overwhelmed

One principal who helped mentor me described the end of the school year as “…like being on a sled going down a steep, snow-covered hill. Things just get faster and faster and there’s nothing you can do about it. You just try to avoid running into a tree.” We forget just how much hits us until it arrives. The end of the year just seems the logical time to bring closure to just about any activity you can name. Everyone is trying to clear up everything all at the same time. Work shows up faster than we can possibly get it done. Without intervention, next year will be no different.

As the year comes to a close, we would actually like to enjoy it. Everything we have worked for all year long is now blooming. How nice it would be to savor the moment instead of feeling the stress of so much to do in so little time!

It doesn’t all have to be done right now.
Some of what is on our plates could wait until the dust settles. Our fear is that by the time we actually have the time, those good ideas will have been forgotten, so we try to cram it all in while things are fresh on our minds. Two simple tools allow us to take those worthy tasks and carve a place for them in our future. One more gives hope that we could prevent this onslaught next year.

The Tickler File
There are the physical things which are lying around in the form of papers and files. Their physical presence serves as reminder of the work to be done with them. Every time we look at them, we are distracted from the task at hand. That’s where the tickler file comes to the rescue. We have a pretty good idea of when the dust will settle and life as normal will resume. Drop those papers in the tickler file for that time. They will resurface exactly when you have decided you wanted to see them.

The Signature Tool
There are the mental things rolling around in our heads. Every one of them screams “Don’t forget to…!” yet still we forget. Those things which could be done later compete for our limited attention with those things which much be done now. Our signature tool, be it paper or digital, is the answer. Pick a date when things will be more settled. Write it down or key it in depending upon whether you system is paper or digital. Either way, you have earned the right to forget about it. It will come back on its own, and it will do so on exactly on the date you had chosen.

The Repeating Task List
Some of the avalanche is caused by other people. Some of it, we likely have nobody to blame but ourselves. It seems as soon as life settles down in June, we forget the feeling of overwhelm and what we might have done to minimize it.

The world of education is a cyclic world in which many of the same tasks and same projects repeat every year. Some of what we are doing in May could have been done in March, if only we had thought of it in March. You can structure a system which will cause you to think of it in March, or at any time you choose. I have spoken often of the value of the repeating task list, a simple tool which allows us to think of something one time and then let our system remind us at just the right instant.

Finishing teacher observations, scheduling next year’s dates, grading mountains of make-up work, or taking inventory of our equipment are just a few examples of the tasks which need not be able to left for the mad rush of mid-May. If all of what we are trying to fit into a small window of time was actually written down in one place, we would instantly realize that we have set ourselves up for failure and begin to do something about it.

Master these three tools and watch your productivity go up and your stress level go down:
1. Tickler File
2. Signature Tool
3. Repeating Task List

End the Insanity
Mid-May is a terrible time to fix the problems of mid-May. June is a perfect time to lay the plans and implement the procedures that will make next May the perfect end of a perfect year. What can you do now to prevent the insanity of this coming May?


Our two greatest problems are gravity and paperwork. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
— Dr. Wernher Von Braun

Anything Worth Doing...

...is worth doing well.

...is worth doing poorly.

Which way did you expect the sentence to end?
Which one is correct?
Could both be correct?

A quick internet search revealed that others have put a twist on the old adage, "Anything worth doing is worth doing well." Most notably, Zig Ziglar tells us, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn how to do it well."

This subject seems particularly on point when we talk about the use of technology in the classroom. I remember vividly how much technology was transforming the administrative aspects of my job twenty years ago. A spreadsheet served as my gradebook. A database kept track of all of the music in the band's library. Word processing software held all of the documents I was producing.

Since that time, technology has become cheaper, better, and more accessible. That being the case, many in the teaching profession speak of "not being able to turn on a computer." Others who may be able to handle some of the administrivia of the job on a computer hesitate to use technology in their teaching. I believe the root of the problem goes back to one simple thing: We must be willing to something poorly in order that later we will be able to do it well.

We get good at what we practice. When our tools consist of a piece of chalk and a chalkboard, we become good at conducting a lesson that way. Given a digital whiteboard or document camera, we would find ourselves fumbling. Why go through that? Why not stick with that which is comfortable?

In the short run, sticking with the familiar pays off. After all, learning something new takes time, and time is in short supply. "Someday," we will learn to use technology. Days turn into weeks. Weeks turn into months. We wake up one day and wonder where the last ten years have gone.

Technology is a time-saver when used well. Technology makes things easy. There is one caveat: We have to be willing to make mistakes as we learn. We have to be willing to deal with some frustration at first. We have to be willing to ask questions and get outside of our comfort zone. We have to be willing to do it poorly, at least at first.

Some people are not willing to go through the process of being bad on the way to being good. I fully realize that we could substitute any term from "ice skating," to "fly fishing" in place of "technology" and we would have a valid argument. Just about anything in life that is worth doing takes some degree of skill in order to do well, and skill comes with practice, and practice takes
time.

What is it in your life that is worth doing yet you have not devoted the time? Why have you continued to say "no" to devoting the time necessary to developing it? What else could you say "no" to in order to say "yes" to this area of your life? Maybe that area is using technology in the classroom. Maybe it is something else. Whatever it is, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly...at least at first.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
--Leonard Cohen

I Love You. Now What?

The October issue of Fast Company included an article by Dan & Chip Heath entitled "I Love You. Now What?" They argue that while businesses have an efficient means of handling customer complaints, they are generally lousy when it comes to making it easy for customer compliments to get to the right people.

Examples the Heath brother cite include the compliment you have about the meal that will never make it back to the cook. The note you write about how much you appreciate the extra-deep automobile cup holder will never be read by the engineer who actually designed it. The article goes on to highlight the effects that expressing gratitude have on the giver, and that one point alone makes the article well worth reading. It can be found here.

The sentence that struck me most was, "What is your company doing to let gratitude blossom?" Perhaps an even more pointed question for each of us is, "What am I doing to let gratitude blossom?"

The article spotlighted an idea from American Airlines, pre-printed "Applause" cards given to frequent flyers who had reached "elite" status. The customer, provided he happened to be carrying the card with him, could write a quick note and hand it to any employee who had demonstrated a praise-worthy act.

The idea American Airlines idea is interesting, but do we really have to reach any particular status or be given a set number of special cards in order to do basically the same thing? Anywhere I go, I always have a few business cards with me. It takes only a few seconds to jot a note on the back of one of them and leave it on the table for an especially good member of the wait staff or ask someone to pass the card note along to the chef or whoever needs to realize that their talents have been appreciated. Charles Hobbs, author of Time Power would call that "throwing golden bricks."

Today on the Eye on Education Blog

Earlier this month, we looked at an easy system for documentation. Today, that post appears on the Eye on Education Blog. To take another look, click here.