Changing Priorities In My Classroom

by smallbizbee · 2 comments

I read a statistic that school teachers spend 90% of their time dealing with 10% of the kids in their class.

As you may guess the 10% are not the “A” students, in fact they are the students with behavior issues or other needs that require the teacher’s attention.

This got me thinking about my business, and my customers. My best customers, the one’s that are there for me, enjoy what I provide them, and benefit the greatest from my company, get the least of my attention. They are my 90% of my class.

Other customers, let’s say with higher demands, expectations, or “issues” receive the bulk of my attention. I try hard to turn them around, in order to become more like my “A” students. They are my 10%.

But what if I flipped it. What if I gave my “A” students 90% of my attention? Would they evangelize even more about what I do? Feels like I’m sacrificing the good of the whole for the benefit of few.

Doesn’t make sense when you think about it that way. I’d say it’s time to prioritize my attention. Focus on the “A” students, spend some time bringing my “B’s” to “A’s” and not worry so much about the relative few who are flunking my class.

I guess there are two ways to think about this though. How much more can I eek out of those who already think I’m great? Would they be willing to pay more for my services, or participate more? I’m not sure, but what I do know is right now I’m not giving them the chance to. I just keep on keeping on, with the idea that they are “A” students and will be just fine. May be time to change that.

What do you think? Who gets the majority of your time and attention?

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