Part of Lesson Plan: Get Your Geek Out

Activity Overview / Details

Have students come in to class and have them do a quick write on their worst customer experience at a store.  After you see most of the class is done writing, have them share with a partner (someone sitting next to them) their stories.  Then share a story of your own and ask if anyone in the class would like to share their own experiences.  You could also discuss why it was a bad experience and how it could have been changed so they would have been a happy customer.

A lot of leeway here to draw in students own experiences and then begin relating them to the topic of customer service and professionalism.  They may even use other teachers or school personnel for examples.  You might want to ask about some good experiences and what them good, if time permits.

Additional hook:  If you have time and a student to do this with, here's an idea for role playing that can be fun.  Requires some set up beforehand.

Recruit a student ahead of time and talk to them privately about participating.  This will depend on your personality and the students.  Have your student "role play" with you on bad customer service, with you the teacher acting out bad behaviors to the (student) customer.  You can do things like have the student raise their hand during the quick write and you ignore them, or act very bothered and rude.  Have the student try very politely to get your attention, ask a question or have some type of problem and the teacher makes a big fuss towards the student. Be sure its big enough distraction for the class to be aware that something is going on.  You could also have a colleague call on the phone and also act very rude while answering the call.  Afterwards, be sure to let students know your behavior was play-acting and use the experience to draw them in to the lesson.