[#teachers + #careerpivots] "How do I pivot out of teaching into doing... like what you’re doing?"
I was asked this quite a few times by teachers in Oman and Bahrain recently. So as promised, I am sharing three things I found it helpful to do in the run up to working in #facilitation & #professionaldevelopment:
1️⃣ Getting really good at #teaching
In my teaching roles, I did lots of PD, and was constantly learning and finding new ways to do things. I also jumped on opportunities to up-skill, and in the process met #trainers who inspired me, and I wanted to be just like in the future.
2️⃣ Doing a #sales role.
There are two jobs I was told are good to do early on in your career: #sales & teaching. (In both of these roles, you are selling something). I think if you can become good at sales, you become good at relationships, customer service, marketing... because they are all enmeshed and dependent on each other. Sales is often misunderstood because of negative stereotypes, yet I found it a valuable role to do to gain a broad range of skills, especially #presenting skills.
3️⃣ Learning how to #facilitate.
Facilitation is a skill like no other. I learned from Joyce Matthews that it is linked to the word 'androgogy' - to lead, or ‘man leading man’ (in the root of the word). Jackie Das also speaks often about how if you know how to facilitate (especially meetings), these are signs of good leadership. Facilitation is hands down the best - yet most continuously challenging skill I have ever worked on. The good thing is it's possible to start mastering it in your current role, for example, delivering PD for your staff. 🙋🏻♀️
In sum:
✅Teaching.
✅Sales.
✅Facilitation.
There are others, but I like to do things in threes. 🙃
💬What do you think? Are there any tips or advice you’d give to a teacher wanting to make a leap into a different role, still in education?
P.S. Still reading? Here are some resources from #Cambridge that can help you on this journey:
💡 1️⃣ 📗For reading: “From Teacher to Trainer” by Peter Lucantoni & Matthew Ellman. I was in Peter’s team while he and Matt were writing this book, and it was fun to hear snippets of what they were writing about. I haven’t yet read it myself, but it came to mind as useful for this context for teachers wishing to transition into training roles:
💡2️⃣ 👩🏻🏫 Masterclasses - #PreparingtoTeach: A programme designed to help you deliver your own workshops in school to orient your teams to Cambridge University Press Education #Resources. There is a cohort of #masterclasses coming up in May - reach out to me for details by message or comment. 🙋🏻♀️
Good luck! ✨
📸 Photo: this was not planned - just evidence that I even talk to my friends in threes.🤣
Comments