#transitioningteacher #tipsandtricks

#transitioningteachers #tipsandtricks #transferrableskills

I want to go into a little more detail about what I mean when discussing transferrable skills. That term is used a lot but I don't see a lot of definition and how to connect in an interview.

Some people may not agree with my connections here and that's okay but this is my opinion and I hope it helps!

Suggested skills that teachers might list on a transitioning resume and the connection between education and a new role:

Public Speaking & Event Planning - Your position doesn't matter for this, it's the experience you have doing it. In my case, as a cheer sponsor, NJHS adviser, Yearbook adviser, Alternative School director and as an Asst. Principal I had the opportunity to plan all pep rallies, awards assemblies, Induction ceremonies, graduation, school picture days and back to school events. I planned every detail from the decorations, food, speakers, timing each detail and even designing and printing any programs, etc. I had to write and give speeches to auditoriums full of students, parents, community members and colleagues. This is relatable across any job.

Team Building - Perfect for anyone who was a group adviser, lead teacher, if you ever conducted a training, or acted as a committee chair

Project Management:- Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined finish; regardless of industry This could be the definition of teaching - taking a subject; defining a scope and sequence, teaching that content, defined finish = does my reporting show that I need to reteach or did the students meet the objective? How do I move forward?

Independent & Collaborative work: This is self explanatory but as long as you don't work on an island by yourself 100% of the time - you do this. Think of every time you reviewed something, provided feedback and implemented it.

Curriculum Specialist - Did you go to college to be a teacher? Did you specialize in one or more content areas? Have you created lessons from scratch? Do you know the various types of learners and how to reach them? Of course you do! Elaborate on YOUR subject. The one your passionate about. The details come later - you were in the trenches and you have valuable knowledge of the "what does and doesn't work."

Planning & Strategy Implementation - Did you have a "war room" on campus? A lot did. This is where walls and whiteboards were covered with every piece of state testing data provided. This is where teachers exhausted themselves trying to find strategic ways to teach content using an old text with irrelevant information (textbook adoptions only happen every 3-5 years ** hence why digital textbooks are the way to go!) to ensure that students made improvement next year. This is every lesson plan you've ever created. This is every professional development you sat through about new strategies, etc. What did you learn from those activities? This will be the same as strategy meetings in a corporate company. Questions will be the same. What worked? What didn't? Why? How do we do better?

Providing Effective Feedback - Every single time you grade an assignment. Explain the different ways you do this and why feedback is important.

Data Disaggregation/Analytics - State testing reporting, grade reporting, analyzing every assignment you've ever given. How did they do? What was the lowest point? How do we do better?

CRM - This is a database! Literally, record management. I don't think there is a school anywhere that doesn't use online gradebooks anymore. Do you have to pull reports? Make modifications? Build the bar graphs and circle graphs for reporting? Don't let the different acronyms fool you!

Professional Development/Trainer - Trainer = Teacher. You're a teacher by nature. I know my audience, I find ways to connect with that audience, I deliver the content in various ways to reach different learning styles and create engagement.

Learning Management System - Schoology, Canvas, Blackboard, Google Classroom, etc. Everyone used some form of this during COVID. If you can do one - you can learn the others. Simple.

Working Remotely/Tech Support/Customer Support/Remote Management - Teaching through COVID or working for an online charter school. Speak on: getting ready for the day, setting up a dedicated work space, creating a schedule, setting deadlines, follow-up, every time you have to respond to parents, community members, administrators, students via email, video or zoom. What tools did you learn? Speak on those.

Everything Google & Microsoft - How efficient are you with these platforms? What do you use regularly?

Client relations/Customer service: (from @allison travis) Listening to the needs of family/guardians (maybe reference an IEP/504 meeting), the needs of students and the directives from admin to create support and plan of service.

Budgeting: (from @allison travis) As grade level chair, I managed our team purchasing card. ~Allison From Jaime: I did this as a campus level Tech Coordinator as well. Many lead teachers have this responsibility!

Scheduling: (from @allison travis) Meetings with families/admin, and as grade level chair I helped redo the grade level's at the end of each year, ~ Allison From Jaime: I would connect this two ways: as a teacher: parent conferences, student one on ones, gradebook reviews, etc. As an admin, working on the master schedule is HUGE - detail all the moving pieces in that! No one could argue against this. The process is intense to say the least.

Outreach/Professional Communication: (from @allison travis) If you created a weekly newsletter, had a social media account, used an app like ClassDojo for parent communication.

Ability to work under pressure: (@Kimberly Saylor): Working well under pressure helps us meet deadlines and prioritize multiple projects and tasks. ~ Kimberly From Jaime: Deadlines and again - state testing and the data analysis that goes with it. Teachers live under pressure; pressure from admin, pressure from community, pressure from coworkers, pressures of the job and from the state! Not to mention the pressure we put on ourselves to try and reach every single student we encounter each day; trying to monitor for and be aware of bullying, depression, child abuse and simply trying to make a personal connection with our students.

Professional Development: Teachers are life-long learners; we may not always want to be BUT most states require PD hours yearly; in case of an audit, just to know we're staying on top of things. Teachers are great at seeking out PD that would benefit them, completing it and implementing it. ALL. THE. TIME. During COVID, some school simply weren't prepared to "go digital" and teachers had to learn, on the fly, various different LMS programs and EdTech tools to ensure they could engage students and monitor learning while providing and creating lessons. This was all new. Share your experience; detail the tools you learned. Explain how many hours per year of PD you seek out personally vs what is provided by your school.