Show Up
When I first started teaching, our district would hold networking and recruitment events for prospective teachers and leaders who wanted to learn about the work we do.
I went to every single one of them.
So many of the people I taught with grimaced at the idea of spending any extra time “working” so most of them skipped the events.
In fairness, I was a career changer who was so thrilled not to be throwing cans of tar around anymore that I probably would’ve done anything I was asked to. Still, I went to those events and spoke to everyone I could.
I connected with teachers and leaders from other schools and spoke to so many potential hires. Both of which served me well when I began coaching teachers across campuses as the other school leaders and teachers already knew me and some of the folks I was coaching, were the people I’d met at those networking events. I had instant credibility with all of them.
The very first event I attended, when Mastery had only four schools, was on a boat on the Delaware River (the boat was docked). In the middle of the event, while talking to a handful of people I worked with and some more that I didn’t, the CEO said hello to me and asked me who I was.
People were terrified of him. Not because he was a bad guy, but maybe just because of his title. I wasn’t sure, but again, I was no longer blacktopping driveways in 100 degree heat, so I was fine talking to anybody. I thought, “What do I have to lose?”
He and I spoke for a few minutes. I could feel the people I was with slowly backing away as we chatted. We shook hands and after he left, people swarmed me, asking questions about our talk like I’d just spoken to the president.
At event after event, I chatted with the CEO, CSO, CAO, Director of HR, Director of Ops, and people all across the schools and the central office. And in fact, when I went to the central office to interview for the coaching job I referenced, both the CEO and CSO stood up, walked over to me and shook my hand.
The Director of Teacher Coaching, the person I was about to interview with, said, “Those are two pretty big handshakes.”
Here’s the thing: I always show up. I go to everything. I talk to everyone. They remember me because of it. I don’t do it to get anything from them. I do it because I want to be in the game. I want to see where I can help them and to see what connections I can make.
Recently, a colleague shared a top-secret draft of an initiative that uses AI to support teachers. It was created by a pretty major player in the urban ed space, and if it works, it could be a game-changer. He asked me for feedback on it. I provided it but then asked that he introduce me to the person who designed it. He did, and we had a call. While I can’t reveal the details of the initiative, I will say that the person expressed that his biggest obstacle was finding a teacher coaching model that’s very precise, that uses precise language, that’s easy for people to internalize, and that leaves very little room for people to just make up their own analysis based on what they think vs. what’s actually happening.
He’d just described our coaching model perfectly. So, it’s early and nothing is for certain, but it’s possible that our model is the model that’s used for an initiative that could change urban education forever.
Show up. Get in the game. You can’t win if you’re not even there.
