Personalized Learning | Education Elements | Classrooms
BEING A CLIENT SERVICES TEAM MANAGER
My name is Becca and I manage the Client Services Team (CST) at Education Elements. I’ve journeyed through middle school classrooms, learning centers, and even a brief stint with car insurance to get here.
My transition from classroom to corporate was not exactly graceful - I was told during more than one interview that I didn’t have the skills they were looking for because “you’re just a teacher.” I still seethe remembering the injustice of those interviews, but it makes me all the more elated to have found a workplace that encourages the application of the valuable lessons I learned in the classroom.
My job as a teacher was to encourage growth, and that’s how I see my role as a manager. There are many things that I learned through implementing personalized learning in my classroom that have become useful as I’ve transitioned to a leadership role within Education Elements:
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Set clear expectations and a high bar and people will meet both.
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Knowing the right answer doesn’t make you a leader; but encouraging discovery and creating independent thinkers and creative problem-solvers does.
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Targeted group activities are effective at inspiring personal growth.
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Listen actively and consider other perspectives to get to the best possible outcomes.
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Highlight the strengths of the individuals, and allow them to become the strengths of the group. Resist imposing your strengths on the group.
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Notice effort, and give genuine praise.
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Be flexible and ready to optimize. Just like every individual is distinct, so too is the dynamic of every group.
Unfortunately, I can’t say that I applied all of these incredible perspectives immediately after transitioning out of teaching. I had the misconception that the skills I picked up in the classroom were not applicable outside the walls of a school, so I abandoned much of what I’d learned from the classroom to make way for new, “better” skills.
Spoiler alert: It didn’t go well.
Even though I originally tried all of the “traditional” methods to fit in and be a good worker bee, I found that embracing a personal approach to learning elicits self worth, self growth, and self management. Whether in the classroom or in the workplace, I hope to see more folks encourage creative thinking and growth by breaking with tradition and getting personal.
Image credit : /Freeimages.comPaul Guither
