Lessons Learned Outside of the Classroom - Part II

Part II: An Honest Look at what I Learned

In a continuation from yesterday’s post, here are the four lessons I have quickly learned I wanted to share with you. 

Lesson 1: Learn to reframe what you. call yourself. You are an educator/education leader, which adds to the sound of being a teacher.

I typed that and felt sad. I re-read it, and even the pretty font color doesn’t make it better.

Let me be clear—I am a huge advocate for you and what you do in the classroom. I will always publish, post, and amplify your work because you deserve to be seen.

But...

The phrase “just a teacher” is everywhere. Some of you even say it (stop that). The world doesn’t always recognize the depth of your skills, and if they don’t ask, they don’t realize how powerful you are—how competitive you are for any role you want.

So reframe it.

• You’re an educator.

• An education leader.

• An innovator.You are all those things—own it.

I will always be a teacher, no matter my career. But I’ve had to reframe my own title to move the focus off bulletin boards and cardigan collections. (Until I get the job. Then I tell them. Because I do this for you.)

Lesson 2: Lose your jargon. Bye bye, Tier 3 words. (And calling them "Tier 3 words")

This is a lesson I learned the hard way. My inability to translate teacher-speak into app-developer speak frustrated me—not because of the folks at SyncEd, but because I had valuable insights about their product from a K–12 perspective and couldn’t articulate them clearly.

My passion is strong, which is usually a good thing. But in this case, it blinded me. I got tangled in jargon—scaffolds, standards, data, teacher feedback, student ownership, curriculum, HQIM, and the seemingly impossible task of quantifying qualitative data when assessing students. These are terms we throw around daily, and while edtech folks understand them, I needed to communicate with more clarity.

You’d think with my background, clear communication would come naturally. It didn’t. I had to work on it. And while my clients never called it out directly, they guided me toward that realization with grace.

It’s a lesson I’ll carry with me always, and I’ll forever be grateful for my partners' grace. Take some time to listen before you speak. That’s a good lesson anyway - but it really will work to your advantage if you follow that advice as you branch out.

Lesson 3: Remeber your worth—especially when discussing salary.

First, let’s kill a myth: Not all teachers are living on scraps and ramen noodles. (I got real tired of friends in other industries acting like I was a peasant.)

• According to the NEA 2024 Educator Pay Report, the national average teacher salary in 2022-23 was $69,597.

• High end: California ($95,160), New York ($92,696), Massachusetts ($92,307).

• Low end: West Virginia ($52,870), Florida ($53,098), South Dakota ($53,153).

Now, if you work in a boundary-violating school where your admin expects you to grade, plan, and stress yourself into oblivion because they don’t have healthy boundaries—yeah, you don’t want to break that salary down by the hour. (Also, remember your worth and go somewhere with better leadership.)

But point blank: Those salaries? Livable.

So when you start job hunting outside education, it’s shocking how many roles pay way less than teaching. And after years of being emotionally, mentally, and physically worn out, you might feel tempted to take a pay cut just to escape.

I get it. But don’t sell yourself short.

If you’re consulting, negotiating a job offer, or setting your own rates, BE CONFIDENT. You are highly skilled, highly trained, and highly valuable—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You will find your people who value you and know who you are worth. I found them with my first contract, SyncEd, and with subsequent partners I am not at leisure to discuss yet. People see you and honor your expertise. They want to work with you. They will validate you if you need it. Make sure they are willing to compensate you fairly. 

How I did it (a.k.a. how you can do it than I did)

• I asked a consulting friend for advice.

• I dumped all my degrees, awards, publications, positions, and experience into ChatGPT.

• It spit out salary expectations, rate options, and ways to frame the conversation that I balanced with my friend’s advice and had my rate range.

Did I execute this flawlessly? No.

At one point, I had to record a one-way interview (already awkward) where they asked me to state my salary expectations on video. I panicked. I kept saying the same thing on loop—“I feel like I should land on the high end because I check all the boxes and bring additional experience”—with the exact same hand gestures. Over and over.

I really hope that video self-destructed.

Do better than I did.

• Know your worth.

• Frame your skills confidently.

• Practice your salary discussion.

Maybe you won’t have to hope your video interview disappears in a puff of Mission Impossible smoke.

Lesson 4: Leverage AI all you can—really

I am going to write a whole series of posts on how and why to make AI your thought partner, but for the sake of this I will say that my original post on this was way, way, way, way longer than this. I wrote each section and then pasted it into ChatGPT with this prompt: It's for my blog. Is it too wordy? Should I have you condense it? 

Its response: Your writing is strong and passionate, and it’s clear you care deeply about this message. It’s not a bad idea at all—it’s just about refining it for your blog audience.

I’d suggest slightly condensing it to keep the impact while making it more skimmable. Blog readers tend to prefer punchy, clear sections that get straight to the point. Would you like me to streamline it while keeping your tone and message intact?

I said yes. So all of this is my writing, but to make it less rant-y and more condensed, I looked to AI.

It’s a helpful tool. Learn it. Leverage it. 

To close us out

Just as yesterday's Rolodex told me, I can do anything I put my mind to, but I will add to it that I do it with support and grace from those with whom I interact, both personally and professionally. If we keep in our heads always why we are here, for students, then we can all rally around that and learn and grow together. 

We ask it of kids every day. 

It’s time to model it.