Episode 83: How Writing Has Furthered My Career Beyond the Classroom

I've been thinking a lot about how writing has furthered my career beyond the classroom. It really was something that I didn't get super clear on as being such a key factor until recently. I think part of that has come through working with so many teachers and seeing them go beyond the classroom, and some people really being successful, and other people having it take a little bit more time. Some of that working online boils down to writing. 


If you're able to write a compelling cover letter, you're more likely to land jobs. If you're starting an education business, and you can write really exciting and inviting copy, then you're more likely to get customers. So much of what's done online is done through writing. And so as teachers transitioning to a flexible workplace working online, this requires really taking our writing skills to the next level.

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Topics Discussed:

  • Writing well enough to pitch yourself

  • Writing is a way to figure out tasks

  • Good writing allows you to control the narrative

Resources mentioned:

Related episodes and blog posts:

 
 
 
 

Read the transcript for this episode:

Welcome to Educator Forever, where we empower teachers to innovate education. Join us each week to hear stories of teachers expanding their impacts beyond the classroom and explore ways to reimagine teaching and learning.

I've been thinking a lot about how writing has furthered my career beyond the classroom. It really was something that I didn't get super clear on as being such a key factor until recently. I think part of that has come through working with so many teachers and seeing them go beyond the classroom, and some people really being successful, and other people having it take a little bit more time. Some of that working online boils down to writing. 


If you're able to write a compelling cover letter, you're more likely to land jobs. If you're starting an education business, and you can write really exciting and inviting copy, then you're more likely to get customers. So much of what's done online is done through writing. And so as teachers transitioning to a flexible workplace working online, this requires really taking our writing skills to the next level.


 I've also been thinking about just my own personal experiences with writing. In college, I was a double major at the beginning of college, doing creative writing and doing math. And I always thought, you know, my creative writing was focused on poetry, it like really didn't seem practical, right. But math seemed very practical people were like, Oh, you can get so many jobs with math. I also honestly just loved the beauty of both of math and of poetry. But I do have in my head, like, oh, math is more practical. I eventually, as I got into education, had to let one of those double majors go. So I let math that as my major go, and it became a minor, and I focused on education where I could do both things. But it's funny thinking back, because really, what's been the most practical for me, what's really landed me the most career opportunities is writing. And so thinking back to those days of being in writing workshops, and workshopping poetry, and being really into the details of writing, like all of that has been super applicable to where I am now. Of course, I've used math, you know, creating math curriculum, and definitely a worthy pursuit as well. But thinking back to these writing classes made me feel kind of nostalgic, thinking about how really getting into the craft of writing pays off. And when I look at where it took me, I've realized like, all these places I've been able to go, my career can be traced back to writing. 


When my daughter was born, I found a posting from Teaching Channel looking for an education consultant to work full time in their office. And I really wanted to work from home with my baby flexibly. So that wasn't the ideal position for me. But I wrote a convincing proposal to them. And I said, Hey, I just had a baby, I'm looking to leave the classroom, I'm really interested in what you're doing. But I want to do this flexibly from home. Is that possible? And it was possible. They invited me in and I had an interview. And this turned into my first big consulting job, the job that allowed me to leave the classroom and stay home with my baby daughter, it really became real, because I wrote this proposal. I wrote it into existence. And then several years ago, I saw a call@forbes.com for writers. And they were looking for people who could cover education topics. So I again wrote a pitch. And I wrote a pitch that pitched myself. I didn't ever interact with people at Forbes or in person, even on Zoom. It was all through writing. And I still have this column at Forbes where I get to cover education topics, all doing writing, and because of writing. And my work as a curriculum developer, of course, centers around writing. I believe that I've been able to be more successful in this field, because I've had this writing experience. Because I know that writing while it may not be the most enjoyable thing, even to somebody who does enjoy it is still such a helpful tool. And when I'm working in curriculum, when I'm working on curriculum projects, I figure things out by writing. Like I figured out my approach to teaching to writing curriculum by doing it by writing. And writing really is such a powerful thinking tool. And it's something that I only figure out how I think about things sometimes by writing it. Then thinking about building Educator Forever, you know, building this business where I get to help 10s of 1000s of teachers really come into their own as the educator, education experts as they are and create the next chapters of their education career. Most of that work has been done by writing But yes, I teach classes on Zoom. Yes, so we have the most amazing community where we get together, and we get to support each other. But so much of what I've created for Educator Forever, and what draws people into our ecosystem is through writing, is to be able to convincingly show what I believe about education, and to be able to find the right people to help through my writing. And so I want you to think about writing as really this multifaceted tool. You can learn what you think by writing, you can get clarity on your beliefs, by writing, you can land the opportunities that you hope to have in your career by writing. And I think there's so much that needs to change about education. And so often teacher voices are left out of the conversation. But when we learn to tell our own stories, and really share our experiences, we can change the conversation around education. That is really when we get to elevate teacher voices, we get to really show all that we've experienced and all that we've learned. And so think about writing as both an art and a practice. And though we're teachers, many of us have spent many years teaching writing, that doesn't mean that we can just sit down and write two really compelling copy. It really is something that we have to build into our daily lives, make a practice, get better at it, and find some enjoyment in. And just because it may not be easy. Like again, Writing is hard. Even for the most successful writers, writing is hard. But it's how we learn to think. And it's how we learn to share our expertise. And just because it isn't easy, doesn't mean it's not worth it. The money you can make working online is often directly proportional to your writing skills. And so it really is worth putting in time and effort to develop your writing skills. But how do you do that? Right, as a busy grown up, but like where do you go to develop your writing skills, I know it can be tempting to just use AI, which can be a great tool for brainstorming. But in a world where so many people are using AI, all this writing becomes voiceless, we don't know who's writing it. And so we really need to elevate our own voices, we really need to embrace writing as a thinking tool that is, and the first step to really getting better at it is to commit to it. To make a commitment that you we're gonna work on your writing skills. And I've created our brand new program,  the education writing Foundations program to support you to do just that. Through the program, you'll get instruction and personalized support. To really bring your writing to the next level. We'll have different assignments that you turn in. And I will give you feedback along with our amazing marketing manager Blair, who has a background in journalism and copywriting. And you will really be able to develop your skills as a writer and come up with a portfolio that you can use whether you want to apply for a job. So start a business and write compelling copy there, get published in a online publication or print publication. Or if you want to release your share your story, this program is for you. By turning in your assignments, you also have the opportunity to become an educator, forever certified education writer. And this will be a digital badge and certificate that you can put on your LinkedIn profile, you can put on your resume and it all links back to your writing portfolio. And above all, this will be committed time and space to really work on your writing practice. And we are launching our very first round of this program. We have some special beta pricing, I'll put all the details below. And we'd really love to have you join us. So if you're ready to commit to your writing, the best thing to do is to write so whether you join us for this program or not really carve out time to develop your skills intentionally. And write the next chapter of your education career into existence.


Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Lily Jones