Episode 27: From Online Teacher to Program Coordinator with Evonne Hall

For those educators out there thinking that teaching is your only option, I’m here to tell you it’s not! With your many unique and talented skills, you have the ability to venture out and try out different options until you find the best fit for you. My guest on today’s episode, Evonne Hall, kept trying various jobs until the right one came along. She’s sharing tips and advice on how to go from an online teacher to program coordinator.

Evonne explains that as her life got busier and her family grew, it was time to work beyond the classroom with something that better fit her needs. She landed on being an online teacher that allowed more flexibility to her schedule, while still having a direct impact on students. 

With that online teaching experience, she still hadn't finished growing as an educator and took her skills and experience to being a program coordinator at Educator Forever. Our conversation revolves around getting comfortable with moving around to different jobs or companies that ultimately is the best option for your life, schedule and needs. Evonne shares realistic and practical advice for those transitioning out of the classroom to other roles such as program coordinator.

 

Topics Discussed:

  • The long and winding journey from educator to program coordinator

  • Reasons why exploring a variety of options helps you find the right fit

  • Evonne shares what life as an online teacher is like

  • How her role as a program coordinator at Educator Forever is different each day

  • Advice for those wanting to transition outside of the classroom or try new careers

Resources mentioned:

Related episodes and blog posts:

 

Meet Evonne Hall

Evonne Hall is the Program Coordinator at Educator Forever. She has spent the majority of her career in the field of education, working in public, private, homeschool, and virtual teaching roles. In 2016, she began teaching ESL online as a side hustle and grew to love the flexibility of teaching online in a variety of teacher marketplaces.

Evonne enrolled in Educator Forever's Beyond the Classroom course and discovered the additional ways educators could use their superhero skills. She began working in the field of curriculum development, working with TPT sellers and online ESL companies to create individualized and group offerings. With the confidence she gained, she honed in on her zone of genius to help teacherpreneurs build and grow their dream businesses. While Program Coordinator is her primary job function by day, Evonne also enjoys gardening, reading good books, and anything organizing-related.

 
 
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Read the transcript for this episode:

Lily

Evonne Hall is the program coordinator at Educator Forever. She has spent the majority of her career in the field of education working in public, private, homeschool, and virtual teaching roles. In 2016, she began teaching ESL online as a side hustle and grew to love the flexibility of teaching online in a variety of teacher marketplaces,

Lily

Evonne enrolled in our Beyond the Classroom course and discovered the additional ways educators could use their superhero skills. She began working in the field of curriculum development, working with Teachers Pay Teachers sellers and online ESL companies to create individualized and group offerings.

Lily

With the confidence she gained, she honed in on her zone of genius to help teacherpreneurs build and grow their dream businesses. While program coordinator is her primary job function by day Evonne also enjoys gardening, reading good books, and anything organizing related.

Lily

Welcome, Evonne, so glad you're here with us.

Evonne

Thank you so much for having me.

Lily

Absolutely. Well I know that you've done many interesting things in education, so I'm hoping you'll start by telling us a little bit about the journey you've taken as an educator.

Evonne

So I think like most educators, the journey has been long and definitely winding. I started in the classroom in 1995, as a newly endorsed special education teacher. And so I taught in a urban setting for about 10 years, taught in special education that at the time, we were making the big push to do collaborative and inclusive teaching. So we were really at the forefront of that.

Evonne

And I got to enjoy that transition, like all transitions. And then after about 10 years, we decided to relocate back to the area where I grew up, which is a more rural setting. And I had my children here, and quickly, my childcare expenses outpaced my paycheck,

Lily

That is real.

Evonne

It's a struggle, it's a struggle. So my third child was born and fairly short order. And it just, we needed to make some changes. And so I decided to stay home with my children. And you would think that would be where my kind of the story stopped. But it didn't, it just kind of morphed and evolved as so many do.

Evonne

So I took what I was doing from the classroom, and I started utilizing that in the homeschooling community. My oldest daughter was born with special needs and so we decided we were going to homeschool her for a while.

Evonne

So that led me into starting a homeschooling Co Op. And working with a company that actually specializes in homeschooling educational materials, to work with them on their educational materials, work with individuals, homeschooling parents who were teaching in these co-ops on their instructional strategy and ensuring that the curriculum was actually being used the way that it was designed.

Evonne

And so I traveled regionally to do all of that. And at the same time, I was doing some private trainings and professional development for some local private schools, because they asked me to do that. And then around 2017, I had an ad pop up in Facebook, about teaching online for VIP Kid. And I decided to investigate that.

Evonne

And that led me on a seven year path of teaching online for various companies and in different capacities and classrooms that I ended up at Educator Forever taking the awesome courses. And here we are. So the long winding road we take.

Lily

Totally. And sometimes we don't know where that road is going to lead us, right? Or awfully, maybe ever. There's no point really planning super long term, because it's always going to be slightly different.

Evonne

And I think that's that is exactly right. Because I used to laugh all the time about my five year plan, you know, I'd have this five year plan that just was never was never what I thought it would be. But I always ended up somewhere better than I might have initially thought, so.

Lily

Yes, totally. And I think there's some value in doing that five year plan, you know, or one year plan or two week plan or whatever it is. But I think that flexibility also needs to be there and kind of like you were saying of like you saw this ad pop up and we're like, Huh, that's interesting.

Lily

You know, let me try this out. And then it led you this whole other way. So I think there's something about not being rigid with our plans that of course, there's value to planning, but also kind of tuning into those moments that might just kind of pop up.

Evonne

Absolutely, actually, it's one of those things like for me, where it's this, continually reminding myself to be open, right to be open to those possibilities, because you know, I'm a planner, I do tend to plan it brings me comfort I have four teenagers. We live we need a plan to kind of get everybody everywhere.

Evonne

But just remaining open to new possibilities. You know, I have consistently over the last, I think I saw it was 28 years over the last 28 years, which is mind boggling, you know, open myself up to what can I learn here? What can I do here?

Evonne

And have just been astounded at all of these different places that it's led. So yeah, I'm totally with you, especially working in the online environment, the flexibility thing is just huge. It's key.

Lily

Yes, absolutely. So tell us a little bit about working as an online teacher kind of what was that like? What are the different I know, you did several different companies in several different ways, you know, give us a kind of lay of the land there.

Evonne

Okay, so one of the first places I started, like I said, I got that ad for VIP Kid. And I was very intrigued, because it's like it's teaching, it's what I do. So I'm like, Oh, this would be great. Maybe as a side hustle, I could teach a little bit, and then I could, you know, make a little bit of money. And that's really where it started.

Evonne

Once I started to kind of look around, though, like, you know, we teachers kind of like to know what we're getting into just a little bit. So I started to do a little bit of research. And I realized, wow, there are a lot of different companies, and at the time, VIP Kid was going through a pretty massive shift.

Evonne

And there were a lot of teachers that were working with the platform that had some reservations, some concerns, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get the hours that I wanted. So I actually looked around, and Whoa, there are all these other companies who are hiring online teachers in that area of ESL online.

Evonne

And so I chose a different company to start. And I worked with them for a little while, about six months, it's very normal to have shorter contracts, when you are working with with online companies, as you know. And so I tried it kind of like you tried it on. And I was like, Okay, I like this, but there were certain aspects of the job that I didn't enjoy.

Evonne

And so I thought, well, let me go see if there's something else out there. And as it turned out, there were, there were other companies that allowed for a bit more flexibility. So the beautiful thing about teaching online is that there are so many options available to you that you really can kind of pick and choose what's going to work best for you.

Evonne

So at the time, when I started, I started with a company that had a very fixed schedule, which sounded awesome, I was guaranteed, you know, a paycheck, and it was fabulous. But I have little ones. And so I needed a little bit more flexibility in the schedule of you know, what happens when they're sick, what happens when they're, you know, this, and I needed to have that flexibility of being able to take off that time.

Evonne

So I chose a different company. And that's one of the things to remember is just there literally are so many options to teaching online. And I think for many people, that's one thing, they don't realize that there just are so many ways to do it, and so many places. So after I stayed and I did for a couple of years, I kind of every six months, I tried a new company.

Evonne

And then I finally landed on two companies that were kind of the perfect marriage together, where one offered a bit of the fixed schedule. But I had another that was kind of my flexible add in. So if something happened, and I didn't get all the hours I needed at the fixed schedule company, I could just tap in some extra hours with my flex schedule, and it created the perfect one for me.

Lily

Yes, I love that. Yeah. And seeing about the different mixes we can create, depending on what we need, right that and you know, whether it's in terms of income or flexibility, or just what feels good or is interesting.

Lily

There's always different combinations. And so it's interesting hearing you reflect on kind of what you've needed, and what was there and find that your way to create the best solution.

Evonne

Yes. And that and that was something that was super appealing to me. And then the longer that I did it, I started to realize there were these other things that I kind of wanted to consider, as I was going through, you know, initially it was oh, the schedule and the money. Then it started to morph into Oh, what about the company itself? What about the company culture, you know?

Evonne

Yeah. And so that became something that was important to me. And so I actually, you know, moved to a different company because I enjoyed the culture, much more of that particular company. I liked what they were trying to do. And believe it or not, I actually shifted companies once because I really didn't care for the curriculum.

Evonne

I was doing exactly what we wanted it to. And no matter how I tried to differentiate or expand that curriculum within the classroom, within the time window we were looking at, it wasn't as effective. And after really trying to, you know, make some suggestions and stuff, I went, Okay, you know what, maybe it's time for me to look somewhere else.

Evonne

And sure enough, so that's part of that beauty is that, you know, you are able to look at this plethora of options and decide what works best for what you need at that time.

Lily

Absolutely, yeah. And sometimes you don't know till you're in it, you know, you don't really know it's not a good fit culturally, or with the curriculum, or whatever it is, until you're there.

Lily

So I think also thinking about it as like you gained such valuable experience having been on the inside of all these different companies, and getting that knowledge of what works and what doesn't. So I think it's also interesting in terms of just like professional development of trying out different things.

Evonne

And it has been, and it's there were things that you wouldn't even think to ask, you know, at the beginning. You can do all the research, right, watch 100 videos, and I promise, I probably watched close to 100 videos on YouTube and on different bloggers and just reading as much as I possibly could.

Evonne

And yet, it's just like when you come out of, it's just like, when you come out of school as this newly endorsed teacher, and you step into that classroom, and within about a week you're like, Okay, so I learned all this theory. And now we got this practical application of like being in the classroom and figuring out what really works and what doesn't. And it was just like that for the online teaching too, really kind of getting in there.

Lily

Yeah, that's a great analogy. And like, imagine if we had just like, gone to our credential programs, and then just, which many of us did, right? Just stop in the classroom. I guarantee you, I was not a fabulous teacher on day one. So I think that most of us, you know, need that practical experience. And in other jobs, too.

Lily

You know, I think that's a really interesting way to think about it, like, nothing is different in another job. And I mean, a lot of things are different. But in that way of teaching, I've just feeling like you need time to be prepared, and like, everything has to be perfect, and all the things like it's not going to happen. So it's better to just start and learn through doing it.

Evonne

Yes, and you're gonna have those things that happened in the classroom where you're teaching, and all of a sudden, your power goes out, oh, my gosh, you need to have this, you have to have some sort of backup, or your headphones, the the microphone dies, and suddenly your students have that, like, you know, weird look on their face, because they're like, We see your lips moving, but we have no idea what you're saying.

Evonne

You know, so you just have to kind of have that flexibility. And that adaptability might even be a better term, to be able to understand, yeah, you're gonna do all the preparation, and you're still gonna have a few things you need to learn along the way.

Lily

Absolutely, absolutely. And so I know that you also in your journey, did some really cool animal related classes. Tell us about this.

Evonne

It's always so funny, because I tell people and it's kind of like, you know, where you say something, and you kind of try to like cover your mouth.

Evonne

So I would say about 2019 out school, which is an online teacher marketplace opened up. And here's a perfect example of what not to do for the people that are listening to podcast. So I saw it, and I thought, that would be kind of cool. And I signed up off the bat was hired very quickly.

Evonne

And then I did nothing for about a year because I was very nervous about creating a class and putting myself out there. It was just I don't know why I had been on video teaching 1000s of students literally by this time, 1000s. And suddenly, for whatever reason out school just kind of freaked me out initially. But I did finally get over that. And I decided I was going to teach something fun on out school.

Evonne

So I was looking around for something to do, because one thing that happens on a teacher marketplace is you have a lot of different teachers teaching a lot of different things. And oftentimes, it's 24 hours a day. So that's wonderful for learners, because there's a ton of options. And when you're first getting started, it can be a little bit intimidating because you're like all these other people are teaching, what can I do?

Evonne

And so I was looking around, and my daughter happened to walk by with her guinea pig. And I thought, I wonder how many guinea pig classes there are on this particular marketplace. So I kind of looked around a bit and there were a few but not terribly, you know, not too too many. I would say not like 100 guinea pig classes. And I thought maybe we'll give that a try.

Evonne

And so, one of my most successful classes on outschool actually was about guinea pigs, it was just introducing people to general facts about guinea pigs. And then we progressed to guinea pig care. I did summer camps that were all about fun things with guinea pigs making different toys and treats with them, and even baking baking treats for the guinea pigs. I had a lot of students sign up for those kinds of classes.

Evonne

And yeah, it was really, it was one of those things that I, I had a lot of fun with, you know, it was because it wasn't an academic class. And sometimes students, you know, that's what they need, right? So it ended up being a lot of fun. And I'm always telling people, no, really, you can teach online, if I can teach a class about guinea pigs, you can teach online.

Lily

I love that, and how cool it is for all the little kids out there who love guinea pigs because you know, to have this teacher in these classes. And so yeah, thinking creatively about all the sorts of classes people can teach.

Evonne

And that's it there is something that's really good to remember is that a lot of the skills that you believe you have, as a teacher that everybody else have, for whatever reason, you think everybody else has those skills, really, oftentimes they don't, right, and a lot of times, the passions that we have, the things we enjoy, are some of the best things to start out with teaching.

Evonne

Because somewhere, there are students who really liked that passion, you know, they enjoy animals, they enjoy plants, they enjoy show and tell. You would be amazed at how many students just want to show and tell class where they can come in and show off their Lego creation or whatever, or read books together.

Evonne

So there's so many different ways to craft classes when you're online. And there are a lot of different I don't want to say markets, but there are a lot of different subsets of students that are going to be very receptive to your ideas.

Lily

Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it breaks through the idea of like, the type of class I shouldn't teach, you know, which might be more like reading oriented, or math oriented, which is great, right? All important. But there's also all this whole world of other classes that you can teach too.

Evonne

Yes, and there are tons of platforms. So, you know, some people may look at a larger platform and go, you know, what, maybe this one's a little bit, you know, it's, it's a little bit too big. Maybe I want to try somewhere else, and you can find them somewhere else. There are many different opportunities.

Lily

Yeah, that's great. I know, it's like this Venn diagram that I think about of just what your interests are, and what you want to teach what the need is, you know, what people want to buy or sign up for, and then finding that overlap there.

Evonne

Yep. And that's the perfect positioning, yes, to do it that way. And knowing that you'll try them out. And you may have to, you know, you may try some things out, and you're like, Okay, well, maybe this one isn't, as well received, and we're gonna shift gears. But that goes back to that adaptability.

Lily

Try it out. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. So now, we are lucky to have you as part of the Educator Forever team, which is amazing. And you bring many skills to your role here as program coordinator. So if you want to tell folks a little bit about what you do at Educator Forever? That'd be great.

Evonne

Thank you. That's a great question. And thanks for that. So I really, I do a little bit of everything at Educator Forever. And I love that I work closely with the curriculum development foundations program as both a curriculum coach, and also as kind of the support the operational support for that program.

Evonne

So if there are any questions that you know, students have dealing with the technology or specific requirements, they reach out to me and I try to assist them through those steps. Then in terms of working with I work with a Beyond the Classroom course, I'm there for operational support, and also meeting the students helping them with any needs that they may have if they reach out.

Evonne

And I feel like they're just all these fun little things that I get to do at Educator Forever. I get to write blog posts, I get to you know, I get to work with databases. It's just it's kind of like every day I get to get up and and go, Wow, what am I going to do today? I write lesson plans for the agency. And I get to think about what are the kinds of lessons that I would like to have in my classroom?

Evonne

Right when I was teaching in the classroom, and I get to make those. And so every day is this kind of exercise for me this perfect blend of creativity and technology because I've always been oriented to technology. And I'm always enjoyed using it always incorporated into my classes. That's another one of those side things.

Evonne

You know, just working with the schools that I was in I was almost always the technology liaison, just because I enjoyed bringing those things into the classroom and really trying to inspire and engage students with that. So I get to do that here. And it's really exciting. It's really exciting every day.

Lily

Yay, I'm so glad. It's like living your best life. Yeah, that's like gotta mix it up, like, and I think it's also goes back to just like reflecting on what works for individual people, some people are would be like, Hey, I just want to do one thing over and over again, throughout the day.

Lily

That's okay, I am the same way as you, as you know, I want to do this now. Now. I'm gonna sit over here. So really having that like, to me, that's true flexibility to be able to choose like, hey, of course, there are things that need to get done every day. But to have some choice within that, and to do lots of different things makes it not boring.

Evonne

I agree. And just that sense of agency. You know, I think one thing in working with the educators that we have coming to us at Educator Forever, it's just astounding, how incredibly creative and passionate and driven that these folks are. And I got to think about that the other day, really kind of like how amazing is it that we get to work with such amazing educators every single day.

Evonne

You know, who are trying to expand their skills, get better make an impact in education, you know, folks who love it, and don't want to leave it completely, but they just want to have ways, you know, other options, that flexibility for ways to impact it. And that's just really cool. It's just amazing to me.

Lily

I agree. I mean, I feel super lucky every day to be like, Oh, I get to join calls and classes with all these amazing people and get to learn from them too, and build community with them.

Lily

So for those people who might feel kind of stuck in the classroom right now, do you have any advice for them about potentially transitioning out or at least trying new things beyond the classroom?

Evonne

Absolutely, I think for teachers that are in the classroom. In fact, it was interesting, I was just talking to someone the other day in that exact same position. It was very interesting to listen because she had a plan. And she was laying out the plan. And I had to chuckle because I thought we teachers, we always do that we need plans, you know, because we work with so many.

Evonne

And you will not find another profession, where people do quite as much thinking on their feet constantly, as teachers do, just the number of decisions we make in a typical day is is really kind of mind boggling. But I was sharing with her that as an educator, when you're you're working in the classroom, if you're looking outside, you have a ton of options to explore.

Evonne

And in some ways, being in the classroom, really does give you a little bit of freedom, because you can try these other things on and see if they fit, you can do them in smaller, you know, in smaller pieces.

Evonne

For instance, if I was teaching in the classroom, I still was able to kind of teach early in the morning, right for some of my online teaching, and then go and do the teaching that I was doing during the day with co-ops or private schools, or whatever the case may be.

Evonne

So you can try some of these things out on the side, you can try online teaching, you can try freelancing, you can try working with discussion boards, there's just so many things that you can try alongside what you're currently doing. And that gives you that experience without that full on commitment to being out.

Evonne

And I kind of wish someone had shared that with me, you know, years ago, that I had an opportunity to do something like that, because I kind of thought either you're in the classroom or you're not. And that's not necessarily how it has to be. It can be a both and out instead of you know, either or.

Lily

Yeah, I mean, that's how it was for me too. And I think that does give you a chance to just try things out. And really see from there, you know what feels good and kind of prove to yourself that there's stuff out there that you can get jobs, you know, and build your resume and your experience and your connections along the way.

Evonne

And I think that's important what you just said, allowing you as the teacher to kind of be in the driver's seat on that. And I know a lot of times we as educators don't feel like we're in the driver's seat. But this gives us it really does give you the opportunity to do that because you can try these things and go oh, that is just not for me, you know, and that's okay. That is okay.

Lily

And the sooner you start trying things, the sooner you'll get that clarity. And I think even if you're like nope, I need to leave the classroom now or I've already left the classroom you can think about you know, the first job you take probably isn't going to be your number one favorite job, just like I said when getting into the classroom your first day is not going to be 100%. Amazing, right?

Lily

Like, yes, you can think about it I had when I first started outside of the classroom, and at various times the base contract that paid my bills, I didn't love it. But it allowed me to do things that I loved and build my business and all those things and eventually was able to let that go.

Lily

So I think that there, again, are many ways to get what you need. It doesn't have to be 100% amazing and perfect at the beginning. But it's just a journey of trying out all these different things and finding the best combination.

Evonne

Yes, absolutely. And I totally agree with that. Like, I had to think when I graduated from the Curriculum Foundations program, you know, I thought with these new skills, I am going to try to apply for a job. And I went to look at, you know, applying to TPT sellers, because I thought, well, let me see what I can, you know, that's a good place to start.

Evonne

For me, because I needed something that was a little bit more flexible. And that let me get in the door. It also, you know, I worked with a couple of clients where I was like, okay, so I, you know, I know, I like this, but maybe I don't quite like this particular focus. And that let me move somewhere else.

Evonne

So yes, I think just that idea that messy action. I know I've I say that over and over and our network and everything else. Yeah. So just take action, just take action, because it's very easy to think, well I need to wait until you know, A or B, or C.

Evonne

And if you wait, you what you're really doing is you're just missing out on that potential income. Those are more days of that income loss, if you really think about it. And I know, I had to shift my mindset to look at that as well. Just try it. It's okay, if it doesn't work.

Lily

Yeah, and it can be kind of a procrastination tool, you know, that many of us use I definitely have before, you know, being like, Oh, well, I just don't know, I have to like, tweak my resume some more. Yeah, again, messy action is better. Learning how to deal with rejections sooner rather than later is great, you know, all these things are going to be easier if you start now, even if starting is very, very little.

Evonne

Yes, and feedback, because if you're working online, as a teacher, you will receive feedback. One big thing I probably should mention, and is that I'd say one of the biggest mental shifts that online teachers have to make from being in the classroom, is that your students are really now not just your students, they're your clients.

Evonne

And that's a slightly different relationship when it comes to online teaching. Because if you know if you're in a traditional classroom, your students are your students, regardless, for 180 days out of that year, they are your students.

Evonne

But in an online teaching situation, they are your clients. You know, if they don't enjoy what they're doing, if they don't feel engaged, if they don't feel that their needs are being met, then like any other client, they will go somewhere else.

Lily

Absolutely, yes, absolutely. And if that feels scary, it's also something you can learn, right? Like, it's like, also just normalizing that new things, there's going to be new things to learn about new things. There's no way that you'll even know what you need to learn or get used to, or get comfortable with until you're in it.

Evonne

That is very true. There are a lot of videos that are out there to assist people that are looking to go into online teaching with a lot of good tips and tricks. And I watched a lot of them as I moved into the field just to kind of have some ideas. But yeah, it is definitely it's a learning experience, just like all things in life are. And it's one that has huge payoffs, you know, on the other side.

Evonne

So I literally just had a student reach out to me yesterday morning, who I taught three years ago, I taught him in reading remediation. And he reached out to me, and he told me that he had gotten a 91 on his exam, which was the highest score he'd ever gotten. And he was very excited.

Evonne

And I thought this was a student who lives in Hong Kong. And I was so excited that here, you know, he reached out to me a year and a half after I was his teacher to say, Hey, I'm doing this and I thought how awesome is that? You know? Yeah, well, he made me up to date. And then he felt like I was a part of that.

Lily

Yeah, definitely. And online teaching is a way to kind of get that teaching fix within more flexibility, but still having those relationships and the impact with students, you know, rather than maybe curriculum design or consulting where you're, you know, eventually impacting students but it's less direct. So I love that about online teaching for sure.

Evonne

Yes, it's it definitely gives you that opportunity to still be relational with with students, and that I feel was one of the things that was a strength it's an asset. So especially be because, you know, it's a two dimensional environment, right?

Evonne

So the more you know your students and the more engaged you know, you are able to get them, you know, by creating that environment within your classroom where they just feel like you are there and you care about them, the better it is for everyone, the better the learning outcomes, the better it is for your business, your know your teaching business, because that's really what you're doing. And it's just better overall.

Lily

Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Evonne, for sharing about all your amazing experience and giving people a taste of what it's like to be an online teacher.

Evonne

Thank you so much for having me. This has been a lot of fun, hopefully. Hopefully, I shared some things that everybody can benefit from.

Lily

Oh, absolutely. Thank you.

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