4 unexpected ways I was prepared for a career in teaching: And how you can hack these skills

I have mentioned this before but I have had several jobs in my life before and since becoming an educator.  Some of those jobs I did because I genuinely knew that they would provide me with important experience, knowledge and life skills that would benefit my future career as a teacher. 

However, most of the jobs I had I did because they were convenient and paid the bills.  But it was within those jobs that I actually was able to gain some major skills that have benefited me in the classroom since my very first day of being a teacher.

Here are four unexpected ways I was prepared for a career in teaching.

1) Being a lifeguard prepared me for classroom management.

One of the most essential parts of the job as a lifeguard is what is known as scanning.  This is basically looking with a purpose.  Essentially you move across an area with your eyes scanning one small section at a time looking for anything out of place, dangerous, or concerning and your eyes are constantly moving while your brain is simultaneously analyzing what you see for any possible issues or courses for action.

This is essentially what I do all day every day in my classroom as a major part of my classroom management.  Am I just taking attendance?  Nope, I am responding to emails, taking attendance, and scanning the room for anything I see where students might need support or intervention.  

How can you hack this skill?: Classroom setup.  Make sure that your room is set up so that you can eye all parts of the room in a quick 10 second sweep. So often I see teachers try to put their desks out of the way.  But being able to send a quick email or do attendance or answer a phone call and still be able to watch the room is key.  So set up your room so when those things inevitably happen, you can scan while you do it.

2) Being a dance teacher taught me about how important it is to give up control.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable but nerve racking things about being a teacher of any kind is when you give up control to your students and just watch them go.  This is more readily built into being a dance teacher however, because when the students are dancing you physically cannot do it for them, and typically can’t even coach them through the performance in anyway.  They are out there on stage without you and you have to believe in them and train them well to do their job without you. 

This is an essential skill in the classroom too, but one that many teachers are never taught and can be completely nerve racking to do.  By learning about how essential it is to give up control as a dance teacher I was much better prepared as a classroom teacher to recognize when and how to give up control to my students because ultimately I can’t live their lives or do the learning for them.

How you can hack this skill: Spend less time lecturing and modeling and more time giving feedback.  Use this freebie for how to workshop a lesson for more tangible ways to do this for any lesson!

3) Working in a mailroom taught me organization and data collection.

For a period in college I worked in the school mailroom, there I would sort and stamp mail.  At first glance it might seem like this job would be the furthest away from my job as a teacher but in reality it completely prepared me for how organized and data driven my profession would be. 

I needed to make sure to pay attention to details and have clear and quick systems to process a lot of mail quickly and I also needed to be good at recording and analyzing data efficiently to make sure there weren’t mistakes and that items were delivered where and when they needed to be.

This is perhaps also the part of teaching that teachers are trained for the least in their education courses.  My education courses focused so much more on lesson planning and curriculum analysis than on how to organize and grade 150 papers in short and efficient ways.  The mailroom job helped make sure that I was organized and collecting data as a teacher from day one and not trying to learn these skills on the job.

How you can hack this skill:  Give feedback as a part of class time instead of grading outside of it!  And use forms to write/record it so that you and students have this as data!  For more ways to do this Check out this blog post on ways to change your grading!

4) Being in food service taught me differentiation.

One job that I wholeheartedly believe is vastly underestimated and appreciated is being in food service.  Especially waiting tables.  As a waiter you are constantly doing 4-50 things at one time, all while trying to be polite and pleasant.  You are also required to create instant relationships with people, size up their needs and their wants, and support them through the process of their meal based on what you know.

This is basically differentiation.  Figuring out how to address the needs of 30 different people all towards the same goal at the same time and there is only one of you.

How you can hack this skill: Sign up for the full course on 4 steps to Teach More effectively! you will get all the structures, engagement strategies, and support tools you need to be able to address student needs both before and as they arise without adding 1000x things to your plate.

Teaching is without a doubt the profession I was meant to do.  But without my other life experiences and jobs I would be much less prepared for it.