Today we chat with Lindsay DeHartchuck . She is the Senior Director at KIPP Foundation. Before making this career change, she taught special education and had experience in higher ed at a graduate school.
Lindsay shares her journey from the classroom to leadership, highlighting how teaching skills like communication and advocacy translate to nonprofit and higher ed roles.
She offers practical advice on networking, identifying your strengths, and prioritizing work-life balance.
Join us today as we discuss supporting diverse learners and staying in education through a different lens. Hope you enjoy!
Find Lindsay on Linkedin.
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Mentioned in the episode:
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- Our career path quiz at www.teachercareercoach.com/quiz
- Explore the course that has helped thousands of teachers successfully transition out of the classroom and into new careers: The Teacher Career Coach Course
Episode Transcript:
Hi everyone, and welcome back to this week’s episode. Today we get to know Lindsay. And Lindsay was a special education teacher who left teaching to work in education through a different lens. She is now a senior director at a foundation. In this episode, we discuss her teaching experience next steps after leaving the classroom, and how her organization supports students and teachers.
Hope you enjoy.
Elizabeth: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Teacher Career Coach podcast. I’m very excited today for you to get to know Lindsey DeHartchuk. Welcome, Lindsey.
LIndsay: Thanks for having me.
Elizabeth: Thank you for joining us, and we’re really excited for this episode. Um, a lot of teachers in this audience are looking to leave the traditional classroom, either, some are looking to go into higher education, some into nonprofits and foundations, so we thought you would be a perfect guest for this, and we can’t wait to learn about, um, a little bit about your teaching experience.
So, what got you into teaching in the first place?
LIndsay: I do not have, I think, like a very compelling story about why I got into teaching. was certainly influenced, by my mom. So my mom was a career educator of many decades, um, teaching middle school social studies. So the importance of public education was certainly alive and well, um, in our household. And I actually, I thought that I was going to go into, uh, I thought I was going to go work at a museum actually. So when I was an undergraduate, I had studied art history. I had done a bunch of internships at different museums, and thought that that’s what I wanted to do. something within the museum space. I graduated as the Great Recession was really ramping up and those opportunities were, basically, there were no, there were no options to work in museums at that time. so, that I would Try out teaching. I had of my museum internships were in the education space and I had really enjoyed that.
Um, I had really enjoyed thinking through how to get kids engaged and going to museums and learning about art and art history. And so I pursued going into the classroom through an alternative certification program. so I was a teaching fellow thought that I would do that for a couple of years and then pursue, you know, try to get back into the museum space in some way, shape, or form, and very quickly realized how much I enjoyed working, in education.
So, I started off teaching, in Washington, D. C. I was a special education teacher. I taught in a self contained classroom. I was a co teacher. I was a reading interventionist. And I just, I really enjoyed the intellectual challenge that teaching students with disabilities, provide Learner variability is so important. a thing for every single child, but it is like even more pronounced, when you’re working with a child with this, with a disability. And so I just, I really got a lot of satisfaction, in figuring out what each child needed, how they needed it, when they needed it. and then I also just enjoyed the, I think the other. Like skills that you need to have to be an effective special educator. So you have to be very attentive to detail and good at managing your calendar and your time and paperwork. And you have to really good about advocating for students And collaborating with other adults in the building and especially collaborating with families and caregivers. I just found it, just so intellectually, um, and personally fulfilling to be in that role as a special education teacher.
Elizabeth: Thank you for sharing all of that. And you’re exactly right with special education. some out of all the teachers out there, I mean, we absolutely need these teachers everywhere. But thank you for sharing that about your museum experience.
That’s very interesting. And also your special education experience as well. So I’m curious to know after you had that, experience in the classroom. What kind of brought you to that next step where you were thinking about transitioning outside of the traditional environment?
LIndsay: I would actually point to like a couple of individuals that really influenced my decision to leave the classroom and look for something else. I was very fortunate to work with a group of educators who, I really thought about the fact that like they were good teachers and could they, increase like their effectiveness by coaching new teachers by mentoring new teachers and I really benefited from that. And so, The woman who I ended up replacing at one point, um, she left to go work at a non profit in the educator preparation space. In fact, the same one that I, um, we both came through as alternative route teachers. through her had a lot of opportunities, to start building my skill set with working with adults.
So I had opportunities to mentor new teachers, uh, learn how to be an instructional coach for new teachers, how to design and deliver, um, really engaging professional learning for teachers. And I just got to a point where I, again, I really was enjoying teaching, but I was ready for my next challenge. And I, you know, felt like through, you know, mentorship I saw a path for myself to go into, um, a space where I was doing more instructional coaching and mentoring of new teachers. and so that was the space that I was in for, I think, six years after, my first stint in the classroom. I worked at a couple different, non profits that, you know, were really concerned about, and so I held a couple different roles, in the educator preparation space.
Elizabeth: Thank you for sharing that. And I think too, it’s so important you had that opportunity to provide instructional coaching, Because, you know, the last year I was in the classroom, we had a group of new teachers and it was so busy and they all wondered, you know, it’d be so great if there was like an instructional coach or a mentor, just someone there to be able to provide that assistance, especially when you’re new and learning.
Elizabeth: And then when you got into higher education, can you tell us a little bit about, what that role entailed and kind of how you were able to, you know, switch from teaching students and mentoring teachers? to work, working with adults.
LIndsay: Yeah, so the role that I, I was holding was that of a curriculum designer. I was working at, again, an, an alternate, I would describe it as an alternative route certification program that was interested in, really addressing, The gap that still exists and continues to persist, but the gap that we see in who are certified to have certified and then are actually prepared to effectively teach students with disabilities. so I, for, for several years was working on a team that was building out, coursework to prepare folks with the mindsets and the practices and the skills that they would need to effectively teach students with disabilities. and that was a really interesting experience because I had done a lot of designing and delivering, professional learning, but not in the like, Higher education space and certainly not in the online space.
So it was a hybrid program. And so it was a cool opportunity to build upon content knowledge that I had about how to effectively teach students with disabilities and also how adults, know, learn and, and what adult learners need. But then doing that in a way, uh, that is, is, is built for an online. was like a really interesting growth opportunity to learn how to design, I mean, essentially like a tech product, that was effective and met the needs of both learners, but also the students of those adult learners.
Elizabeth: And it sounds like, were there similarities or differences when you were teaching adult learners? I’m just curious to kind of hear some of the things that, that you noticed.
LIndsay: are you interested in, like, adult learners in an online space versus in person?
Elizabeth: That’s a great question. And I would say yes. Yeah. Based on your online experience when you were building this out. How did that look?
LIndsay: Well, I think about, mean, I think about my, you know, just think about yourself when you’re on a computer. There, you know, the internet is in front of you. you can do anything on the internet, you can talk to anyone, you can play games, you can online shop, you can go down a rabbit hole on Wikipedia. and I think a lot of people do, online learning can be really challenging because there’s so many distractions. oftentimes if you’re an online learner, you’re doing that in the comfort of your own home. You’re by yourself. You’re not in a classroom with other folks. I mean, you might be in a virtual setting, with other folks, but like at the end of the day, like you have to be, Both intrinsically and I think extrinsically motivated to want to learn it requires a lot of executive functioning skills. but also given the fact that there are so many other things that you could be doing on your device, like content has to be really applicable, really straightforward. There needs to be like a good user experience. I want to know that I’m on track as a learner. So like, what are the checks for understanding that are built in? and it can’t just be a check for understanding for the sake of a check for understanding. Like it has to feel meaningful because again, there’s a million and one other things that I could be doing on my device or off my device, just like in my, in my own home. so I found like that to be a really, interesting challenge to think about, like, what is the most important content that I need? what’s the best way to deliver that content? You know, it can’t just be sitting and reading walls and walls of text. what are the videos? What are the external resources that we might bring in? how are people going to, You know, take what they’re learning on the computer and then apply into their practice. Um, it was all really interesting, interesting things to think through that. I now have, like, had the opportunity to pay forward in, basically in every role that I’ve had since that, that experience.
elizabeth-suto_1_10-29-2024_100850: That’s so helpful to hear. And a lot of teachers, um, that we have who have transitioned are in onboarding specialist roles, implementation, other types of roles that are online. So it’s, it’s just nice to hear to your experience and kind of what helps motivate the learners and knowing that you’re having engaging content.
And I know you’ve had kind of a career trajectory and a lot of growth since that initial position. Now you’re a senior director for a foundation. Can you walk us through a little bit about what you do there?
LIndsay: Yeah. So I work at a foundation, but essentially we are, I would describe us more as like a central office for a charter school organization, that has a really unique structure. In my role currently, I’m responsible for how we’re approaching our strategy to, Make sure that all of our students are successful.
So I think about our mission statement a lot and we include the term phrase all students, all learners. and there’s certainly room for growth to what I think about um, so I think a lot about like, when we say we’re serving all learners, are we truly doing that? And how are we doing that? Um, so I, I, I think it’s important to think about the extent to which that is true for all of the different student populations that we’re serving, whether it’s a student with disability, whether it’s a student who is an emerging multilingual learner, um, whether it is, you know, students who have significant unfinished learning coming out of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Um, so I think it’s important to for all of the different student populations that we’re serving, whether it’s a student who has significant unfinished learning coming out of the COVID 19 pandemic. Um, so I think it’s important to think about the extent to which that is true for all of the different student populations that we’re serving, whether it’s a student who has significant unfinished learning coming out of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Um, so I, I, I, I think it’s important to think about the extent to which that is true for all of the different student populations that we’re serving, whether it’s a student who has significant unfinished learning coming out of the COVID 19 pandemic. Um, so how truly doing that. I h ave the immense privilege.
and like again, going back to what I was saying about being a special education teacher, the intellectual challenge to think about what are we currently doing? What do we know we should be doing, whether that’s in the research, whether that’s looking at, other folks that are in the education space that are really doing some innovative work at building inclusive, schools and putting forth, my recommendations and my vision for we are going to ensure that, regardless of, of who you are and what learning profile, what learner variability you’re bringing into our classrooms, that you, um, You have every choice out there, for what your future is going to hold.
Elizabeth: And now being in the senior leadership role, are there specific skills that you say You have learned or that you embody now that someone looking to grow into a more leadership position, uh, might need to start working on.
LIndsay: I think you have to be an effective communicator that has a clear vision for what you want to achieve. actually, I would go back and I would say, I think that like being a good leader is not necessarily, it’s not a single skill set or it’s not a, it’s not, like a recipe necessarily of like, you have to be able to check all of these boxes, right? So like you, You do need to be an effective communicator, but you don’t need to be the best communicator.
But if you’re not the best communicator, you need to know that in yourself. And you need to build a team around you of people who do have that skill set. Like I believe very much in like creating, balanced teams and looking really deep within, within myself as a leader and thinking about what are, what are my, leadership strengths?
And then what are areas of growth, and how do I surround myself with people who are better at that, better, better at like my areas of weaknesses so that we can be all working together to achieve, our outcome I do think like in terms of things that are important, you have to be An effective communicator. I think you have to be deeply committed to the people that are working alongside you, but also the people that are reporting up to you when it comes to building them up investing in their professional learning, being invested in them being successful. then I think you also, you have to have a vision and you have to be committed to achieving that vision.
Going back to like being the effective communicator, you have to be able to invest others, in what is often difficult work and difficult change to execute on that vision.
And then what about some of the challenges that are associated with this position?
I think one of the biggest challenges is that just that this type of work is new for our organization. Um, and so it is requiring us to look in the mirror and ask some difficult questions about to what extent we’re effectively serving all kids. And then again, embracing and doing the hard work to change. And I’m very fortunate to be, um, at an organization with teammates who are, you know, deeply committed to doing that work. but it is, it changes difficult and change is difficult.
Elizabeth: definitely agree with that. And especially when you’re working with students and children and the next generation of our adults. And it’s just such a special population to be able to work with. And one where you’re making a huge impact. So what would you say for those teachers who are looking to get into education?
to stay close to it? if they’re looking to get into higher education or, you know, work for an organization that supports students, do you have any tips as they transition?
LIndsay: I would think a lot about what are your, your current strengths as an, as an educator. what are you, what are the things that bring you joy in your work? are you really excited every day to be building relationships with students. And so based on that, what type of next step makes sense for you that’s going to continue to bring you that type of joy, in a way that you’re not being fulfilled, you know, it’s not the same as being in the classroom and like experiencing that with students or with their families or with your co teachers. would think about like the strengths that you can build on. And I think that’s really important too, like when you’re going, um, Up for an interview, particularly if you really are transitioning pretty far out of the classroom or out of a school district and looking at like a nonprofit or like a tech job, need to have a compelling narrative for why. Your current skill set and strengths translate nicely into something that is not another classroom teaching position. I would encourage folks to, when they see something that they’re interested in, whether it’s an organization or somebody in a role that looks really interesting, I think like making connections and talking to that person. Um, but doing so in a meaningful way, like, I get peppered a lot on LinkedIn to connect, but it’s, the one, the people that I talk to are the people who, like, have a really insightful question that I can tell that they, This is not just like a form or like an AI generated, um, message that they’re sending me. I think the other name is really important to me and I think probably resonates with a lot of listeners is like teaching, doesn’t avail itself to as much work life balance. As one would like, and so I think thinking about, when you’re transitioning out of the classroom, really trying to imagine, like, what are you solving for?
What do you want your day to day to be like, and being really mindful of. priorities and the things like you want to hold dear to yourself, so that you can I mean look for roles that are going to Meet that requirement, but then also when you’re you know, we think so much about You are interviewing for a job like you are trying to sell yourself You also need that organization or that company to be selling themselves to you so that you know that it’s going to be a good fit. and so you can think about like, what are the questions that I would want to ask? Or if I get a job offer, what’s the type of person in the organization that I’d like to connect with before I accept that job offer to kind of hear what their perspective of, you know, to what extent my priorities align with the organization’s the lifestyle that I’m looking for align what the organization’s culture is going to be like.
Elizabeth: That’s super helpful to hear. And especially the part that you mentioned about that mutual relationship. you know, do you want to work there and do the things that you would be doing every single day and kind of really reflecting upon that. and we love to kind of wrap these up by learning and hearing about what you’ve learned about yourself on this journey from your early experience in education to becoming a senior leader at your foundation.
Thank you
LIndsay: I’d go back to like what I said before. I didn’t realize, you know, I had said when I Was initially transitioning into the classroom that I thought oh, I would just I’m just gonna do this for a couple of years And I’m gonna get on with it and like go after What I What I think I’m like most interested in and I mean, I’m pushing like two decades at this point out of out of what I thought that I wanted. I think I’ve learned that I’m a lot more flexible than I thought I was. and I’ve really just learned how much I enjoy working in education, but particularly in service of students with disabilities.
Elizabeth: Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us today, and I really appreciate your time, and I’m so excited for everyone to listen. Thank you so much.
LIndsay: Thanks, Elizabeth.
