We recently connected with Jayme McWain and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jayme, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
Education has been changing rapidly, even over the past ten years that I’ve been in a classroom and working in educational spaces. The time to adapt was yesterday, but there is still time to help people learn valuable skills. One of the biggest changes I would like to see is a renewed focus on facilitating a love of learning and curiosity instead of focusing so closely on standardized testing scores. There are incredibly talented teachers doing highly-skilled work, but kids (and the workforce) are changing. If the changing world-landscape has taught us anything the past few years, it’s the value of being able to be creative and adaptable. I try to weave those skills into every lesson that I can for all ages of learners.
Jayme, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I knew early on I wanted to be involved in education. I really loved helping others and I enjoyed being curious. If there was a question that could be asked, I asked it. I became a first generation college student and graduated from Grand Valley State University, which allowed me to pursue teaching. It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, and at one point, I wasn’t sure I would stick with it anymore. After working through the chaos and finding the right spot, I was able to rekindle my love for creative expression and curiosity in the classroom. My students were incredible and genuinely taught me as much as I taught them. I was also surrounded by some of the most talented people I’d ever worked with. In 2019, I was a Michigan Charter School Teacher of the Year finalist. At the start of 2021, I started working with a network of community colleges to create professional development courses for professors that cover a range of pedagogy, best practices for teaching and learning, learning science, and more. Mid 2021, I started my master’s degree in Learning, Design, and Technology at Central Michigan University which I finished in December of 2022.
There are so many skills that teachers use on a daily basis that utilize creativity and help others to explore their own creative journey. I strive to create a judgment-free space for students and other educators to learn, try, fail, collaborate, build confidence, problem-solve, and succeed.
I’m most proud of the ways I’ve been able to use my skill set to help other people. I work toward helping my students uncover their potential. In addition to my face-to-face “regular” teaching job, I have been able to teach over 1,000 students AP Psychology online over the years to ensure they have equitable access to a course they otherwise might not be able to take. I work toward helping my colleagues push themselves to the next level of success with their students — which honestly doesn’t take much because they’re SO incredibly talented and it is certainly a mutually-beneficial exchange. I work toward providing guidance and development opportunities to other educations across the state of Michigan; and I’ve most recently been creating courses to help community college professors bridge the gap between high school and college coursework using sound pedagogy techniques, creative thinking and instructional practices, and Psychology/brain science!
One of the toughest parts about teaching and course & content creation is anticipating the needs of your audience. In order to do that, you need to KNOW your audience, which is, essentially, analyzing the data for “marketing” campaigns. Once you know what fuels them, the rest is pretty easy (and exciting) to learn!
Figuring out what my creative outlet would be was always difficult for me because I really like a lot of different things, but landing in education was great because I can use a lot of different types of creativity daily. I can also branch off in various directions to help other people to be creative thinkers in the ways that best suit them, both personally and professionally.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I first started teaching, the job market was horrible. I know it is hard to believe, but it was actually extremely difficult to find a teaching job as a novice teacher at the time. I started as an interventionist at a school, which paid so low that it didn’t even cover one of my student loan payments, let alone the rest of my bills. I worked whatever jobs I could to make ends meet in between, but even that wasn’t always fool-proof. The next year I was extremely excited to find a teaching job last-minute. It wasn’t in my chosen field, but it was a job and I was hoping it would get help be gain experience. It sure did. That position tested me in every way possible and squeezed every bit of joy for teaching out of me. I decided that summer I would leave teaching and pursue a job in the tech sector. I worked that job for the summer, but near the end of the summer, a former colleague from my interventionist days reached out about a position. I let her know that I wasn’t teaching anymore, but she urged me to attend the interview and check it out, without any feelings of obligation. I went to the interview as a “thank you for thinking of me”, but had no intentions of taking the job.
Walking into the interview, I was surprised to see a full table of teachers and school staff at the table — in the middle of summer. They talked about how great the students were and what they were looking for and all of the sudden, I was hooked. It was a group of people who were excited, curious, creative, and motivating — exactly what I had always been looking for. They promised that they were a creative, caring, and passionate group of people and I promised I would give it my best attempt and stay as long as I still loved it.
Almost nine years later, I’m still at that teaching position (along with a few additional online teaching positions and a college development course creation position). They delivered on their promise and I’m continuing to do the same. It was a great reminder that it might not be the wrong path, but the wrong place, and just because you love something doesn’t mean you should burn yourself out doing it. There is room for inspiration and passion right next to balance.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Bad morale can literally destroy a dream, workplace, and team. If you’re managing others, first and foremost, you need to listen. To your audience, to your stakeholders, and most importantly, to your team. It’s not enough to hear them — truly listen and respond to their needs, wants, and ideas. There is no better way to motivate others than to make them feel valued and inspired.
Communicate openly and often. ASK your team/employees/students/colleagues/etc. what they think about key issues, policies, and ideas. Being transparent about decision-making that directly impacts the mission or team is critical in avoiding confrontation and speculation. Not to mention your team will feel more appreciated knowing that you trust and value their input.
Thank them when they do things you care about and be specific about why you are appreciating that thing. They, most likely, know what they did, but there is a smaller chance they know why it genuinely mattered to you.
Appreciate them in the ways that you’re able — accolades, promotions, gratitude, gifts, features, special projects they’ve wanted to try — the list is truly endless, and honestly, add a survey in your onboarding process asking them how they like to be recognized and rewarded. Not everyone likes public recognition and that is good to know too. The actions you take speak volumes to your team and can certainly create a space with high morale (or not).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/grandriverprep.com/jaymemcwain/home
- Linkedin: http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fmcwainj&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AOvVaw1GNBP0LyHghwNyde3SZx4t
- Twitter: @JayMSquared
- Other: 2019 Teacher of the Year Finalist Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=356930748273902&ref=sharing