Words of Advice: Become a School Insider

Steven Hodas is the former Executive Director of Innovate NYC Schools, a New York City Department of Education initiative to foster smart demand and innovative solutions. Hodas has worked closely with early-stage entrepreneurs and launched two companies of his own.

"Assuming you were not recently a teacher yourself, I suggest that you work hard to get inside the school, inside the classroom, inside the day-to-day lives of the educators you want to help. If you�re resourceful enough to get in, don�t sell. Don�t demo. Don�t text or tweet. Just watch and listen. Help with a task if you can. Earn the space you�re taking up.

Bring pizza to the teachers� lounge. Sit in on a common planning period. Clean up after lunch. Act as if you know nothing, be humble, and soak up school sounds and rhythms. Go to school board meetings. Join online forums for parents in your town. Learn what parents and teachers really care about. Until you�ve done these things, it�s arrogant to write code, let alone attempt to sell. Unless you�ve done these things, the likelihood that you are aiming at something big is small.

Your solution must manifest your deep understanding of educators� daily struggles and small victories. That understanding is the beginning of empathy, without which you cannot succeed."

Notes:

Folksonomies: education technology

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Ed Tech Developer�s Guide

Technical and Research Papers>Government Report, Other: Office of Educational Technology, (April 2015), Ed Tech Developer�s Guide, Retrieved on 2016-08-17

Source Material [tech.ed.gov]

Folksonomies: education technology