From Social Worker to Social Studies Teacher to Designing Learning Solutions in a Nationwide Organization: The Journey of Leah Yeatts

Leah Yeatts

Social Worker to Social Studies Teacher to Designing Learning Solutions in a Nationwide Organization

Leah started working as a social worker, then got into teaching social studies to our youth. After about 10 years, she transferred her skills along with additional education into adult learning.

Q: How did you get into teaching?

After graduating from college, I worked as a social worker for homeless women with children. My work constantly reminded me of the impact that a lack of education can have on people’s lives. My clients really struggled to provide for themselves and their children. I found myself wishing I could travel back in time and influence their lives when they were much younger. I wanted to continue to contribute to my community, and teaching at-risk children seemed like the perfect way to do that.

I’d always loved history, so I took a social studies exam to qualify myself to apply for a teaching job. After passing the exam, I applied for a position teaching high school social studies shortly thereafter. I assumed I didn’t have a chance since I had no background or experience in teaching, but they offered me the position contingent upon my commitment to obtain full certification within a year.

Q: What did you teach? What level?

I taught middle school social studies (4 years) and high school social studies (3 years). For a year and a half, I taught high school U.S. History online for a public virtual school.

Q: What made you want to leave teaching or why did you decide to leave?

After 7 years of teaching, I was very burned out and ready for a change. I considered going into school administration for the sake of advancing, but I knew that being a school administrator really wasn’t what I wanted in the long-term. I felt stuck for a while. I worried that it would be difficult to make a career change. I only had social work and public education on my resume, and I no longer wanted to be in either field. While I was trying to determine my options, one of my colleagues resigned from online teaching and took a job as an instructional designer. “Instructional design” isn’t really a term we used in public education, so my first question to her was, “What does that mean exactly?” I explained to her that I was looking for something new, but unsure of what direction to go. She encouraged me to apply for jobs in Instructional Design (ID).

Q: What steps did you take to prepare to leave the classroom/teaching?

When my former colleague and friend encouraged me to apply for ID jobs, I pushed back and explained that I was not qualified. Since her most recent role was exactly the same position I was currently working in, she was able to convince me that many of the skills we used in online teaching were transferable to an entry-level ID job. We actually designed instruction every day, even though we called it “lesson planning”. ID sounded interesting to me, so I applied to a few jobs, and soon got a call to schedule an interview. I felt completely unprepared and began to panic. I called my friend seeking advice. She convinced me (again) that I was qualified, and then said, “Just Google ADDIE beforehand, and you’ll be fine.” My quick search revealed that ADDIE is the most common model of instructional design. My new, basic knowledge (and more importantly, teaching experience) were enough to get me the job.

After about 6 months in my first instructional design job, I had learned enough about the field to know that I wanted to work in it long-term. I also recognized that it would be difficult to advance beyond that entry-level role without some formal education in the field. I spent the next two and a half years working on my master’s degree in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning from Boise State University. Getting the degree was not easy, but it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The program provided me with the expertise and skills to continue growing in the field. It also included hands-on experience working with real clients, in real businesses, providing real learning solutions. With so little professional experience in the field, that was very important to me.

Q: What are you doing now?

I currently work for a multi-national financial/insurance/travel association. I design various online learning programs for employees at our national office, as well as regional locations worldwide. I also administer the technology that allows us to deliver online learning (our learning management system). I am also starting a side business called Lever Performance Consulting. My goal is to work with small businesses to analyze their employees’ performance and provide solutions to optimize their success.