TeachStreet™

I posted a link to the 10-minute King5 interview in the previous blog post, but I wanted to also post the individual segments (below), for your viewing pleasure (and, because my mom will be oh so proud ).

We wanted to give a special thanks to Tim Robinson of King5/Kong6/16 — he was fantastic to work with on the segment, and he and his team did a fantastic job — we couldn’t be happier!

Segment #1






Segment #2






Segment #3






Of course, it also reminds me that I’d love to learn how to make digital videos and improve my interviewing skills!

Update — check out TeachStreet on TV — so excited!

Sorry for the late notice, but we wanted to let our loyal blog readers know that we’re being featured on KING5 tomorrow morning — we don’t have definite times (a range is presented below) but the feature will be by Tim Robinson and will likely refer to TeachStreet several times between 7:30am and 9:00am (with a live Seattle breakdancing performance by TeachStreeter Daniel Etcheto at 8:15am).

So, set your Tivo!  And, if you haven’t been to TeachStreet in awhile, stop on by and find something new to learn!

Know that we’ll post some video of our performance (and that of Zach the Dog!) afterward — just wanted to give you all a chance to catch up live!

Tentative TV Times are:

KING 5 Morning News on Thursday 7/17

• 4:30-7 a.m. on KING 5
• 7-9 a.m. on KONG 6/16
• Live Segment time: 8:30 a.m. (approx.) — 3:30-minute long segment
• Will be several segments and “teases” during the morning newscast; may include @ 8:10 a.m. and/or the 8:27 a.m. 15-second tease.

We mentioned this in last week’s marketing mail, but some teachers got a different mail, so may not have heard the news — we’re excited to announce the winner of our Seattle Launch promotion: Dr. Tri! He won a month’s worth of free classes (up to $500 in value) with the TeachStreet member of his choice — we’re excited for him! Wonder what he’ll learn? Maybe hone up on his espanol and learn Spanish? or maybe Piano lessons? Whatever it is, we’re excited for him!

Among other things, Dr. Tri (a.k.a. Dr. Michael Ross) is a Seattle triathlon coach. He’s one of the thousands of teachers here on TeachStreet who’s sharing his personal passion with students and life-long learners. If you’re here in Seattle, check out his awesome fitness classes!

Happy weekend, everyone!

I just wanted to fire off a quick post before heading off to the San Juans for a quick weekend of island relaxation (and a little bit of wi-fi enabled laptopping!).

It’s so easy each week to get swamped with work issues, product requirements, fixes, meetings and the like. But, I had a great conversation with Christa Hinshaw on Wednesday that I wanted to share. She’s been managing the Washington Dance Club for north of 17 years in downtown Seattle (only several blocks from TeachStreet headquarters!) and she became one of our newest schools — so, if you’ve been thinking about learning tango, ballroom dance or some salsa and merengue dancing in Seattle, definitely check out their new classes on TeachStreet — we already had students reaching out to her — it’s so much fun to see these meetings taking place because of what we’re trying to build.

Anyway… have a great week — we’ll be back at it on Monday (and over the weekend), trying to make things even more useful for teachers and students. We hope you learned something new this week!

Dave

Though TeachStreet is here to help you find those sewing classes and pottery classes here in Seattle, there are numerous folks around the country, in verticals other than local learning, seeking to help people filter local listings. Here are some folks down in the Bay Area whom you may or may nor already know about.

Laborfair:
Laborfair, a San Francisco based company, is geared at helping folks find local service providers, be they landscapers, carpenters, or plumbers. Craigslist is out there, yes, as are numerous other directories, but the idea behind Laborfair is to improve the experience, both for consumers as well as for service providers.

How? Well, on the consumer side, they do this by furnishing personal references and reviews to help people make better informed decisions before they hire someone and bring them into their home.

On the service provider side, Laborfair provides web presences to workers whom may not otherwise have websites and essentially acts as a lead gen service to help them grow their businesses.They are currently only in California, but will be rolling out nationwide in the coming months.

Yelp
And of course, not to be overlooked is Yelp. Just as many of you are, at TeachStreet, we’re huge fans of Yelp. Though they’re a bit further along in the ol’ process :-), Yelp has done for restaurants seekers what, in many ways, we’re seeking to do for class takers: provide a filtered, map integrated, local search experience complete with reviews.

By creating a very active community (not to mention implementing some pretty good SEO!), Yelp has emerged as the preeminent place for restaurant reviews and has assumed the web presence that Zagat and CitySearch were probably better positioned to achieve several years ago.

Friend Connect
Though from a feature standpoint, Google’s latest addition to the Open Social platform doesn’t do nearly what the above sites do, the Friend Connect app is very much in line with the idea of using reviews to educate consumer decisions.

Basically, as mentioned in Google’s press release, the app allows developers with an easy way to bring in social networking components to their sites, even if the primary function of their site is not necessarily social networking. (hmm… think Google knows about Beacon?)

When I spoke with Sheila Bender, a local poet, writer, essayist, early TeachStreet adopter, and one of the nicest folks you’ll come across, I couldn’t help but admire her career.

She’s written numerous books, which have been published by McGraw-Hill and others, ranging from collections of poetry to instructional books on how to write a college application essay. But more so than her writing credentials, what’s impressive about Sheila is her love of teaching writing, something she has done for three decades.

In talking about her career, Sheila speaks with a sense of fulfillment. She’s a writer, a teacher, and for her, it’s just that simple. So she has pursued a life cultivating both of those talents. Regardless of whether or not you aspire to be a writer yourself, it’s inspirational, not to mention reassuring, to hear someone speak with such validation about their life’s work.

And thankfully for those of us who are aspiring to be writers, or improve our writing, Sheila has a number of ways to help us do just that.

1) Writing it Real

• A great magazine and online resource which has been published (with the help of her husband Kurt) since 2002.

• For a $30 annual subscription, you can get access to weekly content, as well all magazine archives.

2) One-on-one Help

• Either by phone, email, or snail mail, you can get private instruction on from Sheila.

3) Live Seminars

• In addition to teaching a number of local classes, at the Hugo House and elsewhere, she speaks at a number of seminars.

4) Port Townsend Writers Conference

• This is a five day writing conference in Port Townsend limited to 50 people. It’s a great place to spend a couple days, commune with like minded folks, and of course, improve your writing.

5) Teacher Training

• You don’t need to be a student to take one of Sheila’s courses, teachers need help, too!

• Inquire with Sheila regarding teacher training opportunities.

To contact Sheila regarding any of her writing opportunities, you can email her directly at info@writingitreal.com, or give a call at 360.385.7839.

And from all of us here at TeachStreet, thanks again for all your feedback and support, Sheila!

Though jazz appreciation month has come and gone, May is as good of a month as any to take saxophone, Piano, or singing lessons here in Seattle. Where to find a teacher though? Alright, fine, that was a bit of a setup. In addition to TeachStreet, however, there is also a vibrant community of local musicians in Belltown at Seattle Musicans Association.

What they do?
Seattle Musicians Association is essentially a community of musicians. They’re run by musicians and provide resources for other local musicians. Whether your forte is woodwinds or guitar, and whether you are looking to perform or to teach, they are a great local resource with a faculty of over 50 musicians specializing in a wide array of instruments.

Quick History
Though we’re proud of our own history (10 days and counting!), the Seattle Musicians Association has been around much longer.

• March 1898 - The American Federation of Musicians Local 76 was chartered.

• January 1958 - African American members of the segregated AFM Local 493 combined with those of Local 76, forming a single integrated “Local.”

• December 1994 - Their title was officially changed to “Local 76-493,”celebrating the history of their members.

For Teachers and Students
If you’re a local musician, or you are in search of a local musician, Seattle Musicians Association is a vibrant local community and a great place to check out. In addition to being music lovers, Monica, Josh, and the rest of the folks over at Seattle Musicians Association are great folks and they’d be happy to help you out.

Do you speak a second language? Perhaps you’ve thought about learning French, Spanish, German, or Arabic?

If so, there is no shortage of classes here in Seattle at Washington Academy of Languages (WAL), located on Nickerson Street, over by Seattle Pacific University.

Who are they?
Well, they’ve been around for almost 30 years teaching English language and culture to non-native speakers. Their longevity is a testament to the quality of the programs that Dr. Paul Schneider and the rest of the folks at WAL have architected. Not to mention, an impressive feat for an independent non-profit language school

So if you’re kicking around the idea of improving your language skills, give them a shout. Here’s some more info about WAL based on a conversation we had last week with Nell Gross, the teacher education program coordinator at WAL.

How big are they?
They currently have about 100 instructors involved in private one-on-one programs, group classes, and more.

What’s unique about WAL?
The diversity of students! They have students of all backgrounds coming from all over the world to learn English. They also have a diversity of students training to teach English in the US and abroad. As Nell mentioned to us, “everyone has such interesting reasons for wanting to learn or teach a language!”

Core mission?
They are a “serious” language school in the sense that they’re committed to comprehensive language learning. They aren’t just trying to move students through proficiency levels, or offer just enough of to get by, though they do offer courses for world travelers.

They aim to facilitate deep, cross cultural communication.

They also have fun in the class, too.

What makes WAL different from other language schools?

• They’re the only independent language school offering university credit programs for students and teachers.

• Programs in-house and online and across the state—in school districts and at corporate sites.
  Professional development for faculty and state-of-the-art teaching methodology—their teachers are observed and can take advantage of teacher education courses and professional development meetings.

• Programs that allow students to learn English in order to meet and interact with other students. One such program is their Conversation Partner Exchange.

• Students can participate in community programs using their volunteer exchange program.

Some of the ways they currently find new students

• Google.
• CraigsList.
• Word-of-mouth.
• Walk-ins to their office.
• Education Clearinghouses (Such as Edufind.com and learn4good.com, to name a few).
• Did I mention TeachStreet?

Want to learn at WAL?
Check out the offerings on their site. There are many!

Want to teach at WAL?
If so, they receive unsolicited resumes all the time. So if you’re interested in teaching, and have at least a Master’s degree in the field you want to teach, shoot WAL your resume, or give them a call.

Or, check out their TeachStreet profile page.

Want a workforce of Harvard graduates? Well, talk to HR.

Want a workforce of Harvard graduates for your kids? Talk to Overqualified Tutoring.

Overqualified Tutoring, a local tutoring company, and early adopter of TeachStreet, does just that: provide local students with Harvard educated tutors so they can succeed in the classroom, as well as in the real world.

What’s with the name?

• Their founder was in L.A. and wanted to work 20 hours a week to pay the bills while pursuing his passion for acting. He tried to find part-time work, applied at a number of places, and was continually rejected. Why? …for being overqualified!

Who are they?

• Overqualified has been in New York and L.A. since 2004, but now they’re now in Seattle, too. They have 50 tutors in the three cities and have taught over 250 students to date.

• What’s unique about Overqualified, other than the whole Harvard diploma thing, is they match students with teachers who share similar interests (i.e. athletes with an athletes, music fans with music fans, etc).

Are you a Harvard grad?

• Um… well yeah, about that. There’s no crimson on my diploma, but if you have some on yours (sorry WSU grads!), Overqualified Tutoring is a great way to pick the number of hours you work, pay the bills, and still have the time to pursue any career aspirations you may have, be they acting, singing, yoga, or whatever else.

How do I find out more?

They’re based out of Fremont, but their tutors will travel around Seattle to teach sessions. For more information call their regional director: Brett Nowak. Brett is a Harvard alum, a former professional hockey player, an avid fisherman (the pic above, also on his TeachStreet profile page, speaks for itself), and a guy whose passion for teaching is palpable.

Brett can be reached at (206) 300-4185.

Sheesh, this blog entry is far overdue — I first spoke with Ryan about his guitar teaching business back in January of this year and my to-do list has had his name on it ever since! But, after our conversation, I continued to think about Ryan and his guitar teaching; they were ideal matches with TeachStreet.”

Ryan’s been teaching for four years, primarily at the 4/4 School of Music, here in Seattle (4/4 is probably the best music school in Seattle, by the way — we hope to see them on TeachStreet soon!). When he started teaching, he only had about four students, but he’s a classic case of word-of-mouth excitement.  As of late, he’s now packed with 60-65 students per week, with 30 minute sessions.  Yes, that’s 65! He teaches all skills levels, from beginner to really, really good; and, he’s actually taken students in 2 years from basic to “great” (his words, not mine). Of course, he prefaces that with “they’re high school students — they have a lot of time to practice, and they take advantage of that!”

He’s thought about teaching on the side, but (a) he’s not too savvy with promoting himself online/marketing and (b) he’s really enjoyed working with 4/4 School, in that they’ve grown regularly, and his role’s grown with them. He knows that one of the huge benefits of teaching on his own, even if it’s only a day a week, is the tax benefit of being able to offset his business income with his music gear expenses (the cost of guitars, amps and related gear does add up!). Plus, he’d probably make a slightly higher income, admittedly offset by the administrative burdens.

His early feedback for TeachStreet (which we hope we’ve addressed!):

1) Make it easy to use… easy, easy, easy… while he’s comfortable online, he knows that the core teacher audience isn’t highly web-savvy… they’d love a way to get a professional online presence with minimal effort.

2) Make it free, at first — teachers are willing to pay, but we’ve got to prove that we can generate student volume for them — so, put up first, and then offer ways to monetize later.

3) Solve the repetitive Craigslist posting problem — Craigslist can work, but they make you post every few days, and you have no reputation — it’s a burden on class owners, and not very useful for student.

Finally, he’d love for us to add payments — teachers don’t like having to ask people for money (heck, who does?!?). He’d love to be able to set up students on auto-pay, with cancellation policies — that way he can be very up-front with students, and each side can have an easy-to-use interface (with 24-hour access) to manage the relationship. Point taken, Ryan — we’re on it.

Now, get back to work… student #66 just showed up!