When I quit teaching, I didn’t know much about Curriculum Design. I had trouble narrowing down my job search and applied to several customer-facing roles with gusto, even though this probably wasn’t the right path for me.
Why not? Well, I talk to tons of teachers who love the social aspects of teaching and hate the prospect of spending all day in front of a computer. Although they are ready to leave the classroom, they want to stay close to the action and find opportunities to continue engaging directly with students, teachers, or administrators.
To put it bluntly… that was not how I felt five years ago. Teaching had left me emotionally drained — I was tired of being “on” all day and struggled to stay positive in the face of negative interactions. On the other hand, lesson planning energized me; I still enjoyed the nerdy stuff, like breaking down standards and searching for cool resources. I craved a predictable schedule and clear criteria for success.
I’m glad I found my way to Curriculum Design, because this field was perfect for what I needed at the time. I was valued for my creativity and efficiency, could absolutely leave work at work, and I only talked to people when I wanted to (although my team was so awesome that I wanted to a lot)! I felt intellectually stimulated and grateful for a role that played to my strengths.
If any of this resonates with you, you’ll find extra value in this interview with Clinton Loo, former High School Math teacher and current Curriculum Design Manager at Freckle! Clinton was one of my interviewers when I joined the company, is a great colleague and friend, and has done a truly remarkable job leading the Curriculum team through years of change and growth.
Q&A with Clinton Loo, Curriculum Manager at Freckle Education
How did you know it was time to leave the classroom?
I was a high school math teacher and after my 3rd year teaching the same courses, I felt like there was still room for significant growth. After my 4th year, I didn’t really feel challenged anymore and wanted to find a different way to have an impact in education. It was also a really big year of change for my school, in a negative sense. My principal left mid-year and several assistant principals were let go. It just felt like a good time to get a fresh start.
How did you find your next role?
I honestly just applied everywhere I saw a fit. I checked the EdSurge jobs board and applied to everything that sounded interesting. I finally narrowed it down to a standards alignment role at IXL and an operations role at a charter school network. I went with the operations role because it seemed to be a good starting point to learn more about jobs in education, which it was!
You eventually moved from Operations into Curriculum Design. Tell me about that switch.
I ended up looking for other, part-time opportunities in Education after 1 year in the operations job. I had some extra time (and didn’t have kids back then) and heard about the content opportunity at Freckle through a teacher network. I worked about 5-10 hours per week, even commuting into the office in SF weekly, to write content for Freckle. They liked my work and eventually wanted to expand Freckle into High School math, which fit my background, so they offered me a full-time role.
Would you recommend contract work for teachers who are trying to make a transition?
I actually really recommend looking for contract work if content writing is an area you’re interested in. It’s relatively low-stress, low-commitment work that will give you insight into how a company works and whether or not that type of work would be fulfilling for you. We’ve also had multiple contracts convert to full-time roles, myself included.
What surprised you most about developing content? What’s one thing you loved, and one thing that was harder to adjust to?
How hard it was! I thought that I writing content would come really naturally to me, especially after planning my lessons meticulously for years — but coming up with engaging content that is all standards-aligned is quite a challenge, especially when you start talking about different grade levels.
I really enjoyed the challenge of writing good content. That’s what motivated me year after year in the role. I also really enjoyed my team and my company. It makes a big difference when you see your content go out into the platform and help teachers and students immediately.
It was pretty tough to adjust to a 9-5 life sitting on a laptop all day. It’s so different from the day-to-day of teaching and sometimes I really do miss the energy that you get from being around students.
What does your day to day look like now, as the manager of the Curriculum team? What do you enjoy about managing people?
My day-to-day now is so different from when I started. Part of that is my role but part of it is also that our team is just responsible for so much more content than when I started. I usually have 3-4 hours of meetings per day with my team (both individually and together) and other teams we work with. The rest of my day is really just spent supporting my team in whatever they need. That could be looking at content someone has written and offering suggestions or troubleshooting a particularly tricky Google sheet formula. My goal is to be a resource to unblock teammates and make sure they have everything they need (information, knowledge, skills) to be successful.
My favorite part of managing people was also the same when I was teaching — seeing the growth of those I’m helping. I have really enjoyed being able to develop my team and see everything they are capable of just a year or two into the role.
When you hire new Curriculum Designers, what hard & soft skills are you looking for in candidates?
When we hire now, we are usually trying to expand the expertise in a certain area and will look for that background in the candidates we interview. For example, we are starting more ELA work on our team this year and needed more secondary ELA expertise. This doesn’t mean we didn’t let candidates into the pool if they didn’t have that specific experience, but it was definitely a tiebreaker.
We also probably hire a little differently from most companies in that we start off with a candidate project before any phone interviews or zoom interviews. We want to see what type of content the candidates can develop, since that’s the most important part of the job. In that candidate project, I can say we look for attention to detail, creative questioning, and diverse perspectives. We want someone who will come in and make our team better on day 1.
Does anything stand out to you as a red flag or give you pause, either in the resume or interview stage?
In the interview stage, we are looking for preparation, curiosity, and strong communication skills. They are things that make someone strong in the role and they are also things that are hard to teach. You can really tell when someone has prepared well for an interview and taken the time to really understand the product. Also, don’t be afraid to ask the hiring manager clarifying questions when they send you homework. I actually see it as a plus when someone wants to better understand the assignment!