Elisa MacDonald’s first day as a teacher in the mid 1990s was unusual.
She had applied for a job with a public school in Boston but never heard back. That is, until the school’s secretary frantically called her, asking: “‘How fast can you get dressed?’ she asked me,” said MacDonald, recalling how she learned that she had the job. “That was my first day.”
The surprises didn’t stop there. Early in her first week, MacDonald was asked to lead a team meeting with unfamiliar colleagues and assigned to lead the group for the whole year. MacDonald was told to simply “slap an agenda together,” but she knew that wasn’t the best use of teachers’ time. As she led more meetings, MacDonald realized that team meetings needed a revamp—shifting from a boring, bureaucratic exercise to a space where adults could learn, practice new skills, and share experiences.