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Aspiring Educators Chapter Toolkit

Aspiring Educators Chapter Toolkit

Aspiring Educators Chapter Toolkit
The Aspiring Educators Chapter Toolkit was created to help Aspiring Educators members create, build, and expand their NEA AE chapters.

How to use this toolkit

This toolkit and all of its resources have been created by college student leaders just like you to help you create, build, and expand your NEA Aspiring Educators chapter. You can find things like a sample constitution, social media strategies, and financial information. Some things are even immediately transferable to your own needs, like the sample meeting agenda or the leadership planning guide.

Download the pdf toolkit here

Introduction

Welcome!

If you have found your way to this toolkit, chances are you are a college student passionate about entering your career as an educator. You want to meet and network with others on your campus and beyond who share your enthusiasm. You want to get more involved in your local community, strive for social justice, and leave a legacy for your students, your community, and the profession.

Aspiring educators at the 2018 NEA Representative Assembly
CarVaughn Page (second from left) co-authored a proposal in 2018 that helps the union support aspiring educators of color. Credit: Courtesy of the Tennessee Education Association

This toolkit and all of its resources have been created by college student leaders just like you to help you create, build, and expand your NEA Aspiring Educators chapter. You can find things like a sample constitution, social media strategies, and financial information. Some things are even immediately transferable to your own needs, like the sample meeting agenda or the leadership planning guide. This toolkit is meant to grow and expand with our program, so if there’s something you think isn’t included but should be, please reach out via the email below to let us know.

Another of our favorite sections is the history of the Aspiring Educators Program and how it came to be in the National Education Association. Our program has a rich history of mergers, name changes, and culture shifts to appropriately reflect the passion, commitment, and vision of our current members. As you continue to read the first chapter, you’ll see more information on how the Aspiring Educators Program fits into the larger organization.

As you start your journey as an Aspiring Educators chapter leader, there are hundreds of aspiring and experienced educators all around you in your community just waiting to help you, and we’re always an email away, too. Our hope is that your NEA state affiliate can provide support through a state staff member assigned to check in on you, provide funding for local events and travel to state and national conferences, additional professional learning resources, and so on. We assure you that this union can provide you with the tools you need to succeed in the profession—you just have to take advantage of it.

Welcome to your biggest support system: the network that, if you allow it, will push you outside of your comfort zone to ensure you are as strong and prepared as you can be as you enter the education profession. By joining the National Education Association, you are connecting with 3 million like-minded leaders and advocates from across the country. Welcome to our NEA family. Welcome home.

In solidarity,

NEA Aspiring Educators

[email protected]

Why Start an NEA Aspiring Educators Chapter?

NEA Aspiring Educators History

NEA Aspiring Educators Core Values

Who Should Use this Toolkit

Establishing a Chapter

Three Tips for a Successful Chapter

Three Tips for a Successful Chapter

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Recognize and value the diversity of chapter members

When leading an organization that has a mission to motivate and prepare the future professionals of the National Education Association, it is crucial for chapter leadership to intentionally recruit a diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, cultures, and voices. Leaders should also seek to value each members’ individual skills and talents, and utilize them to help build and strengthen the chapter. An emphasis on the diversity of members in your chapter will help you to relate to a wide range of audiences on campus, deepen your understanding of perspectives different from your own, and ultimately enrich the education profession.

2
Plan activities that feel most relevant and useful to chapter members

Planning member activities may feel daunting at times. As mentioned, these events can vary among many different topics. Some chapter events can be as simple as a study group. Team-building in different environments helps create the chemistry needed to show unity in support of public education, racial and social justice, labor unions, etc. Don’t feel compelled to make your chapter look like anything else you’ve seen on campus or across the country. Your chapter should be a reflection of the members and students you seek to serve.

3
Pay it forward and prepare your successors

When stepping off your chapter leadership position, it is important to make yourself available to the new leadership to address any questions/concerns. These newly elected/ appointed officers must feel supported in their positions of leadership, which may be overwhelming. In order to guide the chapter, even after graduating/transferring, mentorship and fellowship with these leaders further reinforces the social connection needed between NEA members in the advocacy for the collective advancement of public education.

Sample Chapter Organization, Constitution, and Bylaws

Chapter Organization

Leadership Planning and Development

Chapter Meetings

Communication

Financial Information

Aspiring Educator Grants

Additional Resources

Join Our Movement

We ask only what is right: equal opportunity for every student, every educator, every family. At home, in school, online, in Washington–there’s a right place for all of us to make a difference.
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The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 3 million members work at every level of education—from pre-school to university graduate programs. NEA has affiliate organizations in every state and in more than 14,000 communities across the United States.