As someone who believes teaching is most powerful when it extends beyond the classroom walls, I’ve witnessed the growth and energy that happen when educators embrace a team approach, and become learners alongside their students. In Uncharted Learning student entrepreneurship programs, this means inviting business professionals and entrepreneurs from the local community into classrooms to create a more dynamic, real-world learning experience. This 'Teaching Team' model connects educators, students, and local industry partners in ways that foster educator development, deepen student learning, and strengthen community ties.
Educator Professional Development: Learning Together with Volunteers
Uncharted Learning educators know they don’t have to go it alone. Teachers and their community volunteers are encouraged to attend professional learning events, such as the Uncharted Learning National Summit, where they can learn from industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, including Charlotte Trecartin and Rishad Tobaccowala.
Educators continually learn alongside business professionals and entrepreneurs as they bring authentic, real-world experiences to students. These outside voices not only challenge students to think differently but also inspire teachers to grow in new ways, keeping instruction fresh and relevant.
The learning exchange goes both ways. Volunteers often say they gain as much as they give, especially when a group of teenagers gives them a crash course in the latest social media trends or helps them think about marketing a new product! These intergenerational relationships breathe life into the student learning experience and deepen the connection community members have with their local schools or alma mater.
Teacher Spotlight: Kimberly O’Connell
Plainfield North High School, Plainfield SD202 | INCubatoredu Leader Teacher
In 2024–25, Kimberly O’Connell showed what continuous professional growth looks like. She joined nearly every Uncharted Learning training, welcomed visiting teachers into her classroom, and presented on building community partnerships at the 2025 Uncharted Learning National Summit. Her openness and drive inspired others across the INCubatoredu network to share ideas and engage students in solving real problems — from reducing food waste to improving local systems. Kimberly’s leadership reflects how investing in educators elevates teaching.
Deeper Student Learning Through Mentorship
At the heart of the Teaching Team model is mentorship. Educators, with the support of their schools, recruit local business owners and entrepreneurs to serve as volunteer mentors and coaches, guiding students through their startup and professional development journeys. Learning from these practitioners provides a real-world experience and deepens engagement.
Students build meaningful relationships with local professionals, often their first real professional connections. Coaches guide and support students while modeling the qualities of strong local leaders, frequently connecting with them on LinkedIn to extend those professional relationships beyond the classroom. Mentors become personally invested in students’ success, often continuing to support them as they explore future career and business paths. Many student ventures even begin as community-based ideas, rooted in local needs and opportunities.
Some Uncharted Learning teachers, recognized as Master Teachers, play an essential role in sustaining this community. They mentor new educators, helping them navigate challenges, avoid common pitfalls, and maximize out-of-classroom learning opportunities. They also provide guidance on how to best coach volunteers to maximize their impact on students and teams. This leadership cultivates a robust professional learning community—one that benefits both educators and students and ripples across the broader local ecosystem.
Teacher Spotlight: Rob Vander Heiden
Kaukauna High School, Kaukauna, WI | INCubatoredu Certified Teacher
As a new INCubatoredu teacher, Rob Vander Heiden wasted no time building local connections. From summer bootcamp to his first school year, he partnered with the Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce to connect students with mentors and business leaders. These authentic experiences gave students real insight into entrepreneurship and helped the community invest in its future talent.
Community Engagement: Sharing the Story to Build Support
The most impactful educators understand the power of sharing what’s happening inside their learning spaces with their communities. Whether it’s engaging with local economic development associations, inviting local business professionals to visit, showcasing student ventures on social media, or collaborating with administrators to feature success stories in newsletters, when educators elevate student voices and make entrepreneurship visible, their community grows.
By shining a light on student work and the impact of community mentorship, educators show parents, administrators, and local industry the tangible outcomes of entrepreneurship education. This visibility builds momentum - drawing in more volunteers, expanding local networks, and strengthening both physical and digital communities that surround schools.
When local businesses mentor local students, the result is a thriving ecosystem.
Teacher Spotlight: Kalvanetta McPherson
Polk Middle School, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD | mxINCedu Master Teacher
Since launching mxINCedu in 2022, the middle school entrepreneurship program, Kalvanetta McPherson has turned learning into doing. Her students test ideas, make decisions, and see the impact of their work. The Marketplace Event, where teams pitch their businesses to the school, district, and community, is an annual and powerful example of authentic learning, where students connect learning with purpose. Kalvanetta also mentors new mxINCedu teachers each summer, helping more classrooms create these robust student experiences. Her students’ growth was featured on the What Schools Could Be podcast, where she and her students were invited to share reflections on the entrepreneurship journey to a wide audience.
This infographic illustrates the Teaching Team model in entrepreneurship education, showing how teachers, students, and communities grow together through mentorship and collaboration.
The Lasting Impact of Entrepreneurship Education
When entrepreneurship education is rooted in authentic community connections, the Teaching Team model becomes more than a strategy. It becomes a bridge between schools, students, and local industry, fueling shared growth and future-ready learning. I’m grateful to be a part of what’s possible when learning extends beyond the classroom and we grow—together.
