Transition from teacher to new career

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure a lot of people will be following. Average "life-span" of a teacher is five years. That says way more about the system than the individual.

I have a mentor of sorts who has been in education for about 40 years, in literally every single role- special education teacher, typical classroom teacher, administrator, counselor. All grade levels as well. She doesn't think the current teaching climate is impossible to adapt to or work under- she thinks there's a mindset that people nowadays have where if a job is ever hard or unsatisfying or difficult, they'll just quit and move on to the next thing. Her position is that any job takes a good 3-6 years to really get your footing, begin to excel at and reap the rewards that you can see after putting in hard work. She doesn't think the current teaching climate is fully to blame for teachers dropping out after a couple years, she thinks it's this instant-gratification mindset that, and I hate to pile on to them, millennials have of "this isn't currently filling my bucket so it's time to move on to something else."

When I was getting my teaching degree 15 years ago, we were also quoted the statistics that about 50% of teachers leave within the first five years. Burnout was common in this job well before the testing climate got way out of hand. High stakes testing was already around when I first started teaching (NCLB was already underway), but the "increased rigor" took the pressure to new levels. Regardless of that, many burn out in this job for a variety of reasons.

Could you list a few reasons why you think? Do you think that statistics is particularly higher in THIS area? The parents here are a special breed, almost TOO involved, and I wonder if that pressure is what does teachers in. I'm still in the student teaching phase, so I admit I am not fully aware of what all teachers deal with day to day, but I just love the teaching part. I love when the kids get it, when they're into it, when they're contributing, when you see it click for them. I love that I get to teach something I'm passionate about.

[Anonymous]

I do think it's possible for someone like to me to face less burn out because we have never known the "old" way before data collection and high stakes testing was a thing. That's the way we are learning teaching goes, you know? So for us, that's the only way we've known it to be, but I can see how if you taught for a long time before that became big, that shift could be so frustrating. My big goal as a teacher is to find ways to still teach kids above and beyond the SOL standards and still make it interesting and valuable to them beyond "here's what you need to know for the SOL."

I have been teaching for 29 years and what you are saying scares me to death. I have watched as great teachers retire and new teachers begin. The new ones don't know any other way except this "teach to the test" mania. It will be private schools for my grandchildren.

[Anonymous]

Oh, if the only job I had was to teach the job would be easy. After 15 years, I know how and what to teach my kids and do it very well. But let's add grading, formative assessments, recording those scores into 2 or 3 additional formats for admin to analyze, prepping for at least 1 (but probably 2) completely pointless meetings a week (during which I can visibly see my first year teammates' blood pressure rising due to stress) and about a million other responsibilities that have nothing to do with teaching. I am fortunate to have an easy class this year ( only 25 kinsergarteners, only 1 iep, only 4 esol, no additional support) so at this point I can take it all in stride. But those of you who think this is an easy, family friendly job...hold on to that dream. I love my job, but don't go into it blind to what it really is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do think it's possible for someone like to me to face less burn out because we have never known the "old" way before data collection and high stakes testing was a thing. That's the way we are learning teaching goes, you know? So for us, that's the only way we've known it to be, but I can see how if you taught for a long time before that became big, that shift could be so frustrating. My big goal as a teacher is to find ways to still teach kids above and beyond the SOL standards and still make it interesting and valuable to them beyond "here's what you need to know for the SOL."

I have been teaching for 29 years and what you are saying scares me to death. I have watched as great teachers retire and new teachers begin. The new ones don't know any other way except this "teach to the test" mania. It will be private schools for my grandchildren.

Just because we know we have to teach them what's on the SOLs doesn't mean we won't do everything we can to teach beyond the test as well. There have always been good and bad teachers. Nowadays, the good teachers are the ones who will make sure the kids know what they'll need to know to do well on the SOL, but will also go beyond that and indulge in "real" teaching, where they're disseminating valuable information in an interesting way to the students to keep them engaged and hungry to learn. That is my personal commitment to the kids that I currently student teach and will eventually teach on my own: what they need to know for the SOL is the floor of where I need to be in terms of instruction. That's the most basic level of teaching, and to only teach that isn't fully committing to being a great teacher. I have no plans to tailor my instruction purely to what is on the SOL without including anything else. The good teachers will have that mindset. The bad ones will, yeah, just teach to the test. But again, there have always been the teachers who go the extra mile and devote themselves to the kids, and those who do the bare minimum and walk out of the building at 3 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, if the only job I had was to teach the job would be easy. After 15 years, I know how and what to teach my kids and do it very well. But let's add grading, formative assessments, recording those scores into 2 or 3 additional formats for admin to analyze, prepping for at least 1 (but probably 2) completely pointless meetings a week (during which I can visibly see my first year teammates' blood pressure rising due to stress) and about a million other responsibilities that have nothing to do with teaching. I am fortunate to have an easy class this year ( only 25 kinsergarteners, only 1 iep, only 4 esol, no additional support) so at this point I can take it all in stride. But those of you who think this is an easy, family friendly job...hold on to that dream. I love my job, but don't go into it blind to what it really is.

I don't recall a single person in this thread saying we thought the job was easy. Family friendly? More than some, for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burnt out fourth year teacher here. I'll be following this thread. I've personally thought about trying to move into program management at a museum or children's program of some sort. Not sure. So tired

You'll be competing with people who have degrees in arts administration & museum ed. You'd need some experience as these positions are highly competitive among people who have the right qualifications.

[Anonymous]

It's not an easy job, but I would not discourage anyone who is interested. We have so many new teachers who come and go and then you have the many who retire every year. Without a new pool of teachers, who is going to teach our children? We need new teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Burnt out fourth year teacher here. I'll be following this thread. I've personally thought about trying to move into program management at a museum or children's program of some sort. Not sure. So tired

You'll be competing with people who have degrees in arts administration & museum ed. You'd need some experience as these positions are highly competitive among people who have the right qualifications.

+1. This is very true. The museum ed/museum studies field is highly competitive and these jobs have very little turnover. It's not an easy transition.