Best teaching specialty for work/life balance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach elementary and am seriously burned out by the long hours. I want to pick up another endorsement for something less time consuming. It can be an elementary specialty such as reading specialist, esol, etc. or even teaching secondary as a general ed teacher (unlike most elementary teachers, I'm not scared of working with teens.). Which area of teaching would give me the greatest likelihood of working a 40 hour week.

lol@ secondary ed

Do you really think it's easier than ES? Teens aside, the pressure to pass the kids and make sure they meet state requirements is exhausting. 40-hour week

OP, how long have you been in the profession? The only career in ed that's 40 hours or less (and I mean less) is being a PE teacher. They can walk around in sweats all day long and planning is minimal. Plus, many earn extra bucks for coaching.

There is just as much pressure to pass kids and make sure they do well on the SOLs in Elementary as there is in secondary.

[Anonymous]

My SIL switched to being a reading specialist after being a classroom teacher in elementary school for several years. Her work/life balance is much better now - she openly admits the hours are less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Become an adminstrator or counselor. Not much take home. If you are an assistant principal or dean, you have busy times but nit much take home.

Ha. A responsible principal works year round and is burdened by all the stupid types of reports that are drowning teachers. Spouse is writing and proofing work late into the next three. Though not every night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an ES ESOL teacher and it is possible you could see it as an "easier" job. I have a ton of paperwork at the beginning and end of the year which is stressful and time consuming but the rest of the year isn't bad. We used to have an ESOL specific curriculum which made my job doable but not anymore. There is definitely less busywork than homeroom teachers have. Collecting money, permission slips, forms, etc etc is very time consuming so I don't have to do that. When my students go on a field trip or have an assembly, etc, I get a free period. I am much happier as an ESOL teacher than a homeroom teacher. I wouldn't say it is less work, I would say the boring work is concentrated into 2 parts of the school year.

My children are in elementary schools and the account of collecting money, permission slips, forms, etc. My children went a party at Pump It Up and I signed the waiver online. It would be very efficient if FCPS has some type of online system to complete and submit forms online. Also all the paper they waste printing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gym teacher/art, music.

Yup.

-- tired classroom teacher

[Anonymous]

NOT English. My math teacher friends admit that the grading load is less for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach elementary and am seriously burned out by the long hours. I want to pick up another endorsement for something less time consuming. It can be an elementary specialty such as reading specialist, esol, etc. or even teaching secondary as a general ed teacher (unlike most elementary teachers, I'm not scared of working with teens.). Which area of teaching would give me the greatest likelihood of working a 40 hour week.

lol@ secondary ed

Do you really think it's easier than ES? Teens aside, the pressure to pass the kids and make sure they meet state requirements is exhausting. 40-hour week

OP, how long have you been in the profession? The only career in ed that's 40 hours or less (and I mean less) is being a PE teacher. They can walk around in sweats all day long and planning is minimal. Plus, many earn extra bucks for coaching.

There is just as much pressure to pass kids and make sure they do well on the SOLs in Elementary as there is in secondary.

I'm not in VA. We have PARCC b/c of the CC standards. FWIW, they don't fail kids in ES or MS. They pass them along b/c it's bad for self-esteem. And when they get to us, they're can't read and write. But if we fail them, we're reprimanded and asked what we HAVEN'T done for the kids.

Teaching is going down the shitter fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Become an adminstrator or counselor. Not much take home. If you are an assistant principal or dean, you have busy times but nit much take home.

Ha. A responsible principal works year round and is burdened by all the stupid types of reports that are drowning teachers. Spouse is writing and proofing work late into the next three. Though not every night.

And tell me how many principals are like your spouse?

I have a degree in admin and was encouraged to move up. I said the degree was enough, thank you. Peter Principle rules the systems.

[Anonymous]

I've worked for 15+ years as a special ed paraprofessional and I have observed that speech teachers have the sweetest job in the school. Also very rewarding.

[Anonymous]

Outside of teaching music, art, library, and pe any job that doesn't require you to maintain a classroom will less work. Except for sped. - that's s nightmare in terms of paperwork.

[Anonymous]

^ and admin, I forget that. They arrive early and stay late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've worked for 15+ years as a special ed paraprofessional and I have observed that speech teachers have the sweetest job in the school. Also very rewarding.

What's a speech teacher? You mean an SLP? What makes it the sweetest job in the school? My SLP friends seem to be pretty over worked. Not that they don't enjoy it, but there seems to be huge numbers of students and paperwork.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked for 15+ years as a special ed paraprofessional and I have observed that speech teachers have the sweetest job in the school. Also very rewarding.

What's a speech teacher? You mean an SLP? What makes it the sweetest job in the school? My SLP friends seem to be pretty over worked. Not that they don't enjoy it, but there seems to be huge numbers of students and paperwork.

The SLP at my school has plenty of time built into her schedule for paperwork, plus the SLP and all of the special ed teachers have an entire day of the week off from students for admin work. It's the day when the IEP/EMT meetings are scheduled so sometimes they attend the meetings if it's their grade level but often times they don't have meetings scheduled for their students so they have an entire full day of the week to plan and do paperwork. They are excused from any before and after school duties because they have convinced the principal that they have such a large workload. They have max 10-11 kids on their caseload and 2 paras who help fulfill the IEP hours and also do their filing for them. They rarely arrive early and they walk out right after dismissal, often already dressed in workout clothes.


Must be nice.

[Anonymous]

In my school the teachers with the cushiest jobs are the Computer/Technology teacher (it's a special) and the Resouce Teachers. They have Spec Ed endorsements, but they pull out/push in to their assigned 3-4 classrooms and their students are fairly high functioning. They seem to be in and out of the lounge all day and definitely have more flexibility in their day. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am part time SpEd and love it. I am a case manager for 6 high-functioning students, and work in their classrooms as what is basically an assistant. I also work with a few teachers in an assistant role for hours that my own students don't need.
But, I don't make much because I'm at 50%.

Do you have a master's in Special Ed? I'm wondering what it would take to get into the field. Thanks!