One Year Later, How I Left Teaching
My mental health is great, but I truly miss the work.
In March 2023, I made the decision to leave teaching. My husband and I planned out my exit. I would finish the school year, and in June we would hit the ground running looking at new careers for a 5th grade Science and Social Studies teacher. I would have the entire summer to find work while still getting paid until August, and we had an emergency fund to hold us over for several months afterwards. It was a good plan.
In reality, I just couldn’t wait. After I put in not to renew my contract, I began feverishly working on finding my next job while I finished out the school year. There were so many emotions going through my entire body that I wrote about it (link below).
That post has been read over 10,000 times, and on occasion I still see references to it on LinkedIn.
Today, nearly one year later, I have a successful career in software training. I make more money and my 401K is already outpacing my previous Teacher Retirement. My boss is great, and my colleagues are wonderful. My schedule is fantastic, working 100% remote. A few weeks ago, I was present with my kids for Meet the Teacher night, something I had never been able to do before. Being there was bittersweet, as two of our kids are attending the school I left the year prior.
I still have so many emotions about leaving teaching, and I even contemplated going back this school year, even if for a brief moment. For those thinking of leaving themselves, I think it is important to give you some hard truths about exiting the teaching profession.
Let’s start by stepping back, when I decided to leave.
A Caring Voice
Once the decision had been made to leave, I sat down and talked about it with my amazing, extremely caring principal. I only worked at that intermediate school for one school year, after spending 11 years at a different school. She provided a wonderful work environment that I had not had for most of my teaching career. Yet, it was not enough to change my decision to go.
Add on the rest of the crisis in public education - overcrowded classes, lack of resources like no paras to help with special students, salaries not matching inflation, standardized testing, students who do not care about anything because they face little to no consequences, parents who are disconnected or rant to you about indoctrination, and on and on.
But this new principal I had for one school year, she held my hands and talked to me like a human being. She said she understood, and that I would always have a place there if I decided to come back.
After that hard conversation, I spoke with my team members over the next few weeks. All of them supported my decision, and some lamented they wished they could leave too. Sadly, these are some of the best teachers in the district. You would all want them to be your kid’s home room teachers. They are what the corporate world calls ‘high performers’, and they have been leaving teaching in droves over the last decade.
I started to giveaway all I had amassed in over a decade of teaching, all of it to my teaching friends. The thought did cross my mind that if I came back, I would need these things. I instead decided to let most of it go. There was little I could do with 20 clipboards, 30 white boards, 10 copies of the same kid’s books, classroom decor, and endless storage containers of markers, labs, and other fun stuff for the kids.
On the last day of school, I handed in my keys and went home.
Starting from Scratch
No one wants to hire teachers.
This was a hard truth that my husband and I had to overcome after months of job hunting. I just did not have the corporate experience all of these job postings were looking for. Even though we knew I was qualified to do the types of jobs I was applying to (more on that in a moment), having ‘teacher’ on your resume actually works against you.
Working on the 'new me’, we decided to first target a hot area in corporate America: Agile. I won’t go into the details, because it isn’t what I ended up doing, but teachers are built to be Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, and Project Managers. It was such an eye-opening area, that I truly began to see myself doing this kind of work.
What we did not know was that Agile jobs were becoming less needed. It became hot during the pandemic as companies needed more organized project management for remote workers, and Agile is seen as the method for digital transformation.
We got in too late.
I first got a few Agile certifications: Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, and the SAFe 6.0 certification. This was after I attended a few online boot camps, where I met many other teachers doing the same thing with Agile.
We were not the only ones that had this good idea.
We turned our spare room into a second office, and my new day job was hunting for work.
We started talking to recruiters and adapting multiple versions of resumes based on job roles. We contacted staffing companies, and I went through countless interviews, casting a wide net across jobs in Agile, training & development, and even sales (barf).
I had to begin a spreadsheet to track which jobs I had applied to so I would know when to follow up, when I was moving along interviews, and when I was rejected.
And let me tell you…the rejection was constant.
I applied to over 600 jobs over the summer, and 99% of them never got past the first interview. I later learned some of my job-hunting teacher friends had double that count, with some still jobless a year after leaving teaching.
It did not matter that I had a Masters in Curriculum Instruction. It did not matter that I had over a decade of work experience.
The corporate world rarely takes chances on teachers, and it still baffles me to this day how Human Resource departments continue to ignore a goldmine of hard working, very adaptable, and incredibly driven people. I even wrote about it:
We had assumed I would find a new job fairly quickly, especially as we had several connections in the oil & gas industry. We were also ready for me to take an entry-level job, making entry-level pay.
Job hunting also introduces you to the worst kind of companies and people. If you ever hear anything from Globe Life, stay FAR, FAR AWAY from them. There are “recruiters” out there that are actually multi-level marketing scams or other pyramid schemes that prey upon teachers. I wasted valuable time and energy on one of these scams, and it made me want to run back to teaching after being taken advantage of, when I was desperate for work.
I stressed about finding a job the whole time, and as summer came and went, and the new school year started without me, the emotions came out daily. Crying was occasional, especially when I was the only one in the house, scrolling LinkedIn job boards wondering what the hell I was doing.
It took me six months to find a job outside of teaching, and I am one of the lucky ones.
New Me
My title now is Training & Development Specialist. I work for a small company out of Florida, which trains on Microsoft products, among other things. There is so much to the work I am doing, and through the last year I have grown more than I had thought possible.
I am building content and training classes from a handful of people to hundreds of corporate staff per session. I am presenting at conferences, both online and in person. Every day, the imposter syndrome slowly fades away.
I have learned a lot in the last year, and I can see why my husband told me I would “run circles” around most office workers out there. There is so much opportunity to be found for those who apply themselves and persevere, and teachers are well-built for the corporate world.
For my new boss, he is truly a breath of fresh air. He is patient, open, and always willing to work things out. I am not being micromanaged, and I am expected to take breaks as needed. Many times, I find myself not knowing what to do, as I finish work quickly. One of the greatest struggles has been rewiring my brain to understand that I can prioritize myself.
When I get sick, I let my team know and go back to sleep, rather than having to put in for a sub, prep a 3-page lesson plan, and relying on others to get my class set up. When there are issues to resolve, our entire group gets together to work it out, boss included.
Reflection
Why am I writing about this? I have had time to reflect on my choice to leave teaching, and I am still happy I chose myself and well-being.
Do I miss teaching? All the time. The emotions frequently come back.
Let’s be real though. Public education is broken, and teachers are bearing the weight of its collapse.
Teachers so rarely get to just ‘teach’ any longer. Most of the time educators are dealing with discipline, interruptions, paperwork, or other things that have nothing to do with teaching. I know if I were to go back today that I would face all the same problems I left behind.
I continue to have educator friends and acquaintances reach out for insight about how they too can leave teaching, which really makes me angry. Not just for myself, but I am saddened by the numerous teachers who are thinking of leaving or feeling ‘stuck’ in public education because they are too far vested to move out. They deserve better.
For our own children, I want them to have amazing teachers and not just robots. They need a quality education. And teachers deserve every resource they need to do that work.
It is not the job of teachers to take on the burden of the public and the failures of our leaders. If you are an educator, you too can leave if you feel that is what you need in your life. Though, I cannot sugarcoat the consequences of that decision.
It is hard to leave teaching.
For me, I discovered there was more to life than being a teacher, even though it was something I planned for since I was a kid.
I found a new career path that is challenging and allows me to use my skills in a different way. I still get to apply my two college degrees in the work I do.
There are some things I still get to enjoy related to teaching. I still buy back-to-school supplies for my three kids, who are my pride and joy. My friends from teaching are still some of the closest people in my life. I visit our schools for events and donate to our kid’s teacher’s whenever we can.
Since I am working 100% from home, my kids still get to enjoy summers at home. Our vacations are different, but work-life balance has been fantastic.
The change out of teaching was not easy. For me, it was hard, scary, and sometimes painful. If you are going to commit to it, then you have to be brave by taking a leap of faith.
Believe in yourself and your potential. You deserve to pursue your dreams, even if they change over time. You are not defined by one role or one profession. You are a multifaceted and capable person, and you can do anything you set your mind to.
My Advice
For those considering leaving, here is some advice:
Make the decision and stick with the plan. Begin planning within the school year and use the end of the school year as your target to hit the ground running. This only applies to those who wish to stay an entire school year, as if you are like me, and do not want to risk your teaching certification being suspended. I also did not want to abandon my team in the middle of the school year.
Save money.
Start working on the ‘new you’ in the New Year. It is a great time to begin learning new things, networking, building your resume, and starting mock job hunts. You could start applying, but you should be ready to quit teaching and jump to your new role within a few weeks, which again risks your teaching certification and may burn bridges you’ll need to cross back later.
Align your finances and understand that after August your income and benefits will come to a halt. Our bail-out plan was that if I did not find work by Christmas I could go back to teaching in January. We had ample savings to bear the brunt of this, which we had to dip into it for two months to cover our bills.
Get organized. When you begin hunting for work, know that this is your new job. Treat it like a normal 8-5 job as best as possible, spending everyday refining your resume, getting trainings in the area you wish to get into, signing up for whichever free webinar or bootcamps you can (or paid if you can afford it), and cruising the job boards.
Create a space in your house for job hunting. Get a desk, make sure the background looks nice for online interviews. It’s a good idea to buy a quality webcam as well.
Learn how to use LinkedIn and get used to promoting your latest accomplishments, like trainings or certifications. Hunting for jobs on social media will crush your soul but know that it is temporary.
Cry if you need to. Take naps.
Use whatever you can to find work. If you have family or friend connections, use them. Use whatever is in reach to get that first job, and if that first job doesn’t cut it, keep moving forward.
Take time for yourself to heal and lean on those around you for support. Do not attempt to carry the burden alone.
Don’t give up, but make sure you face reality and plan a back-up option, which may be going back into teaching. I would not stress about getting back into the classroom. They’ll take you back, but do understand it may be in a different school or district.
Closing
I wish I could offer more advice or solace that leaving teaching is a good decision. It was a great decision for me. I had the support at home, and we had the temporary finances to make it happen. Your situation may not allow for leaving, and that is a reality for many, many teachers.
Will I ever go back to teaching?
Perhaps. You may have noticed I did not talk much about the students in this post. That is because the children I taught is what breaks my heart the most about leaving teaching. It is a part of leaving that I try not to dwell on.
Public education would need to be vastly improved for me to ever think about going back.
In the meantime, I am one year out from leaving teaching, and I am living happily.