How to Know if You Should Quit Teaching.
If you're anything like me, when it's time to make a huge decision, you might find yourself engaging in some avoidant behaviors. Googling how to know if you should quit teaching, for example.
You may know that leaving the teaching profession is the right choice for you, but instead of standing tall in that reality and taking action, you ask a bunch of other people in your life what they think.
Or, you google people online who have taken similar journeys to find out what they did.
Or, you imagine an entirely alternate universe where you live in Paris and don't have to take any action to leave teaching, because you are busy strolling the Seine all day spending your imaginary millions on croissants and antique books.
Of course, none of the above behaviors are bad. I did the same thing.
Seeking out information from fellow teachers who have successfully leveraged their teaching experience into a new opportunity is very helpful. It's why I kicked off this series I quit teaching, now what? last week with the story of my own successful career change.
Envisioning a different — maybe even grandiose — reality can have purpose, too. Dreams help us begin to narrow in on what we really want out of our professional life.
Asking people in your life who you know have your best interests at heart for advice can help you gain a new perspective on things to consider in terms of your own specific situation.
There isn't one clear formula to know if you should quit teaching because everyone's circumstances are different. But I do think there are things that should definitely not weigh into your decision making.
Comments from friends like, just quit already! You know you hate it. Or next year will be better. Or, at least you get summer off! can, if we let them, influence our ability to really assess how we feel. They can cause us to second guess if we really hate teaching or if we're just burnt out. And they can make us feel judged or ashamed for complaining about just how exhausted and unhappy we are.
When it comes to your career you are the only person who can decide if quitting teaching is right for you. You're the one who wakes up every morning with a sense of dread thinking about your teaching job — no one else. There comes a point in this career change consideration process where we have to weigh all of our options and decide for ourselves what we're going to do next.
I also think it is important that I say, for the record, that I don't think that every teacher who is unhappy in their current position should leave teaching. There are so many amazing teachers, experienced teachers who, with improved work-life balance, would be able to maintain their passion for teaching.
Teaching is a very tiring job. Even if you love being a teacher, love the school where you work, there's still a high chance that at some point you will find yourself burnt out.
You might be a happy teacher, but you've been miserable lately because of a new administrator, a new curriculum, changes in your school board, or a ton of behavior issues to manage this year and you're feeling extra drained.
This is why before making a huge decision and being forced to ask ourselves: I quit teaching, now what? after the fact, we should take the time to get really clear on our feelings and do the work to clarify what would actually make our daily life better.
You need to check in with how you really feel about teaching without the weight of others opinions about you and your choices influencing you.
So, how do you get clear on your feelings? How do you drown out the sounds of other people's input on your life to get clarity?
I'm so glad you asked! I've created three reflections that can help you approach this decision from different perspectives. Sometimes we need to get things out of our head and down onto paper to discover how we really feel. I've used these exercises myself and have had fellow career changers give great feedback on their ability to provide clarity, so I hope they will help you as well.
Pour yourself a cup of tea, grab a notebook and dedicate a few minutes to the following reflections.
The Alternate Job for Ex-Teachers Exercise
Picture yourself working in another job right now that wouldn't require you to pursue any additional training.
When I did this, I pictured myself working in retail. I chose retail because I worked in retail before, and while I hadn't hated it, I wasn't a big fan, and because it wouldn't require me to pursue any additional training or certifications.
Imagine the store you'd work at, the shifts you'd end up taking, the tasks you'd be required to fulfill regularly. For this exercise, you're making slightly less money than you make currently.
What's better about this alternative job? How would it impact your personal life? Do you get to wake up later? Are you relieved at a slower pace? How's your stress level?
Make a list of the things you'd predict appreciating in this role, then a list of the things you predict you'd find annoying/wouldn't want to do. If you can, try to predict the emotional reaction you'd have to various tasks you'd be responsible for.
For example, I can safely predict that I'd be incredibly bored for much of the day working in retail because of my past experience — restocking is so monotonous. However, after working as a classroom teacher, I can also say that I'd rather be very bored than incredibly anxious.
If, after you complete and review your lists, there's the possibility you'd prefer this non-teaching position even though you'd be taking a pay cut, that's significant. It might mean that you're in a space mentally where you are beginning to value your personal happiness over the investment you've made into your teaching career.
This exercise helps you see what you value and seek from a career based on the lists of positive and negative aspects of this alternative job. It also helps you to consider your tolerance level for emotions that come with various work-related responsibilities, which, regardless of whether or not you to decide to continue to teach, is great information to be aware of to help create boundaries that support your overall mental health.
What can I do instead of teaching?
Make a list of the top transferable skills you've developed throughout your career so far. I plan on writing an in-depth post about this soon, because it's something that can be really overwhelming when you begin to consider leaving teaching, and it doesn't have to be.
I have a theory that if you can successfully run a classroom, you can do pretty much anything, so don't get tripped up here.
Is one-on-one instructional time your favorite aspect of your job? Working in small groups? Facilitating project-based learning? Lesson Planning?
Have you developed strong communication skills between your staff and your students' families over the years?
Is there something your grade team frequently recognizes you for? Are you praised for the most thorough lesson plans?
These are ALL transferable teacher skills.
Try not to over think the idea of skills in a traditional resume building sense. If it enters your mind as a possible skill, write it down, even if it seems silly or unrelated to any potential jobs for teachers leaving the classroom. This exercise is about identifying the strengths you've developed and recognizing the aspects of your skillset you most enjoy utilizing.
After you make this list, I recommend going over it and starring the skills you most enjoy utilizing on a daily basis. If, for example, you love developing or updating your grade levels monthly lesson plans and sharing them with your grade team, that's significant. Not only do many teachers not love this, but it would lend itself well to a career in project management or instructional design.
Are the skills you starred ones you use frequently? Would you like to use them more? Are their skills you didn't star but that you'd like to develop? Circle them. Consider how you'd develop those ones. Skillshare? Coursera? Youtube videos? You don't need to act on this now — it's just a good feeling to know that it's within your power to work on skills you wish you were more confident in. It's encouraging to know that opportunity for growth is out there!
This reflection tells us about the skills you feel strongest in, and the skills you are interested in developing. It also helps you to visualize just how relevant or irrelevant being a teacher feels in relation to the toolbox of skills you use most regularly. Again, this knowledge can inform your future decisions.
What would your life look like if you were working in your ideal job?
This exercise is all about visualizing your future. Write down a day in your life now that you are in your perfect role. If you have a dream job in your head, regardless of how difficult you'd think it would be to get there, use that role to complete this exercise. If you aren't sure what your dream job would be, that's okay! This exercise will help to identify some of the components of the job you'd love to have.
Write your account from the time you're waking up. Picture the entire day in your life from morning till bedtime for this one day where you love your employment experience. Be as vivid and specific as you can!
Is it early, or do you get to sleep in?
Do you have a long commute?
Do you get Sweetgreen for lunch?
Are you working in a hybrid office?
Do you get dressed up, or is it a casual environment?
When you're done, reread it.
What are some of the biggest differences between your actual day now and this ideal day?
The hours?
The commute?
The work you're doing?
Your level of interfacing with others?
Does this job require you to be more social, or less?
Are you interacting with clients, or working for yourself?
Are there similarities between this ideal job and your current one? What are they?
What makes you most excited as you reread?
What makes you nervous?
You're uncovering important clues into how you are really feeling about continuing to work in education. This exercise helps you get clear on exactly what aspects of your life you feel are most negatively impacted by your teaching job: the areas that a “better” or “different” job would improve immediately. It's essential to understand what's driving your dissatisfaction as well as what it is you're looking for in a new career.
When we name the things we like or don't like and let ourselves imagine a life where our jobs are fulfilling and actually bring us joy, we are gaining evidence that can help us make decisions informed by our own experience.
If you are like me and quit teaching before having another job lined up, never fear. Next week I'll have some tactical next steps about transferable skills to help answer the desperately exciting question: I quit teaching, now what?
As always, thanks for spending a few minutes with me x
