Teaching is killing me! Letsrun help with my career transition!

[quote]Greg wrote:

I am 32, currently living at home w/parents, a screenwriter and university dropout. I'm happy, confident and I enjoy my life. Not asking anyone for advice. Not judging you for asking for advice either.

I have been a piano teacher so I can relate somewhat to teaching.

My advice:

1. Learn to bet on yourself.

2. Read Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It will teach you how to eliminate worry from your mind and many other things as well.

3. Read spiritual literature like Wishes Fulfilled by Wayne Dyer. Betting on yourself is important. Not worrying is as well. Feeling good and maintaining that feeling is the most important thing."

It doesn't sound like anyone should take advice from you about anything, ever, on any subject.

Hey bud,

What ya hiding behind?

Another insecure lets run poster :(

If you have doubts, email a boot camp and ask them the average age of the people in the program. I guarantee you it's not 23 years old.

Off the top of my head, I know the average age for incoming students in the MSIS (Masters of Science in Information Systems) program at the University of Utah is 28.

These programs are designed for people who want to transition into careers in technology. They exist because there is a shortage of qualified tech workers and they can fill the void and make $ doing so.

Stop being so f$cking negative and make some moves.

I'm a little late to this thread and not sure if the OP is still reading.

My spanish teacher from high school just switched careers. I took spanish from him in '97 and '98. It was his first 2 years teaching out of grad school. He was the best high school teacher i had. He was quickly poached by another prestigous private high school.

I saw him ran into him recently and we got together for a few beers. He had switched careers to nursing at the age of 40. said he loved teaching and was at the top of his game, but wanted to try something different. He loves nursing, said it was a great decision.

he had the best attituted and loved everything he put himself into. probably why he was such and great teacher.

Teacher here.

About half way through career.

I don't think some of you non teachers realize just the energy that the job takes.

I teach soccer referee classes with a lawyer friend. Yeah the classes are 8 hours on a Saturday and Sunday. We travel all around the state and stay in hotels to do this.

One day as we were cleaning up for dinner, he said to me how tired he gets from an all day clinic. He said he just wants to put his feet up and watch TV.

I think that sums it up best. I then told him that as a teacher I do this everyday and in fact it is harder because I am not tag teaming with you.

At the end of the day, the fatigue from teaching is felt in my legs as I walk back to my car. It is physically and mentally exhausting.

You may laugh at the physical component being runners, but your on your feet all day bending over to help kids with problems.

The emotional draining of teaching teens is also very very tolling. You have to watch what you say to them, listen to their concerns, and improve their learning at same time.

It is not as easy as you think!

And teachers don't just go to work and clock in time like other jobs.

We cant go hide in a cubicle for 20 minutes when we are stressed or find out our family member is sick or died.

We cant call the doctor to schedule an appointment in the middle of the day. Or call our spouse to remind them to pick up the kids,

I am not going to pretend like other jobs are not hard

But I would say that teaching is very tolling, demanding, and exhausting.

I encourage all of you to sub for a day. Or a week. Then see how you feel.

And subbing does not include the planning and/or grading.

As a teacher, I go to bed at 9 pm on Fridays and sleep late in Saturday.

The other thing that I would say is that I will never coach again. Ever,

That is the worse possible combo. Your head is spinning and you have to get to a practice. Get to meets on Saturdays.

And then at the end of the day are too tired to do anything else.

You said you were 32 and live at home with your parents....

Abstain from giving advice on life until you actually have one, OK?

I thought same thing. ... I thought maybe his post was a joke

So not to thread jack but question to OP and some of the other teachers on here who have talked about the financial aspects and earning potential.

Do you think $90k a year from $60k would vastly improve your quality of life? I (27) am considering changing careers which would be a significant decrease in pay. Essentially I'd be trading salary for lifestyle and what I expect to be much more fun/interesting job.

Do you think it's worth it or does the money question make it a non starter for you?

Well that is a huge difference. Your lifestyle would change BIG TIME going form 90k to 60k. I live on 55k though.

is the 60k job a lot less time commitment?

if it is...then it might be worth it

are you single or does your family depend on you

I say if you hate your job you wont be happy and it would be worth it to leave.

how much stress would that 30k save you????

You're an electrical engineer and you are still unemployed after 8 months? How?Also if you love teaching why don't you do it? Teach math and science!

Your South African Brother wrote:

In a way I kind of envy you.. I'm a 24 year old electrical engineering graduate, and I've been unemployed for the past 8 months, and during the time I've been home, I volunteer 2-3 times weekly at an after-school organization and I mostly help out highschool students with maths, physics and accounting.. Teaching is an absolutely fantastic experience for me, had I known before studying engineering that I would enjoy this so, I wouldn't have gone into engineering in the first place. There's nothing more fulfilling than having someone totally get something that's been troubling them for the first time all because of your intervention. But I suppose we're different, and different people are bound to enjoy different things

Back to me though;

It looks like there are a few good options to consider.

I dont have a lot new to add, but I'll chime in any way..

I taught for 3 years but bolted for another gig for the same reason as you have stated and others have detailed. I just hated waking up every day. I would get a sense of dread every Sunday evening knowing what lay ahead on Monday. I finally got out and I'm glad that I did.

The positives:

- I liked coaching XC and track. My kids were really great and we accomplished a lot. I remain in contact with many of them years later. I do miss being intimately involved in the sport and the lives of runners.

- Summers off and holidays. Any teacher that minimizes this perk is not being truthful. NO other job starts you off with 8-12 weeks off, none.

-School is a familiar setting. Being on the other side of the desk really isn't a huge departure from being a student, you are still surrounded by and part of the school "culture".

Negatives:

-Pay is simply based on years served. There's not much economic incentive to being the best teacher in the county or the lower third, just don't be the worst.

- Lack of authority, yet huge amounts of responsibility.

- You have little time to be "you". When you step on to campus you must assume a different personality, you have to be "on" all the time. There is no time to just take 15 min to chat with a coworker, grab coffee somewhere, run an errand, read an article on the net... you have to be paying attention to what those kiddos are doing (or not doing) 100% of the time.

I'm a very laid back guy and I found it exhausting to have to worry about whether a kid wore the wrong clothes to school, or had a hat, or was not on the absentee list etc.. it wore me out.

-Threat of real, actual violence. Granted this can happen in the work place, but the school I was at could be rough. Lots of fights, and general thuggery going on. I'm a 5'8 150 runner, many of those guys were much bigger than me and could have destroyed me if they raised their fists.

I hope you find something else. I know no matter what it is you'll be happier, even though you will greatly miss summer vacations.

I voluntarily provided that information.

The original poster wanted some perspective.

Have fun & good luck - you both may need it.

Bentberunner wrote:[/b

Boring kids with math.

This says a lot

Thanks everyone for all the input

john utah wrote:

kvothe wrote:

Work is boring dude.

that's about it,

adjust expectations

Yep. My attitude toward work improved greatly when I stopped expecting it to fulfill me. It's a means to an end. That's it. I find fulfillment in my free time away from work.

Well if work is only a means to an end then teaching is probably a double poor career choice as the ends of $ isn't that great for the stress and time.

yeppers wrote:

john utah wrote:

that's about it,

adjust expectations

Yep. My attitude toward work improved greatly when I stopped expecting it to fulfill me. It's a means to an end. That's it. I find fulfillment in my free time away from work.

Gave my notice today....