This book has been a long time coming for me. I took my first notes of what I was experiencing leaving teaching and building a new career in early 2016. From then on writing was in fits and starts: new jobs, moving, family needs taking priority.
What never seemed to stop, though, was the steady outreach from strangers and intros from my network to talk to teachers who were unhappy and wanted a change or were at least considering a change. All the conversations had similar elements:
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- Exhausted and burned out.
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- Classroom challenges were too high, seemingly too great to overcome.
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- Broke with no end in sight, retirement meant continued employment in some capacity.
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- No support, and fear of retaliation from the school and other teachers.
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- Where should they even start?
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- An incredible amount of fear and self-doubt.
What a mess.
I’m grateful to have stumbled across Zach Kristensen at Juxtabook in October 2023. By this time, I had been writing (I use the term loosely!) for six years. I knew the time was right because the flow of “help this teacher I know” requests were becoming more frequent. With Zach’s help, I did in less than three months what I was unable to do on my own all those years.
Aside from being proud of myself for finishing a project that I care about, for fulfilling a personal goal and expectation of my very own, I’m excited for how this book might help change the lives of others who want a change but don’t know how or where to start.
I’ll be 40 soon and I’ve been asking myself, what is my legacy? I made it out of teaching and built a successful career in corporate America. I have started my own business since then too. But it nagged at me: what am I leaving for others? This book is that for me. I want to help, I want to make a difference, and I want to inspire teachers to invest in themselves and make a change. To go for it!
I do believe that teaching matters. I know it’s an honorable profession, an exceptionally necessary one. I also feel that it is not an individual’s job to sacrifice their life and livelihood if they are truly unhappy. I hope one day politicians can take a back seat to what students—and teachers—really need. Until then, I’ll continue my efforts to help those that want to leave teaching make a career change.
I’ll finish with a heartfelt thank you to my husband, James; my parents, David and Lisa; and my brother, Michael. I am so fortunate to have this group of loved ones around me, who encourage me, who love me. There isn’t really anything I’ve achieved in my life that has not come to fruition without their love and support.
Credit for the beautiful book cover to Mel Wise Design https://melwise.com/
