The Journey Out
1 • Deciding to Make a Change: How I knew it was finally time for a change.
2 • You’re Unhappy But You’re Not Alone: Change is scary, but staying is scarier.
3 • Navigating an Exit From the Classroom: How I left the classroom and journeyed into the corporate world.
1
Deciding to Leave Teaching (My Story)
Have you ever cried at work? Me too.
And I used to get stuck here. Focused on the wrong things and complaining about the situation ad nauseam. But for me? Venting feels SO GOOD, even if the feeling is fleeting. And the number of times I feel good after venting FAAARR outnumber the bad. That’s enough data for me.
HOWEVER…venting has never solved my problems.
SO…do it, but then focus on making real changes.
We are going to take this chapter to commiserate. I’ll tell you my experience. Some might say I’m bitter, a few will say iT wAsN’t ThAT bAd, but most will get it.
Were there good times? Yeah. But obviously not enough to make me feel like staying was the right option.
I hope you can see yourself in this chapter: the frustrations, the emotions, the chaos, the challenges, the negativity coming at you even though you’re trying your best.
This is me venting, then you venting, so that next we can get to work.
2
You Are Unhappy ,
But You’re Not Alone
“Ugh. I hate sitting in PD. It’s such a waste. No one is going to do this in their classroom.”
“Why is she the one presenting? She doesn’t even do it in her OWN classroom.”
“I cannot believe they are doing that AGAIN this year.”
“Did you hear they made her department chair? I cannot believe that!”
“He talks way too much about what to do. His students aren’t even that successful.”
“It didn’t work last year but here we go again…”
“I’m so tired of dealing with new methodology. It’s confusing. I want the old grade system back.”
“Can they make us do that? I shouldn’t have to stay late.”
Sound familiar?
And it gets worse.
3
My Journey Out and
The Lessons I Want to
Share with You
This chapter has a lot in it. I’m going to start with my story and tell you how I got out of teaching. But I’m not going to stop there. I’m going to tell you about all of my jobs since leaving teaching. And it was turbulent. I had no guide, no advice, no mentor, no coach. I’m sharing these truths and harsh lessons with you so you can avoid them. You can think of the first three companies as steppingstone jobs. Because of what I learned and the experience they brought me, these were roles that made every job since an advancement. Think about your non-teacher social group today. I bet many, if not most, don’t have the same job they got right out of college, nor are they even at the same company. It’s normal to have one or two. It took me three to find my path.
But make no mistake, I’d redo every bit of this journey again, exactly how it played out if it meant the career path I have today. Even the worst parts of my corporate job have been better than the classroom.
A quick reminder to refer often to the Glossary in the back of the book; there will be unfamiliar words in this chapter: we’re progressing to the corporate world now. 😎
And since good things take time, you can’t expect a quick exit. You will need to plan. As my father has always reminded me:
The best time to find a job is when you have a job.
In the next chapter we’ll talk about what steps you could/should be taking while you are still teaching in hopes that you can avoid learning the hard way. Like I did.
