Ten Tips For Moving Into Teaching As A Second Career

   

Many people know their whole lives what they want to be when they grow up.  I've met a lot of teachers who have told me they "knew" since they were 8 years old that they wanted to be a teacher. There are also some that feel the calling as an undergraduate because they like kids or enjoy the sound of it.  Then, there are the rest of us.

Before I was a teacher I had these *illustrious* job titles:

Dog Washer

Balloon Counter Manager

Rent-A-Car Manager Trainee

Group Home Life Skills Attendant

Wedding Invitations Telemarketer

Casino Phone Operator

Barista

   Believe it or not, half of those jobs required a 4 year degree! The truth is that unless you know people who know people, nobody hands you a job after college unless you are extremely lucky.  I so happened to have majored in finance and graduated just months after the 9-11 tragedies.  Finance was probably the worst major to be in during this time period.  So, I did what many of my classmates did: I moved back home and worked in menial jobs.

With 30 approaching quickly, I wasn't feeling too great about my place in the world.  I lived in an apartment with roommates, and I had no savings or money for retirement.  I looked into several positions and I applied for three grad school programs (business, teaching and social work).  The teaching program accepted me quickly, and the classes started within a week of my acceptance letter, so I jumped with my eyes closed, and I've never looked back.  

Here are my tips for those of you thinking of jumping into a teaching career later in life.  I don't have any regrets, but I do wish I knew these things before getting into it!

1.  Research graduate school programs carefully.  Some of my friends have paid 12k and others upwards of 100k.  We teachers make similar amounts of money (but never enough to justify student loans that are bigger than house payments), so go for a cheaper program!

2. Just roll with the punches.  Everything changes in education constantly.  What you learn today will be obsolete tomorrow; however, everything also gets "recycled", so you'll probably see it or hear of it again.

3.  Yes, There are a million hoops to jump through.  Just take one hoop at a time.  Use your college advisors and professors for help because they've all been through the same hoops.

4. Substitute teach to figure out which grade is for you. When I first started I thought that I was a sure fire high-school teacher. Then I subbed in a high-school for a week, and I quickly discovered that I wasn't ready to handle big people.  Everyone is different, and each grade level group has a totally different vibe when you're stuck with 25 of them all day long!

5. Teaching is NOTHING like what you see in the movies!   There are zero if any life changing moments,but there are constant little flickers that will keep you going each day.  They all sort of roll together at the end of a school year to make everything "worth it".

6. Start walking a lot now to get yourself in shape for your "average" day.  Also, get used to eating a healthy breakfast, a tiny-protein filled lunch (<-- healthy salads don't always work when you don't get to go to the bathroom all day long-  soup, half a sandwich, or a bag of almonds sometimes is more practical), and teach yourself how to prepare easy dinners.  

7. The pay is not *horrible* in most places, but do your research before going to school.  Some states pay entry level teachers 20k a year while others start more around 40k.  My state pays much more to "rural" teachers than city folk, so I moved to the sticks.  Several of my coworkers from Montana and the Dakotas moved to my state because they didn't realize how low teacher salaries were there.  So do your research before you make the plunge.  The good thing about teaching salaries is that they are usually made public on your state's department of ed website! 

 No smoke and mirrors for public servants! 

8.  Research the endorsements and licenses that your state or district needs the most, so you can depend on being in "high demand" when you get out.  Big demand areas include- Special Education, Autism Specialties, Math & Science for 8th grade and up, and English Language Learner Certificates.  These areas are liquid gold for trying to get a teaching job.  Any tech experience GREATLY helps as well. Every school seeks "tech people". 

9. School isn't the way it used to be.  When I went to high-school in the 90's, we sat in rows and read from books and listened to lectures.  This is not how school looks anymore.  The teachers who are married to this idea of "old fashioned" school struggle to connect with kids in modern aged classrooms.  Nowadays, kids need constant collaboration, and they need talk more than the teacher talks.  In the ideal classroom, the kids are choosing what they learn about, how they learn it, and in some cases even where they sit.  There's much more freedom, and I see a lot of teachers with strict ideals struggle to get kids to "behave" in the old fashioned setting.   I like this change, but it was DIFFICULT for some of the adults I went to teaching college with to accept this new era of education.  Like I said, even current TV shows and movies do not depict classrooms the way they really are now. 

10.  You can do this!   Teaching is a blessing as it's like no other job on the planet.  Compared to other jobs I've worked, I receive a lot of respect as a teacher, and I've had 1,000's of good interactions versus a handful of negative ones.  There's a lot of freedom with how to structure your day, and you usually get a big "office" (classroom) to decorate however you like.  There are a lot of like minded people to connect with (both kids, parents and fellow teachers).  The day goes by fast- even too fast sometimes.  The job is never boring, and there are always new things to try out.   The best part is that you're always in control of your environment.  Even if you have a negative principal (ie, boss), you usually only have to deal with that person for 10%-20%  of your day (unlike other jobs where they might be watching you *constantly).