Want to quit teaching but have to go back?
Change can still happen starting with this (Untangle Post #3)
A lot of teachers already resigned last school year. Washington Post reported that resignations in the DC area is rising again. Gradient Learning 2023 Poll results indicate that “schools are in the verge of a massive teacher shortage.” So if you are thinking of leaving the classroom, you are not alone.
What if you can’t quit?
You wanted to quit teaching but now you have to go back to school because of medical benefits. Maybe you just need a few years or months to get your retirement benefits. Or maybe you are unsure of what other jobs are out there and it is easier to go back to what you know. Whatever the reason is, change can happen. Let me tell you what happened to me when I was decided to go back to the classroom even though I didn’t want to.
After teaching for 12 years, I left to build my own business. Cash flow was not as I hoped for so when a position opened up in my old school district, I interviewed for it. I was actually sad when I got the job. Looking back, I can say that it was the best teaching years I had. Here is what I learned.
Start with your financial goals from day one
I knew exactly where I was financially from day one. Before I reported for work, I went through my cash flow (or lack thereof). Here is a free Guided Money Flow Journal from me. Just put $0 in the price. I know how much to put aside to get out of debt and start saving for the day I leave again. Then every payday, after paying my bills, I transferred money to different accounts:
giving fund - for church and/or charity
savings towards 6 months or more fixed living expenses (which I started after I paid off all credit)
fun fund to reward myself with simple stuff like mani-pedi or weekend travel
golden goose fund for investment or retirement
I tell you, it was hard! But putting it to different online accounts BEFORE I can spend it, helped. After a few paychecks, it was fun watching those accounts increase. Plus, I felt empowered even though there were bad and good days in school. If you’re a classroom teacher, you know what I am talking about.
Zoom out to see the bigger picture
There was a time I felt stifled at work. I was a special education teacher who had to teach high school standards to students who barely multiply. The first time I resigned, I was overwhelm by a school policy where ALL students should take Advanced Placement classes. That meant my students who barely know how to speak English needed to take Advanced Math subjects and I had to find ways to help them. This time, I was ready. I zoomed out saw the bigger picture:
The district is under obligation to teach grade level standards to all students.
There were school-wide policies that are implemented in EVERY classroom like International Baccalaureate (IB) which my school, then, embraced
There are ways I can teach my students from their current lever, I just have to work with the system
Instead of complaining that the IB program will not work for my students, I dug deep and found similarities. I integrated it with what I knew before: experts already aligned it for students with severe disabilities and called it Core Content Connectors. What if I apply it to any student with learning gaps? I did. As a result, I was able to test an idea and got two Schools 4.0 grants later as a New Normal and Tiny Fellow. There are always opportunities in problematic situations once we see the bigger picture.
Be clear about your goals and boundaries
Lastly, if you are clear about your goals and boundaries, going back to teaching will be easier and you will be happier. My initial goal might be financial, but I have another goal: I do not want teaching to siphon off my energy. I do not want teaching to invade my home and time to rebuild my business. Here are the simple ways I built boundaries:
I did not access school email from my phone.
I prepared for Monday on Friday so it will not invade my weekend.
I did something for my business, no matter what. It can be as simple as opening my work computer especially when I am exhausted.
Then, something happened. My school insisted that every teacher should cover other classes during their planning period. This was fine at the beginning, but it became more frequent and happened during the last period where students, who do not know me, were usually unruly. There were times I was anxious to go to work, not because of my own students, but because of the uncertainty of where I might suddenly see myself subbing. My work is starting to invade my boundary. So when the regular caretaker of my special needs son is no longer available, it was easier for me to choose to stay home with him.
So what about you? What change do you want to happen? What is important for you? Use this free habit change journal tracker to find out. Then make sure you know where you stand financially using this money flow guided journal. Both are free to download and a gift from me.
Change Starts Within You
Man’s Search for Meaning was the only required reading that impressed me. It was about Victor Frankl’s experience as a Nazi camp prisoner and how he dug deep inside him and found his inner freedom. Just to be clear, I am not comparing teaching to his experience. What I want to emphasize is our inner freedom: we have the freedom to choose how to react to any situation. I know, this is easier said than done. As I wrote above, these helped:
being in control of your finances
zooming out then in to see the bigger picture
clear goals and boundaries
What if you decide to leave teaching instead of staying this school year? That will be topic of the next post in this Untangle Series. Subscribe for free so you’ll not miss any post.