I Need a New Career but Am Without a Clue

You are not alone. This is my 10th year teaching and I have never felt more like it was time to give it up. I love what I do when i can just teach, but everything else from new state standards, to a new principal, to new requirements etc have really changed things in the classroom. I will be hanging in there, at least one more year. I know that eventually the pendulum has to swing back, it's just a question of if I can hang on until it does. Good luck to you, and if you need to vent, feel free to PM me. We need to stick together. :)

Oh no! This makes me very sad, another good teacher giving up!

:(

Have you thought about going from public to private, or vice versa? Teaching at a college level? You could be an interpreter for a travel company. Tutor at one of those learning centers?

http://education-portal.com/speech_pathology_education.html

It makes my heart hurt to hear about teachers becoming disillusioned for the reasons you stated.

:(

Have you ever considered tutoring at a place like Sylvan?
Not sure the pay, but I would imagine they have benefits for FT employees. And the hours would be set. Maybe evenings though.

Try to find another school who is hiring?
Maybe even rally up a team of like-minded teachers and go to the board about your principal. Be sure to stress the point that the principal's "requirements" of the teachers are hindering the ability to properly teach, and limiting the effectiveness of lessons, as well as getting in the way of teaching what needs to be taught. Maybe your principal will get fired, loose his 'license' to teach/principal?

I am a speech pathologist and I think it is an awesome career. There are tons of jobs and the pay is decent. You won't rich but you will make a good salary. I work in the medical field but have many friends that work in the public schools. I got my education in California so I'm not sure about schools in your area. Try googling masters in communication sciences and disorders. In California you must have a Master's degree and a state license to work as a speech pathologist. If you want to go back to school, I think it is totally worth it. If you have more questions feel free to pm me.

I'm right there with you. I have a BA and trying to find another path for myself. My first thought was tutoring. Can you be a translator? What about a professor at a local college? I'm not sure of the degree requirements but it's something to consider. Maybe a paralegal? Proofreader or copywriting on the side? Good luck! I hope you find your niche soon.

Hi S.,

After a few years of teaching, which really did suck all the enthusiasm out of me, I was very lucky to find a job as a student advisor at a university. It started part-time, per diem, so I pieced together that with a second per diem job at the same college, plus taught 2 classes as a adjunct (needed just an MA, not a PhD for that). At the time my husband was underemployed and we really sacrified to pay our own health insurance (it's a real sticker shock in NJ, I think the second highest in the country). But I loved (still love) my job, it turned into full time with benefits after 1.5 years, and I'm still able to teach as an adjunct and get my "fix" that way. Other jobs I had thought about: educational publishing company, administration for an organization like Teach for America or Girls Scouts, etc. You should be able to capitalize on your Spanish skills. Good luck!
One more thing I forgot to add: most colleges allow their alums to use their career services center for free. Try that for your alma mater and now for the school where you are earning an MA.

I just quit my fulltime teaching job this year. I am now Hourly teaching and have to pay my own benefits. I love the freedom. I have learned to deal with the paycut (see one of my earlier questions/posts).

Hi S.,

I asked this forum a while back about speech therapy. If you can look at where my questions are posted under my name, you can find the answers. Sorry, but I don't know how to insert a link:( (If someone out there would tell me how to do that, I'd really appreciate it!:)

Every profession has it's paper/busy/bureaucracy work.
If you can love what you do for roughly 5 years before becoming somewhat jaded, then it's par for the course.
Before chucking a whole career, consider looking for better ways to handle the stuff you hate doing.
Stream line it, get a method going for getting through it the fastest you can, talk to the other teachers for ideas how they handle it, etc.
See if finding a new job in a new school will make a difference.
And if you still hate it after that, then switch careers.
It's not easy to do, but people do it.