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I am trying to make a long story short here. I am a 6th grade math teacher and I'm almost at the end of my 2nd year. I teach in an urban community (one of the worst neighborhoods) in Brooklyn. There are all types of issues with public education: communities, student behavior, pushing students ahead when they shouldn't be, the blaming of teachers, poverty. I am tired of dealing with all of these issues that affect my job but aren't in my control. It has given me plenty of stress, much less personal time (even on weeknights and weekends), and not enough pay.
I inspire a lot of my students and work very hard. However, for what this job pays, the truth is that I make nowhere close to the endless amount of things I'm held accountable/responsible for.
I want to quit at the end of this school year, but being honest and upfront, I do not have a plan or another job lined up. I do know that I dislike this job so much that I'm willing to go without until I find something better. I am interested in computers, technology and math (fields that I should've been pushed into when I was younger), and have thought about creating apps, as my experience as a teacher and grad student has shown me that there are so few math game apps out there. I do not have experience creating apps, but I have knowledge of what makes a good game and knowledge of what students are expected to know.
What's worse is that I am graduating with a masters in education next month, yet no longer desire to be a teacher. My brother believes that I should stick with this job because I have nothing else lined up. My sister thinks I should try teaching elsewhere/different community. I am 26 now and I feel like I am realizing that this is part of a journey of finding something you like to do and making a living doing it.Thank you for your time and thanks for reading. Thoughts?
Deep inside, you know the answer. You are working under stressful conditions, and that won't change. Being a teacher even under the most favorable circumstances can be stressful. Things you have in your favor are that you are young, early on in your career, and also have an idea for putting your knowledge into something worthwhile. You might want to look further into making that dream a reality. In the meantime, you can tutor, and it doesn't have to be in the school district in which you work. You do have options. You have many working years ahead of you. You should investigate making it something you enjoy while also making a living wage.
I feel exactly the same. Deep inside it feels like "you need to quit while you're ahead. don't invest too much time." Things will not change. I do have a new dream though so perhaps you are right.
You may still like teaching but if it was in a better environment and situation then the current one. I would consider looking for a teaching job in another/better location. If your absolutely sure you do not want to continue with it, I would start putting out resumes and applying for which new field you want to enter. What you mentioned sounds pretty good if you can land a job. Maybe you can find something before you leave your job, but could take quite some time possibly. This depends on your financial situation. If your able to be without a job while searching, I would go for it then.
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I knew during student teaching that I had made a huge mistake. I really thought I'd be able to teach High School English, but I found myself teaching to the SAT and concentrating mainly on daily vocabulary exercises. It's bad when your favorite class is remedial, because the administration didn't care what I taught since they would not be taking the SAT. I was disgusted that I spent three years training for a job that I knew I would be miserable doing.
I was able to find another career path, but I had to start at the bottom of a large company and work my way up. It wasn't easy, but it's possible. Good luck to you OP, and I feel your pain.
Yea, it certainly does feel like I spent a lot of time and energy into this job and received little in return for it. Teaching to the test is supposedly bad, but then they rate you for how well kids do on the test?.....It's like a gigantic contradiction.
I am not sure how to get into developing apps. Perhaps that's what I should look into?
Can you tutor while you figure things out? How about GRE/GMAT teaching? They make very good money.
You can also explore other paths that utilize your education degree. There are tons of education companies and nonprofits. Perhaps look into instruction design, or administration in an education company.
It sounds like you've figured out that this job is not for you. You'll find other jobs, don't worry
Can you tutor while you figure things out? How about GRE/GMAT teaching? They make very good money.
You can also explore other paths that utilize your education degree. There are tons of education companies and nonprofits. Perhaps look into instruction design, or administration in an education company.
It sounds like you've figured out that this job is not for you. You'll find other jobs, don't worry
Thanks for all of the responses in this thread. Does anyone know where to begin in terms of developing apps or where I can find a stable tutoring gig? I am also wondering if it's possible to go back to subbing (not that I'd like to - finding enough clients to tutor to pay the bills is more ideal)
You're right. I'll look up on the credentials required to tutor GRE/GMAT. I need to start searching up where my skills and/or experience from teaching is applicable. Teaching isn't the only job in education. But where do I look?
check federal gov jobs. You might find some that require a masters or bachelors, but aren't that specific to the major. Maybe in various gov fields that aren't related to eduction. Or even training at the gov level or even gov job working with kids where you can use your education as the 'in' for the career change. Once in with the fed, you can move up the ladder in all kinds of specialties that aren't related to education.
Look at state and local gov as well to see what kinds of jobs they have that you qualify for.
See if you can search for jobs with companies that deal with testing of students...just as standardized testing. check their job ads to see if they are looking for someone with your education and experience. Maybe you create new tests or edit tests or work on the systems that put the test process together and the grading and sending of the results to the schools.
Also companies that do such testing/grading for corporations and government. There are all kinds of testing systems.
Also companies that put together online training classes. These are more and more common. Your education background can be desired and then you can get more hands on experience dealing with applications and maybe can become an analyst or developer over time as you become an expert at that company. That's how some people get into App Dev...by being a super user or subject matter expert on using the system and then they know it so well move over to the app dev or systems analysis side of the house.
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