r/TeachersInTransition

So basically I’m now starting my second year postgrad where I got my degree in secondary education with minors in earth science and meteorology. I have been seeking a middle school level science position, but I live in a very competitive area for teaching jobs so haven’t been able to find many openings. Last school year, I did land a 3 month long term sub job in 7th grade earth science and I really enjoyed it. I liked all the students, got paid well, enjoyed the staff, and it’s a short commute from where I live (which is very important to me). This summer I applied to multiple positions but couldn’t even get an interview, so I committed to go back to the school I had my long term assignment at to be a building sub, which I was excited about! On Monday this week, I got an email about a high school 1 hour drive away from me seeking a full time environmental science teacher. I already committed to a job but figured at least trying to get an interview would be good practice and I figured I wouldn’t get the job since all of my experience has been in 7th grade. Anyways they actually interviewed me and offered me the job. It was an additional 100 dollars a day in pay, but would require me to wake up at 5am daily to arrive to school on time. There’s also one week until the first day and I would’ve had to set up an entire classroom and start planning curriculum while meeting staff/colleagues and complete onboarding. I took one night to think about it and declined their offer and decided to stay committed to my building sub position. I feel like I know I made the right decision for myself because starting off a school year that way would’ve been miserable for me as I work on the weekends too in a restaurant. I just feel a tad bit unsure of my choice though because the last two years I’ve been seeking a full time job offer and I finally get one and then I end up declining. I’m still so young, 23 years old, so I know there’s plenty of time for me left but I feel like I’m holding my career back a little for doing that. Simply made this post to ask if anyone ever experienced anything similar and had anything to share on it. Thanks! !

I’m a first year teacher and I’m already going through it 🫩 I live in the state of Texas so already that is stressful enough because the curriculum is changing along with a lot of different things that are happening at the district that I work for. It’s starting to feel overwhelming to the point where I feel like this is not what I signed up to do or I had some sort of illusion, thinking that being a teacher was going to be one of the most amazing things in the world. Another fact that is currently happening is that I’m having so many issues with the students in my class to a point where I can’t even teach properly so overall it’s just feeling overwhelming right now. Don’t get me wrong I really do wanna stay in education and work within education for the rest of my life but just being a classroom teacher I don’t think it’s cutting it for me 🥲 So any advice as to how I can have a smooth transition from working in elementary education or has anyone dealt with this before? 🫩

In August 2020, after nearly eight years of working as a substitute and guest teacher, I finally landed my first full-time contracted teaching role. It was middle school in Florida right in the middle of the pandemic. My wife was pregnant, I was terrified, and the reality of the classroom hit me hard. The constant pressure of always having to be "on," the imposter syndrome, and the chaos burned me out faster than I thought possible.

I knew I had to leave for the sake of my family and my own mental health. I stepped out of the classroom, took a job working crew at Trader Joe's to keep income coming in, and spent my evenings learning SQL and spreadsheet modeling. Making the transition into a corporate data analyst role was the best decision I ever made for my family. Getting to close my laptop at 5:00 PM and having the mental energy to be present with my kids changed everything.
Now that I have been on the corporate side for a few years, I look over a lot of transition resumes from teachers. The biggest issue I see right now is people dumping their teaching resume into ChatGPT and asking it to make them sound corporate. The output almost always hurts more than it helps.

ChatGPT tends to invent fake percentages (like "improved student proficiency by 32%"), fills every sentence with buzzwords like "spearheaded," "leveraged," and "orchestrated," and tries to make an educator sound like a senior executive instead of showing solid operational execution. When a hiring manager reads that, it gets tossed immediately.
Hiring managers for operations, project coordination, and entry-level analyst roles do not expect you to have run a company. They just want to see that you can manage schedules, maintain accurate data, follow compliance rules, and communicate with stakeholders.

For example, instead of writing "Taught 125 8th-grade students and graded assignments," and instead of letting AI turn it into "Spearheaded pedagogical initiatives to foster cohort synergy," you just describe the actual operational scale:

Coordinated daily program execution and curriculum logistics for a 125-student cohort across 5 daily blocks, ensuring 100% adherence to state compliance standards.

The same goes for compliance and recordkeeping. "Maintained gradebooks in PowerSchool and followed IEP accommodations" translates cleanly to:
Audited and maintained confidential progress records and accommodation plans for 18 special education files, adhering strictly to federal and state privacy protocols (FERPA).

If you are currently feeling stuck or wondering if your classroom experience has any value in the private sector, it really does. You are already managing logistics, data integrity, and compliance every single day. It is just a matter of translating what you actually did without hiding behind corporate jargon.
If you have a bullet point or responsibility on your resume that you are having trouble translating, leave a comment with what you did in the classroom and I will be happy to help you reword it.

I was contacted by an old acquaintance which had offered me a job with an opportunity for upper mobility within a year and much better benefits. This is my 9th year in education and the desire to move into something else has always been there. Unfortunately, the move will represent a 8k reduction in salary. However, there is availability for bonuses, tuition reimbursement and possible 401k matching. I feel bad doing this to my principal but deep inside I feel disappointed and burn out. Sometimes I feel that it doesn't matter how hard I work to help students there will never be better results but only from those that care because their parents care and they are invested in their education. Just the other day I asked a parent to please talk to her kid about doing a little more effort during class and she just rolled her eyes at me. I had been part of the industry before and I think I will do fine. What should I do?

I’m an elementary PE teacher and this is my 8th year of teaching. In Florida, elementary schools do not have gyms so classes are outdoors everyday in the heat. this makes it very challenging and honestly extremely exhausting and stressful, (not to mention increasing the risk of skin cancer). I’ve often considered switching careers but I have no idea where to even begin. I have a double major in PE and health however, I feel like most companies would see “PE“ and look right over me. anyone else in the same vote? or have any guidance or advice? TIA

Yes, it pays significantly less, but so far it has been an amazing experience for me.

For one thing, class sizes in my school are smaller. Some teachers have as few as 12 students.

Parents are responsive to emails. They care about the education of their child.

Kids will be kids, so they get talkative, but we don’t have any kids that are disrespectfully disruptive.

We have a few kids with accommodations, but no special students that are glaringly in the wrong educational setting altogether (nobody that belongs in Life Skills).

I work at a Catholic school so people there seem genuinely nice. Of course there are differences in personality, but you don’t have that extremely negative teammate that makes everything difficult.

I also get to go to church and listen to a beautiful children’s choir once a week.

We have fewer resources and our facilities are older, but our admin genuinely cares for the staff and does their best to help us as much as they can.

This is what imagined teaching would be when I first started out.

For my mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health, the pay cut was worth it.

I’m starting year 7. I’ve worked at multiple schools with great students and not so great students. I’m currently teaching at an Early College High School. It’s my second year here. The students are great. I have zero behavior issues. They do their work. The parents don’t bother me. The admin is great. The other teachers are great. The curriculum is great and I’ve had to do minimal planning. Despite all of this though, I still come home exhausted and completely drained, and I don’t understand why.

Is it the amount of classes? Is it the work hours? What is it about the act of standing in front of a classroom lecturing or facilitating student learning that is so utterly exhausting? I used to think it was student behavior or bad admin or the workload of planning that would drain the life out of me, but even without those factors, I’m still left bulldozed by 4:30. It sucks because you’re left with zero energy to do anything after work, and I’m only 28 years old by the way. I tried going to the gym today and had to lighten the load on every exercise because I just didn’t have the energy to lift as heavy as I did over the summer. There goes any progress I had made over break, and it’s all thanks to my job.

Maybe I’m just not passionate about this job. I’ve been teaching since I was 21, and maybe I’m wasting the prime years of my life on this profession. Maybe the way society is set up on how we live our lives isn’t sustainable. I’m probably going too deep there, but I don’t know. I thought I was okay with teaching now because my current campus is so great, but 3 days in and my thoughts of leaving teaching are slowly seeping back in.

Genuine question for people a few years out. Not the ones who just left, the ones who have had time to see how it shook out.

I retired after a long run and picked up tutoring, which I mostly enjoy. But I watched a lot of colleagues leave midcareer for corporate training, instructional design, ed tech, whatever the path was, and a fair number of them hit the same wall inside two years. Different job title, same pattern. Overcommitting, undercharging, taking work home, unable to say no when someone needed something.

My read is that burnout for a lot of teachers isn't really about the classroom. It's about a personality type that was selected for and then reinforced over decades. You take that into any helpingadjacent role and you reproduce the conditions pretty fast.

The people I know who actually got out clean did something structurally different. Not just a new job, but a different relationship to the work entirely. Fewer of those success stories than you'd think.

Curious what it actually looked like for people two or three years postexit. Not the honeymoon period, the part after. Did the burnout follow you or not, and what do you think made the difference.

I left teaching after three years. I have legitimate trauma and flashbacks that I am working on in therapy. However, I can't just not have an income even with my savings.

I am on medications, in therapy, workout, all of that stuff. But none of it is helping. I can't even get a break from work, it was immediately into job hunting. I am so grateful I've had five interveiws in the past week but those are also exhausting. I am just ready to hide in a hole in some remote island and never come back.

I just want to breathe and frankly, I don't know how after teaching. Any advice is appreciated.

Edit: my spouse makes enough to cover rent and groceries but I also have loans to pay off and stuff so I can't just go zero income

I have been out of the classroom full-time for about 2 years now and am working in higher education as an instructional designer. I was talking to a work colleague about the absolute meatgrinder that was the middle school I worked at for 3 years and I was accused of using "deficit language" and she claimed that she could make Title I middle schoolers with a non-supportive admin team and no discipline support perform at a high level just through compassion alone. I really hate how people who only know academic theory think how they know better than teachers who have lived through the hell that some schools are. When you vent about your experiences working in these places, you get gaslighted like you're a bad person for feeling angry about how you were treated. If she were to apply her teaching and learning strategies where I worked, these kids would have eaten her alive.

For those of you who have resigned after only a few weeks at a new school, how did you do it? Did you give two weeks? Or did you just tell the principal you were leaving after the day ends? This is my second week at the school and I am not able to handle it. There’s no contract, my school is at-will employment.

Has anyone switched from brick and mortar public school switched to a public cyber charter?

For teachers in PA, I'm specifically wondering about CCA (Commonwealth Charter Academy).

If you switched, did you like it and why? Any advice or insight would be great.

I teach middle school ELA btw.

Hi,

I really don't need judgment right now; I've done plenty of it. I am a 27F. I was a teacher 3 years ago, but I developed (what I now know) post-traumatic stress from it, from the personal events in my life that occurred along with my classroom experience.

I've been in and out since then, working primarily with kids, but desperately needed insurance, so I applied to be a teacher again and got in fairly quickly.

School started August 6, and I fell deeply into an unhappy emotional state. Super depressed, could not get out of bed, and have been gone for about a week and a half since then. I am an ELD teacher and need to test my students for placement. I was ill and couldn't finish my training or planning.

Admin emailed me today (8/18) asking if I can come in tomorrow and, if not, to give a timeline of when I'll be back or if I want to continue in the role.

I feel somewhat okay now, but I'm not sure if it is truly worth it anymore. But I also need the financial stability, and the job market sucks, so I don't know what to do.

Edit: I know the answer is within but can someone tell me how it would be quitting mid year?

I resigned from great paying role after being burned out and now tutor a few hours a day and am making 5k. Huge pay cut but only working a few hours week days isn’t bad!

I’m a second year teacher and we’re currently in our staff work week before students come back. I genuinely thought I could come back and make it through another year, but after the last couple of days I’m seriously questioning whether I can do this.

Last year was really difficult for me and I ended the year extremely burnt out. I was moved to a different grade for this year because of staffing/budget reasons, and while I agreed to it at the time, looking back I think I should have been more honest with myself that it wasn’t what I wanted.

I worked at a restaurant/bar over the summer and honestly loved it. I could go to work, do my job, have fun with my coworkers, and then go home and not think about work anymore. As getting back to school got closer, though, my anxiety got progressively worse. It got bad enough that I restarted an anxiety medication I had been trying to taper off of.

Now I’m actually back at school and it’s worse than I expected. I’ve been nauseous, shaky, crying, feeling like I can barely breathe, and just completely overwhelmed. The kids aren’t even here yet. We’ve also had several conversations during meetings about how teaching is basically a job where you’re never really “off the clock,” plus committees, events, data collection, etc., and all I can think is that I don’t know if I can live like that for another year.

I feel incredibly guilty about leaving. My family literally spent hours helping me set up my classroom this weekend. People have bought things for my classroom. Coworkers/admin have advocated for me and helped me. I know leaving right before school starts would put the school in a horrible position, and that guilt is probably the biggest thing keeping me here.
At the same time, I don’t think staying solely because I feel guilty is fair to my students either. I want them to have a teacher who can actually be present and give them what they deserve, and right now I feel like I’m barely functioning just trying to be in the building.
I do have another career plan. I’m completing prerequisites for an MRI technologist program and may be able to apply for a January start. If I leave teaching, my plan would be to work at my summer job as much as possible and get another job to make up the rest of my income while I finish my prerequisites. So I wouldn’t be quitting with absolutely no direction, but I would be giving up my salary/benefits and taking a risk.

I’ve reached out to my doctor and a counseling center because I know the level of anxiety I’m experiencing needs to be addressed regardless of what I decide.
I guess I’m looking for advice from people who have been here. If you felt this strongly before students even arrived, did it get better once the year actually started? If you resigned right before or early in the school year, do you regret it? And at what point do you accept that pushing through isn’t necessarily the best choice?

I don’t want people to just tell me what I want to hear. I genuinely don’t know whether I need to give it more time or listen to what my body is telling me and step away.

I started at a new school this year & it is literally my own personal hell. I don’t want to be unprofessional but I have hated every single second of working there. I used to love teaching but this is nothing like what I’m used to.

I told my principal on Friday that I think this is a bad fit & I’m not who they want for this role. I was given the run around for an hour(!) and then was basically told in a nice way “you can’t quit, we’d be screwed, and you kinda promised us you’d work here this year”.

I dread going in every day, I don’t like the students, they don’t like me, I spend all day irritated and angry. What do I do? Suck it up? Be honest with them? I don’t want to jeopardize my professional future but I can’t do this

Hey everybody.

I'm not going to go into too much story building to share my story, but here we go:

Due to budget issues, many programs that "my" kids have come to rely upon to get them through a school day have been otherwise cut, restructured, or put on hold until further notice. One of those programs happened to be my elementary level performing arts program (due to position consolidation for retirement)....one that I spent 1/4 of my life building from the ground floor up, and one that has won state level awards. I was given this news in March of this past school year.

Something broke in me. Knowing the amount of time, labor, sweat, blood, late nights, and extra unpaid hours went into building this program, I lost it. I was told "at least you're still employed" and that further fueled the fire to get out. I ended the year on a high note by putting on the best, most ambitious concert that my kids have ever performed.

I spent the past 8 months looking for a position (outside of teaching) that would allow me to get my head back on straight and to reevaluate myself. Well, that happened this past week. I put in my 30 day notice today.

I accepted a position at a local assisted living facility (not a nursing home....a ritzy, private, pay-per-week place) as their activities director; something that I am very excited about. Yes, it was a pay cut, but only slightly, and the benies aren't as good, but I consider it blood money to get my sanity back. Old folks need artistic enrichment too, and it's a much easier pace.

I am going to sorely miss my kids and my colleagues. For a long time (too long, perhaps), I built my life around them and their achievements, while forgetting what was really important to me: creative freedom and family. I lost myself in the teaching (something that I warn new teachers about all the time), while forgetting what I was really aiming to do.

I am so fucking nervous about everything, but I know that, in the end, it will work out.

If you are struggling, it's never too late to walk away. You will find something that suits you, and maybe even fill your cup at the same time.

For now, I'm going to try to enjoy the rest of my summer vacation and try not to think about what has happened to my career. It will take a while, but I'll get there.

Thanks for reading.

-Spooky1984

To my ADHD/Autistic teachers- how are you guys able to keep doing this job? I just started year 6 and am very close to not being unable to function as a human. My home is a mess, I’m barely forcing myself to shower bc my executive functioning is in the shitter, I cry almost every morning bc I’m at a breaking point and when I get home I break down bc I’m simply not ok. I’m in the process of seeing a therapist, but I need a new career and am unsure how I’m going to achieve that when I’m already in active burnout. My brain loves the active stimulation that comes with the actual day of teaching kids and being busy, but I absolutely hate the extra stuff and not having a work/life balance. No matter how hard I try, something suffers and it’s usually my health/home life bc I feel an immense amount of pressure to be a good teacher. Luckily I’m single with no kids, but I cannot keep living like this. I’m on the verge of a huge mental breakdown.

Editing to say that I think I’ve realized that maybe for a lot of neurodivergent teachers, teaching is their special interest so it might make the stress more bearable. For me, although I enjoy parts of teaching, it’s definitely not my special interest and I’m not overly passionate about it, so I think that adds another layer of dislike for me and has lead me to the burnout that I’m experiencing. This isn’t to say that passionate teachers don’t burn out. I’m just saying that being neurodivergent and having teaching as your special interest may make things more manageable in a way.

I have a B.A. in Elementary Education and a M.A. in Communication Business Leadership. I have been working in Recruiting and HR for the past 4 years. I am currently an HR/P&C Generalist making about 90k working fully remote. I do enjoy my job but I do truly miss education. I miss working with children and just the atmosphere of a school.

What are some jobs I can transition to that will make good money long term?
Preferably in Charlotte, NC and doesn’t have to be remote.

Today I was back to school after 2 years of absence (1 1/2 for burn out and the last six months I had a desk job not related to education).

I was a a french and history high school teacher (in a country that speaks french). I love to teach but I don't like the disciplinary aspect of it. I don't like to deal with unmotivated students, even if I understand so much why they're not invested (I was not myself so...).

The four first years were hellish. I would end up crying more often than not and get a bunch of anxiety symptoms (rumination, insomnia, etc.). I left the job three times for burn out.

At first I was so sure the problem was my anxiety. So I've begun therapy (currently in) and it helped, a lot.

The last job I had, I had 0 anxiety even if I found the job so boring. But with my anxiety gone, I wanted to try teaching again. Because I like teaching (to motivated students only apparently)

Fast forward to today: almost no anxiety (a normal amount for the first day I would say) but man...I think I really don't like to deal with unmotivated kids. But, at the same time, I think the school system isn't at all suited to the majority of students.

I think I just couldn't admit that, in fact, I don't like that aspect of teaching. Ever since I was little, I've said I want to be a teacher. And my mom pushed me so hard in that direction that it became part of who I am. Plus, I know I do a great job with the students. But I just don't like it.

I feel so scared right now. On top of that, I have ADHD, I'm gifted and have an affection of the connective tissues that causes chronic tiredness (all of three diagnosed, maybe there is more? I'm 31, I have plenty of time to find out) so I'm scared to never find something where I fit.

Do you have any advice?