Heaven Help me and my newest dilemma!
I am ending a year of respite away from the only career I have ever known up to this point in life: Teaching. I have taught all levels of grade school: from 3 year olds in day camps to seniors in high school. I have even taught other teachers a few courses or seminars.
Here's my dilemma - my savings and alternative re$ources are running low. I am in need of a new salaried position until my writing, motivational speaking/coaching career takes hold and prospers! Now, if I could simply go in teach the kids and go home - I would LOVE to return to teaching. But, I am dreading this need to return to:
1) BS administrators who don't leave u the heck alone! U hired me - let me do what I do - especially since I'm not paid the salary of an attorney or doctor to take on your ISSUES (most of which are personal)!
2) Parents who can't handle the one, two or three bad azz kids that they spawned - but gonna get up in MY face because they don't think I'm handling a classroom FULL the way they think I should!? BeeeeACH Puh-leeeeze! When your kids are flawless - THEN we can talk. Otherwise, STEP OFF!!
Now, don't get me wrong - my many years of teaching were not ENTIRELY & solely filled with the above two challenges - but those are the two reasons I'm dragging my feet on sending out my resume and making the necessary calls.
I could not have lasted in teaching as long as I did without the love and support of the few "soldiers" around me who cheered me on directly or through their own example! So, I must send out BIG Hugz to the many GREAT & supportive administrators, teachers, students and parents I've met in my years of teaching. My overall most supportive teaching environment was in DC at my alma mater. I swear if I could commute from DC to NYC I would hop back to that school in a Heart BEAT! In the years that I've taught in NYC I've met supportive and encouraging individuals, for which I'm so thankful. There was ONE overall supportive NYC school where I taught in an All-Boy environment for the first & only time. I'd return to them if a full-time position opened up. So, why am I "allowing" the bad to out-weigh the good? Well that leads to...
Another dilemma I'm having is - Do I have to go back to teaching simply because I need immediate income? What other positions can a teacher transfer her skills to? If u have suggestions please also leave a few leads.
Thanks in advance for any support and information you can offer.
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14 Comments:
Here is the largest lesson that life is teaching me lately: pursue your dreams by whatever means God allows; some blessings lie in old corners AND new yards. You still love the children. Your heart is still longing to give what you have for the generation behind you. You've learned how to deal with all the garbage--the residual feelings of dread at the thought of reliving any of that old fraud from administrators who didn't have a clue and parents who wanted ignorance to be their bliss are the only thing stacked against you. If teaching is what you do, do it. Since writing and motivating (which are nothing more than teaching new life concepts or perspectives) are your loves, practice on the kids. Practice on the teachers around you. Make it your house again. You aren't the green teacher you were years ago; you know the hustle and the pains and the blessings. I bet the blessings outweigh the rest...or you wouldn't consider this brief return to your career roots. It's just a stepping-stone on the path, luv...that's all.
Chase your dreams. You'll outrun your fears and cynicism. That's the second lesson I'm learning these days.
thanx...u sure u're not in the Motivational Speaking Biz, Bro Ced? ;-)
I'll pray for ya mate. ALL THE BEST!
And dun get disheartened by others...parents or not. Just follow ur passion...and if u know what ur doing is right, then nothing else matters.
Keshi.
Maybe you should consider substitute teaching, that's what I do (but I didn't go to college to be a teacher, I'm a psych major and this is a stepping stone for me). Anyway, you get the gratification of being with the kids but you don't have to deal with the Admin. too much. And once you've been in the system a while you get to build a relationship with the children. It can be really gratifying.
One of my friends, who is a teacher according to her degree, actually has never taught but has always worked with non-profit orginiztions such as the Boys and Girls Clubs and things of that nature. Maybe that could be a road for you to explore.
Best of luck! And I looove the nose ring :)
Keshi - thanx! I just needed to vent;-)...i generally pretty good at not letting the turkeys keep me down for too long!
Nina - thanx for dropping by & the nose ring compliment:-)...yea, i may ease back into the classroom via subbing...we'll see!
i think it's a matter of 'fit'...i've taught for several years and have had my share of nasty administrators and parents, never mind some students that have truly tested my limits...but this will be my fourth year in my current position and i love every single minute of it! it's a position i love (ESL), my students are soooo awesome, mostly supportive administrators who let me do what i do...a few teachers i could do without but i just stay away from them...
i know a lot of teachers who have gone to the corporate world as consultants...one instituted a very successful ESL program a local factory which hires a lot of immigrants...there are always educational companies who hire former teachers to promote their products to teachers and school districts...if i think of anything else, i'll let you know...
I am a professional who turned to teaching career by force. I never liked it in the beginning. But my employer blackmailed me in to accepting it. I had no choice.
Now, almost eight years after, if I am offered any other job for any reward...I wont take it.
I love my students(they are called trainees) though they are not children. I know there are difficulties too. I love to teach.
Cap ! would you believe me, if I tell you that I miss them on my vacations ?
If you love that job, whereever you go and wherever you work, you will be back, lady.
But I would like you to try another job, so that you be a better judge.
Li$a - i agree it's all about "fit" and since i moved here to nyc i haven't found my fit - but i continue to love this crazy city...everytime i am enticed by my alma mater to return the thought of living in DC again causes me distress...i just can't go back...not yet...i keep feeling there's something i have to complete or accomplish that is NOT in my home"town"...no matter how much i love the place!
Jac - i do LOVE interacting with my students. i watched many of them grow up LITERALLY and felt to some degree what I think it must be like for a parent who had to relinquish custody. I honestly think I DID know many of my students better than their parents...but then the child wasn't an extension of my own ego, so I had no attached "goals" and desires for the children except to help them grow into the best adults they could be.
That connection with the children and the intellectual interaction & stimulation with some colleagues & parents is what I miss. But, the power plays & politics that I experienced here in NYC "elite schools" has certainly "burned" me and is causing me hesitancy....so, I'm seeking alternative career paths...are u hiring?;-) i'd love to travel as i teach "trainees"...
work until you make a living writing.. nuff said.
Hey Cortney! thanx for that pearl of wisdom...i know...i know...gotta get back out there & make it HAPPEN:-)
Girl, do what you gotta do...i feel ya... and soon, very soon, this will not be a dilemna...you hear me!
I agree with mizrepresent (as well as the others). The key is not to block the Infinite with stress (I know, easier said than done). I've been exactly right where you are, and blessings have fallen into place out of nowhere to keep me on track.
Write out every day what you want to happen and don't settle for less...also talk to the Infinite every day about what you want, all day off and on if you have to. If you do these 2 things, you'll be amazed at the results. It sounds so simple, and it is-that's the crazy part, but most people wouldn't even try it, and that's why their situation doesn't change. Be blessed :-)
Sistah Miz - thanx for the luv & support! I continue to hold to God's unchanging hand...but sometimes my grip is a li'l loose;-).
Guuurrrrl, Sis I.W. - r U an inspirational speaker? i needed to "hear" what U wrote - THANK Ya! I do know that Simple is NOT Easy - but I "keep a-inchin' long lak a po' inch worm." (That's from Brother Sterling Brown, in case u didn't recognize it:-)
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