Work and Career Changer

sounds kinda like me! I went to school for 10 years (PT) to be a k-6 teacher and after student teaching I knew it was not for me...love the kids hate the politics of it all (long story short). I am now a SAHM and dreading going back to work, even though it wont be for a long time. there are many things you can do that si related to that.....what did you like about teaching? telling me that will help: I liked the kids, teaching, helping stuff like that so I was a parent educator for a while pre baby and I ran childrens groups too so I was in touch w/ the kids. if you dont know what that is then you can email me and I can explain a bit more. maybe you can be an educational consultant for child care centers? teach in a univer.? teach people how to be teachers? these are things I have thought about. good luck! dont do something you hate, life it toooooo short!!!

The year after college, I did my student teaching year and decided that year was enough to last me a lifetime.

I ended up getting a job through a headhunter - as an executive assistant to a VP in a construction company. I found that I loved construction! I loved reading plans, talking with the estimators, doing job walks, visiting the site during construction... I even loved negotiating with the subcontractors after the job and then finalizing all the costs and paperwork. I talked to as many people as I could to learn more about the industry and how to do different aspects of the business. My boss and others noticed and I was promoted into positions with more and more responsibility. It was just happenstance that I fell into a career that I love and have been able to make it my own over the years.

If you think you may want to try a different career, you could try either an internship (if you have an idea of a career you might like), or try being a temp. That way you can get an idea of what you're jumping into before you have to commit to it. Just a thought!

Good luck and don't be afraid to try something new if that's what you want.

But there are so very MANY different kind of teachers! Can you try to use your degree in a completely different area, like from grade school to high school, or vice versa, or go back to school and work on a doctorate for teaching at the college level? Or for special ed?

LOL... you've got the "devil you know" syndrome going on.

Let me put it this way: You know you don't like x, so rather than try y ... because you also might not like it... you'll stick with x because you already know you don't like it?

It's better (IMO) to try 5 things you don't like, to get to the 6th that you DO like... than to just stay with "yuck" because it's familiar.

I taught for 4 years, and in hindsight I wish I had taken a pay cut and switched school systems, but I stayed where I was and got really burned out! I left teaching 12 years ago, and while there's a lot that I miss about it, I have to say -I've gotten paid much more for less work and a lot more respect elsewhere! You never can know for certain what other careers you'll enjoy, but I kind of fell into technical writing. I did that for years and then moved into product marketing. After taking 4 years off to have my children and be home with them a bit, I'm back as both a tech writer AND a marketing director for a company! I'm over the tech writing, but it's exciting to get into marketing and what I've felt called to do for awhile. Without knowing what your teaching field is, I don't know what else to tell you -but try! You don't have to stay in one thing forever. You can change if you don't like it! I taught high school English, so the tech writing and marketing writing wasn't that much of a stretch.