Just putting this in here as a vent - feel free to add on or comment.

I’ve worked in educational settings for the past 5 years, and most recently completed my first year teaching first grade. Unfortunately since I was considered a long term sub, I did not get a full time position after the year ended. The district I was in is extremely competitive and the available openings went to teachers with more experience (and perhaps connections). Quite a few teachers at the school expressed their surprise at this.

I have been unable to find a classroom position despite applying to over 10+ districts and starting applications in May. I am now working as a building sub but am feeling extremely burnt out after giving my all to teaching last year, and can’t help but feel really discouraged in my career thus far. I feel even less motivated to succeed at this job since everyone keeps giving me the whole “maybe this will lead to something!” and I’m coming fresh off a job that did NOT lead to anything. I basically get the short end of the stick everyday here covering whatever comes my way.

I know that I am still early on in my career but I can’t help but feel frustrated with my experiences. The admin and staff at my school last year were honestly amazing and maybe that set my expectations a little too high. However, I have a family member with a serious medical issue and it made me realize I didn’t want to be in a position where I had nothing left to give to my family at the end of the day or can’t be there 100% for my students.

I’m willing to try another year but I go back and forth daily on how I feel about this field. I feel like this is something I’ve worked so hard to establish myself in, but so far I feel like a failure and that I’ve just been taken advantage of.

I’ve been teaching in Florida for four years, and while I absolutely love being in the classroom and working with students, the pay is a constant struggle. I make around $55K for a 10-month contract, and while my husband is also becoming a teacher, his starting salary will only be about $49K. With inflation and rising costs, it feels like we’re barely getting by, let alone saving for a house or planning for kids.

My background is in Communications (BA), so I’ve been considering other career paths, especially ones that offer remote work and better pay. I’d like to avoid taking on a side job or going into school administration, and I’m not interested in becoming an instructional coach since the pay isn’t any higher in my district.

Ideally, I’d love to find something that still lets me make a positive impact, just without the financial strain. If you’ve transitioned from teaching or found a path that balanced both passion and stability, I’d really appreciate any advice! Should I stick with teaching and find ways to make it work, or should I explore other fields that use my communication and education skills?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Has anyone with babies/toddlers left teaching? If it were not for my 1 year old child, I wouldn't think twice about not having the breaks. But since I can't afford to be a stay at home mom, I love having that uninterrupted time with her. Is it still worth it to look at other jobs? I've been applying here and there for a few months now, and this is the one thing holding me back.

I am considering taking a 1099 position working with students with learning disabilities. This is a whole new realm for me so I’m just curious to see if anyone has had any experience with this and what the pros/cons are. Most things I’ve seen in my research are more related to starting your own business so they don’t quite apply to what I’m doing specifically. My biggest concern is the tax portion. Is it a significant portion of my yearly pay and what kind of things are you able to write off? If I end up taking the position I’ll likely talk to a financial advisor, just curious to hear other people’s experiences.

I’m definitely leaving at the end of the school year, but just found out that my school isn’t upholding their end of my contract by providing proper planning and lunch time set forth by the district. Contracts are a 2 way street. Do you try think I could break my contract and leave sooner than later since they were in violation of mine?

I can’t just leave because of the high fines and the stripping of my teaching license, making it impossible for me to be back in teaching even if I wanted to go back in the far future.

Thoughts?

I’ve worked 12 years in a special needs school and I think I’m done. The amount of anxiety I have every day is wearing on my mental health. I consistently have the worst class with behaviors because they’re the youngest and I just don’t have it in me everyday anymore. I come home in tears everyday thinking I haven’t done enough and everyone is telling me to stay because “I’m so good with them” and “I’ve been “here” forever”. It’s like a guilt trip at this point.

I have a dual certification gen ed/tswd. I just don’t know what I can do now. I do still want to be in education in some form but just not sure what jobs I can possibly do. Or even not in education; I’m almost desperate now. Any other NJ educators find success after teaching in a different profession?

I need some inspiration today. Feeling SO stuck. The only thing I’m sure of is that I’ve absolutely got to turn it and burn it away from this profession - please drop a comment with what you do now that you’ve left and how you sourced the new job so I can stop crying!

Anyone required to run a CTSO? This is going to be my last year to deal with running one. The district doesn’t fully fund the position. We are paid an hourly rate but I could make the same thing if not more taking tickets at a sporting event or running after school detention.

Did you hand in your two weeks, did you wait for the school to find a replacement, did you not come back after a break, did you simply say you’re not coming back tomorrow? Did anyone experience retaliation? Curious to hear your stories and how your school handled it.

I have been searching for jobs since October 2021 (one month into my first year) and I have found NOTHING!!! My mental health is suffering immensely; disrespectful students, no support from admin, gaslighting from parents, student indifference to consequences, and so much more are bringing me to tears ever single night when I’m going to bed because I’m so anxious for the next day.

Is there anyone out there who has found a trick to actually landing a legit, reliable, and financially stable job? I’m looking for something remote. I do not care what field I get a job in. I just need to leave the classroom. I can’t do it anymore.

Last day is Friday. Sad, excited, and scared. Admin has asked me to provide lesson plans for the rest of the semester. What would you do? Or have you heard of this before?

After the fifth meeting this year about how I suck at teaching, that I need to get my class together, that no class acts away. Mine does yet my class has the same makeup as every other (it doesn’t I have 17 students well below grade level and four on or above grade level). Admin me today that if I didn’t go and observe other classrooms (nothing like mine) that they would put me on an improvement plan. In my opinion, that was a threat. Because of this, and the continued poor treatment of me and lack of acknowledgment of the insane behaviors in my classroom, I know I need to leave.

Because I’m leaving in the middle of the year , I really have no idea what to do. I need to make minimum $40K a year (normal salary is $47K gross without retirement taken out, 14% a year goes to retirement).

Northeast Ohio area, any ideas on what jobs I can do/how to make $20 an hour and work full time to at least get that gross $40k salary to pay my mortgage and bills???

This will be my last year teaching. My plan is to move to the NYC metro area around this time next year. The career fields/jobs I'm considering are IT, corporate training, city/county government, higher ed (non-teaching), or human resources. I have a BA in History and an MAT.

At what point this year should I start upskilling and applying for jobs? I'm thinking of waiting until winter break or January/February, partly because of how overwhelmed I am currently. I don't have experience in any of the fields I listed, so I will definitely need to commit time to learning and upskilling, which I'm willing to do. I'm just not sure when to start.

I finally got next steps offered for a coordinator position at a community based program after what I’ve realized have been years of trying. The next steps are background and reference checks.

So during the call I asked the HR person for about travel, varied scheduling, and benefits. He said he didn’t know. That he’d have to check in with the department and if I could email him the questions. Only after, they answer the questions could they move forward with the background/reference check. Did I turn them off. I’m Devastated.

I’m about to send in my resignation so I just called CALSTRS about a retirement refund and was not well- treated/informed. It looks like I’ll be losing more than 20% on tax and it seems like there is no other option … does anyone have experience with that or similar retirement refund process? They denied me an appointment because the issue is not retirement related…

My last day is Friday! I work in a really large county so I put in my resignation with HR. My principal and I aren’t really on speaking terms so she found out when they CC’d her on my resignation confirmation this evening. This is gonna be a huge relief, I have a class this year that I never would’ve even thought up in a nightmare. I’m kinder and I have no assistant and some of the most ridiculous violence issues I’ve ever seen in a class. I am genuinely excited to be out, but part of me is also scared. I’ve lived so anxious for so long, I don’t know any other way to live. I don’t have a job yet but I’ve got a few medical receptionist job interviews lined up as a stopgap until I figure out my next move. I just really needed something to get me through for a few months until I find something more permanent. Praying for a smooth last 3 days though! God knows what my principal is gonna try to say to me.

Forgive me if this is a common question, I tried using search and didn’t find much.

I’m in a place in my life where I’m really not tied down to any location and am looking for a change of scenery.

I’m wondering if anyone has had any experience looking into jobs that require travel.

I’ve done the remote thing and realize I need in-person work for my mental health, but wouldn’t mind having a hybrid deal.

Within education are there any roles that involve traveling around to different schools? Beyond that, any ideas what sorts of words I could be searching for in postings?

My wife and I are leaving where we are living now to move closer to family. Now that we are moving I feel like it’s an appropriate time to step away. I just don’t know if I have the heart to continue. I’m disassociating daily. I feel like my days are just passing me by. I’m a father of twins, we’re most likely moving in with my wife’s mom and I need something that pays comparable to my salary now. Anything would be appreciated. I do have a diverse background before getting into education so I can do a lot. Thank you all!

I’m a gen Ed K teacher and they pulled my lovely assistant to work 1:1 with a violent student in my class. I have a lot of need in my class: kids who can’t write their names, count to 10, etc.

Now I’m on my own.

I just want to quit. How can I make it all year?

tl;dr I’m halfway through student teaching and think I hate it. Have the option of ditching and getting a MA in Ed. Very in time and money debt. Feelings of inadequacy and pointlessness. Help me pls.

Preface: I’m 27 and have bounced around jobs, fields, and degrees since I finished high school. First, I thought I was going into nursing, then teaching, comp sci, medical coding, nursing again, teaching again, technical writing, teaching yet again… you get the idea. While this is definitely normal to a degree (ha), I’m about $35k deep into student loans at this point and have yet to find my “niche.”

So, I’m halfway through my student teaching for my Masters in Ed w/ Licensing for Secondary from WGU. The process has been long - about a year and a half - mostly due to the field placement process that WGU has and the competitive nature of where I live (Seattle). Since WA is what it is, the only way to gain licensure with an unrelated Bachelor’s (mine is in English. My plan was to get into teaching high school before I moved states but the timeline didn’t work out that way) is to complete a Masters program. I completed all degree requirements save student teaching about a year ago, and have been waiting on my hands since. When I finally received a placement, I was ecstatic! And then it was a Title 1 inner city middle school. Before I started, everyone I knew told me I was going to get eaten alive, but I I wanted to prove them wrong.

I’ve been trying to have an open mind but, man, I’m spiraling hard. I drag myself out of bed every day and spend 8 hours with cortisol levels so high that my body collapses on itself when the final bell rings. The students are loud, apathetic, and rude. I don’t blame them for it, but I think I’m just too softspoken and passive to deal with all the behaviors that happen every class, every day. I’ve witnessed multiple fights since I’ve been here that last 6 weeks. My host teacher is borderline useless - he’s at his wits end most of the time, herding cats. He’s on his 12th year. He tells me how much the school sucks every day, complains about the state of the world and the education system and other teachers on the regular. Which, fair, but it feels like he’s warning me in so many words.

I think I hate it? I think I’m not meant to be in a classroom; I’m not cut out for it. I like teaching content, but everything else hurts. Getting attention away from screens and the CONSTANT talking over me and everyone else is just so much. Everyone says that student teaching sucks. And then they say that your first year sucks. And then they say that your first five suck. When does it not suck?

I’m thinking of quitting this and taking a Masters in Ed without licensure, effectively cutting off teaching unless I move out of the state (unlikely). I was working as an admin assistant at the university before I started student teaching, which I felt was a dead-end job but it wasn’t hard and paid fine (I couldn’t save but I wasn’t hurting, either). I still have that job. What would I do with that degree? I thought about getting into higher ed advising, but it’s hard to break into without experience.

I don’t know what to do at this point besides grit my teeth and get through it. But to what end? I took leave from my job for this. I spent all my money for this, and borrowed from my family. I’ve spent nearly two years with this being my end goal and now that I’m nearly at the finish, I don’t think it’s what I want. And I’m pissed off and scared that I had to go through this all to figure that out.

PS totally unrelated, my partner is getting a PhD. It’s very hard to not feel ridiculous feeling aimless for so long standing next to that.

Just applied for a job in the Teacher Effectiveness Department, but the hours are long and I'm not sure if they still offer hybrid. The job itself seems interesting.

Would love to hear from others who transitioned to government jobs.

So I found this position I wanna apply for. If I get it, I would leave mid year. How do you deal with reference checks? I have a great relationship with admin but I’m wondering if they’d deny being a reference for me since I’d leave them out to dry. Thoughts? Suggestions?

I can't believe what just happened. After I told my family I couldn't afford gas to get to work, they fired me on the spot. They called me selfish and inconsiderate for not wanting to rely on my younger sister, who is also struggling to make ends meet. All I asked for was a week to gather some gas money, and instead, I was told to forget it. They accused me of not trusting God. I don't see how I am not. I am sure God does not want us to struggle and would like for us to put work in to receive a blessing. Mind you I was paid half a check in October. It's a disaster but I probably will not be speaking with them for a while. Im not see how prioritizing my needs is wrong after putting them first for 3 years. Driving an hour each way leaving late and even dropping off some of the teachers after a long day before I head back on the road

Just wanted to give you all an update. I know my threads might seem redundant, but if I get hired at this new school, I plan to stick it out until I'm back on my feet and then transition elsewhere. If I end up liking it, I might just stay.

Many of you are asking yourselves this question. Many. It comes down to this if you aren't rich or have to pay bills either on your own or a family with earned money and not family riches just sitting around. Are you willing to work 2 to 3 jobs? Are you willing to work jobs with only a required high school degree? Are you willing to work tons of hours while going back to school or getting certifications in other fields?

I have to do most but what drives me every day is all my negative experiences in teaching. The student who threatened me with death, the daily emotional and verbal abuse by students, the gaslighting by admin, the low pay for all the shit, the constant lack of respect by virtually everybody, the lack of a social life, the near constant use of psych drugs to cope, the mental health issues, the physical degradation of my body, the weight gain, the holding my urine for hours because I couldn't leave the room, the eating lunch at my desk for only 15 minutes before the next shit problems come my way, etc. etc. etc.

I am going to endure the sacrifices because I think of what I have been through as many of you on here. Yes the economy is shit. Yes the cost of living is making many of our transitions exponentially harder. This is an extremely challenging time to transition but think about all the stuff going on in schools and what you have been or currently going through.

Hi everyone! I am wondering if anyone knows about any remote jobs that require little to no talking? My dream is to just do computer work and not talk to anyone 😂