Burned Out Teacher Looking to Switch Careers

[chris m.]

Do you have a degree in physical education? Do you have training in kinesiology and functional movement?

I can think of several job opportunities that are booming and pay well. You could do more than one with your resume.

1) Phys ed trainer at an assisted living facility.
2) Personal trainer.
3) Assistant PT

Basically adults of all ages need your help maintaining their bodies, improving their sports performance, etc. They will listen, be respectful, interesting, and will pay you well.

Also as a vet you may qualify for priority in hiring for federal government jobs. I could see you landing a great job with benefits working as an injury rehabilitation trainer at a VA hospital, for example.

Do the guitar repair strictly as a side hustle/interesting hobby. I’m constantly fixing my neighbors’ bicycles and helping guitarists with setup stuff. I typically just charge for any parts and tell them to pay it forward.

 

[Lowspeid]

Do you have a degree in physical education? Do you have training in kinesiology and functional movement?

I can think of several job opportunities that are booming and pay well. You could do more than one with your resume.

1) Phys ed trainer at an assisted living facility.
2) Personal trainer.
3) Assistant PT

Basically adults of all ages need your help maintaining their bodies, improving their sports performance, etc. They will listen, be respectful, interesting, and will pay you well.

Also as a vet you may qualify for priority in hiring for federal government jobs. I could see you landing a great job with benefits working as an injury rehabilitation trainer at a VA hospital, for example.

Do the guitar repair strictly as a side hustle/interesting hobby. I’m constantly fixing my neighbors’ bicycles and helping guitarists with setup stuff. I typically just charge for any parts and tell them to pay it forward.

My undergrad is a BS in ExSci, M.Ed in PE/Health.

I owned my own training company before going back to grad school. It’s what spurred me to make the move to public education. Adults with enough money to pay for a personal trainer are even more entitled than current middle school kids (yup. They’re that bad). They don’t pay on time, don’t work hard, don’t do any of the things you teach them, then blame you for their lack of progress (sounds like my guitar teacher’s gripes about me). I couldn’t take it any more. And having a wife and 2 small kids to provide for I needed (and still need) something more stable.

Based on some advice from this thread I am currently looking at higher ed positions, and just finished a second interview for an academic advisor position with my Alma mater on Friday. Hopefully I’ll know tomorrow if I’ll be getting a 3rd (and final) interview.

I think the advice I’ve gotten to do set-up work on the side is great advice. I need a slower-paced/less crazy job for sure, but I personally do need a “paycheck job”. Set-up work is cathartic, and it allows me to use the other-other side of my brain.

I am looking at federal jobs as well, if the advisor position doesn’t work out (and might still look there even if it does).

 

[RoscoeElegante]

Thank you for you kind words, RoscoeElegante. Yeah, my first teaching gig was as an adjunct faculty college teacher. I taught through grad school and stayed on at the same university teaching composition classes and sophomore lit surveys. I picked up more classes at a nearby junior college too just so I could visit the grocery store now and then. The pay was deplorable—hellaciously so—and I often kick myself for not going on to a PhD program and becoming a fancypants English professor, but oh well. That ship sailed long ago. I actually thought the kids were disrespectful back then! Man, I had no idea!! I do nowadays take pride though when a kid starts arguing with me and refers to, say, a Shakespeare character’s actions as a justification for his/her feelings or behavior. You learn to see your successes amid the f-bombs, rare though they are.

I hear ya again! Very apt and well-said. The college English field sure needed/needs your skills and focus. But it's a sore mess that you're lucky to have stepped away from. You ain't missin' nothing but headaches. At least as a social worker you can tell yourself, "I did real good today," and know that you aren't just coaching yourself through the trudge. Even the kids who spite your good will today may someday reach back to that, knowing that they were and are cared about....

 

[HootOwlDude]

I hear ya again! Very apt and well-said. The college English field sure needed/needs your skills and focus. But it's a sore mess that you're lucky to have stepped away from. You ain't missin' nothing but headaches. At least as a social worker you can tell yourself, "I did real good today," and know that you aren't just coaching yourself through the trudge. Even the kids who spite your good will today may some day reach back to that, knowing that they were and are cared about....

Thanks for the supportive words, man. Appreciate what you do too! I do find fulfillment to a degree in my job, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't drop it for a second for something less draining that offered an extra 10 to 20K annually to boot. If there is anything I am more than tired, it's broke!

 

[Southpaw Tele]

Checking back in to this thread. My former student teacher just quit after her 7th year. It was that bad. We also lost a lot of good teachers at our site and are scrambling to find replacements. Our district does not know how to keep good ones and they tenure awful ones a lot of the time.

 

[Southpaw Tele]

This song is more relevant than ever.

 

[OmegaWoods]

@Lowspeid

If you're considering federal work, take a look at TVA.gov and see if any of those jobs might be a good fit for you. If you don't mind the move south, it's a great place to work.

 

[zimbo]

Teachers where I live get assaulted daily by their students. Mostly trying to break up fights. The regular news doesn't even report it anymore. Kids have sex in the bathroom and do drugs in the stairway.

 

[FatKnife]

It’s obvious that you do care. You have made a difference for many of the kids you’ve taught.
You’re also coming from a different place than many teachers. Taking care of your well-being going forward is definitely the right way to go.

 

[Lowspeid]

I did it. I quit.

BUT I’m moving to a position as an academic advisor at my alma mater (any U Idaho Vandals around here?). I’m still going to be teaching, just in a different capacity and environment. It’s less money, but it’ll be enough. I’m moving back to the community my wife and kids (and I) absolutely love and feel “at home” in, and going to work for an organization that has been very good to me (as student and staff). I don’t know that I’ll be an academic advisor the rest of my career, but I’m really hoping I’ll be at UI until I retire.

I figure I’ll do set-up work on the side for friends, and try to market my services to students in the music department (the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival is OUTSTANDING). That should more than “scratch the itch” for guitar-related work.

I REALLY appreciate all the GREAT advice and encouragement I’ve received, and I’ve LOVED following the discussion that’s developed on this thread. TDPRI is proving once again how special a community we are. Thank you guys.

 

[Skyhook]

So, what do you think? Do I need to go to school for this? find an apprenticeship? (or just keep teaching until the wheels fall off)?

> Do I need to go to school for this? find an apprenticeship?

There probably are luthier schools, but if you recognize crappy work by "pros" and are able to fix
guitars up better yourself I wouldn't say you need a school. Just practice. You know... fake it 'til you make it.
Personally at least, I've never ever asked to see a luthier's/tech's diploma before dropping off a guitar there.

> (or just keep teaching until the wheels fall off)?

If you can make a living doing something you actually want to do, I'd say you don't need to be asking this.

 

[OmegaWoods]

I did it. I quit.

BUT I’m moving to a position as an academic advisor at my alma mater (any U Idaho Vandals around here?). I’m still going to be teaching, just in a different capacity and environment. It’s less money, but it’ll be enough. I’m moving back to the community my wife and kids (and I) absolutely love and feel “at home” in, and going to work for an organization that has been very good to me (as student and staff). I don’t know that I’ll be an academic advisor the rest of my career, but I’m really hoping I’ll be at UI until I retire.

I figure I’ll do set-up work on the side for friends, and try to market my services to students in the music department (the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival is OUTSTANDING). That should more than “scratch the itch” for guitar-related work.

I REALLY appreciate all the GREAT advice and encouragement I’ve received, and I’ve LOVED following the discussion that’s developed on this thread. TDPRI is proving once again how special a community we are. Thank you guys.

Congrats!! I think that's wonderful news!

 

[stormsedge]

or just keep teaching until the wheels fall off)?

One probably should not remain somewhere or in a profession "until the wheels fall off". But, there may be better teaching opportunities/conditions elsewhere...I know they are hiring around here, sans ocean breezes. Another teaching alternative as a change of pace is in DoD schools...maybe something overseas?

 

[Wheelhouse]

Congrats, Lowspeid. This sounds like a great move for you.

 

[FatKnife]

Being in a place and community that you love is such a huge win for you and your family.

 

[RCinMempho]

Sounds like a great step! Good luck!