Episode 70: What I've Learned Since Leaving the Classroom

When my daughter was born, I was teaching kindergarten and first grade — by then I had been teaching for seven years. But after she came into my life, everything changed. I had been trying some things on the side curriculum development and consulting mainly, and I had this idea that I could maybe leave the classroom. But I wasn't convinced; there were many things that I loved about teaching, and I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to give it up.

But after my daughter was born, I didn’t want to leave her. I wanted to spend all my time with this tiny baby. The thought of leaving her to go to the classroom and teach a bunch of other kids was heartbreaking to me. So I found a way to replace my teaching income with a new job, but it was hard. I was so excited to have the chance to stay home with my daughter, but I was also really sad about leaving my school community. Still, doing so was the best thing I could’ve done for my future.

This week my daughter turns 12, which is CRAZY, but her birthday made me reflect on my journey outside of the classroom. Looking back, I realized I had five tips I wanted to share, so I focus on those in this episode.

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Read the transcript for this episode:

Welcome to educator forever, where we empower teachers to innovate education. Join us each week to hear stories of teachers expanding their impacts beyond the classroom and explore ways to reimagine teaching and learning.

On February 14 2012, my daughter was born and I became a mom for the first time. And really everything changed. I know people say that all the time about becoming a parent, but for me, this was true both becoming a parent and also personally. When my daughter was born, I was teaching kindergarten and first grade as I had been for the past seven years, and I had been trying some things on the side curriculum development and consulting mainly. And I really had this idea that I could maybe leave the classroom. But I wasn't convinced there were many things that I loved about teaching, and I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to give it up.

But when my daughter was born, I was faced with this tiny baby in front of me that I wanted to spend all my time with. And I really got overwhelmed by this desire of wanting to be able to work from home, wanting to be able to be there for my daughter as she grew up. And the thought of leaving her to go to the classroom and teach a bunch of other kids was heartbreaking to me. I know people do it all the time. But for me, it just seemed not like what I wanted to do.

So when I was on maternity leave, I knew that I need to make up my teaching income. There was no way that I could go less than that. Hopefully, I could make more than that. And I knew I wanted to stay home with my daughter. And I also knew I wanted to work in education, I wanted to further my career and further my impact, but didn't really know what I could do. So I started poring over job postings, and applying and hoping and wishing that I could make it work that I could like will into existence and opportunity that would come up that would allow me to leave the classroom. And I was able to make it work, I found a posting from a nonprofit called Teaching channel. And they were looking for an education consultant. So I applied and the first time I applied actually, they ended up saying they didn't have the budget to hire for that role. And it was heartbreaking. But then a couple of weeks later, they actually did have the budget, and they did hire me for that role. So that allowed me to leave the classroom.

That was fraught with emotions, like I was so excited to have the chance to stay home with my daughter. But I was also really sad about leaving my school community. I remember calling my principal and like feeling so distraught about quitting, even though I also simultaneously felt so excited about the next chapter. So I think really dispelling this idea that it's going to feel 100% one way or another, like when you make a decision, even if it's the right decision, transitions can feel really hard and complicated. So honoring all the feelings that come up.

But through the past 12 years-- it's crazy that my daughter will be 12 in just a couple of days -- I've learned so much from working flexibly beyond the classroom. So I thought I would share five things that I've learned from my journey beyond the classroom. The first thing that I learned was really that taking time away from the classroom and away from the school system allowed me to see the dysfunctional nature of being part of a school district. And really, by that I mean that teachers are not treated well. We know this. But really when you're in it, and being part of that overwhelmed day after day, it's kind of hard to even see that. But moving out of the classroom and really intentionally setting my life up at a different pace, I was able to see how dysfunctional the school system was, and how dysfunctional it is for teachers. And so really taking the time to heal from the effects of that system has been so meaningful for me, I feel like I'm still unpacking all the ways that I've internalized the job of being a teacher.

When I first left the classroom, everything felt so rushed. I was like, I have to make this work. I have to make this work. Here I go, here I go, here I go. And I also felt like I could really do it all because as a teacher we can, like we're expected to do all the things and always say yes. And so I had to unlearn that, I had to realize that I had boundaries of how much work I wanted to take on what I was okay saying no to all of these things that I wasn't able to do as a classroom teacher. So my first lesson was just that it takes time to heal from the effects of being part of a toxic school system.

My second lesson also has to do with time: it takes time to bring your dreams into fruition. Often we think we have an idea of what we want our lives to be like and we want it to be like it right now. And I totally get that. But it takes time to make a change and along the way from where you are and where you want to be. You're gonna learn a lot and you're going to try things that maybe aren't aligned to what you want to do. But that's all part of the journey. When I left the classroom, I had that 20 hour a week job, which fully took over my teaching salary. But I really didn't know how stable it was, I really wanted to be able to bring home some more income. And so I started doing other things on the side. And I took on some projects that weren't a great fit. And I took out someone that were just okay. It wasn't like everything was amazing from the beginning. But through that process, I learned, oh, I don't like this kind of project, or oh, this is exactly what I'm looking for. And I learned skills along the way to. So I would just really let go of the idea that it has to be your perfect dream right away. Because that's not how things happen, we make progress little by little, to get to where we want to go. So allow yourself the grace of embracing your journey and really that in-between, when you're dreaming up your next step but it hasn't fully happened. See it as a learning opportunity. See it as a precious space, so where you can really go forward and learn what you want to learn.

The third lesson I learned is that taking risks is key to getting what you want. And when you're going to do something new, it's going to feel scary. That's part of the process. I can't make that fear go away. But I can help you embrace taking risks as really how we learn. When I took those risks of applying for those first jobs, I felt terrified. When I took the risk of quitting my teaching job, I felt terrified. And in the past 12 years, all the time, I felt terrified. But it's also been amazing, you know, through that feeling terrified, I've been able to take risks, that allowed me to build educator forever to have a huge teacher, community and support teachers. That allowed me to create our educator forever agency and pitch gigantic projects and feel terrified while doing it. But so proud and excited after landing projects. And that's not to say that I landed all of the things I pitched, I definitely did it. So part of taking risks is getting okay with rejection, not having it be character defining, having it be just part of the process. You know, it really goes back to that second lesson that I shared about the journey. Like it really is about trying new things, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and really taking risks along the way. And I think it's so admirable, as grown ups to be out there trying new things, putting ourselves out there, really taking those risks. And so really celebrating that you're doing this, that this is what you can control, you can control, putting yourself out there, sharing your dreams, taking risks, and celebrate! I guarantee you that is cause for celebration.

The fourth thing that I learned was that there are so many ways that you can make an impact in education. I really just saw the tip of the iceberg when I first started out too. And now I realized over the past 12 years that there are so many roles that we need teachers in, we need people who have education experience, to be creating curriculum, creating policy, consulting, coaching, we need people with a unique experience of being in the classroom. And I started off with this narrow idea of what it meant to be a teacher. And I feel like it's continually expanding that I see teachers in so many roles thriving, and really being education experts. So really opening yourself up to possibilities that the role of an educator is ever expanding. And there are infinite numbers of ways that you can use your skills.

And the last lesson that I'd like to share from moving beyond the classroom is that it's so important to have a supportive community to cheer you on and be part of your journey. I really didn't have this at the beginning, I didn't have a model for people working beyond the classroom. I didn't have a model for people working at home with a baby. And so really building that community helps you to see the possibilities and helps you to learn from people who've done the things you want to do. This kind of naturally happened for me as I started working at teaching channel and education.com and Edutopia and making connections with people who used to be former classroom teachers and had done all these interesting things outside of the classroom. That became my community, seeing these different journeys and thinking hmm, maybe it'd be possible for me to maybe I want to do that to kind of retracing the steps of people who had done similar things. And creating that community is really what's gonna propel you forward. Because as I said before it is a journey to get from where you are to where you want to be. But it's so much easier to embrace the bumps in the road and to celebrate the successes when you're in community.

Our educator forever network is the community that I wish I had truly, like, I wish I had a community of dynamic, inspiring educators, showing me all the things I could do in education. When I first left the classroom, I would love to invite you to join the network, you can find out more learn dot educator forever.com/network. And we'll put that in the show work show notes as well. And really, the network is a community of like minded educators expanding their impact beyond the classroom, and we'd love to have you check it out. No matter if you join the network or not, I want you to find your community. I want you to share your dreams and I want you to put it out there what you want to do. There are so many ways that you can expand your impact beyond the classroom. And really your dreams are just the beginning. It's really allowing yourself to go after what you want. That is true self care, and something to celebrate. And when I look back, really over the past 12 years, I'm proud of what I created for myself, and I'm proud that I've been able to show my daughter in her whole life. I've been going after my dreams in one sense or another. And again, as a grown up, I think it's so admirable to take that agency over your life and give yourself a chance to really go after what you want. I'm always cheering you on


Transcribed by https://otter.ai




Lily Jones