My sister and I got a much-needed coffee and manicure this past weekend. While we live a town apart, we just don't get to talk much during the week and the weekends usually race by. When she asked me if I wanted to meet up for a manicure so she could tell me about the new job she was starting, I decided the pile of things to do could wait a little longer.
As we sipped coffee and caught up, and I heard all about her new job opportunity, we started talking about the seasons in your professional life. She had been a high powered lawyer at a prestigious New York City firm making oodles of money in her 20's and early 30's. She loved the money but hated the work and when she had my nephew, she decided to give up the law and try out real estate. Now, as my nephew is becoming a tween (11?!), she is finding herself wanting something more again and is taking on a new job. She said she was jealous that I had a job I was so passionate about. I confessed my restlessness and maybe my ego gnawing at me. People I graduated school with who are my age are way higher in the education food chain. They are principals, directors, even Superintendents. I have the same job title as I did at 22. She reminds me it was my choice not to be an administrator, and she's right. That's not my passion or my path. Yet- something in me wishes I was further, more accomplished. Had a bigger title. Maybe had a quiet office somewhere to make all the rules and policies without doing bus duty in a noisy hallway for the 5 millionth time. A teacher in a Facebook group I am in wrote how she cannot envision herself in this career for much longer. She said something like "I was made for more than just keeping kids quiet in the hallway." And I thought, someone has to keep the kids quiet in the hallway. We all can't have glamorous, high-profile jobs. Someone has to walk the children to their special and stand on bus duty and do all the other jobs that come with being a teacher. But maybe a part of me feels like that too- isn't there more for me than this? I wish I didn't feel restless. I wish I felt totally satisfied and content with being right where I am. I don't want to be a principal or an administrator, but how do I stop feeling somehow like I am not advancing in my career? Is this a normal stage for a teacher who's been teaching 18 years or are people just happy to be teachers until retirement?
6 Comments
3/9/2020 04:25:20 am
Kathleen, I think you speak for so many teachers. If the level of respect for teachers was higher we might not have those questions, but the sad truth is that classroom teachers are often not valued for the invaluable contribution they make to this world. The structure of schools doesn't allow for many leadership opportunities outside of administration - which pulls you further from kids and learning. You may not realize how much your work with TwoWritingTeachers has influenced so many teachers-you are creating your own path and I know more doors will open for you with your passion and curiosity for learning.
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Tamara
3/9/2020 04:42:10 am
Yes, I feel it, too. I realize the importance of the work we do, and have such a passion for aspects of it. Yet, it’s an understatement to say that, after decades, it’s really hard to keep being patient with other duties. And, even if it’s true, if one more person tells me they “could never go back to the classroom.” Ugh.
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Tamara
3/9/2020 04:47:11 am
Forgive me. I also wanted to say how much I admire the work that you do outside of the classroom, specifically at twowritingteachers and with the Classroom SOLSC. You have had a great influence on the blogging I’ve done with my students, which wouldn’t likely have happened if you hadn’t been there doing the work in the classroom.
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3/9/2020 05:08:07 am
I echo all the comments above mine. Kathleen, I spent 38 years as a classroom teacher and never moved into administration, being an out of the classroom literacy coach, or anything else. I did teach dual credit classes, however. Would you tell me I didn’t go far enough in education? As far as I’m concerned, being a classroom teacher is the pinnacle of a career in education. You know that saying about students not remembering what we say but what we do? Well, they certainly won’t remember the superintendent and likely won’t grow up feeling passionate about the school principal. Both are positions created primarily for management and not for close proximity to the heartbeat of learning. The last years of my career were among the best. I had moments of restlessness over the years, so I looked for ways to stay in the classroom while renewing my practice. I’m so glad I did because had I not I would have missed the best teaching and learning w/ students of my career.
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3/9/2020 03:02:22 pm
Hm... such an interesting question. I think this direct-service job being in the classroom day in day out, planning new ways to reach students is the most incredible, and most incredibly difficult, taxing job. In my mind, it ranks higher than a principal or any other administrator. So you can make policy as an administrator,but it's probably more intense and rewarding to deliver it. I don't know. I understand your restlessness for something different. I never wanted to be an administrator and made a conscious decision not to pursue that. And like you, I found outlets in other places (LIWP, 2 Writing Teachers, etc.). Perhaps you will be a literacy coach in a another district in the near future. Perhaps you'll publish some of your amazing writing.
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3/9/2020 07:12:58 pm
I think what you are feeling is what many of us fee t some point in our careers altough those feelings may be temporary. I think Paula was on to something when she mentioned the value of teachers. I really think that needs to change. One of the things that has kept me going are the things I do outside of the classroom - writing for other websites, presenting, organizing a summer Edcamp, being with the Teach Write crew. I still enjoy teaching...most days...but these other things certainly fill a void.
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