this teacher has left the building

Good luck with your new career! I've taught twenty-one years, but left the profession twice just to find myself right back in it. Now I've gone too far to turn back. Hope you find happiness with your new job.

I have always told beginning teachers to give the job five years before they quit.

i lasted in the classroom for 2 yrs, but i loved education ... so now i'm a school librarian ... i still get to teach, and i work hard, but i don't have all the crap teachers have. did you think of becominging some kind of resource teacher? we have it much easier than classroom teachers.

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I don't think anyone can criticize leaving the classroom unless they've actually taught. Some people are born for this type of job, and others are discouraged by the buracreacy and nonsense that goes along with teaching.

You can work hard at this job, but dislike many aspects of the job. You can also ignore the responsibility of molding young minds and work in the school system for years.

Sometimes, I think that people who leave the classroom actually care too much. And sometimes, a person decides to do what they can do within the system.

It is a hard choice, and something that shouldn't be judged by people who haven't had the responsibility of teaching a classroom full of children.

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Yeah I dont think 2 years is enough time in the teaching profession. I agree that about 5 years is enough time before you could say that youre a good or bad teacher or if you needed to get out. I'm nearing the end of my 7th year, and there are lots of days when I fantasize about having a non-teaching job (like I would loooove love love to be one of the tourguides on those double-decker buses in ny) but then I have a good day that makes me decide to stay.

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SweetQintheLights, don't be discouraged! There are many people out there who really enjoy teaching. The big, big, big thing is to NOT get into debt. Spend and save your money wisely so that, should you decide to pursue other options, you're not limited, like I was.

Dolly, I don't think there's anything wrong with what you said. You can still be a great teacher and not like your job. I've been there?

Why I am leaving? Because I just plain old don't like teaching. I mean, I don't like hassling with parents, taking home 30+ hours of other work, don't like scrambling to make ends meet, don't like teaching things more than once or twice, don't like spending large chunks of my time in a room by myself reading essays or grading other papers, and I HATE fighting kids to learn.

So, it pretty much sums up the reason 50% of teachers leave in the first 5 years.

On top of it, I really want to write and pursue a career in writing. That's nearly impossible to do during the school year.

Thanks for all your encouragement!

Updated On: 1/23/09 at 06:33 PM

I think there are a lot better books than Kozel's but speaking of him, have you read "Savage Inequalities?" That's one the best ones he wrote, I think.

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Have you ever watched any Harry Wong videos? They aren't really about public education- they are about how to have a successful, productive, and controlled class. Many of his ideas are fantastic and he presents them in an entertaining way.

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hermione, most of the videos we watched pretty much summed up his books. My friend has the book and she says she got a lot more information from the videos. If you can, you should try and view some of the videos, if not just for the amusement aspect.

If I may ask, hermione, how long have you been a teacher, what grade and in what state?

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"Until you are in a classroom, you have NO right to comment upon someone else's decision to leave or stay."

oh now I get it, you're one of those little "know-it-alls" that infest the board telling everyone what they have the right to do or not have the right to do.
Shoo little girl, shoo.....that doesn't work here......

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Updated On: 4/9/08 at 10:10 AM

Of course anyone has the right to talk about anything - that's what makes freedom of speech so great. The difference is, opinions can be judged based on experience, and the opinions of those who have the experience can and SHOULD carry more weight than those who haven't. I can talk till I'm blue in the face about solidiers in Iraq, but I haven't been there, and I wouldn't presume to think someone should take my word over that of someone who's been there and experienced it. The hubris and self-centered view you would have to have to think that your opinion (and this is a general comment about any topic) matters more than someone who lived through something is astounding.

That said, I'm nearing the end of my sixth year teaching. Up until this year, I've loved teaching. This year, I've run into some problems with co-workers and honestly, I'm so discouraged by the results of NCLB that the life of a professional writer is looking better and better to me every day. I work on my novel when I can, and I know it'll be a couple of years before I get there, if at all, but I'm certainly not in the place I was 5 years ago where I was sure that I wanted to teach for the rest of my life. The trends I see in education are all moving in a downward spiral, and unless the government steps in to fix it soon, our entire system will completely flounder within the next ten years. Teachers are not respected, funding isn't what it should be for us to keep up with other countries, and NCLB HAS made our children less able to function in the real world (sure, they can answer a multiple choice question, but God forbid we ask them to think!). I love working with the kids, but all these things are VERY discouraging. I'm in the middle of conferences week now, and I've been told (a little braggy here, forgive me) that the kids love me and that I'm doing a great job by many parents, and that helps keep my head above water, but there's so much pushing us under that, to continue the already belabored metaphor, the whole system will soon drown beneath the weight of all the nonsense that's thrown at us.

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