The gap between my expectations and reality had been too wide to sustain as a teacher. So instead of jumping into another teaching position at another school, I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to step back and re-evaluate my role as an educator. This opportunity to hit pause in my career is a privilege that I am deeply thankful for, and I know that not everyone would be able to afford it.
I had become a teacher because working with kids fulfilled my desire to be a part of a greater whole. Seeing myself as part of the timeless tradition of helping children develop their strengths and identities made me feel proud and allowed me to sleep at night knowing that I was doing something to uphold society and the lives of individuals.
The challenge of creating and maintaining an safe and effective middle school classroom had taken up most of my creative energy and time for the past 10 years. When I felt effective, I could live with the monumental effort and energy this took. In fact, when I was successful, teaching often gave me more energy than it took. But by this past fall, I wasn't feeling successful at all and it was still taking all the energy and time I had to offer. I was headed toward the bottom, and so I got out before things got ugly.
Now, two and a half months later, I look around and I see that maybe this bottoming out was a blessing in disguise. I learned so much during my years as a teacher--how to appreciate and communicate with children with difficult behaviors, how to plan a lesson with clear outcomes, how to manage expectations, how to model alternative ways of being (especially as a man), how to parry a direct verbal attack, how to use humility to defuse anger, how to apologize, how to speak with power, how to admit fear, how to give feedback, and countless other lessons about working with people. I am grateful for all of those lessons, as they have made me a more socially-conscious person.
Once I allowed myself to let go of my identity as a career teacher, I was able to see how these lessons might be transferrable to other domains of community-building. I was also able to see how the vast challenge that teaching offered me had been shaping my life into something so narrow that there was no room for any other kind of important work outside of teaching. As the new year approached, I decided that I should keep my mind as open as possible with regards to possible new directions for my career.
My original plan was to volunteer in a series of Cambridge schools, from pre-k to high school, just to get a sense of what working with different age groups is like. I also planned on volunteering at the Cambridge hospital, because it seemed to me (based on talking with friends in healthcare) that health care work and teaching might share similar skill-sets.
However, it turned out that I could only find one placement as a pre-k volunteer in the Cambridge schools, and Cambridge Hospital stood me up. Meanwhile, I began doing more serious research into early childhood development. (click to continue)
I had become a teacher because working with kids fulfilled my desire to be a part of a greater whole. Seeing myself as part of the timeless tradition of helping children develop their strengths and identities made me feel proud and allowed me to sleep at night knowing that I was doing something to uphold society and the lives of individuals.
The challenge of creating and maintaining an safe and effective middle school classroom had taken up most of my creative energy and time for the past 10 years. When I felt effective, I could live with the monumental effort and energy this took. In fact, when I was successful, teaching often gave me more energy than it took. But by this past fall, I wasn't feeling successful at all and it was still taking all the energy and time I had to offer. I was headed toward the bottom, and so I got out before things got ugly.
Now, two and a half months later, I look around and I see that maybe this bottoming out was a blessing in disguise. I learned so much during my years as a teacher--how to appreciate and communicate with children with difficult behaviors, how to plan a lesson with clear outcomes, how to manage expectations, how to model alternative ways of being (especially as a man), how to parry a direct verbal attack, how to use humility to defuse anger, how to apologize, how to speak with power, how to admit fear, how to give feedback, and countless other lessons about working with people. I am grateful for all of those lessons, as they have made me a more socially-conscious person.
Once I allowed myself to let go of my identity as a career teacher, I was able to see how these lessons might be transferrable to other domains of community-building. I was also able to see how the vast challenge that teaching offered me had been shaping my life into something so narrow that there was no room for any other kind of important work outside of teaching. As the new year approached, I decided that I should keep my mind as open as possible with regards to possible new directions for my career.
My original plan was to volunteer in a series of Cambridge schools, from pre-k to high school, just to get a sense of what working with different age groups is like. I also planned on volunteering at the Cambridge hospital, because it seemed to me (based on talking with friends in healthcare) that health care work and teaching might share similar skill-sets.
However, it turned out that I could only find one placement as a pre-k volunteer in the Cambridge schools, and Cambridge Hospital stood me up. Meanwhile, I began doing more serious research into early childhood development. (click to continue)