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"Are you tired of teaching? If so, you are not alone. According to Michigan State University's publication New Educator, the national cost of replacing burnt out public schoolteachers adds up to roughly five billion dollars per year. Good reasons exist for the country's high teacher turnover rate. While education can be an extremely rewarding profession, teaching also presents serious challenges, from mountains of paperwork to needy students to demanding parents. In some cases, the day-to-day stresses of teaching can even cause teachers to completely rethink their careers. So what should you do if you feel burnt out?
First, it may help to identify your frustrations with teaching. Once you have pinpointed your troubles, you can work toward solutions. Some of the most common problems teachers face include:
* Out-of-control classrooms: teachers may fix this setback by enforcing strict classroom policies. A well-structured classroom environment can help lessen behavioral problems, creating a safe place for learning to occur. * Pesky parents: rather than avoiding your students' parents, you should try to draw them into the learning process. Ask parents to volunteer for field trips or in-class discussions and openly discuss their students' progress. Not only can parents' increased classroom participation lighten your job load, it can help parents build up their trust in you as an instructor. * Overwhelming job responsibilities: though a large part of your teaching career involves counseling students, grading papers, and planning classes, you should also make sure to spend quality time with your family and friends. A balanced, satisfying private life can help teachers prepare emotionally for their day job.
In many cases, however, teachers discover that they no longer have the same passion for the profession that they did when they began, and no amount of in-service presentations or positive interactions with students can rekindle that desire. If you decide you no longer wish to teach, do not despair. Your teacher's training has likely provided you with valuable public speaking skills, important community connections, and useful interpersonal abilities that could translate into a number of different job opportunities. Let's examine four job options for teachers who wish to change careers.
Job #1: Instructional Coordinator Want to use your education training in a more behind-the-scenes position? Consider working as an instructional coordinator. Instructional coordinators assess schools curricula, choose textbooks, train teachers, and ensure that schools meet nationwide quality standards for education. Coordinators also seek out up-to-the-minute electronic equipment, such as computers and high-tech media centers. If you are an instructional coordinator employed at the primary-school level, you may specialize in one area of curriculum development, such as art, English, biology, or math. If you work at the university level, however, you might focus more on building effective training programs for employees. To become an official instructional coordinator, you must first meet your state's certification requirements.
