It’s been a little over a year since I cleaned out my classroom and said good-bye to teaching HS math. There are 2 main questions I have received this year:
- Do you miss teaching?
- Do you have to work in the summer?
Let’s dive into #1. The answer in short is YES. I absolutely miss creating and implementing engaging lessons for high school math students. Taking a course, breaking it into smaller chunks (units), and designing those chunks into daily lessons specifically for the students sitting in my classroom – was most definitely my favorite part. And let’s be even more specific… taking a MATH course, a set of math topics (whether it’s algebra, geometry, algebra 2, pre-calculus, trigonometry, statistics) – a course that (let’s be real) MOST students now say is NOT their thing… yes MOST students – is a challenge I very much enjoyed to tackle. But as you might imagine, that challenge was intensely time-consuming – because I did it each year. Maybe not at the macro-level, but at the micro-level, ie. designing it for the students currently sitting in my classroom, happened every year. Yes, the content is the same – but the way the students receive it is different. And yes, I tried very hard to individualize it so that each student felt connected to the learning. So maybe that’s what finally did me in. Because designing lessons for a group of students each year, meeting individual needs – is not sustainable in the current education system. It most definitely was not sustainable for me and it was time to get out.
Why didn’t I just ease up, you ask? Why not just give the same lessons each year regardless of the student? Good questions to be sure. I’ll ask you this then in response… “can you look a student in the eye and give them something that you know they won’t relate to or enjoy simply because you’ve done it year after year?” I could feel the energy sapped from the room when I gave in and taught to a group rather than designing for individuals. I wanted my classroom to be a place where they felt a connection to the content. I failed a lot at this, but I was determined to try. And so… Yes I miss it. But I won’t go back. There are too many other factors that contributed to my leaving… let’s chat on those for a second.
I’m going to deviate from the questions listed at the top because from teachers, the next question is:
1b. How did you do it? How did you get out of teaching? So I absolutely want to discuss the process.
In 2016 I completed my master’s program in Educational Technology – all online through Boise State University. I took 2 classes per semester – all while teaching full-time. I obtained a 4.0 throughout my studies and when the diploma came in the mail, I cried tears of joy but mostly relief. Those 2 years were some of the hardest. Every weekend was filled with papers to write, activities to create, new coding to learn, and book upon book to read. A couple of years later (2020 to be exact) I completed another program where I obtained 18 credit hours of graduate level math courses to be certified to teach community college mathematics. Once again I cried when I finished. Those classes were harder than my master’s classes.
Through all of that education, I learned so much – mainly about myself. That I wanted MORE. (I absolutely want a Ph.D. in EdTech – it’s a lot like having babies – you forget how hard it is.). But MORE from my work. Throughout my teaching career, I often wondered if I had more to give. My graduate coursework piqued my interest in work outside of the classroom.
When I graduated, I started looking to see what was available… all the way back in 2017. Back in 2017, finding jobs was definitely harder because companies were not working remotely… or there weren’t very many companies working remotely. I would apply to about 10-25 jobs per year – some of those I never ever heard back from. Most of them sent me a rejection email about 2 weeks later, just saying I wasn’t moving forward in the hiring process.
In the 2021-2022 school year, I was crying on a daily basis; sometimes multiple times per day. Parents were yelling at me, students were not wanting to be in my class, and I was so tired of feeling inadequate. I knew then as I do now that I had more inside of me to give and nowhere to give it. I went back to the drawing board with my resume, gave it a polish, and started back on LinkedIn.
I was applying to all kinds of jobs in and out of education. Mainly corporate learning and development jobs, curriculum jobs, project management jobs, anything that had “create, develop, deliver, technology” in the job description. I did steer away from medical jobs, but almost everything else was up for grabs.
In February, a job opened up with a company where a very good friend is the CTO. I messaged him through LinkedIn (he was not living near us at the time). Now here’s the cool thing… this dude was living in Colorado, being a high-falutin’ CTO. But was in town where I was at the time of this message. So we met for coffee and I gave him my story. He gave me some of the most encouraging words I’ve ever received. #1 that I matter, #2 that I matter a great deal. He reached out to HR and got me an interview. I didn’t get that job, but it was in those moments that I actually felt like I could make the transition out of education. And I began my relentless pursuit (I’m always on a relentless pursuit of something).
LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor became my highest-used apps. I followed anyone who could help me. I applied to THOUSANDS, yes THOUSANDS of jobs. It was a full-time job on top of my full-time job. Some of them were auto-applied through Indeed (I had uploaded my resume and a generic cover letter for this purpose). I had one really good lead with a company that owns 2 private colleges. I had almost 3 interviews for a learning designer position. All of the interviews had gone really well. I thought I had connected well, but after the 3rd interview I was ghosted. Yes ghosted. I went almost a month without hearing from them, so I reached out. And was then told that I didn’t get the job.
Through Indeed, I had gotten an interview with an insurance/financial company here in Des Moines. That proceeded really well and I got an offer there. My FIRST offer outside of education.
But at the same time of that – I was also interviewing for a position with Imagine Learning. It was a professional development position for a math product (that I LOVE). And in the same week of the financial company offer, I also received an offer from Imagine Learning.
Now those two paragraphs make it sound really easy. It was NOT. I was in agony. You can ask Tim. I’d be on a high during/after interviews… then go WEEKS without hearing ANYTHING. That would be when I would start crying again. All during this time, I was still applying for jobs, having initial interviews, and then getting rejection emails or being ghosted. Being ghosted is VERY COMMON in the HR industry. Just never hearing anything was so common, I started to change my mindset so that I never looked forward to hearing anything. So that when I was contacted, it was a surprise.
The process to getting those offers was about 8-10 weeks long once I had the initial contact back from the company. So 2-3 months. Which feels so much longer. I got my two offers in April of 2022. I started looking and applying in 2017. It took 5 years. 60 months. 240 weeks. A long – friggin- time.
In the middle of all of this… after completing my graduate degree, I went back to school in March 2020 to get my 18 hours in post-graduate mathematics. This was needed for me to teach dual-enrollment classes in high school (think Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry, AP Calc, AP Stats). This was way harder than my master’s degree. This was math that I hadn’t done since my Bachelor’s degree in the 1990’s. Actually this was harder math.
I also started on classes to obtain my certification for Special Education Strat 1 – mild to moderate. I got halfway through my certification before stopping due to leaving teaching.
I mention both of these because it’s not one thing that led me to my transition. I have 15 years experience in an secondary math setting. I have a master’s degree in EdTech, 18 post-graduate level hours in mathematics (certified to teach community college classes), and I worked as a special education teacher. In addition to all of that, I have corporate IT experience as I started my days out of college in data analysis and the Y2K programming boom. Needless to say I have a VERY diverse resume, which in the past I’d been somewhat embarrassed by. My long, winding road led to the successful transition. It wasn’t just one thing. I will say teaching experience goes a long way, but it was a combination of all of it that helped.
If I were to give anyone advice (and I hesitate greatly at doing this), I would say be prepared for a long road ahead. It took me 5 years. I applied to thousands. of jobs. The interview processes were long and tedious. I created so many Workday accounts I lost count. Update your resume using language from job postings that you love. Use ChatGPT to help you. Then apply, apply, apply. Get on LinkedIn and Glassdoor. Network on LinkedIn (make sure your profile is up to date). Find companies you want to work for. Research other companies that you don’t know. Pursue this like your life depends on it. Casually looking, applying, and haphazardly going about it probably won’t get it done.
Also – I did not get an offer for my dream job. I worked as a professional development specialist for 8 months, moved into a national presenter role for 6 months, and THEN got a shot at my dream job (math curriculum specialist). I got my foot in the door, and then looked for every opportunity to move around.
Back to present – this week I started in on a job that is literally a dream job. I’m a Sr. Curriculum Specialist for our math product. I get to work with and collaborate with other math folks who have just as much passion as I do about transforming math education in our country. The meetings I’ve been in have given me goosebumps. It’s been so amazing to think about my future these past few days.
Now on to Question #2: do I have to work in the summer?
Yes, but you know what – I’ve always worked in the summer. And the fact that ANYONE asks this question doesn’t understand how teachers are paid. Teachers are NOT paid for the summer off. Our salary is based on our 180-day contract. It is not annual salary. Most district distribute those funds throughout the 12 months. So while you may think that teachers are paid to not teach in the summer, you are wrong. Plus, even if they were paid to rest in the summer, it still would not be enough. And the only way any teacher goes back to the classroom each August is because of the rest. The way our country treats teachers is a whole other topic, but yes it’s one of the reasons I left.
As I reflect on this past year, I can say with 100% certainty that it was the right decision for me. Yes, I miss teaching. Yes, I work in the summer. And yes, it was hard work to get here. But I have had so many opportunities this past year – I’ve traveled most of the country. I’ve talked with and have trained thousands of teachers. And another thing that is a topic for more conversation… I’ve been appreciated so much more than I ever was as a teacher. My strengths and hard work have been acknowledged. And I’ve been rewarded monetarily for my those.
If I missed anything that you still want to know more about, leave your questions in the comments.
Peace, Love, Math… Megan
peace love math 