Episode 29: You're More Than a Transitioning Teacher

I’m all for supporting teachers in finding new careers in education, but lately I haven't been loving the phrase "transitioning teacher."

It implies that being a teacher and the skills and experiences you’ve gained aren't as valuable as they are. Although society tends to view an educator as “just a teacher”, I’m here to show you how to reframe that mindset.

Instead of thinking of yourself as a “transitioning teacher,” call yourself an education expert who’s looking for a new career, because you are! Start to embrace your expertise as an asset instead of a limitation. By switching that frame of thinking will help you present your experience in a positive light towards connecting it to where you want to go next.

It’s perfectly okay to pursue other careers, but the phrase “transitioning teacher” devalues your knowledge and skills. Spend some time thinking about your expertise and how that determines your next steps. Once you figure out what you want to be known for, share with me on Instagram @educatorforever how you’re going to let your education expertise shine!

 

Topics Discussed:

  • Why the phrase “transitioning teacher” can show a devaluation of skills and knowledge

  • Ways to embrace your education expertise to get your next career or job

  • Encouragement to reframe your thinking from negativity and societal beliefs

  • Why LinkedIn is a great place to find new careers and how to present yourself so that your experience shines

Resources mentioned:

Related episodes and blog posts:

 
 
 
 

Read the transcript for this episode:

Hey, everyone. Today I'm going to talk about something that I see all over. And that's the phrase transitioning teacher. You have likely seen this on people's LinkedIn profiles, you've seen it on social media: transitioning teacher.

And while I'm all about supporting teachers to explore flexible careers in education, there's something about the phrase transitioning teacher that just rubs me the wrong way. I mean, would anyone ever say transitioning lawyer or transitioning doctor? I don't think so.

Those professions are way more valued by society than teaching is. And when we call ourselves transitioning teachers, it almost feels like we're transitioning to look for a real job, one that society actually values.

But we know teaching is beyond our real job, we learned so much from teaching. And it's way more demanding and real than so many other jobs. The skills and knowledge we learned from teaching are valuable and transferable.

Side note, I recently read an article about a study that found that teachers make more minute by minute decisions than brain surgeons, we are doing a ton of work all the time, and we don't want to devalue it. And putting transitioning in front of teacher can devalue all that we are.

We're not, quote unquote, just teachers. And we're not quote unquote, just transitioning teachers. We are education experts who can use our experience in education to do anything we put our minds to.

If you want to create a curriculum that really inspires kids, something like you've never seen before, you can do it. If you're ready to support new teachers providing the sport you wish you had, when you first started off, it's totally possible. You really can create the changes you hope to see in education. And it starts with valuing your experience.

And instead of internalizing an entire system that tells teachers were not enough, we need to step into our brilliance and our own experience. We need to allow ourselves to step into the most powerful, impactful next chapter of our careers. And no matter what we do next, we will always be educators.

Instead of putting this transitioning qualifier in front of our teaching experience, we need to embrace our expertise. You are so much more than a transitioning teacher.

You have insider knowledge about the school system, you know what works and what doesn't work in the classroom, you have a deep understanding of students needs and how to support them. These are things that not everybody has, you have expertise that is valuable and unique.

And if the phrase transitioning teacher really does resonate with you, by all means continue to use it. I am all about empowering teachers to make the best decisions for them. And you know best what that is.

But regardless of whether you decide to describe yourself as a transitioning teacher or not, I encourage you to think about how you can reframe your education expertise as the asset that it is. And if you're looking for a new job, everything likely feels overwhelming. That's okay. It's kind of supposed to.

But when we feel overwhelmed, we can start to question how relevant our teaching experience is falling into that trap that maybe we are just teachers, but we're not. When we feel scared, we can find ourselves falling into that mindset, you know, really, again, that we're just teachers.

But if this comes up for you, challenge it and question it. Realize that you've been part of a system that is built on the exploitation of teachers, realize that you have relevant and valuable experience. And even more realize that as a teacher, you are truly an expert in learning, and can learn anything you commit yourself to.

So you don't have to know how to do all these other things, because you know how to learn new things, and you can learn whatever you're after. So if you're ready to start sharing your expertise, LinkedIn can be a great place to start. It's a way that you can establish yourself and play around with establishing your expertise.

On your profile, you can consider using a title that resonates with your experience and what you want to do next. So instead of transitioning teacher maybe your LinkedIn title is pre K education consultant, or social and emotional curriculum developer or instructional coach for high school science teachers.

Whatever it is that aligns with your past experience. You know, I wouldn't say that you're an instructional coach for high school science teachers if you've never done something similar before, but it's all about presenting your experience and connecting it to where you want to go next.

And I think that's so much more than just transitioning teacher, we can be really intentional and specific. And when you are that way, when you're really intentional about what that next step is for you, you can be way more specific and clear about your title than just transitioning teacher. You get to decide what your next step is, and you get to decide how you frame your experience.

As with anything, give yourself time and grace to figure out the best way to position your skills and experience. Get clear on what you want to do. Then take intentional steps to learn and do anything that will get you there sooner. You are in charge of your transition and you can do so many different things.

If you're ready to step into the next chapter of your education career, spend time thinking about what you want to be known for. Then find me on Instagram at @educatorforever and let me know how you're gonna let your education expertise shine.

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