It was almost 5 years ago that I took one last look at Times Square from my 48^th floor office window, and said goodbye to my career working in promotions for a major cable television network.  I said goodbye to some fantastically creative and smart friends, not to mention a cushy office chair, an ergonomic keyboard, and a closet full of office supplies.  I bid adieu to a responsive tech support team, catered lunch meetings, and a six-figure salary.  A few days later, I said hello to a new career in teaching.

In that prior career (what I call “The Old Life”), I had enjoyed learning new things, though I didn’t think of myself as a learner.  Some might call it being driven, working my way up the ladder, or hungry.  Whatever you want to call it, it was the fuel that sustained me for almost 12 years.  But somewhere along that route, mired in middle management, I became acutely aware that I wasn’t being challenged anymore.  It occurred to me that I couldn’t rely on challenges to come from external sources; I had to find a way to challenge myself.

An opportunity to do one-on-one mentoring with at-risk teenage girls brought a challenge and learning opportunity.  At first, I was nervous.  But soon, I was learning more from the girls than as much as (I hope) they were learning from me.  I thought, I need more of this in my life.  And poof, the seed was planted.  Maybe, just maybe, I could work with kids.  I could be a teacher!

At the time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, that indescribable feeling which caused me to decide to give up those perks and go back to school. Now that 5 years have passed and I’ve been teaching for almost that long, I have come to understand that I didn’t leave my old career because it was “unsatisfying”, though that was a small part.  It was because I felt I had stopped learning. 

As teachers, we hope our students’ learning never stops.  But what surprised me the most when I made the change was that that the learning never stops for the educators, either. Every year, there’s a new teacher book to devour, a new technology to try, and chance to make my teaching better than the prior year. Knowing that I have very real responsibilities fuels my desire to continually seek out the best practices and the new innovations.  To be surrounded every day with the possibility that THAT best practice or THIS new technology might just give a kid the boost that he needs, it’s what keeps me going on those tough days in the classroom. In The Old Life, just about the only thing keeping me going on the tough days was Bagel Mondays.

Being a teacher taught me to never stop learning. And that’s why, as perk-filled as the corporate world was, I’m planning on this second career to be my final career.

About the Author

Nancy Barlow, aka The Teacher Geek, is a teacher, blogger, runner, compulsive list-maker, coffee addict, and sticky-note hoarder.  You can find her at www.theteachergeek.com, @theteachergeek on Twitter, and in her home in Ridgefield, CT, surrounded by kids’ toys, unfolded laundry, and giant stack of teacher books on her nightstand.