These Teachers Are Out of Control
If you are a teacher, I bet you are looking at the calendar and starting to give a heavy sigh to an upcoming school year.
I work with many teachers. I really sympathize with the issues they have to face. Many are highly skilled, creative and dedicated professionals who simply have lost control.
Why do they work with me? They know they have talent and skill but the profession they chose either crushed that talent or stiffled that skill because of all the minutiae they deal with that has little to do with actual teaching.
I worked in the education field for many years. I get it.
Their frustration with their profession is not WHAT they are doing but rather HOW they are expected to do their job.
There is an old saying by George Bernard Shaw that said, “Those that can do, those that can’t teach.”
But I think it should have said, “Those that can’t teach will never know how difficult it is to do a real job.”
Teaching is often like parenting, only with 30 kids all the same age and mostly as a single parent.
Classrooms are overcrowded and often they are trying to teach a range of children with varying cognitive abilities, behavioral issues and considerably varied environmental circumstances.
One teacher I know had 3 children in her class with significant medical issues as well as 1 child who “escaped” from the class and ran into the hall frequently and several other youngsters who were dealing with everything from homelessness to being shuffled around between foster homes.
Learning was the least of their concerns.
Sure, teachers have aides that can help out in some circumstances but being asked to multi-task constantly with eyes and ears behind your head while being expected to deliver top notch teaching to each child at his/her particular level is a bit like asking a cardiovascular surgeon to perform a heart transplant while simultaneously giving a speech to the A.M.A. and hosting rounds.
Let’s face it multi-tasking at any job can cause people to often feel nothing really gets done, because in reality, often nothing does. Maybe a great deal gets started but there are constantly loose ends saved for another time of multi-tasking.
Teachers often feel they are caught in a cycle of constantly being asked to do more with less ( and of course expected to do it with one hand tied behind their back and blindfolded.) The enormous requirements put on teachers to have children achieve certain standards while working under these conditions is at best, super challenging.
Those I work with in education often tell me they simply feel “out of control”. Everyone from administrators to parents to society tells them how to do their job. While that is often the case for other professions as well, I think feeling “out of control” is particularly disheartening for teachers. Teachers hold the future in their hands and when they feel unable to do what they were trained to do, that future looks bleak for the students as well as for the educator.
Many people who have never set a foot inside today’s classrooms think they have all the answers for today’s educational system. Teacher’s are often trapped between what they know how to do best and what they are told to do regardless.
One teacher I work with described her day as “juggling so many things, I have lost the joy of why I wanted to do this.”
Another teacher recently shared with me, “I have all these wonderful ideas I get so jazzed up about and then I go back after summer break and realize there really isn’t going to be any support to launch any of the ideas after all.”
Losing control is hardly rewarding. Infact, for many teachers, it is the impetutus for deciding to “do something else.”
Often teachers don’t know exactly what else they want to do, but I can assure you they are among the best population to become business owners. They already have experience wearing many hats, most have exceptional planning and organizational skills and many are quite experienced dealing with difficult people.
Ask any entrepreneur if that doesn’t sound like what they did to start their business.
Teachers have what it takes to get a job done. They just often aren’t allowed to use what they have to the best of their ability.
When a teacher approaches me and says they are ready for something different, I nearly always know they will be successful.
Being your own boss means you do get back control; at least control of some things. You can set your own schedule, decide with who and where you will work and you can control how much or how little you want to work.
Whenever I work with a teacher, I know they really value persistence and are not afraid of hard work. I find helping a teacher discover a new love and income stream is one of the most rewarding coaching experiences I do.
So, if you are an educator and feel like you are “out of control” maybe it’s time to look at starting a business from that hobby or idea you have been tinkering with for awhile. Or, maybe just looking into other career options which afford you more opportunity to regain some control in your life is all you need.
And, be assured that you aren’t “just a teacher”. There are so many other areas teachers can earn their living.
You already know how to TEACH people.
Having a business is learning how to REACH people who have a problem to solve.
You can do this and I’m here to help!
Isn’t it time you felt in control again, at least about how you earn your income?
Sign up for the FREE BLUEPRINT on moving from DAY JOB TO DREAM WORK or schedule a 45 minute COMPLIMENTARY CONSULT today!
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