New career options for a teacher

[K and K's Mommy]

How did this thread get so far off topic? I was interested in hearing answers, but I think there have been about three on topic answers.

I am trying to decide what to do with the second half of my life. I taught for 7 years, and then I was a stay at home mom for 11 years and have been working as an assistant in a school for two years. I actually love it but get paid less than a babysitter in my area. I am considering going back to teaching in the fall of 2016, but I am open to looking at other options.

OP - I know a teacher who now sells houses. That just doesn't interest me. I know another who tutors three to four hours every afternoon/evening. I would enjoy that but my own kids are way too busy for that schedule.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

What about being a corporate trainer?

I used to work for a software company and they hired hundreds of trainers to teach new employees and customers their healthcare software.

Most worked 50ish hours a week though.

 

[disykat]

Great googily kimmar, I get it. Fine. Teachers don't get paid over the summer. Do you feel better now?

I still maintain it doesn't matter whether teachers get paid for the two month summer vacation or not. If you're a teacher and you don't like not getting paid over the summer, then find another job. If you're not a teacher and you want a job that gives you summer off, go get your teaching certificate.

EVERY job has perks.
EVERY job has negatives.
It's poor form (IMO) to say "my job is worse (more stressful, cheaper, etc) than your job." If your job is that bad, find another one.

Yay! Victory. I know I feel better that you aren't still insisting we are getting paid for something we aren't. I agree with you about job perks, and that is why the OP started this thread - to find a different job.

 

[JanaDee]

I started at a private school making $18,000 in 1998. I then moved to a public school in Iowa making $24,000, and now 16 years later with a Master's degree plus 15 additional credits, I make $57,000. By the salary schedules, it should be more, but our steps have been frozen for awhile.

That is a shockingly low salary for that many years and level of education.

 

[tarheel618]

double post sorry

 

[tarheel618]

That is a shockingly low salary for that many years and level of education.

I have my masters and just completed year 15. I make 44,200 a year. Not all areas have high salaries.

 

[msjprincess]

I have my Master's and 3 years experience and am at $44k. I'm feeling seriously underpaid now! LOL! Way to go to all the teachers out there making 6 figures!!

I do have to say that teachers here have to get their Master's within 5 years of getting their provisional certificate in order to get permanent teaching certificate.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

That is a shockingly low salary for that many years and level of education.

It's higher than most places, but IIRC Scoutie lives in a fairly expensive area (Chicago??).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I do have to say that teachers here have to get their Master's within 5 years of getting their provisional certificate in order to get permanent teaching certificate.

Here too. My sister never got hers, works as a para.

 

[IDoDis]

Well, I have you all beat! I am finishing my 23rd year of teaching with a Master's Degree plus 15 additional credit hours and I make a little under 54k a year. The sad part is that there are teachers I mentored when they were new teachers 7 and 8 years ago and they only make a few hundred dollars less than me. Once a teacher gets to the top tier, we only get $1 raise per year unless the legislature passes a raise. We got a 1% raise last year, but the raise was offfset by an increase in retirement deductions. Before that 1% I didn't have a raise for 8 years, aside from that $1 per year.

 

[Happy Snowman]

Yet what is your yearly contracted salary?

Who cares? The point is, they are paid to work XXX number of days and do not have paid holidays and in many cases, no paid vacation time like those in the corporate world and even on a 260 day work year, their salary is not commensurate with the education require, years of experience and job responsibilities.

 

[ReneeA]

What about being a corporate trainer?

I used to work for a software company and they hired hundreds of trainers to teach new employees and customers their healthcare software.

Most worked 50ish hours a week though.

This is a great option. I was a trainer for a computer leading company years ago (prior to nursing school), and they would have love a teacher as well. However, I traveled a lot as well. It wouldn't have worked with kids.

 

[NewRVLady]

Well, I have you all beat! I am finishing my 23rd year of teaching with a Master's Degree plus 15 additional credit hours and I make a little under 54k a year. The sad part is that there are teachers I mentored when they were new teachers 7 and 8 years ago and they only make a few hundred dollars less than me. Once a teacher gets to the top tier, we only get $1 raise per year unless the legislature passes a raise. We got a 1% raise last year, but the raise was offfset by an increase in retirement deductions. Before that 1% I didn't have a raise for 8 years, aside from that $1 per year.

I think there are many professions that have a Maximum salary. I've worked two hourly positions where the Highest you made was pretty much fixed. No bonuses either.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think there are many professions that have a Maximum salary. I've worked two hourly positions where the Highest you made was pretty much fixed. No bonuses either.

BTDT - twice. One job, they came in & lowered the top of the pay scale. Those already at the top got to stay where they were, but got frozen for 7 years. It actually worked out as a big raise for me as I was fairly new and while they lowered the top of the chart, they also sped up the progression from 5 to 2.5 years.

In my current job, I got no raise from Feb 2007 to Sep 2013, and not one since. I actually made more $ in 2009 than I did in 2010, 2011, or 2012.

 

[mom2rtk]

BTDT - twice. One job, they came in & lowered the top of the pay scale. Those already at the top got to stay where they were, but got frozen for 7 years. It actually worked out as a big raise for me as I was fairly new and while they lowered the top of the chart, they also sped up the progression from 5 to 2.5 years.

In my current job, I got no raise from Feb 2007 to Sep 2013, and not one since. I actually made more $ in 2009 than I did in 2010, 2011, or 2012.

Lots of people in the private sector have been dealing with things like this, many of them without the benefit of a nice reliable pension plan or great health benefits to mitigate the lack of pay increases.

The grass simply is not always greener.

 

[emsstacey]

I have worked in other fields before becoming a teacher. We can complain and say that we don't make enough, etc... but if you take my pay by the days I work, I'm doing pretty well. It is convenient for me because it is the same schedule as my kids. I worked as a paramedic and worked 24 hour shifts and made less money, working year round. I'm good with it. I'm not getting rich and I would be hurting if I was a single parent, but $44k for 185 days/year and every major holiday off and 3 months in the summer... I'm ok with that!

 

[FoundMyPrince]

OP - My husband taught for seven years, left teaching for 11 years, and is now back in the classroom. In that time we've known many teachers that have left for various reasons.
*one is beginning his own lawn care business
*one teacher now works in the forensics lab for the state's highway patrol
*several now sell real estate
*one works as a trainer for the company that has the school's on-line grade book software
*one left to become a student pastor at a church

Many teachers in our area have summer jobs, too. This summer my husband is working two jobs: he and three other teachers are getting all the new computers ready for the teachers in the district and he'll also be washing windows for a local company. And yes, between those two jobs he will be making more than he does teaching for the same amount of time (b.s. and master's degree).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Many teachers in our area have summer jobs, too. This summer my husband is working two jobs: he and three other teachers are getting all the new computers ready for the teachers in the district and he'll also be washing windows for a local company. And yes, between those two jobs he will be making more than he does teaching for the same amount of time (b.s. and master's degree).

My dad had a Summer job as a caretaker at a church camp. Mom never worked in the Summer. I worked alongside several of my HS teachers at Six Flags & one at Meramec Caverns.

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

Before I had children I worked each summer while school was not in session (I have been teaching for 23 years). I often went through a temporary agency and was given office jobs...pretty mindless data entry, filing, that kind of thing. I really liked it. I could not get over the fact that I could sit and work and nobody bothered me. If I had to use the restroom...I just got up and went! It was so different from constantly having to be "on" all of the time and a nice change. Some colleagues who have left teaching have gone on to open daycares, to edit books for publishing companies and teach on-line college courses (in most cases you only need a Master's degree.) Good luck, OP.

 

[Happy Snowman]

Lots of people in the private sector have been dealing with things like this, many of them without the benefit of a nice reliable pension plan or great health benefits to mitigate the lack of pay increases.

The grass simply is not always greener.

You do realize that teachers are required to pay into that "reliable" pension, right. In our area, that is 8% of their salary, required, not a choice. You would have a nice reliable retirement if you put in at least 8% of your salary every paycheck from day one too. It's also a myth that teachers have great health benefits. It varies from district to district, state to state and teachers are paying premiums just like the rest of the country.