The Moment I Knew I Needed to Leave Teaching

I never set out to be a teacher.

I needed a side job while studying for my master’s degree in Glasgow and one of my classmates recommended that I start teaching English online.

I still didn’t think I would ever be a classroom teacher. It wasn’t until I moved back to the US that my now-husband and I got paraprofessional jobs at an elementary school. They needed an ELL/ESL teacher though, so I entered an alternative teacher program and began teaching.

There were a lot of things I loved about teaching. I loved actually feeling like I was making an impact in my students’ lives. I loved helping them learn a new language as many of them were transitioning to life in a new country. I had some amazing co-workers who I remain friends with to this day.

There were plenty of things I didn’t like. The main reason was my health. Even with taking precautions to try to avoid germs, I still ended up getting sick all the time. Being a type 1 diabetic, I had a hard time managing my blood sugar during these bouts of illness. I also had difficulty pre-bolusing for my meals, because I didn’t know if it would be on time or not. I was exhausted from going to teacher training on Saturdays and only having one day “off.” Even on my day off, it was filled with lesson planning and homework of my own.

I was usually too tired and sick to exercise and I felt that I wasn’t maintaining my health well. This isn’t even considering the financial burden of investing so much of my $33,000 per year paycheck back into my training and classroom.?

My line in the sand moment:

I had to take off a few days per year to go visit my endocrinologist, which is three hours round trip from my house. One day, during my appointment, my phone was ringing off the hook and flooded with messages about the whereabouts of my sub plan. The sub plan was eventually located, but the realization that I could not prioritize my health, even when I was at the doctor made me realize I couldn’t keep going in this field.?

Leaving my students behind was hard, but my health started improving almost immediately.?

What was your “line in the sand” moment?