gregorygarver.com

[gspecial]

Can you get into school administration? Or are you just sick of the school system in general?Do you get summers off? If so, you're in a terrific position to be retrained for a new job. Visit the career center at your local colleges and universities, talk to a career counselor, go to any career/job fairs to explore your options, talk to your friends, get in touch with any fellow teachers who've left the field, etc.Keep in mind any work-toward-pension years you've accrued, and what kinds of jobs they might transfer to. Would working for the city in some capacity allow you to stay on track to retirement? (I have a relative who taught for a few years, quit teaching to raise kids, and then went to work for the city water department. Her teaching years counted toward a pension in her new job.)If you enjoyed the real estate course & think that's a career you could be successful in, chances are you have an entrepreneurial, people-oriented personality. This is a great asset in the working world. It's important not to get down on yourself, just because one professional choice hasn't worked out.If you really hate teaching, please do find a way to get out of the profession. Our kids deserve enthusiastic, committed professionals.Finally--I am confident that beginning to work on plans for a change will make the remaining teaching you need to do much easier. Good luck and Godspeed.

[ms_bobdog]

What about using your degree to your advantage and teach from home? I am not exactly sure what your degree is like, but here it's pretty common for teachers who are sick of teaching in schools to turn to teaching from home. You get to spend time with your children while earn some cash at the same time.

[wisdomdude]

Have you thought about the National Park Service (NPS) as an alternative use of your Music background? An interpretive ranger at a historic site related to music?For NPS job info visit http://www.nps.gov/personnel/Many baby boomers will be retiring, leaving many vacancies (which won't all be filled due to budget constraints, but they still have to hire a bunch of folks).When you speak about being burned out in the teaching profession, I imagine it is the traditional classroom school setting. I recently retired early from college teaching...and the biggest problems were more with the education system. One of my daughters is teaching 3rd grade, and after 7 years is feeling burnt out...largely due to the system, not the actually teaching.Over the past several years before my early retirement, I did a number of projects with the NPS and have since encouraged many of my students who aspired to be teachers to consider shifting their goal from traditional classroom teaching to interpretive work with the NPS....teaching, but without the ed system bureaucracy, grading papers, shifting ed fashions and buzz words...but lots of possibilities to be outdoors.Consider this simple fact....who goes to National Parks? People who WANT to be there. So you "teach" people who self-selected to be there...not a captive audience that's being put through an institutional mill. And you don't have to make up tests and grade papers and dance to the tune of prepping folks for standardized tests.It would be wonderful to have a person well versed in music to explain the music from "natural" materials and native cultures...which may take some "learning" on your part, but it isn't like starting all over again. The same applies to all sorts of parks (state, county, or city). Then there are museums with interactive programs to engage people to actually handle materials...and these might be other venues to "teach" in an environment of self-selected / non-test performance oriented learners. You can imagine how stress-free that can be.Oh well, just brainstorming. Hope this helps. Best wishes for peace and contentment in your life.