
Click below to hear about a teacher career change:
You know I am always here to support you and want to see you thrive in the classroom! I know, however, that even with all the tips, advice, and resources I share, you may still be considering whether or not being in the classroom is the best choice for you. If that’s where you currently find yourself, I want you to feel supported, too. That’s why I am so excited that our guest today, Teacher Career Coach, Daphne Gomez, is here to share some amazing advice for you.
It’s that time of year when contracts start coming out and you are deciding what your plans are for next year. You may be set on staying in your current role or you may be considering other options. If you are thinking of exiting the classroom but are unsure where to start, Daphne’s got you! She is sharing what led to her teacher career change, specific indicators of if it is time to make a shift, examples of types of careers teachers can transition into, advice for what to do if you are ready to leave or starting to consider it, and how she helps teachers who are looking to transition out of teaching.
After navigating her own career transition from teaching in 2017, Daphne Gomez founded Teacher Career Coach to support other teachers thinking of making a change. She launched the first complete coaching program of its kind, the Teacher Career Coach Course in 2019 and also hosts the popular Teacher Career Coach Podcast each week. Daphne has created a judgment-free community dedicated to helping educators find happiness in their careers – inside or outside the classroom.
If you are still trying to determine if you need to get out of the classroom completely or just need a shift in role or environment, be sure to follow the Secondary Science Simplified podcast to catch our upcoming episodes! We will be talking about how to get admin to support you, what to do if you don’t have admin support, and what to consider with your teaching contract.
Topics Discussed:
- What led Daphne to leave the classroom and what career she transitioned to
- Specific indicators of if you should shift out of teaching or maybe just try a new role or environment
- Examples of what careers teachers can have after teaching
- What steps to take NOW if you know you know you are ready for a teacher career change
- Tips for what to do if you are considering transitioning from education but aren’t ready yet
- How Daphne supports teachers who are ready for a teacher career change
Resources Mentioned:
- Free Career Quiz
- Teacher Career Coach Course
- Free Month Trial of LinkedIn Learning
- Building a Second Brain Book
- Join the Secondary Science Simplified virtual professional development course waitlist
- Send me a DM on Instagram: @its.not.rocket.science
- Send me an email: Rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com
- Grab your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge!
- Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts.
Connect with Daphne:
- Check out her website
- Follow her on Instagram @teachercareercoach
- Listen to The Teacher Career Coach Podcast
Related Episodes and Blog Posts:
- Episode 65. Considering Switching Schools? 10 Questions to Think Through
- Episode 59. From Burned Out to Burned-In with Guest Amber Harper
- Episode 63. Teaching and ADHD – Practical Tips for You AND Your Students with Guest Bri Plyler
Connect with Rebecca:
- Join the list
- Follow me on Instagram
- Like us on Facebook
- Join the Secondary Science Simplified Course Waitlist
- Shop my TpT Store
More about Secondary Science Simplified:
Secondary Science Simplified is a podcast specifically for high school science teachers that will help you to engage your students AND simplify your life as a secondary science educator. Each week Rebecca, from It’s Not Rocket Science, and her guests will share practical and easy-to-implement strategies for decreasing your workload so that you can stop working overtime and start focusing your energy doing what you love – actually teaching!
Teaching doesn’t have to be rocket science, and you’ll learn exactly what you need to do to simplify your secondary science teaching life so that you can enjoy your life outside of school even more. Head to itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/challenge to grab your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge.
Rebecca 0:00
You are listening to episode number 67 of the secondary science simplified podcast. This week on the podcast I have a special guest interview that is a little different from our usual round here. Typically on this podcast I’m doing everything I can to support you in your role as a secondary science teacher. I want you to thrive and not just survive in this job. However, I know for some of you, it doesn’t matter how much I try to help you rethink classroom management or your grading practices, you may still be considering whether or not you should leave the classroom altogether. And that’s where today’s guest Daphne Gomez comes in. After navigating her own career transition from teaching in 2017, Daphne found a teacher career coach to support other teachers thinking of making a change. She launched the first complete coaching program of its kind, the teacher Career Coach course in 2019, and also hosts the very popular teacher Career Coach podcast each week, Daphne has created a judgment free community dedicated to helping educators find happiness in their careers inside or outside the classroom. In my conversation with Daphne’s, she shares more on what led her to leave the classroom and the career she transitioned to. She shares specific indicators of wind and know if it is time to make a shift out of teaching entirely, versus maybe just changing up what you teach or where you’re teaching. She offers several examples of the types of careers teachers can have after teaching, and what you should start doing now, if you’re ready to make that change. If you aren’t ready to leave, but have the idea kind of on the backburner. She shares some tips for you as well for what you can do in this next school year to evaluate if teaching is still the best professional field for you or not. I really enjoyed this conversation with Daphne and I hope you will too. So without further ado, let’s dive into my interview with Daphne Gomez, the teacher career coach.
Rebecca 2:31
Hi, Daphne, how are you?
Daphne 2:41
I’m doing well. Rebecca, thank you so much for having me.
Rebecca 2:44
I am thrilled that you’re here. I’m just so glad this worked out. I’m going to tell you that when I posted on my Instagram that you were coming on, I asked if anyone had any specific questions, and no one sent a specific question. But like 12 people were like, I love her. Oh, wow. I’m so glad I was like you didn’t send me any questions. But I’m just glad you’re excited. So the people are glad you’re here. And for those listening, who maybe don’t know who you are, why don’t you just kind of introduce yourself, maybe tell us your teaching history. And then like the briefest snapshot of what you’re doing now, because that’s obviously what this is all going to go into.
Daphne 3:21
Yeah, so I started out teaching fifth grade, I only taught fifth grade and a couple different schools, completely different demographics and different school districts. So everything from students that had really unfortunate situations living in hotel rooms with their parents, or students that were actually on housed at the time, and then also on the opposite and teaching the gifted and talented student actors and a very wealthy neighborhood of Los Angeles. And during both of those experiences, something just constantly in my brain was telling me, I don’t know what it is. But this is not a good fit for me as a career choice. And that very last year, and that really wealthy school district broke me, I had already felt really burnt out. And I always chalked it up to Oh, everyone says the first five years teaching, you’re finding your flooding, which is, in retrospect, far too long to be finding your footing and a new career. But I kept thinking, okay, something’s going to align, I’m going to start feeling better. I’ll get, you know, my classroom management down or I’ll figure out a pedagogies strategy that will help me but ultimately, that last year, I ended up breaking so bad that I was going to the doctor a lot for stress related illnesses. I had a really poor working environment, very unsupportive and toxic admin that I was working for. And it ended up just breaking me to the point that I said, I don’t know what I want to do. But I can’t teach for another year. At least I have to heal from this. And I have to figure out something else. And back then it was too
Daphne 4:59
2017 So I was met with a lot of resistance that I feel like some of the stigma has gone away. Fortunately, and unfortunately, from based on the last few years, but I was met with all this resistance of You can’t leave, you’re such a good teacher. No, you can’t leave just try it again at a different school. And I just kept pushing past it. And during that time, I started doing aggressive Google’s What else can teachers do? In Nothing, not a single website popped up, back then there was nothing, I started to talk to other people. And they’re like, I’ve never known a teacher who left, people just retire. And I like looked at all the different places like how do I find out examples of this, I ultimately landed as really great role for a fortune 500 company really well known in their education department. And in that space, I connected with all former teachers, but in a variety of different positions, people in my position, people really high up on the product team, people really high up on the learning and development team, all of these different former teachers who had found these roles. And then I went on to work as an instructional designer for another ad tech company. And in that role, I started to learn how to create adult learning experiences using technology. And I also met former teachers and sales roles, marketing roles all over. During both of those experiences, I just could not go back to who I was those couple of years before of someone trying to find a role outside of the classroom, a community that was going to say, here’s how you can leverage your education experience, and continue to grow in a way that you’re still passionate about it. So I started to create that community myself around that timeframe. So I started teacher career coach in about 2019, by cobbling up with my own experience outside of the classroom working for these companies. And then also teaming up with human resources, experts, recruiters CEOs, to understand what they are looking for in the best candidates and how they’re looking for resumes to be written. And that’s really just how everything really took off from there. Well,
Rebecca 7:13
I love hearing your story. I’m so glad you’re here. So for those of you listening, I specifically want to Daphne here as the teacher career coach, because you might have heard her say she’s a fifth grade teacher. And that’s not our norm on the podcast. But I wanted her because I know this is we’re entering that time of year where teachers are really evaluating their contracts and trying to decide, is this something where I maybe need to see if I can teach a different class? Do I need to go to a different build school and building? Do I need to leave the district and try a different district? Or do I need to leave teaching altogether? And so I originally had thought, Okay, I’m going to do a series and we’re going to talk through a lot of things and then I’ll have you kind of on and as the grand finale, but after talking with you, we decided no, you need to come in sooner, because a lot of these decisions need to be kind of thought through on the front end. So if you’re like Rebecca, this topic seems out of left field, we’re gonna have some more follow up stuff on this the rest of the month, but I wanted Daphne to kick this off. And one thing you said that I really appreciated in think is so true is the difference in the stigma, like you are so right, 2017. Like, back in the day, everyone was a teacher for 30 years. Like that was all that if you’re a teacher, you’re a teacher for life period. And I think you’re so right. And I think you have been instrumental in changing that culture. But I think especially with the pandemic, and everything, people are now seeing how hard it is to be a teacher and how toxic those environments can be. And I’m grateful for you in this space, giving teachers I mean, hope is a very strong word. And so I don’t want to use it lightly. But I can’t think of any other word for like, just helping them see that there’s more outside of the classroom, and that they’re so gifted to do so many other things.
Daphne 8:57
Yeah, I think hope is a fine word. And I think options. It’s the first time that I feel like people realize that they had options, and whether or not you choose to leave the classroom because like you said, many people, if you’re newer in the profession, and you’re looking at your grade level team, and they’re just not really working in the way that you feel comfortable working, and you can ask your admin to go to a different grade level, maybe the classroom management’s gonna feel a little different. Maybe you’re right now a secondary science teacher, but you’re thinking, I’ve actually evaluated going down to elementary schools and trying that that might be a better fit for me. Those types of environmental changes might be all that you need to find happiness in this career. But I think what makes people miserable, is feeling backed into a corner that they do not have options and that’s where a lot of the resentful feelings about the career are really coming from is feeling like you signed into an invisible contract and you have no paths, you are now stuck in this one career. And that is not the case. And that’s where I hope people really find inspiration from this of deciding which lane to choose. And then finding out I was the one who chose that lane. How do I find happiness in that lane? Now? How do I make that lane work for me because neither option is going to be easy. And that’s what I always want to be as transparent as possible about it, both options are going to take some work. It
Rebecca 10:33
is a job. So there will be work here, right. And I think it’s easy to think the grass is always greener, but I love your transparency there have for some people and environmental shift will be enough. For others, it won’t. And I know for you you said, you know, kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back, if you will, was when it became like detrimental to your physical health. So that’s obviously like a major red flag. But what would you say to other teachers who are listening, and they’re just kind of trying to discern? Should I leave teaching or just leave my current school or try to just do a different position? Like how do you discern if it needs to just be an environmental shift? Or it’s like, no, I need to take a break from teaching.
Daphne 11:13
So the first things to look at can use change grade levels, grade level teams, schools, or school districts. So if you love everything about the classroom, and you are doing a great job, but you think like, if I just get away from this admin, I’m going to feel better, that’s a potential that you should go to a different school. If I told you those options right now, and your eyes are rolling in the back of your head, and you’re like, that’s not gonna solve it, you’re already probably checked out, you probably know what the answer is every single year. If you’re thinking I want out, if that’s what you’re constantly evaluating more so than how do I put in the work to stay? Or how do I figure out how to make this work for me, you know, that’s a good indicator that you may be leaning towards leaving the classroom, it’s not that simple. It’s not going to click one day and feel right, because it’s scary, it’s a really huge change, and there’s risk involved with it. But at the end of the day, if you feel like taking that risk, or at least attempting to find another job outside of the classroom, feels like where your heart is leading you. And if you never tried if you feel like you’re going to resent yourself, for absolutely never actually trying. Those are good indicators. Because it’s not necessarily always a for me, it’s if your physical health, my mental health, and I was not able to pay my own rent with a master’s degree living in Los Angeles, teaching these students in this wealthy neighborhood, I myself was struggling paycheck to paycheck. So your physical, your mental, your financial security is all really important to evaluate. But on top of it, you can be the happiest teacher in the world, but still want to become a project manager and instructional designer, you’re allowed to want change, even if you’re not crying on the way to work, or even if your doctor or your therapist is begging you to leave like many are. But those are some really common indicators of you may need to leave, I’ve heard families are having interventions with their loved ones and saying, I want you to leave, I want you to try and leave because of how much it’s impacting their home life. So I know that there’s probably a lot of people at one of those rock bottom moments knowing that that is right. But I think even if you are the happiest teacher in the world, if you’re thinking of leaving more than you’re thinking of staying, I think that’s an indicator that you may want to put down some of the fear guards and start evaluating that as an option.
Rebecca 13:54
Those were really helpful and super clear. So thank you for saying that. I mean, I couldn’t agree more. It’s so funny, because I remember when I, you know, kind of started mentioning, I was thinking about, you know, taking time off from the classroom was how I originally looked at it. The I was so encouraged by the older women that I was working with, and teaching alongside the time because they were all like, oh, I, you know, took 10 years off, because I stayed home with my kids because it didn’t make sense for me to pay for daycare, and teach at the school. It was like breaking even. And I was encouraged because in my head, I was always like, Oh, it’s gonna be forever. Like, I’m deciding the rest of my wife by looking at next year. And they were such an encouragement to me that like, okay, it is a risk to leave, but you can come back especially my audience is science teachers. There’s always a desperate need for science teachers. So that’s kind of a nice thing from where we are. And I know you mentioned just then a couple other kinds of jobs. So what would be some examples of things that secondary science teachers specifically might be equipped to do? Transitioning out because I think some of us just have never dreamed of what we would do other than teaching So we don’t even know where to begin thinking, What could I do? What would I do? So I would love to hear from your experience all the teachers you’ve worked with, kind of what are some of those things?
Daphne 15:09
Yeah, so there’s so many directions that you could go with your previous experience as a secondary science teacher. And so let’s start kind of with brainstorming, what you’re overly qualified to do with this as your subject matter expertise, looking for science curriculum, companies, places that do professional development on subject matters, that you’re already an expert, and looking at all of their companies, even for sales position, customer support positions, implementation positions, any of the apps that you’re using inside of the classroom, any of their competitors, anything that you think that you could pick up and learn kind of how to do the basics of the job, but you are coming in with like 10 years of experience, or five years of experience, or 15 years of experience, on the heavy lifting part of it, you’re going to be able to stand out for those roles. One example that I have is an instructional design position. So that’s like a, it’s creating learning content, using like, sometimes they have specific learning platforms that they use, articulate storylines are really Oh, sorry, it’s called the authoring tool. But Articulate Storyline is a really popular one. And this is like a tech heavy position that any teacher can go in this position. But I’ve had a recent podcast interview on the teacher Career Coach podcast with someone who landed that role, without actually learning the authoring tools, and building the portfolio the way that everybody else had to, because she was a science teacher, and she specifically was work landed a role for the forest department. So she’s creating the learning resources on I think preventing forest fires, but coupling with her background knowledge of science. And so she was able to really leverage that experience. And they said, We know that your teaching experience coupled with this is going to make you an expert. There are so many different types of roles that are going to value that subject matter expertise. But then, outside of really looking for those types of roles, kind of push your subject matter expertise out over to the side. Now you’re just looking at all the things that you’ve done outside of the classroom, all the different ways you’ve created curriculum, all the different ways that you’ve navigated working with other teachers or creating different projects together, there’s a couple of roles that many teachers can do, regardless of what area they taught what grade they taught. And that would be customer success. It could be a sales role. So SDR BDR, it could be a marketing role, like more on the entry level of a marketing role, if you don’t couple with your subject matter expertise. And project management is another one that a lot of former teachers are going into. And I’ve even seen former teachers who are using their experience from the classroom coupled with upskilling, and learning, taking courses and becoming software engineers. So there’s so many different directions that you can really go depending on if you really want to still stay in the science field. Or if you’re open to working in a completely different environment. If you want to do training for financial technology company and show people online how to step by step go on to this platform, that’s something you’re going to be qualified for. Because you know how to train people on how to navigate things online. So, so many different directions, you can go actually have a free career quiz, that former teacher or that teachers can take that kind of help them navigate some of the different paths.
Rebecca 19:03
Okay, I love that. And we’re gonna for sure, link that in our show notes so that they can take that everyone loves a good quiz. I feel like it takes me back to like, you know, getting 17 magazine in high school and they always had some like sort of personality quiz or something. You’re like, yes, I want to take this and tell me who I am. So I love that. We’re going to definitely link that. So now let’s say you’re getting mixed. I’m listening. I’m getting excited. Okay, Daphne, if I’m like, Alright, it’s time it’s time to go.
Daphne 19:30
What I first want
Rebecca 19:31
to hear your best advice for like, what are the next steps for someone who knows they’re ready to go. And then kind of after that, I want to hear Okay, what about the teacher who’s like, you know what, I’m gonna try to change subject levels, give it another year, and then maybe reevaluate maybe some things that that kind of person who’s not quite ready, but they’re they’re really thinking about it, maybe what they could be doing over this next time period, but first would love to just hear about those who are like, I’m ready. What do I do?
Daphne 19:58
Okay, those who are ready to go So that would mean you need to pick one or two career paths. And really find out as much as you can about it, acronyms that they use, you can use something like LinkedIn learning to get kind of basic courses of what that job entails. And you can get a free trial of LinkedIn learning with your library, I also have one like a one month trial, teacher career coach, forward slash, LinkedIn learning. So teacher career coach.com, forward slash LinkedIn learning is like a one month free trial. But you want to look at a couple of different careers, and make sure that you understand the acronyms what those jobs entail, what you really need to know about these, even if they’re, quote, unquote, entry level positions, is that they still are going to want you to have a basic understanding of what the job is, especially as a career pivoter. So you’re going to understand the job because you need to be able, ultimately, in the interview, to articulate why you know, it’s the good, a good job for you, you can’t come end to these interviews and say, I’m open to anything does anything at this company does, I’m open to anything, because they’re gonna pass you up. For someone who’s very clear of this is the right job. For me, I’ve done my homework. So the very first step is starting to understand the jobs that you’re pinpointing, some of them are very similar. So you might see corporate trainer is that also a professional development trainer, or it’s a learning and development manager, or all of these job titles are all kind of the same thing. So starting to look at which ones are really coupled together and understanding those roles starting to research your salary requirements. So you can do that with just quick searches a salary.com, or Glassdoor is a good way to look at specific companies and their salaries, to understand what an average would be, because some companies are still not going to post the salary, which is something that’s a little frustrating, after you’ve really, really started to research, the salaries and the jobs, then you’re going to start building your resume, what I think a lot of teachers struggle with, is they’re going to translate their resume from classroom to corporate speak as best as they can. And then they’re gonna spray and pray, they’re gonna apply for Customer Success positions are going to apply for professional development positions are going to apply for editing jobs. That’s not what you want to do, you want to get really clear on the types of jobs you’re applying for, and create one or two iterations of your resume with the bullet points, really hyper focused on what makes you uniquely qualified for that position that you’re applying for, and translating it and to corporate verbiage. So let’s do an example of like an editing position. I’ve worked with some hiring managers at editing company that specializes for textbooks. And they want to hire teachers, I’ve had conversations with like the CEO and the Talent Team, and the recruiters all on a call with me. And we had this conversation where they were just saying, we know that a former teacher is actually going to be a better fit for this role than even someone with like, newspaper editing, like five years of editing experience isn’t gonna be as relevant to us, as someone with specific experience in the subject matter, we can teach them the editing really easy. But we are going to look for someone whose resume this is an editing job. So we want to hear how many hours they think that they’ve edited, if they have experience, editing their teammates, materials, put it on there, if they have experience with editing for their newspaper, put it on there, if they have experience writing curriculum from scratch, they need to put it on there. But what unfortunately happens is so many people set see that it says, Okay, we’re looking for a former teacher in this role, and they’re like, Great, I’m gonna get my former teacher resume and who’s really going to stand out are the people who are very, very specific and customized for their resume. And that’s why going back to the first one, you’re going to save a lot of time doing this if you start to look for a couple of different roles that you’re the most excited about, and understand how your skills are going to translate uniquely to that role. So those are the steps that I would be taking right now. And then starting to aggressively apply, writing down as many companies as you can, looking at the competitors for those companies, small businesses, if you’re starting to be feel like it’s a little bit more competitive, looking at companies within your driving distance, if you can do a hybrid role, it’s going to be less competitive, and just aggressively applying with this new resume as much as possible in the next few months.
Rebecca 24:59
That’s really unhelpful. Okay, so then what about the teacher who’s like, I think I can do another year, maybe change in my environment and kind of see how I’m feeling after another year. But I definitely am like considering leaving, what would they need to do since it’s not as urgent, just kind of focus on the researching
Daphne 25:15
my best advice. And I know so many people put this off upskill. So you want to research the types of roles that you want, because you have more time, right? Audience number one, to now start painting your nails go for a walk to and out of this, because you’re not gonna have as much time to do these types of things. But if you are on the fence, and you know, you’re gonna stay, you’re in a cushy position, and you just want to weigh out the storm, have one more year and find some clarity, pick one or two roles, go back to that LinkedIn learning piece. But on top of that, add a couple new skills, video editing, the learn that authoring tool, if you want to become an instructional designer, if you’re thinking of becoming a software engineer, take a couple of free resources on Khan Academy, and get your hands dirty, so that you can find more clarity on what you like, and you don’t like because on paper, everybody’s first instinct is to run to the job that sounds the most like teacher, they’re gonna go to something if it has education, or learning in the actual job title itself, because they’re like, Oh, I that feels aligned with what I need. But in reality, what I found was so many of the former teachers that I’ve talked to, is they start off wanting to become a curriculum writer. And then they realize, I sat down at a computer for eight hours writing on a computer. I don’t like that. I like talking to people, or I don’t I guess I don’t like that part of the job. I don’t like the words as much as the building. So one really interesting conversation I had with someone was they started out becoming a curriculum writer. And then they realized, I like building things. I like the sequence of building things, and they became a software engineer. And that’s where they’re really passionate and happy. So during this next 12 months, try and give yourself five hours a month, something low stakes of what can I work towards, to find the clarity of, you know, 12 months from now, I’ll be able to put those bullet points on my resume if I want it. Or I’ll know that I’m not going to go through a couple of different roles later on when it’s closer to application season, I would also look for ways that while you’re upskilling, it can potentially help you as a teacher. So if you wanted to add like a project management software to your resume, if you’re looking at these different roles and starting to kind of pick apart like oh, a lot of these leadership or management positions or asking for experience leading others, or using a project management software, grab of Trello license do go on to Asana or something similar to that, you can learn these project management pieces, probably within an hour of just watching some YouTube tutorials, but build a project management board, work with some of the teachers on at your school site and say, Hey, we’re gonna build something really quickly together, if you’re open to it, that’s gonna save us some time. And we’re gonna collaborate together using this, let me set up a system that can help here I’m going to delegate the responsibilities. And by one month, we’ll have built out something that’s going to save us time. And we can just use this as a really quick way for us to build things together collaboratively, you get to now say that you have led a team, you’ve done some project management, you have this on your resume. So So going above and beyond, but no way that makes sense. So if you’re trying to learn video editing, maybe you create a video to help the parents find a way to go to the si es system. So you don’t have to, like reinvent the wheel. And it’s like this is exactly where it is. And you’ve learned how to create videos and you’re able to put that on your resume. I think a lot of people really struggle with understanding that your experience that you put on the resume does not have to be formal experience. It does not have to be something that you were formally a video editor, you’re not going to change your job title to say I was a video editor at this school because that’s not accurate. But any of these skills that you’ve built that you’ve done, outside and beyond your expectations are still really valuable to the different jobs that you’re applying to. So using this time to reflect and to build is I think the most important thing, because at the end of the day, you might say I didn’t like any of that as much as I like teaching
Rebecca 30:00
Totally, I think that’s so wise. And I think that’s really encouraging because there really are especially high school teachers listening, you’re there, almost every high school teacher is also, you know, running several clubs and doing all these different things they are project managing in that way. And or, you know, like I think of, for me when I started, you know, writing curriculum on the side, while I was teaching full time, I realized, like you said that I liked the writing curriculum part more than I liked the teaching part. That’s not the case for everyone. So I love that idea of using this time over the next year to try some new things like the writing curriculum on the side was great, because it pushed me to be really offering really solid, great resources to my students. So it served my students in the time that it also served me and realizing this is a good fit for me. So I love that idea of kind of taking on learning skills and trying things that are still overlapping with what you’re doing. But then you’re also going to be able to use those down the road. That’s very, very wise, which is why you’re the teacher career coach. So speaking of that, I would love to know, just what kind of services do you provide for teachers that could just kind of help them in this process. And we’re going to make sure to link anything you mentioned in the show notes. So if you’re listening just know you’ll be able to click those really easily.
Daphne 31:14
Yeah, for those just evaluating whether or not leaving teaching is a good fit for them. I always recommend kind of hopping over to our podcasts, the teacher Career Coach podcast, totally free, over 100 different episodes of either me giving advice on frequently asked questions. So whether or not you should leave based on where you are and your pension, because that’s going to vary from person to person. So if you’re earlier on in your career, waiting to vest to your pension actually doesn’t usually calculate to be the best option fiscally, which is kind of counterintuitive for most of us. And but if you’re later in your career, you’re going to really want to look at where you are, if you’re close to retirement and how that’s going to impact you. So the teacher Career Coach podcast kind of helps answer all those types of questions, roadblocks you might have, and interviews, former teachers and a variety of roles. So you can start to get your wheels kind of spinning on what sounds like a good fit for you what the day to day looks like, what their subject matter expertise was prior to landing those positions and the steps they took to get it. We have a free career quiz. It’s at teacher career coach.com forward slash quiz. But if they want the most support, if you’re listening, and you’re like, I need out immediately, and I want someone to help me with finding Career Clarity, with rewriting my resume, with answering interview questions, building my confidence, and being able to do this as quickly as possible with just everything kind of laid out in baby steps for them. That is our teacher Career Coach course, which has successfully helped 1000s of teachers since 2019, with their transition outside of the classroom. And that’s our paid service. So that is where they can find all the videos, step by step lessons and everything in one easy to use location.
Rebecca 33:04
Awesome. That’s very helpful. Well, is there anything else you would like to add? Before I have a question that I asked all my guests, so I’m going to end with my final question. But anything else before I switch to that? No? Awesome. Okay. Well, last but not least, I like to ask all my guests, I would just love to know if there’s one way that you have simplified your life recently, since this is a secondary science, simplified podcast. So this could be like a life hack. It could be an organizational tool, it could be something you started doing something you stopped doing in order to create more space in your day or your life, a resource you’re using really anything that is simplifying your life more right now. So I would love to hear what is simplifying your life right
Daphne 33:44
now. So I love finding new ways to organize things I obsess over project management and organization. And then I also struggle with it at the exact same time. i This is the first time I’ve actually said it out loud. But I actually was finally diagnosed 38 years old with ADHD yesterday after a few months of going through the tests, because I was trying to figure out what was it that just was disconnected all but off? Yeah, okay.
Rebecca 34:15
Well, I just interviewed an ADHD coach. So it’s going to be airing prior to our interview, but I just learned so much about this too. It’s very fascinating. So continue. Yeah. But um,
Daphne 34:27
I constantly have been looking for management systems to help me with the overwhelm because I’m so excited about learning and finding all these things. But then it’s so hard for me to find them because I’m a little bit disorganized. I’m a little bit of a mess. So the best system that I have found so far that does feel life changing. It’s a book called building a second brain. I recommend it. It’s just about how someone who is constantly learning and looking for ways to learn and constantly wanting to go back to the lessons that they’ve learned in the past, and organize all of that online. So it’s an entire book of here’s how to digitize and structure, all of the different things you’re going to find out and learn on a day to day basis. So if you’re like a podcast listener, if you love listening, reading books, if you’re constantly on the internet, and you’re finding an article that resonates with you, and you’re like, shoot, where do I put those notes, this is gonna break down, where you’re gonna put the notes, how you’re going to organize it, and it was so helpful to me. And that is what I recommend for anyone to read the book, building a second brain, I’m not an affiliate for them or anything, but
Rebecca 35:43
that’s awesome. I’m, again, I’m gonna link it. So I’m going to find it. And I’ll make sure to link that too, because that’s great. And it I really enjoyed my interview just a few weeks ago with Bri because I she was talking about so many people get diagnosed now, like in their 30s, and their 40s. So you’re not alone with really finally having a named why there was a disconnect in your brain, and with terms of your excitement and your execution, so that’s awesome. I’ll definitely link that book. Well, thank you, truly, so much for making the time to be here. I’m so grateful. I can’t wait for my listeners to hear from you. And we’re gonna link all the things but if you want, if I might have listeners have questions where it’d be like the first place I should send them to your Instagram or what would be best?
Daphne 36:24
Yeah, that Instagram at teacher career coach.
Rebecca 36:26
Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much, Daphne.
Daphne 36:30
All right. Thank you so much. Rebecca was so great to meet you and be on the podcast.
Rebecca 36:34
I know. This is fun. Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. In my conversation with Daphne, you can find any links mentioned in the show notes, which can be found at it’s not rocket science classroom.com/episode 67. And if you’re still trying to discern if you need an environmental shift, or a full on career shift, just stay tuned, hang in there with me. These next few weeks of episodes were made just for you. We will be covering how to get support from your admin and what you can do if they don’t support you, as well as what to consider when you are evaluating your teaching contract. Also, I’m bringing back Zach Matson from Episode 35 to share his experience as a 20 plus year teaching veteran with working with difficult parents, admin and co workers. I hope all of these episodes will support you and encourage you during this upcoming contract season. So be sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss a single one. All right, teacher friends. That wraps up today’s episode. If you’re looking for an easy way to start simplifying your life as a secondary science teacher, head to It’s not rocket science classroom.com/challenge to grab your classroom reset challenge. And guess what? It’s totally free. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you here next week. Until then, I’ll be rooting for you Teacher friend.