So you’re a veteran teacher who’s thinking about leaving the classroom, but you feel stuck. Maybe you’re near the top of your district’s salary scale and it feels impossible to not only replace your salary but also find a new job that’ll fund your retirement at the same level as your state’s pension program.
You know, you’re right. You might be stuck.
Only you know your situation, so I’m not telling anyone what they should do. I will, though, tell you what I would do if I was in Year 23 of my teaching career and had one eye on the door. (Full disclosure: I left the classroom after teaching 20 years and now work full-time at a college library. I also make money by building curriculum for secondary folks and helping teachers with projects like this blog. Thank you for your support of my work.)
First, I would know my numbers. How much do you spend each month? How many more years do you need to teach until you qualify for your pension and how much will that pension provide? For an example, let’s look at what California’s pension system, CalSTRS, paid newly retired teachers last year:
Source: California State Teachers’ Retirement System, Retired Educator, Winter 2023
Last year, the average teacher who retired was 63 and had earned just over 24 years of service credit. During their last three years in the classroom, they’d been paid a salary of about $100,000 each year. Those numbers qualify that retiree for a pension of about $58,000 a year, which they’ll receive in monthly payments for the rest of their life with small cost-of-living adjustments.
Interesting, few of our colleagues will ever actually reach that mark. In the U.S., only about 1 in 5 teachers will stay in the system long enough to earn their full pension and roughly 50 percent don’t remain in a single pension system long enough to qualify for even minimum benefits.
I’m one of those “mid-career teachers” who won’t make it to the full pension finish line. By moving across state lines in 2016 and again in 2020, I pretty much imploded my pension. But I knew this before we made those moves; no worries, a partial pension, good real estate timing, online work, and frugality means Team Randazzo will be should be fine.
As you know, teacher pension rules vary dramatically state-to-state, so you’ll want to dig into your state’s system to find your specific numbers. Also, retiree health insurance options are usually tied to your school district as part of your teachers’ union contract and can be quite expensive. Check your contract to learn more about your options.
Once you know your numbers, make a decision. Will you stay or will you go? From my own season of “Should I leave?” angst, I know there’s peace in finally deciding, in ending that mental tug-of-war.
If you’ve decided to leave, take strategic steps while you’re still in the classroom to find a solid landing spot before you leap. Here are free templates of the cover letter and resume that helped me land my library job and we can talk more about that transition in a later blog post, if you like.
If you’ve decided to stay, the rest of this blog post is for you. I present…
17 things you can do to help sustain your teaching career/stick it out ‘til retirement:
• Care. Less.
Teachers are the target for all manner of static coming from students, parents, administrators, toxic co-workers, the media, you name it. Knowing this, let’s try caring less about all of those opinions. Don’t be careless, just care less. You’ll find more peace when you learn to focus on doing your best in each moment with the resources you have and then emotionally letting go of whatever results come to pass. You can control you, but you can’t control anyone else. (Thanks to @bethanykay.xo for coining my new favorite motto.)
• Embrace change.
Let’s surrender the idea that kids are ever going to be the same as they were pre-pandemic. For better and for worse, the world has shifted (I’m looking at you, ChatGPT) and your classroom routines may need to change, too.
• Reject the teacher-savior narrative.
Dangerous Minds. Freedom Writers. Stand and Deliver. You know the script – a group of hard-to-reach students are saved by the sacrificial actions of one teacher hero. That’s nice for Hollywood but ridiculous in real life. You don’t need to work yourself into a divorce or heart attack/early grave to be a good teacher. Do your job, but then set it down and do other things that are completely just for the non-teacher side of you. For me, that’s line dancing and pub trivia and learning to play the ukulele. It doesn’t matter what The Thing is. It matters only that you enjoy it. Remember, you are immediately replacable at school. If you died today, it’s likely your job would be posted by your district before your funeral was held by your family. Shift your priorities accordingly.
• Use your sick days.
Because I’m dumb, I left my California school district with 54 unused sick days in my account. I’ve been told they’ll eventually convert into a tiny bit of service time in my state’s pension calculation, but I wish I’d used the days when my kids were little or whenever I needed a break. Since your focus now is on completing this retirement marathon, use those rest stations. And don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for taking the days you’ve earned. Your district’s inability to hire enough subs is not the teachers’ responsibility. If they paid subs more than $13/hour, they’d have enough coverage. This is an easy problem for them – not you – to solve.
• Change your inputs.
Surrounded by complaining colleagues? Certainly, there’s a lot to complain about in education today, but too much of that negative energy will drain your battery. Instead, seek out a hopeful coworker or go eat lunch in your car, where it’s always warm and quiet. Have you been doom-scrolling on #teacherquittok? Disable that account and set up a fresh one where you intentionally interact only with things that make you feel good. Sidenote: If anyone comes across your feed that makes you feel any kind of ick, stop following them. A swarm of lifestyle Instagrammers and TikTokers who were showing the faces of their students made me cringe. I blocked them all and now my feed’s a source of inspiration instead of irritation.
• Bring back the fun.
When was the last time you belly-laughed at work? If you can’t remember, consider using Quarter Trios, an ongoing classroom competition that’ll last for the next marking period/quarter. If you have to be at school, you might as well be having some fun.
• Share your nerdy obsession with your students.
If you love to crochet, show interested students some basic stitches. If you’re a hockey fan, plaster your SmartBoard screen with NHL stats and banners. Me? I like making balloon animals, so I’d make balloon corsages and pearl-handled swords with my 4th period freshmen before assemblies to fill that weird pocket of time on alternative schedule days.
• Shut your classroom door and teach.
Everyone loves to tell you how to do your job, but none of them (including me) has taught your subject/grade level in your community. Listen to good ideas, but take everything with a grain of salt. You’ve taught long enough to know what’ll work with your students and your style. Do that.
• Be strategic with your schedule.
Make moves now to ensure you don’t do any teaching stuff while you’re on spring break. Set project due dates well-before or well-after you leave for spring break. Everyone – especially you, dear teacher – needs a true vacation before the last big push toward graduation.
• Consider 20Time.
Everything you need to launch the best spring semester project of my entire teaching career is here – and it’s all free.
• Stop grading everything.
Be choosy with how you allot your grading time. Need specific advice about how to cull the stacks? Click here for my free Grading Hacks video series on YouTube.
• Pick your battles.
Yes, rules are important. Your sanity is also important. Let’s say it’s the end of the term and you notice a student’s grade landed at 79.5 percent. If you file semester grades with a C+ for that student, you just know that Meddlesome Mama is going to fire off a hostile email to you with the admin. team cc’d . If you want to fight that fight, go for it. You’d be right. Me? I’d bump it to the B- before I even hit the “file” button and get on with my life. I also wouldn’t log into my email until the new semester begins. Protect. Your. Peace.
• Don’t be extra – unless you want to be.
Unless you love something, don’t volunteer. For me, an extra task has to be a “hell, yeah!” or I’m not doing it. Your time and energy are valuable.
• Redecorate your brain space.
If you are interested in something, give it a go. Take a class or go to a conference. Volunteer to mentor a student teacher. Pick a new prep for next year or transfer to a different campus or grade level. A new challenge can be a nice distraction that’ll help the next few years slide by.
• Redecorate your physical space.
Since you likely spend more of your waking hours in your classroom than your home, make it a comfortable place. Bring in a plant. Turn off the overhead lights and use a warmy desk lamp during your prep period. Leave a snuggle blanket in your filing cabinet for cold days when you need comfort. (Slightly off-topic: I used to host a blanket drawer and supply handwarmers to students in the winter. More on that here: https://laurarandazzo.com/creature-comforts/)
• Be your own parent.
Whenever I’m feeling down, I play this trick on myself. I pretend I am my own mom. If my adult child was struggling with the thing that I’m currently struggling with, what would I tell her to do? Move your body, drink more water, cook healthy foods, rest, reach out to friends, lean into your faith, limit screen time, go outdoors, do something for someone else – you know, all of the things that I know will help me feel better. I’d also probably buy her an ice cream cone and tell her that I love her. Do those things for yourself.
• Talk to a professional.
When stress becomes overwhelming and your usual coping strategies aren’t working, it’s time to seek help. Click here for a list of 27 free counseling options for teachers.
Experience has taught me that taking action – even the smallest step forward – goes a long way toward improving a lousy situation. Just pick something and give it a go. Also, please know that you are not alone. In a survey that surprised no one, EdWeek reported that “nearly three-fourths of teachers and 85 percent of principals are experiencing frequent job-related stress, compared to just a third of working adults. Fifty-nine percent of teachers and 48 percent of principals say they’re burned out, compared to 44 percent of other workers.” Now I want to hear from those 25 percent of teachers who’ve avoided frequent job-related stress. Teach us your ways!
So where are you in all of this? Have you checked your pension numbers? Any surprises? If you’re planning on leaving, what’s next in your career? If you’ve decided to stay, how might you make the new semester a better one? Leave a reply below and let’s talk about it.
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