Do you love a good metaphor? Good, we do too. In this episode, we encourage you to think about your teaching job much like you would your house. So you're growing a little tired of it.... can it be improved with a new coat of paint and some redecorating? Do you need a remodel? Or do you need to list it and move on? We have helpful frameworks to guide you through what's called  "job crafting" and "life design." Here's your homework: Figure out if you’re gonna love it or leave it! Can you redecorate a little and be happy with that? Make an action plan for what and how you might make small tweaks to your current role - if you need help, try the Job Crafting tool on the jobcrafting.com website. If you’re gonna leave it, figure out what your must-have, nice-to-have, and deal breakers are for the next house job. Make a list the same way you would if you were house hunting. Or, if you want a little more help with the process, try the framework exercises on this Life Design website. Head to our website exteacherspodcast.com and subscribe to our newsletter. That way you can get on our email list, hear about new episodes, and dope new offerings like our Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly virtual meet up with an open agenda hosted by Jen and Sara where you can brainstorm ideas, share thoughts, and connect with other people like you. Of course, follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook, both @exteacherspodcast Questions, comments, reactions? You can always email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com

In this episode, we talk about competing commitments, which are two beliefs that are in direct opposition and can have you feeling like you're driving with your foot on the accelerator while the parking brake is on. Examining these competing commitments can reveal the hidden assumptions that may be holding you back from finding your next step. For all you visual learners and folks who watch Netflix with the captions on, here are the guiding questions we go over in the episode: 1) What would you like to have happen, so that your work could be more satisfying? Whether it includes staying in teaching, or leaving - think about what you’d want to be true about your work that would make it more fulfilling and better for you as a human. Responses to this question are nearly always couched in a complaint; but complaints can be immensely useful. People tend to complain about the things they care about. 2) What commitments does your complaint imply? This can be a weird question, but it’s a way of flipping the complaint to uncover what matters to you. 3) What are you doing, or not doing, that is keeping your commitment from being more fully realized? If you imagine doing the opposite of the undermining behavior, do you detect in yourself any discomfort, worry, or vague fear? By engaging in this undermining behavior, what worrisome outcome are you committed to preventing? 4) What hidden assumption drives this self-protective instinct that creates the competing commitment? Ask yourself to create the beginning of a sentence by inverting the competing commitment, and then fill in the blank. 5) Test this assumption. Where did the assumption come from? Look for contradictory evidence. Run small experiments, and look at what they tell you. Most importantly, follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook, both @exteacherspodcast, and check out our new offering starting in January 2023-- the Roundtable! It's a monthly virtual meet up with an open agenda hosted by Jen and Sara where you can brainstorm ideas, share thoughts, and connect with other people like you. Head to the website to sign up! Questions, comments, reactions? You can always email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com

This episode is all about barriers and facilitators: people and things that might stand in the way, and people and things that help you move forward.  Here's your homework: Start by identifying the more prominent barriers and facilitators in your life. These are the brakes and accelerators toward a more fulfilling career. Now, take some time to write out one or two of your worst case scenarios, in detail. Reflect on what barriers play into these scenarios. Then, write out what you’d do if it unfolded. What are your desperation moves? Who and what are your “last resort” support resources? Next, repeat that process but with a couple best case scenarios. Describe it in detail, including the barriers you may overcome and the facilitators that make it possible. You can do this as a bulleted list, but it’s also helpful to craft a narrative that tells the story of your transition, written from several years in the future looking back. Do this twice: the version with unhappy ending, drawing on your worst case scenarios, and the one with the happy ending – your best case scenario. However, be sure to make these narratives realistic. No fantasy lottery jackpots or school burning down. What does this exercise stir in you? Have your reflections handy for our next episode. Jen and I are here for you, holding the firefighter's circle thing! So don't forget to count us among the facilitators in your support network. Email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com anytime you need help or have questions. We are planning to expand our role as facilitators in 2023 with a monthly virtual roundtable, so stay tuned for details. Subscribe to our newsletter at exteacherspodcast.com so you don't miss it!

This episode is all about readiness - to leave teaching, or for change in general. Assessing your own level of readiness and “what type of quitter are you?” along with giving yourself permission to explore and run small experiments are a crucial step in the journey to a life beyond teaching (or to a happier one within it). Our cover art comes from Liz Fosslein @lizandmollie on Instagram.

Here's your homework:

Run small experiments, window shop other careers, and/or play with “quiet quitting” and report back on what you learn about yourself (and your future) in the process!

For more support in your experiments, read our blog posts Fly Casual: How to network without really trying and Lost in Translation: How to rewrite your teaching resume.

Can't get enough of Jen and Sara? Have questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com or visit our website at www.exteacherspodcast.com

Grab a snack, this is a long one. In this episode, we encourage you to consider your identity as a teacher and answer the question, "If I'm not a teacher, who am I?"

Here's your homework:

Your assignment is to engage in some introspection! Take some questionnaires, or answer some self reflection questions to answer the question: if you’re not a teacher, who are you?

Resources:

• Truity has a lot of free tests for these and other frameworks:
• Enneagram
• MBTI
• OCEAN / Big Five
• StrengthsFinder
• Fascinate
• Books we mentioned:
  • Do What You Are (matching career identity to personality)
  • Managed Heart (emotional labor in the workplace)

These self reflection questions from Work On Purpose are great for reflection:

• If an alien dropped in from outer space, what would you be most compelled to show them or explain to them about our world, either because you are so drawn to it or repulsed by it?
• What is the primary topic of articles you read?  Movies you watch? Podcasts you listen to? TV shows you watch?
• What could you sell with passion?
• What do you know inside and out? What experience or knowledge do you have that most others probably do not?
  

Can't get enough of Jen and Sara? Have questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com or visit our website at www.exteacherspodcast.com

We're back! And this time, we're in Sara's closet and talking about benefits-- paychecks, health insurance, PTO, and yes... THE PENSION. It's important to know what benefits teaching gives you-- and be really sure that teaching gives you those benefits 100% of the time. If it doesn’t, you can start to think of other places where you can get those benefits in a better way.

Here's the homework:

1. Make a list of the most important benefits you rely on teaching to provide: the things teaching provides you that you “couldn’t live without” or would be most worried about losing if you left the profession.

2. For each of these benefits, ask yourself: does it really do for me what I think it does? How adequately is teaching actually providing this benefit or resource, and how completely does it meet your needs?

3. Ask yourself, “Are there other ways to meet these needs?” Whether in a different career that provides them directly, or in other ways outside your career.

For example: you can get these resources in other ways: a higher paycheck from a different profession; more flexible year-round PTO, health insurance from the state exchange if not a partner, etc. Do some research, it might surprise you! 

4. Are there any benefits you need or desire, but don’t get from teaching, for example that you have to seek from other parts of your life?

For example, compensation: Do you get a job in the summer for extra cash? PTO flexibility: Would you vacation more/differently if you had a different schedule? 

In lieu of a downloadable PDF for this episode’s homework assignment, we humbly present to you pictures of ourselves from the glory days of teaching, dressed in our best teacher outfits. Head to exteacherspodcast.com to see Jen’s long denim skirt and some of Sara’s sweet cardigans.

Can't get enough of Jen and Sara? Have questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com or visit our website at www.exteacherspodcast.com

In this episode, we discuss your personal values. By first determining your own values, you can start to understand how teaching affirms them (or not), and if you're considering a new job, to find one that affirms your values in the same ways teaching has.. or in new ways teaching hasn't.

Here's the homework:

A. Identify your personal values. Here are a few ways to do that:

1. Using a long list of values, pick 5 and only 5, that you consider most important for you. We have a great PDF on our website to jumpstart your thinking. Click here to download!

2. Over the next few days, keep your eyes and ears open to notice those moments, no matter how big or small, when you feel most like yourself. Take note of them. You don’t have to immediately translate them to a new career or even anything at all. Just notice them.

3. If you were to receive the highest compliment in the form of 3-5 adjectives, what would they be? Imagine if someone else had to describe you with a few one-word descriptors, what specific words would make you feel seen and heard and resonate deeply with your sense of purpose and meaning.

B. Reflect: How does teaching affirm your values? How is it in conflict with them? Which of your personal values show up, and which don’t, in your day to day work?

Can't get enough of Jen and Sara? Have questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com or visit our website at www.exteacherspodcast.com

Ready to quit your teaching career, but not sure where to start?

You’re here because you’re a teacher, and you feel stuck. You think you want out, but you’re not sure how to build a new life on the outside.

Well, we’ve been there. We made it out, and we each made it out in different ways. Now we’re back to help you make your jailbreak.

Email us at exteacherspodcast@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and ideas.