Mid Life Career Change

[The Beast]

3 hours ago, Texsox said:

Officially in Texas teachers are in complete control of their grade book and no one can override them. But, admin controls what classes you teach and when. 

Here's the math that I see and what I tell my students. If you don't turn in one assignment you have a 0. If you make 100s on the next three assignments, you are still failing. Three missing assignments and nine 100s is failing. Turn something in, no matter how craptastic, and you'll have a much better chance to pass.

For most of my career I've taught seniors. They have passed English since kindergarten and passed two comprehensive state wide exams. Who am I to stand between them and their diploma and say you haven't passed my standards? So I usually have 99% passing rates. I'll also pull up a chair and sit next to them until they finish the assignments.  

A key difference is I accept and embrace that it's my job to get kids to pass. It's likely from a first career in sales. 

I would love to hear about that sometime. Maybe we need a thread where everyone talks about their jobs and how they got into their field. 

We probably derailed this thread but I enjoyed learning about education from your perspective.👍

[Texsox]

Many teachers I work with were excellent students. They loved school and were model citizens. 

I was the "smart kid who could get straight A's if he just applied himself". I applied myself to four varsity letters, four trips to the state chess finals, editor of the school newspaper, and various other clubs. Plus a sparkling 2.4gpa and 32 composite in the ACT. I rarely completed any homework but could earn As on most tests and quizzes. I also disrupted classes with ad libs. Anecdotally I believe I learned as much or more than my classmates with better grades. My 3.8 college gpa and ACT would be artifacts I'd present as evidence lol. 

In sales you can do everything right and not get the order. Changing someone's behavior (the buyer) isn't easy and it's almost always out of your control. But I was responsible for a budget and needed to hit it. 

So about those former model students who became teachers that I mentioned earlier. They get frustrated by kids who aren't like them. The chatty ones, the too busy to do homework ones. The kids who don't have a sense of "responsibility"*. Me? These are my people. I was a sweathog**. 

So what I bring to the classroom is a desire to help the students that were like me in high school plus loving challenging the students that were like me in college. It seems to be a winning combination. 

* I sat listening to a colleague complain about the total lack of responsibility one student was showing in her class. This was a Frank Thomas playing tee ball moment. What she didn't know until I told her was the kid at 17 has been working a job for almost a year to pay for his apartment which his 13 year old brother just moved into with him. Her little math worksheet probably wasn't the best way to judge responsibility. 

I found out about his situation by asking "why are you so tired?" Instead of "wake up! Or I'm sending you to the office" seems easy to me. 

**1970s TV sitcom reference kids. 

[ScootsMcGoots]

@Texsox thanks for sharing all of your experiences, knowledge and insight. I went to school for teaching. Completed my student teaching, did very well, ultimately decided to go in another direction. My degree and what I've learned has helped me find other jobs, so it wasn't a waste, but I knew at the end that I would not enjoy the profession. It would be a disservice to both myself and the students.

[Texsox]

8 hours ago, ScooterMcGuire said:

@Texsox thanks for sharing all of your experiences, knowledge and insight. I went to school for teaching. Completed my student teaching, did very well, ultimately decided to go in another direction. My degree and what I've learned has helped me find other jobs, so it wasn't a waste, but I knew at the end that I would not enjoy the profession. It would be a disservice to both myself and the students.

I'm really happy I had an almost 25 year career before going into teaching. I would not have done well in my twenty and thirties. 

[The Beast]

12 hours ago, ScooterMcGuire said:

@Texsox thanks for sharing all of your experiences, knowledge and insight. I went to school for teaching. Completed my student teaching, did very well, ultimately decided to go in another direction. My degree and what I've learned has helped me find other jobs, so it wasn't a waste, but I knew at the end that I would not enjoy the profession. It would be a disservice to both myself and the students.

What did you switch to? 

4 hours ago, Texsox said:

I'm really happy I had an almost 25 year career before going into teaching. I would not have done well in my twenty and thirties. 

What caused you to make the switch and how did you manage your living expenses while making the switch? I’m thinking I’ll have to make another change in the coming years which I think I might write about in the job thread…

[Texsox]

I made the switch partially by accepting a sabbatical, then a payout from the company being sold, savings, and downsizing. It also destroyed what was left of my first marriage. The country club, vacations, and other perks of high income did a nice job of hiding irreconcilable relationship problems.

One ironic moment during my final year as a VP of Sales. I was reviewing the final list of candidates for a position. I couldn't understand why someone I recommended didn't make the final cut. As I read the new company's requirements I realized he (nor I) were qualified to accept the position. It got me back to college to finish my degree . . . which led to a not business degree . . . which led to realizing "life long learner" described me better than most adjectives. 

In my twenties and thirties I was competitive, cashed some big commission checks, earned several promotions, saw double digit increases in salary year to year, had lots of responsibility and authority, and the stress and feeling of accomplishment that came with it. None of that really comes with teaching. I would not have lasted of I started teaching in my twenties. Knowing that I can expect a small, not keeping up with inflation, raise each year, would have frustrated me. No matter how my teams do, how well my students do, I will receive the same raise as everyone else.

 

 

[ScootsMcGoots]

11 hours ago, The Beast said:

What did you switch to? 

What caused you to make the switch and how did you manage your living expenses while making the switch? I’m thinking I’ll have to make another change in the coming years which I think I might write about in the job thread…

I saw the writing on the wall that it just wasn't for me. When I graduated, I was newly married. I did not want all of my nights spent grading or lesson-planning instead of spending that time with my wife. I did not like how much work I was going to have to put in with getting so little pay to start (I received my degree in elementary ed). I also did not like the politics that came with teaching, as well as the lack of control teachers (in my area) have relating to how to teach what needs to be taught. Dealing with parents was rough. And, quite honestly, being in a room full of kids all day took a toll on me. I was not the same person coming out of student teaching as I was starting my degree. I flat out realized that this just wasn't for me.

As far as managing living expenses...helps when you have dual income and super cool in-laws that allow you to live at their place almost rent-free for 2 years until you're able to get on your feet again. My wife and I don't make bookoo bucks, never have and never will, but we learned how to manage money and just worked our way up at the places we eventually ended up in (she also went for teaching and decided to move in a different direction). So, a combination of being wise with money and receiving help from some very generous and accommodating individuals.

I tried a few different jobs after student teaching and eventually landed at a non-profit, where I now manage a Warehouse.  The thing with receiving a teaching degree, is you gain a lot of different kinds of skills that make you valuable in many different types of roles. You learn how to be a professional, how to communicate, how to organize, and probably most important of all, how to LEARN. Most employers that aren't super-highly specialized would kill to have people like that all over their orgs.

We have found that we value making enough money to be able to support our lifestyle, give in areas we are passionate about, and save for the future. Chasing money is not in the cards for us. We also value being able to have time to enjoy this life, because you just never know when the clock is up, as morbid as that sounds. So far, it's worked for us. Of course there have been bumps in the road we've had to overcome...

Edited April 6, 2023 by ScooterMcGuire

[The Beast]

15 hours ago, Texsox said:

I made the switch partially by accepting a sabbatical, then a payout from the company being sold, savings, and downsizing. It also destroyed what was left of my first marriage. The country club, vacations, and other perks of high income did a nice job of hiding irreconcilable relationship problems.

One ironic moment during my final year as a VP of Sales. I was reviewing the final list of candidates for a position. I couldn't understand why someone I recommended didn't make the final cut. As I read the new company's requirements I realized he (nor I) were qualified to accept the position. It got me back to college to finish my degree . . . which led to a not business degree . . . which led to realizing "life long learner" described me better than most adjectives. 

In my twenties and thirties I was competitive, cashed some big commission checks, earned several promotions, saw double digit increases in salary year to year, had lots of responsibility and authority, and the stress and feeling of accomplishment that came with it. None of that really comes with teaching. I would not have lasted of I started teaching in my twenties. Knowing that I can expect a small, not keeping up with inflation, raise each year, would have frustrated me. No matter how my teams do, how well my students do, I will receive the same raise as everyone else.

 

 

I’m not sure if you know how or want to separate relevant posts out to the job thread or start a new one since the other one is a few years old.

Your career transition is a good story, particularly because you went back to school after a long time. I am sure the commission checks and benefits helped you go back to school, even with a divorce which had to be tough.

Are you satisfied with teaching as opposed to your old career and have you lived decently with the pay?

12 hours ago, ScooterMcGuire said:

I saw the writing on the wall that it just wasn't for me. When I graduated, I was newly married. I did not want all of my nights spent grading or lesson-planning instead of spending that time with my wife. I did not like how much work I was going to have to put in with getting so little pay to start (I received my degree in elementary ed). I also did not like the politics that came with teaching, as well as the lack of control teachers (in my area) have relating to how to teach what needs to be taught. Dealing with parents was rough. And, quite honestly, being in a room full of kids all day took a toll on me. I was not the same person coming out of student teaching as I was starting my degree. I flat out realized that this just wasn't for me.

As far as managing living expenses...helps when you have dual income and super cool in-laws that allow you to live at their place almost rent-free for 2 years until you're able to get on your feet again. My wife and I don't make bookoo bucks, never have and never will, but we learned how to manage money and just worked our way up at the places we eventually ended up in (she also went for teaching and decided to move in a different direction). So, a combination of being wise with money and receiving help from some very generous and accommodating individuals.

I tried a few different jobs after student teaching and eventually landed at a non-profit, where I now manage a Warehouse.  The thing with receiving a teaching degree, is you gain a lot of different kinds of skills that make you valuable in many different types of roles. You learn how to be a professional, how to communicate, how to organize, and probably most important of all, how to LEARN. Most employers that aren't super-highly specialized would kill to have people like that all over their orgs.

We have found that we value making enough money to be able to support our lifestyle, give in areas we are passionate about, and save for the future. Chasing money is not in the cards for us. We also value being able to have time to enjoy this life, because you just never know when the clock is up, as morbid as that sounds. So far, it's worked for us. Of course there have been bumps in the road we've had to overcome...

I’m glad to hear you had a successful career change. It’s important to recognize when something won’t work out and how things change you. Where did your wife go after teaching? What jobs did you try out before getting your role now? I know that my organization has some teachers in the talent development area, so those skills make sense.

That is a good way of looking at money and living life. I am a son of a salesman and I think most of my siblings make more than I do, but between my wife and I, we have enough money to put money in the bank, have enough cash flow, save for retirement and college and raise a son. I would like to earn more, but I also believe that there is a diminishing return with money at a certain point.

Now about me. My educational path is a winding road. I was an average student in high school, was misplaced in my math and science courses and got an average ACT score. I went to an average Illinois state school for my first two years of college wanting to be a sports journalist or an English teacher. Neither panned out and despite having decent grades, I wanted to transfer home to get some business courses and gen eds taking care of at the community college before getting a business degree at a private school in the Quad Cities. I got my business administration/management degree, worked in PR, marketing, a call center doing FMLA administration, at an insurance company doing sales support and for the last year or so I have done data analysis/analytics for the same insurance company. I also received a master’s in data science during my time at the insurance company and the company paid for most of it.

The job pays pretty well and some days are interesting, but there are days where I feel disengaged, like I could be doing more, like the next team I am wanting to work for could train me more on data structure and data visualization and that my company could invest more in fixing the issues with our data since they are going to invest into a CRM (something I have done some training modules on).
 

This year I am going to be 35 and I have had thoughts in the back of my mind of either getting better at what I do now and advancing to that next team, somehow going back to school to do nursing, so I would have a job that wouldn’t be easy to automate, would pay well and I would get satisfaction from helping others or moving to another company to get the training that I seek and get in an industry like healthcare. The challenge is that my wife wants another baby, we own a home and pay for daycare. So I don’t know if right now makes sense to go back to school or if there are nursing programs in the evening. It seems like I could get the best of both worlds if I upskilled in data analytics/engineering/visualization and then made it my goal to work for a healthcare organization. So I have that to consider too.

[Harry Chappas]

I tried to get into teaching about 10 years into my career.  I could not survive the student teaching phase and as such could not make the switch.

I wanted to be in education in college but for some reason went into finance.  I have done well so no great regrets but there was a time when I felt I would have found life more rewarding in education.  

[The Beast]

12 hours ago, Harry Chappas said:

I tried to get into teaching about 10 years into my career.  I could not survive the student teaching phase and as such could not make the switch.

I wanted to be in education in college but for some reason went into finance.  I have done well so no great regrets but there was a time when I felt I would have found life more rewarding in education.  

What gave you the itch to try teaching again, what did you find hard around student teaching and why did you go into finance instead of education? 

[Middle Buffalo]

Tex’s first post quoted  in this thread describes my boys perfectly. Both very smart, but they’d always miss turning in assignments, so they would teeter at the A-/B+ or B-/C+ line in so many classes. They’d be humming along with great grades, then, boom, 0 out of 100 on a nothing assignment. I dreaded checking their grades. I was so happy when they finished HS and moved to college. Something about the college environment led them to be more responsible.

I’ could own this site if I had a dollar for every time they told me, “I’ll talk to my teacher” about a missing assignment.

 

[Texsox]

On 4/17/2023 at 10:00 AM, Harry Chappas said:

I have done well so no great regrets but there was a time when I felt I would have found life more rewarding in education.  

The rewards in education for me come down to making a difference in someone's life. Anyone, in any career, can do that. 

When I was first a sales manager, later a VP, I had my brag wall. When I was feeling low I could gaze at the plaques and photos. By the end, I was really proud of the employees I hired and how well they did. 

Same thing as a golf coach. I've played my best rounds, now it's about helping others. Today we combined the ability of a 16 year old with fifty years of playing experience. Very rewarding. 

 

[caulfield12]

Here's mine

1993-94 Graduate with MS Sports Admin, two go with BA English (Iowa) minors in history and political science

1994-95 Director of Stadium Operations and Public Relations, Augusta GreenJackets  (turned down $500 internship from Red Sox per month to make more money doing sales in offseason, big big mistake but I was just a middle class kid from Iowa, also had job with Cardinals but made a bad joke about selling free/comp tickets for profit, lol, because interns are so poor)

1996 Director of Quest Foundation, USA, non-profit co-founded with Arthur Marshall, Jr., of Denver Broncos/NY Giants (look up what happened to him during the mortgage crisis, it's a crazy story of an NFL footballer ending up in Federal Prison in Miami and even cheating his father's Foreign Legion/VFW post out of hundreds of thousands of dollars)

1997 Looking at PR jobs in Kansas City.  Driving a snowplow doing blue collar work for girlfriend's dad.  Corporate Communications group...drove a Mercedes 600 S and was aide/assistant to David Westbrook, one of the biggest PR leaders in KC at the time (also blind)

1998 AmeriCorps (National Service Volunteer), Kansas City KS (probably more dangerous than East St. Louis at the time)

1999-2002 Program Director of Youth Volunteer Corps, Greater Kansas City MO area...was privileged to work with two billionaires on their civic projects, Tom Bloch (H&R Bloch founder's son, see his work with inner city charter schools, University Academy as well as books on national service/volunteer teaching at St. Francis Xavier) and Adele Hall, Hallmark Cards founder Don Hall's wife Adele Hall (well, technically Lawrence, KS)

2005-2006  Teaching at an international high school in Colombia (Armenia/Quindio, between Cali and Medellin, perfect weather there, in mountains/finca/coffee growing area)

2002-2007 Teaching English and Social Studies through Teach for America program, Paseo and Northeast in KCMOSD  (rough rough rough)

 

 

Same as Texsox's story....only a 29 ACT but never studied for any tests like AP or ACT (24 on English, my university major (Haha) and 29/30/31 on three other subjects, never took twice because knew I was going to Univ of Iowa and had a girlfriend in hometown one hour away), 3.4-3.6 student entire life but never studied except Sunday nights, all my friends went to Northwestern Univ. from high school but I ended up saving a lot of money going to a public university for low-paying humanities programs (International Writer's Workshop/Creative Writing, etc.)

Have now taught 12 years (Economics, English and History/Social Studies) in 3 different cities in China (went through Covid origins here in Wuhan of all places from 2020-2023), 2 years in Thailand, 3 months in Indonesia and South Korea (two long stories there, one involving working for wife's brother's business), one year in Colombia, another 4-6 months in the Philippines working and teaching...another Master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction (waste of time!) but I had to do that since teaching without a license (Teach for America) and also coaching volleyball/basketball/soccer and baseball at the same time, lol...certification in American Humanics/non-profit management at Rockhurst Univ.    So roughly 20 years of teaching and traveling....gave up pension and will have $1000 per month at 70 from my accumulated units of SS, ha

 

Basically my favorite thing to do now is working with graduating students on US and UK applications essays, CAL system essays, individual supplemental essays...but that's now being threatened by CHAT GPT-4) another year or two and I will be obsolete/retired by 54-55...wife 38 and still working for at least 20 more years, just bought a house and son just finished 2nd grade in our primary (all my friends growing up, their kids have graduated from university or are in the process of doing so, but I traveled all around the world in 00's and 10's (first wife from Russia, second wife from here in Wuhan, China)...too late to do a 3rd Master's and do guidance/career counseling, so I basically do it as my second job in school along with teaching so I can maintain my vacation time for traveling (Thailand/Japan/USA this summer)

Want to get back involved with non-profit work and maybe pickleball, haha...collecting baseball cards and autographed memorabilia again has been fun again

Now, mostly play badminton, ultimate frisbee, soccer, walking...to try to stay in shape at this point in my life

If I was a billionaire family member, probably would have been a lawyer or run for political office as a Dem, lol

Edited April 19, 2023 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

On 4/7/2023 at 11:24 AM, The Beast said:

I’m not sure if you know how or want to separate relevant posts out to the job thread or start a new one since the other one is a few years old.

Your career transition is a good story, particularly because you went back to school after a long time. I am sure the commission checks and benefits helped you go back to school, even with a divorce which had to be tough.

Are you satisfied with teaching as opposed to your old career and have you lived decently with the pay?

I’m glad to hear you had a successful career change. It’s important to recognize when something won’t work out and how things change you. Where did your wife go after teaching? What jobs did you try out before getting your role now? I know that my organization has some teachers in the talent development area, so those skills make sense.

That is a good way of looking at money and living life. I am a son of a salesman and I think most of my siblings make more than I do, but between my wife and I, we have enough money to put money in the bank, have enough cash flow, save for retirement and college and raise a son. I would like to earn more, but I also believe that there is a diminishing return with money at a certain point.

Now about me. My educational path is a winding road. I was an average student in high school, was misplaced in my math and science courses and got an average ACT score. I went to an average Illinois state school for my first two years of college wanting to be a sports journalist or an English teacher. Neither panned out and despite having decent grades, I wanted to transfer home to get some business courses and gen eds taking care of at the community college before getting a business degree at a private school in the Quad Cities. I got my business administration/management degree, worked in PR, marketing, a call center doing FMLA administration, at an insurance company doing sales support and for the last year or so I have done data analysis/analytics for the same insurance company. I also received a master’s in data science during my time at the insurance company and the company paid for most of it.

The job pays pretty well and some days are interesting, but there are days where I feel disengaged, like I could be doing more, like the next team I am wanting to work for could train me more on data structure and data visualization and that my company could invest more in fixing the issues with our data since they are going to invest into a CRM (something I have done some training modules on).
 

This year I am going to be 35 and I have had thoughts in the back of my mind of either getting better at what I do now and advancing to that next team, somehow going back to school to do nursing, so I would have a job that wouldn’t be easy to automate, would pay well and I would get satisfaction from helping others or moving to another company to get the training that I seek and get in an industry like healthcare. The challenge is that my wife wants another baby, we own a home and pay for daycare. So I don’t know if right now makes sense to go back to school or if there are nursing programs in the evening. It seems like I could get the best of both worlds if I upskilled in data analytics/engineering/visualization and then made it my goal to work for a healthcare organization. So I have that to consider too.

I'm from Bettendorf, haha.

Will be back again this July/August for Bix weekend and my mother's memorial mass at St. John Vianney.

Small world.

 

A lot of my students here in China that do CS want to go into Data Science, like Carnegie Mellon...

My best IB student went there two years ago, and it's becoming an increasingly common choice compared to Econ/Finance (due to all the global economic uncertainty and crackdown on tech companies here in China).

Of course, many are chasing anything related to game design/coding/animation...along with all those "quant" types that still want stock market/investing careers.

EEE is a very common choice as well, anything Engineering-related.   Health care/medicine is not lucrative unless you're a surgeon and don't work for a public hospital or clinic.

 

[greg775]

Cool thread. ... Tex and Caulfield with the high ACT scores, nice.

I got a 28 which shows I am not totally dumb.

I didn't need the SAT to get into U of Kansas but did need the SAT to get in schools like Northwestern and U of I.

So at the time the SAT was offered my junior year of high school I was living in Lisle and attending Benet (2 years), not living in Mt. Greenwood attending Bro RIce (2 years). Feeling nostalgic I got three Benet classmates of mine to agree to take our SAT at one of the sites that offered it, my old high school, Brother Rice. Benet didn't offer the SAT. I thought it'd be neat returning to my first h.s. I drove us to the south side early one Sat morning and the moderator made everybody show their ID in the classroom as the mods handed out the SATs. I was holding up my ID and the old brother yelled at me, "I know who you are!" and gave me the test without looking at my ID. I was surprised the old brother didn't whack me as they could slap u back then. . Br. Rice is so big he still thought I went there and hadn't seen me in a while, I'm sure.

Distracted by a few different things I knew I bombed it. I got a 950 lol. Northwestern laughed at me and said I'd have to take it again to go with my stellar GPA if I wanted to attend NW. I knew I wanted to escape home and go to KU so no need to take it again. But my SAT score was soooo low. So bad. My friends did very well on theirs.

Edited April 19, 2023 by greg775

[Harry Chappas]

On 4/17/2023 at 10:29 PM, The Beast said:

What gave you the itch to try teaching again, what did you find hard around student teaching and why did you go into finance instead of education? 

I always felt teaching was a noble profession.

I had started a family and student teaching was not going to pay the bills.  It was going to be long period of no income.

I like numbers so finance was the alternative after changing majors from the college of education.  I was really bad at the Liberal Arts classes and that was what frustrated me in the College of Education.  These were not required in the College of Business.  Specifically I am unable to understand how to speak a foreign language.  I couldn't pass it high school and then had to take two years in college as part of the curriculum in education.

[The Beast]

22 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

I'm from Bettendorf, haha.

Will be back again this July/August for Bix weekend and my mother's memorial mass at St. John Vianney.

Small world.

 

A lot of my students here in China that do CS want to go into Data Science, like Carnegie Mellon...

My best IB student went there two years ago, and it's becoming an increasingly common choice compared to Econ/Finance (due to all the global economic uncertainty and crackdown on tech companies here in China).

Of course, many are chasing anything related to game design/coding/animation...along with all those "quant" types that still want stock market/investing careers.

EEE is a very common choice as well, anything Engineering-related.   Health care/medicine is not lucrative unless you're a surgeon and don't work for a public hospital or clinic.

 

Yep, I went to SAU to finish undergrad and enjoyed my time in the Quad Cities. I never did the Bix but lots of people I knew did.

I don’t match up well with quant types. I am less interested in algorithms and think to be in data science you need to really like math. I prefer to code so I’m more interested in SQL, Power BI, Python and languages for development. I didn’t get a lot of exposure to those in my grad program as we primarily focused on using R and some SQL and Python. If I had the chance I would probably do something in healthcare analytics. It’s a good choice for kids to go into data science though, even if I would still recommend healthcare.

13 hours ago, Harry Chappas said:

I always felt teaching was a noble profession.

I had started a family and student teaching was not going to pay the bills.  It was going to be long period of no income.

I like numbers so finance was the alternative after changing majors from the college of education.  I was really bad at the Liberal Arts classes and that was what frustrated me in the College of Education.  These were not required in the College of Business.  Specifically I am unable to understand how to speak a foreign language.  I couldn't pass it high school and then had to take two years in college as part of the curriculum in education.

My concern about going back to school again for something where I would need to do day time classes is that I need to work to pay for our living expenses so night school is only really possible. I have a feeling something in healthcare would need daytime classes though. Maybe in several years I could pursue it again when my son (and other kid we probably will have) gets older.

I too never could get foreign language down in high school. I got Cs in Spanish in high school and only got a good enough grade because I did the homework and failed the exams. I did better in college because I took accelerated courses in Spanish at the community college which made it easier. But I can understand how you would prefer numbers and how you struggled in liberal arts classes.

Would you ever consider being a business education teacher at a high school, specifically if you just needed a master’s in education or a teaching certificate to enter?

22 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Here's mine

1993-94 Graduate with MS Sports Admin, two go with BA English (Iowa) minors in history and political science

1994-95 Director of Stadium Operations and Public Relations, Augusta GreenJackets  (turned down $500 internship from Red Sox per month to make more money doing sales in offseason, big big mistake but I was just a middle class kid from Iowa, also had job with Cardinals but made a bad joke about selling free/comp tickets for profit, lol, because interns are so poor)

1996 Director of Quest Foundation, USA, non-profit co-founded with Arthur Marshall, Jr., of Denver Broncos/NY Giants (look up what happened to him during the mortgage crisis, it's a crazy story of an NFL footballer ending up in Federal Prison in Miami and even cheating his father's Foreign Legion/VFW post out of hundreds of thousands of dollars)

1997 Looking at PR jobs in Kansas City.  Driving a snowplow doing blue collar work for girlfriend's dad.  Corporate Communications group...drove a Mercedes 600 S and was aide/assistant to David Westbrook, one of the biggest PR leaders in KC at the time (also blind)

1998 AmeriCorps (National Service Volunteer), Kansas City KS (probably more dangerous than East St. Louis at the time)

1999-2002 Program Director of Youth Volunteer Corps, Greater Kansas City MO area...was privileged to work with two billionaires on their civic projects, Tom Bloch (H&R Bloch founder's son, see his work with inner city charter schools, University Academy as well as books on national service/volunteer teaching at St. Francis Xavier) and Adele Hall, Hallmark Cards founder Don Hall's wife Adele Hall (well, technically Lawrence, KS)

2005-2006  Teaching at an international high school in Colombia (Armenia/Quindio, between Cali and Medellin, perfect weather there, in mountains/finca/coffee growing area)

2002-2007 Teaching English and Social Studies through Teach for America program, Paseo and Northeast in KCMOSD  (rough rough rough)

 

 

Same as Texsox's story....only a 29 ACT but never studied for any tests like AP or ACT (24 on English, my university major (Haha) and 29/30/31 on three other subjects, never took twice because knew I was going to Univ of Iowa and had a girlfriend in hometown one hour away), 3.4-3.6 student entire life but never studied except Sunday nights, all my friends went to Northwestern Univ. from high school but I ended up saving a lot of money going to a public university for low-paying humanities programs (International Writer's Workshop/Creative Writing, etc.)

Have now taught 12 years (Economics, English and History/Social Studies) in 3 different cities in China (went through Covid origins here in Wuhan of all places from 2020-2023), 2 years in Thailand, 3 months in Indonesia and South Korea (two long stories there, one involving working for wife's brother's business), one year in Colombia, another 4-6 months in the Philippines working and teaching...another Master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction (waste of time!) but I had to do that since teaching without a license (Teach for America) and also coaching volleyball/basketball/soccer and baseball at the same time, lol...certification in American Humanics/non-profit management at Rockhurst Univ.    So roughly 20 years of teaching and traveling....gave up pension and will have $1000 per month at 70 from my accumulated units of SS, ha

 

Basically my favorite thing to do now is working with graduating students on US and UK applications essays, CAL system essays, individual supplemental essays...but that's now being threatened by CHAT GPT-4) another year or two and I will be obsolete/retired by 54-55...wife 38 and still working for at least 20 more years, just bought a house and son just finished 2nd grade in our primary (all my friends growing up, their kids have graduated from university or are in the process of doing so, but I traveled all around the world in 00's and 10's (first wife from Russia, second wife from here in Wuhan, China)...too late to do a 3rd Master's and do guidance/career counseling, so I basically do it as my second job in school along with teaching so I can maintain my vacation time for traveling (Thailand/Japan/USA this summer)

Want to get back involved with non-profit work and maybe pickleball, haha...collecting baseball cards and autographed memorabilia again has been fun again

Now, mostly play badminton, ultimate frisbee, soccer, walking...to try to stay in shape at this point in my life

If I was a billionaire family member, probably would have been a lawyer or run for political office as a Dem, lol

Your life is a winding road, but is fascinating.

What drew you to education? Is your house in China? How easy is it to get content from the U.S. in China? 

Your hobbies in baseball cards and memorabilia and politics are similar to mine!

21 hours ago, greg775 said:

Cool thread. ... Tex and Caulfield with the high ACT scores, nice.

I got a 28 which shows I am not totally dumb.

I didn't need the SAT to get into U of Kansas but did need the SAT to get in schools like Northwestern and U of I.

So at the time the SAT was offered my junior year of high school I was living in Lisle and attending Benet (2 years), not living in Mt. Greenwood attending Bro RIce (2 years). Feeling nostalgic I got three Benet classmates of mine to agree to take our SAT at one of the sites that offered it, my old high school, Brother Rice. Benet didn't offer the SAT. I thought it'd be neat returning to my first h.s. I drove us to the south side early one Sat morning and the moderator made everybody show their ID in the classroom as the mods handed out the SATs. I was holding up my ID and the old brother yelled at me, "I know who you are!" and gave me the test without looking at my ID. I was surprised the old brother didn't whack me as they could slap u back then. . Br. Rice is so big he still thought I went there and hadn't seen me in a while, I'm sure.

Distracted by a few different things I knew I bombed it. I got a 950 lol. Northwestern laughed at me and said I'd have to take it again to go with my stellar GPA if I wanted to attend NW. I knew I wanted to escape home and go to KU so no need to take it again. But my SAT score was soooo low. So bad. My friends did very well on theirs.

What did you end up doing for work?

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, The Beast said:

Yep, I went to SAU to finish undergrad and enjoyed my time in the Quad Cities. I never did the Bix but lots of people I knew did.

I don’t match up well with quant types. I am less interested in algorithms and think to be in data science you need to really like math. I prefer to code so I’m more interested in SQL, Power BI, Python and languages for development. I didn’t get a lot of exposure to those in my grad program as we primarily focused on using R and some SQL and Python. If I had the chance I would probably do something in healthcare analytics. It’s a good choice for kids to go into data science though, even if I would still recommend healthcare.

My concern about going back to school again for something where I would need to do day time classes is that I need to work to pay for our living expenses so night school is only really possible. I have a feeling something in healthcare would need daytime classes though. Maybe in several years I could pursue it again when my son (and other kid we probably will have) gets older.

I too never could get foreign language down in high school. I got Cs in Spanish in high school and only got a good enough grade because I did the homework and failed the exams. I did better in college because I took accelerated courses in Spanish at the community college which made it easier. But I can understand how you would prefer numbers and how you struggled in liberal arts classes.

Would you ever consider being a business education teacher at a high school, specifically if you just needed a master’s in education or a teaching certificate to enter?

Your life is a winding road, but is fascinating.

What drew you to education? Is your house in China? How easy is it to get content from the U.S. in China? 

Your hobbies in baseball cards and memorabilia and politics are similar to mine!

What did you end up doing for work?

We have AP IB and British A Levels external curriculum in our school... about 75-95 admitted to Illinois Purdue UCSB UC Davis UCI UCSD per  year out of 475.  Twenty for Oxford and Cambridge etc. 

I needed a break from non profit burnout... always enjoyed tutoring,  had those typical liberal arts interests from family and loved the travel possibilities. 

Just bought an apartment here for around $375k in a 53 floor building... only two bedrooms one bath under 100 square meters... but perfect city location on subway near city center/shopping district.   That's how distorted home prices are in even second tier Chinese cities.  That relatively small apartment would cost 2-3x as much in Shanghai Beijing or Hong Kong/Shenzhen/Guangzhou.

Edited April 20, 2023 by caulfield12

[Jake]

On 2/28/2023 at 7:28 AM, Texsox said:

So what I bring to the classroom is a desire to help the students that were like me in high school plus loving challenging the students that were like me in college. It seems to be a winning combination. 

As I teach in college, I'm often trying to find a balance between the two things hinted at here. On one hand, I don't want to ask my students to do things I would have found utterly torturous. On the other hand, I know that as a student I needed to be forced to do certain things I'd never have chosen because I always wanted to find the lowest effort, easiest way to the end of the course.

[Texsox]

8 hours ago, Jake said:

As I teach in college, I'm often trying to find a balance between the two things hinted at here. On one hand, I don't want to ask my students to do things I would have found utterly torturous. On the other hand, I know that as a student I needed to be forced to do certain things I'd never have chosen because I always wanted to find the lowest effort, easiest way to the end of the course.

I read this definition of a coach that also applies to teachers. Someone who makes you do things you don't want to do to reach the goals you want to do.