Career Coaching for Teachers & Educators

I have a long history with education. When I went to college, my intention was to become an elementary school teacher just like my mom. That dream ended after a short observation period in a local elementary school. It was not for me. Later, I focused my studies on Spanish and secondary education and completed my student teaching practicum at a high school in Chicago. I did not enjoy the experience but chalked it up to a checked-out supervising teacher and a tough school district. After I completed my student teaching and my undergraduate degree, I covered a 6 month leave of absence for a Spanish teacher. I had good colleagues and administrative support, and the students were great. I should have liked the job, but I didn’t. I’m an introvert, and the constant stimulation and classroom management exhausted me. I never felt satisfied with the outcomes of my lessons, and I took the constant feedback from students (e.g. falling asleep, talking to their friends while I was teaching, and failing my class) way too much to heart. It became clear to me that classroom teaching wasn’t for me. But I didn’t know what else to do. I decided to go abroad to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) in Venezuela. My primary goal was to improve my Spanish while I was there, so teaching was simply my vehicle for earning an income. By this point in my career story, it should not come as a surprise that I did not like the actual work of teaching! Yet there was something about education that just would not let go. I saw such value in my own educational experiences, especially the ones outside the classroom (e.g. study abroad, a semester in Chicago learning about urban life and culture, etc…) To keep a long story short, I’ve been creating meaningful learning experiences outside of the classroom ever since. I thrive on helping people learn new things about themselves, others, and the world around them, and career coaching has been a natural extension of this.