Options for Educators in Secondary Education
Years ago, when I started college, I entered my freshman year with a rare moment of clarity. Unlike most of my incoming class and friends, I knew my career path – I wanted to become a high school history teacher. With that understanding, I was able to navigate my schedule of education and history classes, school-based observations, and eventually student teaching experiences intentionally and with confidence. My self-awareness paid off so much that I landed my first teaching job after graduation, thus launching my career successfully.
For all intents and purposes, I look back on my years as a teacher with fondness. In addition to teaching in my home state, I also did a stint working in international schools. During my summers, I intentionally developed a skill or sought out an experience that furthered my expertise and diversified my resume. But as I entered my twelfth year. in the midst of my “veteran” educator status, a question emerged in my mind that would increase in frequency and urgency – “What else could I do professionally with my background in secondary education?”
The list below, although not comprehensive, represents where my thoughts were going. Additionally, some of them are positions that I entered as a consultant, part-time employment, or as part of my exit from the classroom.
- Museum Educator: Museums are spaces of community learning. Whether in a volunteer, part-time, or full-time position, educators bring a skill set they developed in the classroom to exhibit the public engage with.
- Curriculum Specialist: What students learn (content), how they learn it (instruction) and the ways they demonstrate what they learned (assessment) is a program (curriculum) every educational organization needs. Developing and revising curriculum, in turn, is best done by educators with experience in the field.
- Trainer/Facilitator: Every profession needs a talented staff of professionals who are current in their field. Teaching students and collaborating with adult colleagues to improve education involves skills and dispositions that can be applied to other fields.
- Teacher Advisory Board: Education focused organizations often develop advisory boards that support their understanding of the field. Applications to advisory boards can be hard to find, but once discovered, the experience and connections you can make as a board member are invaluable.
- Adjunct Teaching: Universities love to have current teachers be part of their department. Reaching out to colleges directly for online, in-person, or hybrid teaching positions is usually a better than route than applying through a portal or posting. Moreover, be prepared to encapsulate your educational philosophy and instructional model for the hiring manager.
As you work with schools, it is important to “know” who they are. Being able to leverage a staffs’ background and interests, especially in regard to education, will build relationships and develop allies. From there you can tailor and frame your support or product as a personalized experience and develop your network for future collaboration with educators who have moved to another career.
Written by: Craig Perrier
Educational Thought Leader and Practitioner
Craig is the High School Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, VA. He also is an online adjunct professor of education for Framingham State University and the teacher certification program, Educate VA. Previously, he taught at American Schools in Brazil for six years and for six years in public schools in Massachusetts.
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