I'm a teacher of three years, or I was, and I enjoyed my job for as much as I could. For those who may not know, being a teacher in the US isn't very rewarding. You go for the kids and the love of teaching and that's it really. Especially if you live in a southern state that had defunded the education system or it simply wasn't funded like it should have been in the first place.
February of this year, I was pink slipped. This means I was laid off, quietly removed. In my case, I was laid off due to budget cuts and low enrollment. You could argue this ties into the literacy and learning crisis going on right now, but I won't bother people with that.
It's been almost two months now. I've gone in, I've taught my kids, I've smiled, I've answered questions and emails and requests. I've pretended everything was fine. But it's not.
I'm genuinely so tired. I've had next to no job offers. My teaching license is about to expire and I can't decide whether I want to renew it or not at this point. Now that I've taken a step back, I can see that teaching has been detrimental to me.
My health is poor, my mental state is low, and my house is a mess. But there isn't much I can apply for, as someone who majored solely in English and Education. I could tutor, but then I'm falling back into being a teacher. I could renew my license and return to the field, but I'm tired.
The rise of AI has ruined my career. Admin is encouraging teachers to use AI to formulate lesson plans while also telling us the students simply cannot use AI under any circumstances. This is a double standard that simply sits wrong with me. Students don't want to learn. High schoolers can't read basic sentences. Getting them to write is laughable. Getting them to read is basically hell.
I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. Or how to move forward. Maybe I can do trade school and do something more hands on. I don't know.