Teachers in Transition: Career Change and Real Talk for Burned-Out Teachers

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Thinking about leaving teaching but not sure what comes next? Starting a cleaning business may be one path to self-employment—and you don’t have to be the one doing the cleaning.

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, former teacher Victoria Westcott talks with Vanessa about how she and her sister built a local cleaning company during the pandemic. They get into the teacher skills that transfer to entrepreneurship, how to research your local market, why transparent pricing and online booking matter, and how to find reliable cleaners.

Victoria also explains how she and her sister divide the work, what she looks for when hiring, and why a business owner’s day can fill up with busywork if they don’t focus on what matters. She shares a 22-day plan for getting started. And yes, there’s a rubric. Former teachers will understand.

In this episode:

• How Victoria and her sister started a cleaning company
• Teacher skills that transfer to customer service and business operations
• How to research your local market before starting a cleaning business
• Why online booking and transparent pricing help customers
• Finding cleaners and building systems that support workers and clients
• How business partners can divide responsibilities
• Making room for more time outside of work

Resources mentioned:

• Cleaning Company Blueprint
• Cleaning Company Blueprint on YouTube
• Free cleaning business market and name tool
• 22-day cleaning business guide and checklist
• Foxquilt cleaner insurance program
• Indeed

Part 2 of Vanessa’s conversation with Victoria is coming next week, with more of the story and practical details about starting and running a cleaning business.

What Comes Next?
Thinking about leaving the classroom or exploring what could come next? Book a free conversation with Vanessa, or learn more about Teachers in Transition.

Teachers in Transition is a podcast for burned-out educators exploring career change, job-search strategies, stress management, and life beyond the classroom. Host Vanessa Jackson spent 25 years teaching before moving into the hiring world. Now she helps teachers find work that fits their skills and their lives.

Keep in touch and support the show

If Teachers in Transition has helped you feel less alone, given you something useful to try, or helped you imagine what might come next, there are a few ways to help the podcast keep reaching teachers. Rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or share this episode with a teacher who might need it.

The podcast is independently produced, and listener support helps cover hosting and production costs. If you’d like to chip in, you can become an optional supporter for as little as $3 a month at the podcast support page. It’s always appreciated and never expected.

And if you’re thinking about leaving the classroom and want help sorting through your options, I’d be glad to talk. Book a free discovery call, email me at Vanessa@Teachersintransition.com, or call or text me at 512-640-9099.

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Looking for careers after teaching that let you keep doing what you love—without staying in the classroom? Becoming a dog trainer might be a career change you haven’t considered. In this episode of Teachers in Transition, I talk with Joe Dickinson of Western States K9 College about how your teaching skills can translate into a dog training business.

And before you think, “But I teach people,” that’s actually the point. A big part of dog training is teaching the humans. Breaking skills into manageable steps, explaining something three different ways, tracking progress, and keeping your cool when things get spicy? Teachers have some experience with that.

Joe shares how the college combines dog training, behavior education, and business support to help students prepare to work for themselves. We talk about learning at your own pace, building a business while you’re still employed, and exploring dog training as a side hustle, a second career, or a next chapter after teacher retirement.

Naturally, my Rottweilers make their way into the conversation. We also discuss anxious dogs, measurable progress, and why small steps can make a difference on either end of the leash.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why teachers’ transferable skills are such a natural fit for dog training and client education.
• What Joe’s online dog trainer certification program includes, from training and behavior to business development.
• How support with pricing, branding, websites, and marketing can help with the unfamiliar parts of working for yourself.
• How a gradual transition could let you explore a new career before leaving your teaching paycheck.
• Why observing specific behaviors tells us more than simply labeling a dog “anxious” or “reactive.”
• How teachers approaching retirement are preparing for a business beyond the classroom.

Connect with Joe + save $500

Explore the courses at Western States K9 College and use promo code teachersintransition for a $500 discount. You can also find information about the full certification program, individual courses, and scheduling a conversation with Joe on the website.

Have questions about whether this path fits your goals? Email Joe at joe@westernstatesk9college.com.

Need help figuring out your next chapter?

You don’t have to have your next job title picked out before you ask for help. If you know something needs to change but aren’t sure where your teaching skills could take you, book a discovery call with Vanessa. We can talk about your experience, your possibilities, and what a career outside the classroom could look like for you.

You’re also invited to Career Clarity: From Questions to Coordinates, my free career mapping workshop on Monday, October 26, 2026, at 7 PM Central. We’ll explore what matters to you, what you do well, and how those pieces can point toward your next chapter. Register on the Teachers in Transition homepage.

If this conversation opened a door you hadn’t considered, share it with a teacher who loves dogs. Follow Teachers in Transition on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you don’t miss an episode, and if the show has helped you, I’d appreciate an honest rating or review.

Your teaching skills translate everywhere, and you are valuable.

Connect with Vanessa

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy
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The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

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You may be ready to leave the classroom without being ready to stop teaching. What if the part you love - building relationships, making learning click, and helping students grow - could become the foundation of your next chapter?

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa talks with Jessi Dall, founder of Sophos Speech and Academics, about her journey from classroom teacher to tutoring business owner. What began with a few students and word-of-mouth referrals grew into a team that, at the time of our conversation, included about 50 contractors and served approximately 400 students each week. Jessi shares the unexpected moments that helped her grow, including a parent who helped her establish a business and an early maternity leave that pushed her to learn how to hire and delegate.

We talk about networking through real relationships, finding your first tutoring clients, and charging for your expertise without apologizing. We also explore how teachers can use their specialized skills in academic coaching, individualized instruction, and helping parents navigate educational systems. Jessi is candid about the work involved, including the shift to after-school hours and the business skills she learned along the way.

If you still love working with students but need a different way to do it, this conversation offers a practical look at one possible path beyond the classroom.

In this episode:

• Building a business without a business background or a perfect plan.
• Finding clients through relationships, referrals, and school partnerships.
• Learning to hire, delegate, and match tutors with students.
• Recognizing the value of your expertise and charging confidently.
• Exploring opportunities in executive function support, dyslexia-focused instruction, and parent consulting.
• Creating individualized learning experiences within a world of standardized instruction.
• Understanding the schedule changes and learning curve of a tutoring business.

As discussed in the interview, check your school and district rules before offering paid tutoring to current students or arranging services on a school campus.

Connect with Jessi Dall

Jessi welcomes teachers who want to ask questions and explore possibilities in tutoring and educational support.

• Email: jessi@sophosacademics.com
• LinkedIn: Jessi Dall
• Website: Sophos Speech and Academics
• In Arizona? Tutoring opportunities: Join the Sophos team

Explore your own next chapter

You do not have to figure out your teacher transition alone. If you want help identifying your strengths, exploring possibilities, and building a plan for what comes next, schedule a free Discovery Call with Vanessa.

• Website: Teachers in Transition
• Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• Call or text: 512-640-9099

Support the podcast

Know a teacher who still loves teaching but needs a different environment? Share this episode with them. You can also help more teachers find the show by following Teachers in Transition and leaving a rating or review on your listening app.

Teachers in Transition is independently produced. If these conversations have helped you, or you believe other teachers need access to this resource, please consider supporting the podcast. Listener support starts at $3 a month. Sharing this episode with a teacher who needs it helps, too.

Connect with Vanessa

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

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Teachers don’t need another reminder to practice self-care. They need room in their lives to do it. If getting through the school day leaves nothing for your health, your family, or your own life, that cost belongs in the conversation.

In Part III of our Teacher Health series—The Response—Vanessa Jackson explores practical ways to care for yourself without adding more guilt to an already overcommitted life. We talk about asking for workplace accommodations, protecting recovery time, and why being able to endure something doesn’t mean you should keep enduring it.

Plus: a simple morning hydration habit from Vanessa’s grandmother and job interview tips for teachers changing careers. Learn how to use the STAR method, pause before answering, and stop oversharing without becoming stiff or impersonal.

In this episode:

• Why struggling with self-care doesn’t mean you lack commitment.
• The cost of pushing through pain and fatigue—and why your life after school matters.
• Requesting reasonable accommodations, including access to a chair, and where to find federal guidance.
• The realities of sick leave, substitute plans, and saving days for sick children.
• Small opportunities for nutrition, movement, quiet, outdoor time, connection, and guilt-free naps.
• Gretchen Rubin’s Obliger tendency and how outside accountability can support your own goals.
• A teacher hack: start your morning with eight ounces of water.
• Interview answers that stay focused: clarify, pause, use STAR when it fits, and let your answer stand.
• Keeping family and health information private when interview questions are open-ended.

Free Career Clarity workshop

Monday, October 26, 2026, at 7 PM Central

Who am I if I’m not a teacher? What else can I do? Join Vanessa to explore those questions and begin finding a direction that fits your skills and your life. You don’t need to arrive with a career picked out.

Find registration information at Teachers in Transition.

Prefer a conversation?

Book a free discovery call to discuss where you are, what you’re considering, and whether coaching could help. You don’t have to have it all figured out before we talk.

Resources mentioned:

• EEOC: Reasonable accommodation and undue hardship under the ADA—includes an example involving lupus, fatigue, and a stool at work.
• Federal ADA regulations: Definition of disability—includes consideration of pain, effort, and how an activity is performed.
• Gretchen Rubin’s free Four Tendencies quiz.
• CDC: Water and healthier drinks—background on hydration for this week’s teacher hack.
• EEOC: Pre-employment inquiries and disability.
• EEOC: Pre-employment inquiries about marital status and children.
• Research: Association of stress-related disorders with subsequent autoimmune disease.
• NIAMS: Living with lupus—includes information about stress and flares.

Catch up on the Teacher Health series:

• Part I: Teacher Burnout, Career Clarity & the Power of “Nope” — Episode 318.
• Part II: What Teaching Costs Your Family, Even When You’re Home — Episode 319.

More interview help:

Explore the interview-question series in episodes 216, 217, 218, 219, and 221. Search by episode number in the Teachers in Transition episode archive.

Know a teacher who needs permission to pitch the guilt and take the nap? Share this episode. Follow Teachers in Transition on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for more support with teacher burnout, career change, and building a life beyond the classroom.

Until next time, take care of you.

Help keep this podcast on the air. Teachers in Transition is independently produced. If these conversations have helped you, or you believe other teachers need access to this resource, please consider supporting the podcast. Listener support starts at $3 a month. Sharing this episode with a teacher who needs it helps, too.

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

Until next time, remember:

You’re not starting over. You’re taking everything you’ve learned and built—and deciding where you want to take it next.

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

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What does teaching cost when you’re managing to keep up?

Last week, we looked at the demands teaching places on your brain, your body, and your life. In Part II of our teacher health series, we ask what those demands cost when they accumulate year after year. The answer isn’t always a dramatic breaking point. Sometimes it’s the margin you no longer have for an ordinary bad day, the break you spend recovering, or the parts of your life that keep getting whatever is left of you.

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa Jackson talks about the quieter costs of teaching, including a conversation with her daughter that changed how she understood her “family-friendly” career. Having time with the people you love and having yourself available to them may be two different things.

In this episode:

• Why getting through an extraordinary workload doesn’t mean you’ve recovered from it
• The familiar teacher experience of getting sick as soon as a school break begins
• How shrinking margin makes ordinary life harder to absorb
• The opportunity cost behind every “yes” you give to work
• What Vanessa’s daughter helped her see about the cost to their family
• Why a job search can feel like an obstacle course when you’re already exhausted
• How to translate teaching experience so employers outside education can recognize your skills
• A Teacher Hack that may give you back some time each week: curbside grocery pickup

In the Career Transition and Job Search segment, Vanessa also discusses a TikTok résumé story and the conversation it sparked about applicant tracking systems, unclear job descriptions, and the work candidates do before a hiring manager ever sees them. If you’re applying outside education and hearing nothing back, difficulty navigating the hiring process is a different question from whether you’re capable of doing the job.

Links mentioned in the episode

• Watch the TikTok résumé video
• Listen to “Bravado” on Rush’s official YouTube channel

Ready to talk about your next step? Vanessa offers several kinds of support for teachers, whether you’re just beginning to consider leaving, making a transition plan, or actively applying for jobs. Book a free discovery call to talk about where you are and what would help.

Help keep this podcast on the air. Teachers in Transition is independently produced. If these conversations have helped you, or you believe other teachers need access to this resource, please consider supporting the podcast. Listener support starts at $3 a month. Sharing this episode with a teacher who needs it helps, too.

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

Until next time, remember:

You’re not starting over. You’re taking everything you’ve learned and built—and deciding where you want to take it next.

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

What does teaching actually demand from your brain, your body, and the rest of your life?

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa Jackson kicks off a new three-part Teacher Health series by examining the hidden demands of teaching—from the constant decision-making and emotional regulation of the classroom to the physical demands, rushed lunches, delayed appointments, lost sleep, and all the ordinary pieces of life teachers have to squeeze into whatever time remains.

Because one difficult day isn’t necessarily the problem.

It’s the accumulation of it all.

We also introduce a new occasional segment, Networking Works: How Connections Actually Work in the Wild, and look at why successful networking during a teacher career transition isn’t necessarily about knowing someone who can get you a job. Sometimes the most valuable connection is simply someone who knows someone you should talk to.

Then, in Career Transition & Job Search, we turn career clarity upside down by asking not only what you want from your next career, but what you already know you don’t want.

Using the idea of negative space, Vanessa walks through a different way to look at the five areas of personal inventory: environment, work style, the work itself, people and purpose, and life and logistics to help teachers begin identifying what their next career actually needs to look like.

In this episode

Perspective Pivot: Teacher Health — The Demand (2:17)
Why the cognitive, emotional, and physical demands of teaching matter; the problem with constantly operating at 110%; and what happens when extraordinary effort simply starts looking like Wednesday.

Networking Works (11:27)
Why your network is bigger than the people you know directly—and the better question to ask instead of, “Who do I know who can get me a job?”

Career Transition & Job Search: Negative Space (14:04)
How to build a personal career inventory around what energizes you, what fits your actual life, and what you never want your next job to require again.

Career Clarity Workshop + Next Steps (25:15)
A free career clarity workshop is coming in October. More details soon!

Resources & Links

Teachers in Transition:
TeachersInTransition.com

Ready to talk about leaving teaching?
Book a free Discovery Call with Vanessa through the Teachers in Transition website.

Coming Next

Next week, Part 2 of the Teacher Health series asks: What does all of that accumulation cost?

If you’re a burned-out teacher, considering leaving teaching, exploring jobs outside education, or trying to figure out what comes after the classroom, follow Teachers in Transition so you don’t miss the next episode.

Teachers in Transition is hosted by Vanessa Jackson, a former 25-year educator and career transition coach helping teachers recognize their transferable skills, build career clarity, and move toward work that fits their skills, values, and lives.

Topics: teacher burnout, teacher health, leaving teaching, teacher career change, career transition for teachers, jobs after teaching, teacher stress, teacher workload, decision fatigue, career clarity, transferable skills for teachers, networking for career changers, jobs outside education, life after teaching

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

What does good leadership actually look like — especially when the people underneath you are under pressure?

In this final installment of the Four Horsemen of Education series, Vanessa explores the Fourth Horseman: Leadership — and more specifically, protective leadership.

There’s an important difference between a bad leader and a good leader who makes a bad decision. Good leaders listen, learn, admit when they get something wrong, and think about how their decisions affect the people who have to carry them out.

Using what Vanessa calls the “Hook Principle,” we look at one of the most important responsibilities of leadership: taking care of the people who have less power than you do.

That applies at every level. Teachers need administrators who will back them. Principals need districts that will back them. And the good leaders who continually absorb pressure to protect the people underneath them need support too.

Because good leadership can’t fix every problem in education. But it can determine whether the people trying to do good work feel supported — or whether they’re standing out there alone.

And when that protection disappears, the Fourth Horseman has left the building.

TEACHER HACK: DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT

If it wasn’t documented, it didn’t happen.

When an important conversation, request, expectation, or decision could matter later, get it in writing. Follow verbal conversations with calm, factual emails. Keep dates, details, and appropriate documentation concerning your own employment.

The goal isn’t to be sneaky. The goal is to make sure you can establish what happened if you ever need to.

CAREER TRANSITION & JOB SEARCH: BE AVAILABLE

Teachers have good reasons for protecting their privacy online — but LinkedIn is different from Facebook or Instagram.

If you’re preparing for a career beyond teaching, people in your target industries need to be able to find you and connect with you.

LinkedIn’s 2026 labor-market research found that job seekers are 3.6 times more likely to be hired by a company when they’re already connected to an employee there before applying.

Those connections aren’t vanity numbers. They’re part of your job-search strategy.

At the same time, you don’t necessarily need a giant green OPEN TO WORK billboard announcing your plans to your current principal.

The goal isn’t to be invisible. It’s to be visible to the right people.

LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED

LinkedIn — 2026 Labor Market Report:
https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/economicgraph/en-us/PDF/linkedIn-labor-market-report-building-a-future-of-work-that-works-jan-2026.pdf

Hook: “Take Care of everyone Smaller than You”
https://youtu.be/yrmYE-XzH5U?si=2R9IP4RfgaUHQmId&t=88

Finding Nemo — “Swim Down” scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6178Ac90S4&t=233s

Ghost Rider — Carter Slade’s Last Ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsgEdYjoqUI

SUPPORT INVISIBLE EXCELLENCE

Invisible Excellence: The Hidden Value of Teachers Beyond Teaching is about bringing the extraordinary skills, expertise, and value of teachers into the light — and helping teachers recognize what they already bring to the table.

The book is currently in its presale and crowdfunding phase. If you believe teachers need this message, Vanessa would love to have you join the mission and help bring Invisible Excellence into the world.

Please Support Invisible Excellence and explore the campaign:
https://books.manuscripts.com/product/invisible-excellence-the-hidden-value-of-teachers-beyond-teaching/

WORK WITH VANESSA

If you’re thinking about leaving teaching but have no idea what you would do instead, Vanessa’s got your back.

Teachers in Transition helps teachers identify what they want next, translate their existing skills into language employers understand, and build a strategy for moving forward.

Schedule a free Discovery Call:
https://teachersintransition.com/calendar

Explore Teachers in Transition:
https://teachersintransition.com/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

If this episode made you think of another teacher, please share it with them. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to help this scrappy little indie podcast grow.

You can also leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and help more teachers find Teachers in Transition.

You are more than your classroom. Your skills are more valuable than you’ve been led to believe, and there is life beyond teaching.

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

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Do you ever feel like teachers are the only ones held accountable for things in education? So does Vanessa.

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa continues the Four Horsemen of Education series with Horseman #3: Accountability.

Teachers are increasingly held responsible not only for their own work, but for student behavior, parent communication, missing assignments, interventions, testing outcomes, and systemic failures far beyond their control. And when consequences are repeatedly removed from students, they don’t actually disappear. Someone else ends up carrying them.

Vanessa explores how education created an increasingly standardized system while simultaneously expecting teachers to individualize everything inside it. She also looks at what happens when students get fewer opportunities to struggle, fail, recover, and learn to carry responsibility for their own choices.

Along the way, we talk about online gradebooks, impossible parent communication expectations, standardized testing, A Wrinkle in Time, Scantrons, AI, and one of Vanessa’s favorite sayings:

If we don’t have a consequence, we don’t have a rule.

Career Transition and Job Search: Track What Matters

If you’re applying for jobs and feel like nothing is working, simply counting applications won’t tell you what needs to change.

Vanessa explains how an application tracker and a networking tracker can help you diagnose where your job search is breaking down.

Are you struggling to find appropriate jobs? Getting no interviews? Getting interviews but no advancement? Reaching out to people but getting no responses?

Different problems require different solutions. Trackers help you figure that out.

Want copies of the trackers? Email Vanessa at Vanessa@teachersintransition.com.

Teacher Hack: Drop-Down Menus

This week’s Teacher Hack is a tiny spreadsheet skill that can save time and make your trackers much easier to use.

Learn how to create drop-down menus in both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel so you can stop typing the same categories over and over again.

Use them for job-search trackers, interventions, inventory, student progress, accommodations, forms, and any other spreadsheet where you repeatedly enter the same information.

Ready to Think About What Comes Next?

If you’re considering leaving education but aren’t sure what your experience translates to—or even what you want to do next—Vanessa can help you identify your transferable skills, explore where you might fit outside education, and build a strategy for your transition.

Schedule a discovery call at: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar

You can also send questions by email or leave a text or voice message using the contact information.

And if this episode made you think of another teacher, please share it. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to help the podcast reach teachers who need it.

Until next time, remember: The person you need to be most accountable to is you.

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Teachers have been told to “do more with less” for decades. But eventually, less produces less—and teachers have quietly been making up the difference with their own money, time, creativity, and stress.

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa continues the Four Horsemen of Education miniseries with the Second Horseman: Resources. She examines how teacher generosity became an unofficial funding stream for education, why a single pencil is not really just a single pencil, and how teachers became institutional shock absorbers for poorly prioritized spending.

Then, in the Career Transition and Job Search segment, Vanessa turns to ghost jobs: postings for positions employers may not be actively trying to fill. Every application consumes finite resources—including time, attention, energy, and hope. Understanding the dysfunction behind ghost jobs can help transitioning teachers build rejection resilience and stop interpreting every unanswered application as a verdict on their value.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why “doing more with less” is no longer sustainable
• How teachers personally subsidize classroom operations
• The difference between teacher generosity and institutional responsibility
• Why school spending is often a prioritization problem
• What ghost jobs are and why employers post them
• How ghost jobs consume applicants’ unpaid labor
• Why networking can reveal information a job posting cannot
• How to protect your confidence and build rejection resilience

Read More about GHOST JOBS:

Inc.: The End of Ghost Jobs: Why Companies Could Soon Face Huge Fines for Fake Listings
https://www.inc.com/chloe-rosenberg/can-state-lawmakers-exorcise-the-hiring-market-of-ghost-jobs/91395784

Forbes: 1 in 7 Job Postings Are Ghost Jobs
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelwells/2026/04/09/1-in-7-job-postings-are-ghost-jobs-new-study-reveals-here-are-3-steps-to-avoid-fake-job-ads/

Job Application Insights: Ghost Jobs on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/job-app-insights_the-job-search-by-the-numbers-what-the-data-activity-7427084888153145344-2ZTy/

WORK WITH VANESSA:

If your job search is consuming your time, energy, and hope without producing results, you may not need to work harder. You may need a stronger strategy and help separating what you can improve from the dysfunction you cannot control.

Schedule your free discovery call:
https://teachersintransition.com/calendar

SUPPORT INVISIBLE EXCELLENCE:

The crowdfunding campaign for Invisible Excellence: The Hidden Value of Teachers Beyond Teaching is nearing its halfway point. The book only goes to press if it receives enough support to cross the finish line. Find the campaign link at:

https://books.manuscripts.com/product/invisible-excellence-the-hidden-value-of-teachers-beyond-teaching/

Campaign ends September 19, 2026!

Share this episode with a teacher who needs to hear that the system’s lack of resources - and the hiring market’s dysfunction - are not evidence that something is wrong with them.

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Support the show

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Teacher burnout isn't a failure of resilience. What happens when teacher workload simply exceeds the time, energy, and capacity available to do the job?

This week on Teachers in Transition, Vanessa kicks off a new four-part series on the Four Horsemen of Education with the first Horseman: Capacity, also known as Realistic Expectations. We look at how decades of "it'll only take five minutes" have steadily expanded teacher workload—and why continually asking teachers to do more with less eventually means getting less with less.

We also get practical about reclaiming some of that capacity. In the Teacher Hack, learn how to create a simple response bank for the emails, explanations, policies, and other messages you find yourself writing repeatedly. The rule is simple: if you're typing it for the second time, put it in the bank. Using reusable chunks, headings in Google Docs or Word, voice-to-text, and AI for basic cleanup can save both time and mental energy.

Then, in our Career Transition and Job Search segment, we're talking networking and informational interviews. Networking doesn't have to mean awkwardly asking strangers for jobs. Instead, borrow a lesson from Ted Lasso: Be curious. A 10–15 minute conversation with someone doing work you're interested in can help you explore careers beyond teaching, learn how people entered their fields, identify skills or certifications you may need, and grow your professional network before you ever submit an application.

Also in this episode

• Why teacher capacity is about the total workload, not whether each individual request seems reasonable
• How EdTech can save administrative time while quietly consuming teacher time
• Why "just five minutes" becomes a serious problem when nothing ever comes off the plate
• How to build a mix-and-match response bank without creating another giant project for yourself
• Questions to ask during an informational interview
• Why teachers already have many of the relationship-building skills needed for effective networking
• The one rule to remember when someone gives you 15 minutes of their time

Help Publish a book that can help all teachers recognize their excellence!

Invisible Excellence: The Hidden Value of Teachers Beyond Teachingis about bringing the extraordinary skills, expertise, and value of teachers into the light—and helping teachers recognize what they bring to the table.

The Visibility Project is currently crowdfunding publication of Invisible Excellence, with several ways to participate beginning at $50. The campaign closes September 18 at midnight Eastern.

Support Invisible Excellence and explore The Visibility Project:
https://books.manuscripts.com/product/invisible-excellence-the-hidden-value-of-teachers-beyond-teaching/

Teachers in Transition Resources

Whether you're wondering if it's time to leave teaching, exploring careers beyond teaching, translating your teacher skills, building a resume, networking, job searching, or preparing for interviews, Teachers in Transition has resources designed to meet you where you are in the process.

Explore Teachers in Transition:
https://teachersintransition.com/

Vanessa is also accepting a limited number of new coaching clients for fall. If you'd like to talk about where you are in your career transition and whether working together would be a good fit, schedule a conversation here:

https://teachersintransition.com/calendar

Ted Lasso Dartboard Scene – Be Curious, Not Judgmental!

Keywords: teacher burnout, teacher workload, leaving teaching, teacher career change, careers beyond teaching, teacher career transition, teacher transferable skills, networking for teachers, informational interviews, teacher job search, teacher time management, EdTech, AI for teachers

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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AI is everywhere, but should we embrace it, fear it, or approach it with a healthy dose of skepticism?

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa talks with bestselling author, former educator, and AI expert Jeremy Schifeling about the strange contradictions surrounding artificial intelligence. AI can help teachers recognize their transferable skills, translate their experience into corporate language, and strengthen their job-search materials, but when it becomes an easy button, the results can quickly turn into generic, fabricated word salad.

Vanessa and Jeremy explore the difference between work that is generated by AI and work that is developed with AI. They also discuss the emerging AI arms race between job seekers, recruiters, and employers, and why the best way to stand out may be to lean harder into the qualities AI cannot replicate: personality, curiosity, empathy, relationships, and real-world problem solving.

In This Episode

• Why AI works best as a thought partner rather than a replacement for human thinking
• How teachers can use AI to identify and translate their transferable skills
• Why generic AI-generated resumes and cover letters can hurt a candidate
• How to write for both applicant tracking systems and the humans behind them
• Why understanding the hiring manager’s actual problem matters more than simply matching keywords
• How teachers can use a master resume to make tailoring applications easier
• Why relationships and networking remain essential in an AI-driven job market
• How AI may affect entry-level jobs and the future talent pipeline
• Why teachers’ relationship-building and emotional-intelligence skills may become even more valuable
• How to ask AI to critique your resume instead of writing it for you
• A simple, low-pressure way for AI beginners to start experimenting
• Jeremy’s Teacher Hack for surviving those final ten minutes before the bell

A Few Important Takeaways

· AI is especially good at translation, pattern recognition, brainstorming, and review. Give it your real experiences, accomplishments, feedback, and stories, and it can help you see connections you may have missed.

· AI should not replace your voice, your curiosity, or your relationships. Use it to support your thinking, but keep yourself in the process.

· And remember: Your teaching experience has prepared you to solve real problems, communicate with different audiences, manage competing priorities, and build relationships quickly. Those abilities are valuable far beyond the classroom.

Connect with Jeremy Schifeling

Connect with Jeremy on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/schifeling/

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessajackson78132/

Learn more about Teachers in Transition:
https://teachersintransition.com/

Support Invisible Excellence

Vanessa’s upcoming book, Invisible Excellence: The Hidden Value of Teachers Beyond Teaching, is currently in its presale and crowdfunding phase. The goal is to bring this book into the hands of teachers everywhere and help them recognize how much value they carry beyond the classroom.

Watch the campaign video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6-SUmRVND0

Visit the book launch page:
https://books.manuscripts.com/product/invisible-excellence-the-hidden-value-of-teachers-beyond-teaching/

You are amazing!

Support the Podcast!

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider:

• sharing this episode (or any of them!) with a teacher friend
• leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition. It helps with production costs to keep this show on the air.
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Your Classroom Is Beautiful. Please Get Off the Desk.

Back-to-school classroom setup videos are full of creativity, care, and an astonishing amount of teachers’ personal money. But what happens if you are injured while decorating before your contract begins—or if the things you purchased are damaged, destroyed, or carried off during summer cleanup?

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa examines some risks hidden behind those beautiful classroom transformations. She discusses workers’ compensation, a viral video showing a teacher’s belongings covered in mold, and the important difference between documenting a workplace problem and publishing it online.

Teacher Hack: Create a Classroom Purchase File

Learn how to:

• Save and organize classroom receipts
• Document furniture, electronics, books, and other personal property
• Keep records outside district-controlled systems
• Photograph valuable items without exposing student information
• Understand the difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit

For eligible educators, the federal educator-expense deduction rises to $350 for expenses paid during tax year 2026. Tax laws and individual circumstances vary, so verify the current rules and consult a qualified tax professional.

Career Transition and Job Search

Every public post contributes to your personal brand. Vanessa explains how to audit your digital footprint, preserve important workplace evidence, remove content that no longer represents you, and intentionally build the professional identity you want employers to find.

Ask yourself:

• Is this accurate?
• Is this an impression I am willing to own?
• Would I be comfortable explaining it during an interview?

Coming Next Week: Join the Movement: Invisible Excellence is available for pre-sell

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

This week on Teachers in Transition, I share a deeply personal story about a medical event that forced me to confront a difficult truth: sometimes our greatest strengths - resilience, endurance, and the ability to adapt - can become our greatest blind spots. It’s so personal that even the show notes are in first person!

Using the GenX childhood metaphor of quicksand, I explore how teachers gradually normalize exhaustion, chronic stress, and declining health until they no longer recognize what's happening. I also share the frightening experience of a vasovagal syncope episode after a "perfect storm" of circumstances and the lessons it taught me about paying attention before our bodies demand it.

In this episode you'll discover:

• Why "Teacher Tired" isn't always just teacher tired.
• How resilience can accidentally hide a growing problem.
• Why the best career decisions aren't made from survival mode.
• A practical Teacher Hack to help you recognize when you're slowly sinking.
• How a Battle Buddy can help you notice what you've adapted to.
• Why asking better questions can be more important than finding one perfect answer.

If you've been wondering whether you're burned out, exhausted, or simply running on empty, this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Psoriatic Arthritis
Learn more about psoriatic arthritis, including symptoms, diagnosis, treatment options, and living well with the condition.
https://www.psoriasis.org/about-psoriatic-arthritis/

Vasovagal Syncope
Wondering what happened during the fainting episode I described? This Cleveland Clinic article explains vasovagal syncope, common triggers, warning signs, and prevention strategies.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23325-vasovagal-syncope

Ted Lasso – "Be Curious, Not Judgmental"
One of my favorite scenes from Ted Lasso and the inspiration behind this week's reminder to respond with curiosity instead of defensiveness.
https://bouldercrest.org/resources/ted-lasso-be-curious-not-judgemental/

🎵 Rush – "Sweet Miracle"
If you've ever wondered why Rush lyrics occasionally sneak into my vocabulary, this song has quietly lived in my head for years and it applies beautifully to this episode.

Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/song/710036902

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0YKb38t83LD65mQps699y9

A Personal Note

Please don't let my story discourage you from donating blood.

My experience was unusual because a whole bunch of factors lined up at exactly the wrong time. That's really the point of this episode.

If you're healthy and eligible, donating blood is still one of the simplest and most meaningful ways to help another human being. Find your local blood bank and consider making an appointment.

A great place to start is:
https://americasblood.org/

Sometimes one dramatic story can overshadow a thousand quiet successes.

I don't want that to happen here.

Support the Podcast!

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider:

• sharing this episode (or any of them!) with a teacher friend
• leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition. It helps with production costs to keep this show on the air.

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, Vanessa explores what happens when companies eliminate entry-level positions while still expecting experienced employees to magically appear. As AI continues taking over more beginner-level work, who will develop the next generation of experts?

You'll discover why teachers may be uniquely positioned to solve a workforce problem that employers don't even realize they have yet, and how to position your experience as the solution.

In this episode:

• Why the traditional career ladder is disappearing
• How AI may unintentionally widen the experience gap
• Why teachers are experts at developing people—not just delivering content
• A new way to think about résumé bullet points: Task → Problem Solved
• How to connect your classroom experience to the business problems employers are trying to solve
• This week's Teacher Hack: a simple Google Doc that keeps all of your beginning-of-year ideas, shopping lists, and PD notes in one searchable place
• Vanessa's recommendation: Ride or Die on Amazon Prime

Ready to start your own transition? Schedule a complimentary Discovery Session at https://TeachersinTransition.com/calendar.

Resources:
🎙 Happier in Hollywood Podcast
The conversation that inspired this episode came from Happier in Hollywood, Episode 478, hosted by television writers and producers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain.

📺 Ride or Die (Amazon Prime Video)
Vanessa's recommendation this week is Ride or Die, starring Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham—a smart, funny series about friendship, competence, and the often invisible excellence of women in their fifties.

🍎 Teachers in Transition
Ready to explore what's next after the classroom? Learn more, schedule a complimentary Discovery Session, and find additional resources at TeachersInTransition.com.

Support the Podcast!

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider:

• sharing this episode (or any of them!) with a teacher friend
• leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition. It helps with production costs to keep this show on the air.

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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What looks like “fine” may actually be a carefully engineered workaround.

In this episode, Vanessa explores the hidden value of adaptability through a misbehaving knee, a broken keyboard, and one spectacularly orange 1974 Lincoln Continental.

Teachers are experts at adapting. They anticipate problems, build missing systems, create backup plans, translate confusing information, and keep people moving—even when the systems around them are not working. When those adaptations succeed, however, they can conceal both the original problem and the cost of compensating for it.

You’ll hear:

• Why functioning is not the same as being fine
• How teacher workarounds can hide institutional problems
• The Adaptation Audit: Rebuild, Revise, or Refuse
• How adaptability translates into marketable career skills
• Two paths to explore: finding a job or creating one
• Why teacher adaptability may also be entrepreneurship

Before rebuilding an old workaround for the new school year, ask what it was doing—and what it was doing to you.

Vanessa also shares some big news: she is writing a book!

The working title is Invisible Excellence: The Hidden Value of Teachers Beyond the Classroom, with publication planned for spring 2027. The book will explore how teachers’ leadership, communication, strategic thinking, training, relationship-building, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities become hidden - and how educators can make that value visible beyond the classroom.

Vanessa is looking to speak with former educators who have transitioned into new careers and teachers who are beginning to wonder what else might be possible.

If that describes you- or someone you know - reach out using the contact information below.

Links and resources:

• See the spectacular orange Lincoln:
• Contact Vanessa about the book: Vanessa@TeachersinTransition.com
(You can contact Vanessa about anything related to Teachers in Transition also at that email.

Support the Podcast!

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider helping me keep this resource going so that it can help other teachers. You can:

• sharing the episode with a teacher friend
• leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

What does a 1982 fantasy movie filled with ferrets, bat-people, blue fire, and questionable leather wardrobe choices have to do with leaving teaching?

Quite a lot, actually.

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa uses The Beastmaster as a surprisingly useful map for teacher career transition.

Dar begins the movie believing he is on a revenge mission. His home is gone. His identity has been shattered. The people in power have caused real harm, and he has every reason to be angry.

That emotional starting point may feel familiar to teachers preparing to leave the classroom.

The hero’s greatest strength is the very thing others see as strange. That same pattern shows up for teachers, who often minimize skills like communication, adaptability, leadership, relationship-building, and crisis management because they were treated as “just part of the job.”

This episode explores:

• Why your “weird” strengths may be your most valuable transferable skills
• How networking is really built through trust and reputation
• Why leaving teaching can feel like losing part of your identity
• The difference between escaping a harmful system and building a better future
• Why you are not starting over. You are learning to name what you already know how to do

Your transition does not have to stay focused on what education took from you.

It can become a rescue mission for your health, confidence, voice, family, and future.

Links

The Beastmaster on IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083630/

Schedule a free Discovery Session:
https://teachersintransition.com/calendar

Listen to Teachers in Transition:
https://teachersintransition.buzzsprout.com/

Questions or movie suggestions:
Vanessa@TeachersinTransition.com

Optional support for the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/277608/support

Support the Podcast!

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider:

• sharing the episode with a teacher friend
• leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

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Have you ever felt like teaching has become one long marathon...where everyone expects you to sprint?

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa shares an unexpected lesson from a 3,000-mile solo road trip. She planned to write, record podcasts, and make progress on her business. Instead, she spent most of the trip managing recovery, sleep, hydration, and a very opinionated knee.

That experience led to a realization that many educators desperately need to hear:

You can't always be at your best. Otherwise, it wouldn't be your best—it would be your normal.

This episode explores why experienced teachers are sometimes unfairly labeled "bitter” and why learning to adapt is more sustainable than simply enduring.

Whether you're planning to remain in education or considering a career transition, this episode offers practical strategies for protecting your energy, building career capacity, and preparing for your future one step at a time.

In This Episode

• Why sprinting is a terrible strategy for a marathon
• The hidden cost of expecting teachers to operate at 110% every day
• Why experienced teachers aren't "bitter"—they've become efficient
• How schools unintentionally prevent veteran teachers from benefiting from experience
• The difference between activity and impact
• Why experience is supposed to pay dividends
• The importance of recovery as part of professional excellence
• The Teacher Hack: Budget Bumper Time
• Career Transition Strategy: Build capacity before you need it
• Why you shouldn't "buy new running shoes on marathon day"
• Practical ways to prepare for a career transition without overwhelming yourself
• How strategic upskilling can help you prepare for your next career before you need it

Resources Mentioned

• Teachers in Transition: https://teachersintransition.com/

• Schedule a free Discovery Call:
https://teachersintransition.com/calendar

• Find Your Bearings (career direction program):
https://teachersintransition.com/

• LinkedIn Learning:
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/

• Coursera:
https://www.coursera.org/

• Udemy:
https://www.udemy.com/

Have a question or an idea for a future episode?

Email Vanessa:
Vanessa@TeachersInTransition.com

If this episode encouraged you...

Please follow the podcast, leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a teacher who needs the reminder that sustainable excellence isn't about sprinting every day.

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do isn't push harder.

Sometimes it's learning to pace ourselves wisely.

Support the Podcast!

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider:

• sharing the episode with a teacher friend
• leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

What if one of the best career lessons for teachers came from a 1993 comedy?

In this Moviesode, we're looking at Dave, starring Kevin Kline—not as a political movie, but as a modern fairy tale about leadership, service, and remembering that every job is temporary.

As Dave unexpectedly steps into one of the most powerful roles in the world, he doesn't rely on political experience. He succeeds because he listens, notices people, asks good questions, and surrounds himself with people whose expertise complements his own.

Sound familiar?

Those are many of the same invisible skills teachers use every single day.

In this episode, we'll explore:

• Why Dave is really a fairy tale about leadership
• The difference between noticing people and simply looking at them
• Why teachers are "professional noticers"
• What Murray the accountant teaches us about asking simple questions
• How labels can hide our true abilities
• Why your greatest professional strengths may already exist—you just haven't seen them in a new environment yet
• The connection to my upcoming book, Invisible Excellence: The Hidden Value of Teachers Beyond Teaching
• Why every job—including teaching—is ultimately a temporary assignment

Whether you're actively considering a career transition or simply thinking differently about your current role, this conversation is a reminder that your value is much bigger than your job title.

Resources

🌐 Teachers in Transition:
https://teachersintransition.com/

📘 Follow for Updates on:
Invisible Excellence: The Hidden Value of Teachers Beyond Teaching

🎬 Movie Discussed:
Dave (1993), starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver

Thanks for listening, and remember:

Your title is not your identity.
Your skills belong to you.
And every job is a temp job—so make it count.

Support the Podcast!

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider:

• sharing the episode with a teacher friend
• leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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This week’s encore episode covers three very different—but deeply connected—parts of surviving and transitioning out of teaching: finding laughter where you can, helping people understand invisible learning differences, and getting honest about the financial realities of leaving the classroom.

First, Vanessa makes the case for laughter as more than a pleasant distraction. A real laugh can ease stress, improve mood, strengthen relationships, relax the body, and help us regain enough perspective to keep going. She shares a few favorite comedians, books, movies, and comic-strip memories—and invites listeners to share what reliably makes them laugh.

Then, in this week’s Teacher Hack, Vanessa introduces Hot Words, a fast-paced clue-giving game with increasingly ridiculous communication restrictions. It is fun for game night, but it could also make an excellent professional-development activity. Trying to communicate without certain words, word lengths, or verbal habits offers a small but meaningful window into what it can feel like to navigate dyslexia, dyspraxia, processing differences, or other communication barriers.

Finally, Vanessa digs into a question many burned-out teachers wrestle with: What will it really cost to leave teaching? The answer is not as simple as losing a paycheck. Depending on your state, district, contract, benefits, pension, leave balance, and timing in the school year, there may be penalties, payout issues, insurance gaps, or money you are owed. But there are also expenses teachers may finally get to stop carrying: classroom supplies, fundraiser guilt, endless spirit shirts, emergency takeout after a 12-hour day, gas, tires, and the invisible cost of constantly propping up an underfunded system.

In This Episode

• Why laughter can support stress relief, resilience, connection, and physical relaxation
• Favorite comedy recommendations, including Robin Williams, Iliza Shlesinger, Karen Morgan, Ben Brainerd, Wanda Sykes, Lewis Black, and more
• The Snoopy Waterbed Fiasco and The Alto Wore Tweed
• How the game Hot Words can build empathy and enliven teacher in-service
• The often-overlooked financial details of leaving a teaching contract
• Why timing, earned leave, summer pay, benefits, and pension rules matter
• The value of union or professional-organization legal support
• What teachers may spend less on after leaving the classroom
• A reminder that “the best time to start working on your transition plan was about six months ago. The next best time is now.”

This episode includes general discussion based on personal experience. Employment contracts, leave, benefits, pension rules, and labor laws vary by state and employer. Check your own contract and consult an appropriate professional before making a decision.

LINKS FROM THE SHOW!

· National Institute of Health Article: Humor and Laughter May Influence Health

· The Snoopy Waterbed Fiasco: Start on January 14, 1975 and go to January 29, 1975.

· IMDB.com links – learn about where you can stream these, check out the trivia, the quotes, and more!

· Legally BlondeThe Court Jester (1955!)

· Free Guy

· The Alto Wore Tweed by Mark Schweizer ( the Kindle Edition is $2.99!)

If this podcast supports you, encourages you, or helps you feel a little less alone in the transition process, please follow or subscribe, leave a review, or share the episode with a teacher friend who needs perspective, hope, and laughter

Learn more about Vanessa’s programs, workshops, and coaching options at
https://teachersintransition.com/

Support the Podcast

If you enjoy this scrappy little indie podcast, please consider:

• sharing the episode with a teacher friend
• leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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Why do so many teachers get sick the minute summer break starts? In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa Jackson explores the “teacher flu,” summer burnout recovery, the reality of unpaid summer labor, and practical ways educators can use AI in a job search without expecting it to do the whole transition for them.

***
Raise your hand if you have ever made it to summer break, winter break, spring break, or any long weekend and then immediately gotten sick.

In this episode of Teachers in Transition, Vanessa Jackson introduces The Department of Consequences — the moment when your body, mind, or life finally says, “We need to discuss the last nine months.”

This episode looks at why teachers often crash when the pressure drops, why summer is not always the relaxing “perk” people imagine, and how to give summer enough structure without turning it into another unpaid job. Vanessa also talks about how AI can help teachers in career transition when it is used as a practical tool instead of a magical job-search wizard.

If you are a burned-out teacher, an educator considering leaving the classroom, or someone using summer to ask, “Can I keep doing this?” this episode will help you name what is happening and take one small step toward something more sustainable.

In This Episode

Vanessa talks about:

• Why teachers often get sick or crash at the beginning of summer break
• The difference between rest and recovery
• Why teacher stress can build up like an unpaid bill
• How summer can function like a furlough, recovery window, second-job season, or medical catch-up season
• Why “summers off” is not always the gift people think it is
• A simple summer planning hack using themed days
• Why daily rest or a nap may be maintenance, not laziness
• How teachers can use AI for job description analysis, resume bullets, LinkedIn updates, and interview prep
• Why AI can help with pieces of the job search but should not drive the whole career transition

AI Career Transition Tips from This Episode

AI can help teachers in transition when you give it context, a task, and a constraint.

Instead of asking, “Help me with my job search,” ask AI to do one specific job at a time:

AI can help you analyze, compare, translate, tighten, brainstorm, and practice. It cannot and should never replace your judgment, your strategy, or your follow-through.

Key Takeaway

Survival mode can get you through a school year, but it is not supposed to become your permanent address.

This summer, tell the truth about what kind of season you are actually in: rest, recovery, financial pressure, medical catch-up, career exploration, or some messy combination platter with a side of laundry.

Name it accurately, because clarity is kinder than self-judgment.

Resources and Links Mentioned

Schedule a free Discovery Session with Vanessa:
https://teachersintransition.com/calendar

Find more resources and podcast episodes:
https://teachersintransition.com/

Support the podcast directly:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/277608/support

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teachers-in-transition-career-change-and-real-talk/id1460021639

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3PF02FAZ1zzexvHBqqS6B8

Overboard “Annie is Catatonic” clip mentioned in the episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpzigSg-YkI

SEO Keywords

teacher burnout, teacher flu, teacher stress, teacher summer break, summer burnout recovery, teacher career transition, leaving teaching, teachers leaving the classroom, career change for teachers, job search for teachers, AI job search, AI resume help, teacher resume tips, teacher LinkedIn tips, transferable skills for teachers, educator burnout, teacher recovery, teacher summer planning, burnout recovery for educators, Teachers in Transition, Vanessa Jackson

Support the Podcast

If you enjoy this indie podcast and want to help with the behind-the-curtain work, please consider:

• sharing the episode with a teacher friend
• leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
• supporting the show financially starting at just $3/month Support Teachers in Transition

Connect with Vanessa Jackson

• 💌 Email: Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: https://teachersintransition.com/calendar
• 🧭 LinkedIn:
• 🔗 Bluesky: @beyondteaching.bsky.social
• 📸 Instagram & Threads: @teachers.in.transition
• 👍 Facebook: Teachers in Transition
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @EduExitStrategy

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The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

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