In this episode, I interview former teacher Becca Swain. Becca spent 10 years in the classroom and ended up landing a dream role that combines her love of theater and performing arts with her educational background and expertise. This is one of those more unique transition stories. So, if you are looking to learn a little bit about networking, or roles outside of the classroom that are in the theater space, this is a great episode for you.
Listen to the episode in the podcast player below, or find it on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
Daphne:
Hi, Becca. Thank you so much for being here today.
Becca:
Thank you for having me.
Daphne:
Becca, I’d love to hear a little bit about your experience in the classroom and what got you started in education to begin with?
Becca:
If I traced my education back to the beginning of how I got into education, it was my second grade teacher.
Daphne:
Oh.
Becca:
Yeah, she was a phenomenal person, and really got me excited about learning. I held that with me all through growing up, and when I got into high school, and it was senior year, actually a career counselor who worked in my school said, “Hey, Becca, there’s this really awesome scholarship that’s for teachers, for students going into education. I think you should apply.” And I did. I had to write an essay about that impact that my second grade teacher had on me. I ended up being awarded that scholarship, and then as a trade for getting that scholarship, it was through, I lived in Utah at the time, so I had to teach in Utah. I had to go to school in Utah. I could pick any college I wanted, but then I had to teach in Utah at a Title One school for two years to pay back that scholarship. That’s what got me into education.
Daphne:
I think everyone has that one teacher that inspired them to pursue it, whether it was a family member who was a teacher, or just a teacher who really truly touched them. I feel like there’s so many former teachers that share that same experience. How long were you in the classroom before you started thinking about leaving?
Becca:
So I taught for a total of 10 years. I would say about year eight. And again, this was 2021, so we were post, well, no, we were in pandemic-mode at the time. So year eight is when I started to really think, “Is this going to be a sustainable career for me?” And then I made it to year 10. So it’s August as we’re recording this, of 2023, and I finished my teaching career June of 2023, so just a few months ago.
Becca talks about what led up to her decision to leave the classroom
Daphne:
So it took a couple of years of thinking about leaving or wanting to leave? During that time, were you actively pursuing new jobs for the entire two years? Or were you just a fly on the wall for a little bit?
Becca:
A little bit of both. I will say there were definitely those recess breaks where I would get on monster.com and be like, “What can I do with the teaching degree?” Because it was just that type of day. But I would say the first year of thinking I needed to exit, I was a fly on the wall, and I just started to marinate on that idea. It wasn’t until fall of 2022 that I came home seriously in October of last year, and I told my wife, “I need to leave teaching,” and that’s when I really hit the ground running.
Daphne:
Yeah, do you mind sharing a little bit about what was your last straw in that situation?
Becca:
Yeah, it was the first time in my whole adult teaching career life that I was starting to have physical reactions while I was stressed at work. I started to get hives on my body, and I would come home and after an hour or two of being home, they would go away. I was getting really bad headaches, migraine-status headaches while I was at work. And again, I would come home, after the zoning on the couch for a little while, they would go away. And I was like, “Whoa, I’m actually having a physical reaction to what’s happening at work.” And I knew I needed to seriously think about leaving.
Daphne:
Oh, that’s very similar to what happened with me, is I just thought like, “Oh, I’m weenie. I can’t take a hard job. I’m just stressed out.” And then finally, I kept going to doctors because I was having all these weird physical reactions, and they’re like, this is just stress and we can tell you matter-of-factly based on what you’ve told us, it’s stress from your job. That had to be the catalyst of me finally realizing, “Oh, this isn’t normal.”
Becca:
Right, it’s not normal, but I think we pushed so much down as teachers.
Daphne:
Absolutely. So do you mind sharing anything about what it was that was stressing you out so much?
Becca:
Yeah, it’s interesting. So when I think about why I left teaching and what was stressing me out, it’s a multifaceted answer, and there’s an umbrella answer is teaching as it is right now, no longer felt good to me. I didn’t feel like I was serving the students like I wanted to be. I actually have a few notes that I’m going to look at. So I was tired of watching the behaviors of a few students derail the educational day of the rest of the students in my class. I say that, having really great classroom management. That’s something that I was, in my evaluations, I was always praised for by my admins. So I was using every tool in my teacher toolbox to have restorative conversations with these students who were exhibiting these behaviors. But I was also watching the light in my other students’ eyes dim, because they were like, “Oh my gosh, this again?” I was tired of being asked more and more every year, and not having anything ever taken off my plate.
Having some pretty unrealistic expectations from parents. I did have some parents who had asked me to keep track of everything their student ate that day. Did they in fact eat their lunch? Were they staying away from so-and-so while they were out at recess? Just all these other little things. And I was like, “I am one person. I can’t do it anymore.”
And then, Daphne, the last thing I would say is I think the real straw that broke the camel’s back, was I felt like I was screaming at the top of my lungs for help for some of my students who were really struggling academically, when I knew that I couldn’t in good conscience send them on to the next grade level, because they weren’t ready. And every time I brought that up with my admin, the answer was, “Well, this student’s not really here a lot, so we can’t really say if it’s an academic deficit, it might be an attendance deficit.” I just felt like I was shoveling these kids through the system, and I didn’t want to be a part of that anymore, if that was going to be the answer, that they just go to the next grade.
Daphne:
Yeah, I feel like there’s so many people who can relate to that. The struggle with having a few students take up 20% of the day, minimum every day is something that I absolutely struggled with. As empathetic as you are towards those students and their needs to have them be in an environment where they’re able to learn, and they’re able to feel supported, and they’re able to start trusting, because they have all these other things going on in their personal lives, it is challenging to do your job if there is someone who’s distracting the rest of the people in the classroom.
So where did you start looking? Because it does sound like you were really passionate about education, and might have been a little bit specific about what types of jobs you were looking for? Where did you start looking for roles when you were evaluating your next step?
Becca:
Well, that’s a funny answer, because what I did was I made a list of what I’m good at, and then a list of what I enjoy. I tried to see where those lists intersected. The big one for me was performing arts, theater, being around people, creating. So I knew that I had some time, it was October, I made the decision that I was going to finish the school year, but I was going to use that time as like a second job to find a new job. So I knew that starting to look in the performing arts realm was going to be my number one top choice. So that’s exactly what I did.
So I started reaching out to people who work in my community in roles like that. From your course truly, when you were like, “Network.” I was like, “Okay, I will go network.” And I reached out to folks and asked if I could take them for a coffee, and could I just talk to them about what they do? No one said no, everyone said yes. From there I was blown away by the ripple effects that one coffee networking date led to five more.
Daphne:
I think especially if it’s people in the same city as you and with a very similar interest, if you were, I know you know this from the course, but if you were cold networking, just sending it to a random person on the internet, you’re going to hear a lot more no’s than if it’s someone who might know someone that you know. And especially where you’re able to have this very clear connection of, “This is why I’m interested, this is who I am, or my experience with it.”
Becca shares how networking played an important role in her transition
Had you already been doing things in performing arts and theater prior to networking? Like while you were teaching, were you involved for a while?
Becca:
Before I began teaching, I actually almost majored in musical theater. I grew up doing musical theater. So in my adult life as a teacher, yes, I was doing some community theater here in town where I live. So I had some theater contacts that I knew I could reach out to. That was another thing is when my wife and I were talking about this career transition, it was really important for us to stay where we are. We knew that a move wasn’t really in the cards for us at this point. So I knew that trying to really dive into my network, here in town where I live, was going to be really important.
Daphne:
When you were looking for these roles, did you find that they were easily available? Or was it pretty scarce for a while?
Becca:
Very scarce, and it was one of those things where I was like, “I don’t know if there’s going to be anything available.” And then in the back of my mind it was also, “What is the pay going to look like?” I’d love to be creative, but what am I going to be sacrificing pay-wise?
Daphne:
Yeah, and especially you were in the classroom for 10 years, so you had built up and established where you were on the salary schedule, so that is really scary.
Becca explains how she landed her dream job as a Theater Education Coordinator
Was the first role that you applied for, the role that you ultimately landed? Or how did that process go?
Becca:
No, so I cast a wide net, and I was networking with people that were in all different fields, even though I was focusing on the performing arts. How I ended up getting the role I’m in now, is one of the first people I reached out to, was the director of education at the performing arts center in my town. I took her to coffee and I expressed to her interest in working at this theater someday, and she was really receptive to me, and she said, “You know, Becca, I admire your passion. There’s nothing at the theater right now, but let me keep you in mind.” And she said, “Would you want to be involved in some of the community events that the theater has going on this year?” And I said, “Yes, please.” And she’s like, “It’s all going to be volunteer-based things. Is that okay?”
But I knew that just to get my foot in the door and create that relationship, it was going to be important to say yes to those volunteer opportunities. So I did. We stayed in touch through the course of the school year, and then what ended up happening, is four days after school ended this summer, she called me and she said, “Do you have a minute for a phone call?” And it was one of those moments in life where you’re like, “Is this the phone call that’s going to change my life?” And she said, “I’ve been thinking that my job’s too big for one person to do now. I’ve spoken to the director of the theater. They’ve given me permission to reach out to you, and I’d like to offer you a position as the Education Coordinator for this theater.” She said, “Don’t answer now. Take a week and think about it. Let’s get coffee in a week.” But my experience getting this job is a lot different than I think what a lot of people have gone through in the classroom.
Daphne:
Yeah, and I think because it’s hard to say what other types of careers volunteering is going to be a really good fit for. But I would just top of mind say anything when it comes to performing arts theaters, they are looking for volunteers, and then also nonprofit work. Because your resume is going to be the thing that gets you that foot in the door if you’ve never met anyone there, but if they’ve actually seen your work ethic, what you’re like to work with, see that you actually fit in that building, that makes you a great fit.
So that was a great strategy and I know not everybody is able to do that. And I will say right now, if you’re listening to this, and if Blip Blurp Technology is like, “Hey, will you create our online course for us for free as a volunteer?” Don’t do that, because they should be paying you. But there are some places that absolutely, the volunteer experience is a really good way to get that foot in the door. So I think that was such a smart strategy. Did she ask for a resume at that moment or anything? Or was it just, “Here’s a job offer?”
Becca:
She did not, but you know what? I had spent so much time fine-tuning my resume, cover letters, LinkedIn, all through your course that I feel like had she asked for it, it was ready to go. And doing that work gave me the confidence to know what my marketable skills were. So I was able to go into these conversations with her, knowing what I was going to bring to the table, because I’d done the work. And that was so valuable.
Daphne:
Yeah, and I think that’s the part that a lot of people miss when they want to outsource it maybe to a stranger on the internet, and say, “Hey, just write my resume for me.” And the stranger’s like, “Okay, well tell me exactly what you’ve done relative to this role?” And if you don’t know that, if you don’t really know exactly how your skills translate, your resume is going to be a little poopy.
Then also when it comes to the interview, if you do get an interview from a resume that doesn’t clearly connect the dots for them, you are going to struggle with articulating that if you didn’t sit down and say, “What are my most strong key points?” And that’s why we built the course in the way that we did, so that you can see how you can translate it to look professional, but also you have to connect those dots and do it yourself. Because those are the biggest conversations is if you went into the conversation about an education coordinator position, and you said, “Yeah, I have no experience doing anything like this,” she probably, as much as she liked you, would’ve been really hesitant to do it.
Becca:
Oh, a thousand percent. And I will say knowing now how to redo a resume from a teaching resume, just having that experience as I move into other careers. I mean, I don’t have plans to leave this. I would like to stay here, but I know how to do it now, and that’s what’s really important. The other thing I did, is now that I know how important it’s to keep your resume updated, I’ve taken my education coordinator job description, and I’ve plugged it in to my working resume, so that if I ever needed to again, it is updated with exactly what I’m doing at the theater.
Daphne:
Yeah, and one really great strategy with that is on a quarterly basis, just think of what you’ve done. If you have performance evaluations at your position, or you get emails of praise, send it to a folder, a private folder, and just a brag folder. So that you once a quarter go in and say, “Oh, shoot, I did this really cool thing. Let me not forget to put that on my resume.” Just to have it locked and loaded if something amazing comes up that you have to apply for, or if unfortunately you get laid off or something happens, it’s always good to always have it ready to go. I’d love to hear about your education coordinator position. What exactly are you doing in this role?
Becca:
What’s really neat about it is it truly is taking my education background and my theater background, and marrying the two. So I’m the public facing person from the theater. I get to reach out to teachers and admin in the community where I live, and bring their students to the theater. We actually have a whole season of performances, separate from the evening performances that the public has, that are all education-based. So I’ll be in charge of booking students and teachers into the theater to come to these performances. There are a few performances that we actually take out to schools, that I’ll be in charge of booking. I get to do tours of the theater for field trips. Prior to students coming into the theater, I actually get to go into the schools and do theater talks. I might talk to them about some theater vocabulary, maybe some theater etiquette, themes that they might see in the show that can tie into their curriculum. It really is the perfect marriage of what I did as a classroom teacher, but giving me that creativity again.
Daphne:
How’s the work-life balance with that type of position? It sounds like there’s a lot of presentations to make and maybe potentially some travel?
Becca:
So far, really, I’m blown away at the freedom and the balance that I’m feeling. I’m setting my own schedule. Most of my in-person hours will be student-facing. So right where I live, school hasn’t started yet. It starts in about two weeks. That’s when my in-person hours are really going to ramp up. But I’m working hybrid, so some of my hours I’m in the theater, and I’m putting together things with my boss that we’re going to be sending out to teachers. We actually just met with the marketing department to get materials ready to market to teachers as they’re coming back. But most of my hours, if I want, I can work at home, and it’s really flexible right now.
Daphne:
So it sounds like there’s a couple different departments even at this theater, so are you learning different roles while you are there? Just learning about what the other roles are doing?
Becca:
Yeah, I’m actually blown away, because I feel like I’m getting a crash course education in all the types of jobs that I had no idea existed. One of the jobs at the theater is Instagram. They’re our social media manager. And then our marketing person works with all sorts of businesses in town, and they get all sorts of sponsorships from business to help our theater, and making sure that those logos are in all of our programs. Making sure, now we have digital playbills. And then there’s the finance department who have to keep track of all of the donations and memberships. It’s incredible. I had no idea this world existed.
Daphne:
So interesting once you go to a new environment. And I haven’t worked at a theater at all, but very similar to even the tech companies that I’ve worked for. They’ve had the social media managers, there’s people who are in charge of partnership. So just partnering with other companies, those big companies that you see collaborating all the time usually have someone who’s more articulate and professional than I am, partnering with the other people who are professional and articulate from the other company, to make sure that they really like what each other are doing. It’s such a good learning experience.
Becca discusses the potential for growth in her current position
Do you mind me asking, because you did bring this up a little bit earlier, you were very nervous about whether or not this would be a huge cut to your salary. Do you mind sharing whether or not you did take a pay cut for this position?
Becca:
I don’t mind at all. I did take a pay cut. It might not be a permanent pay cut. The position has been offered to me part-time, and I took it, with that came the pay cut. However, the Director of Education, so my direct boss said they’re bringing me on and they’re finding the funding for me now, because it’s actually not a position that they planned for financially for this financial year. However, now that I’ve been brought on, they will be able to plan for me for the next fiscal year.
So it is a pay cut, but what I learned from your course was it’s also okay to make that first leap out of the classroom. And this part-time situation is going to be a stepping stone, but I knew it was the right job for me, so I was willing to take that initial dip, knowing that the room for growth is there. The other thing I did, was I’ve used my summer and I work at the, there’s an amphitheater in town that has amazing concerts. It’s an outdoor concert venue, and I knew that I was going to be taking a pay cut, so I work at the amphitheater nights, and I bartend, and it’s been a blast. So I’ve done as much parachute-building for myself as I could, going into this season of change.
Daphne:
Yeah, and I think that that’s something that so many people struggle with, is whether or not other people are going to judge their decision based on if it was a pay cut. What’s the most important thing is that you and your wife sat down and you’re financially able to support this, but 100%, especially if the role is exactly in this very niche direction of what you call your dream career. That is, you probably wrote down 100 pros and cons lists that reiterated like, okay, this cut for a temporary time is worth it to be able to say, “This was my role at a theater,” for a resume for either in one year’s time, or three years time, or to work at this theater and work yourself up to the salary that you need?
Becca:
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly what I did. Lots of pros and cons lists, lots of chats with my wife. And I also realized that we are in a position of privilege to be able to make that pay cut. I know not everyone can. We don’t have kids, so we have two incomes. She’s a dental assistant, so I also understand that there some privilege in being able to make that choice.
Daphne:
How do you feel like your life has changed after you’ve left teaching? I know it’s only been a few months, but can you tell a difference?
Becca:
I can tell a huge difference. In fact, I’ve been so joyful, that there’s a part of me that’s like, “When is, should I be this happy? Is the shoe going to drop? Is something going to change?” All of a sudden I’m having lunch breaks where I don’t have to snarf my food in 30 minutes, but also go to the bathroom, answer some parent emails, and look at my lesson plans. I just eat my lunch. No one’s asking for me to be back at a certain time. I’m waking up, I’m having slow mornings. I am drinking my coffee while it’s hot.
Just being trusted to do my work, being trusted to be an adult, and get the things done in a day that I need to get done, and then be done when I’m done. There’s a part of me that’s like, “Should I be done? Am I going to get in trouble because I finished my work too quickly?” One thing that was really funny is my boss gave me a task the other day to make a list of all of the Title One schools in my area. Those are the schools we’re really going to target and try to get those kids into the theater this year. I had it done that day, and she’s like, “Oh, I thought that maybe would take you a week.” But I think as teachers, we get a task, we’re like, “I better do this now.”
Daphne:
Yeah, because you’re used to that being a task that you have to do on your own time, so someone thinking, “Oh, I’m going to give this person a task.” They think, “Okay, it’s probably going to take them some time to research, but there’s other things on their plate.” Where we’re like, “We have to do this right now.” It’s such a common scenario, and I noticed you were saying about you’re so joyful that it surprises you sometimes. This is something that really stuck out to me when I left, and I feel like we both had physical symptoms, and I just wonder, did you know how bad it got for you until you left? For me, it was very hard to see the change, or not, see the negative change in myself. I just thought that’s who I had become, and then when I left, I realized, “Oh, shoot, I was far gone for a little bit.”
Becca:
Yeah, I think I knew how dark it was for me, because it was dark. And I think that’s also really hard for teachers to talk about, is I think if you’re not in the teaching profession, people are like, “But you were around kids all day and you’re in the school. How bad could it have been?” But I was not well. So now the amount of joy I’m feeling really speaks, I think, to how much dark I was feeling, because it’s such a contrast.
Daphne:
Yeah. It’s like I wear cute Peter Pan collars, and I hand out stickers, and you act like the Mary Poppins teacher, so everyone’s like, “Oh, they must be very happy.” And absolutely you can be struggling, and no one know it. I want to ask a couple more questions, especially for someone who’s looking to get into a theater or performing arts role. I know that there’s a lot of teachers who are really excited about working with their creative passions, or working with the arts, or doing something for their community.
Becca shares advice for teachers looking to leave the classroom
Do you have any advice that anyone gave you? Or any strategies that helped you when you were searching for these types of positions or these types of networking opportunities?
Becca:
Again, the biggest one that I keep going back to, was that networking. So if someone really is interested in getting involved in something like that in their community, see if there’s an opportunity to be like a house manager. So the night of shows, or maybe you can work concessions? Maybe you can help in the box office? What about an usher for a night of performances? Really trying to get your face into the place where you want to work. The networking really for me was key.
Daphne:
Yeah, especially when it is a position that may not come up very often, it is going to be a little bit of a risk. So make sure that you have checked out that theater. It looks like it’s one that’s going to have a lot of opportunities, or potential opportunities in the future, because I have a lot of friends who are in theater, and I know some are going to be more likely to have growth, and others are going to be smaller and probably not have growth. So check out those types of statistics, or feel out the vibe of the theater before volunteering time for it. But even the volunteer that you do at the smaller theater may help you learn people at other theaters, and especially get your feet wet to see if you even like that environment, or working in that environment, even if that’s not going to be a full-time role for you. I think that’s a really important puzzle piece also.
Becca:
Yes, absolutely. Visit the places you’re curious about. Glassdoor, never underestimate looking into companies there also.
Daphne:
The last question I want to ask you before we wrap up, is one of my favorite ones, and it is just wondering what you learned about yourself during this process, because it’s a really hard complicated process? I’d love to hear if you had any big takeaways from it?
Becca:
I think the biggest takeaway I’ve had, is I can do hard things. I’m brave. It took a lot of bravery and courage to do this, and to leave behind this career that I spent years in college, and thousands of dollars on, and years of my life. I’ve learned that I am brave and that I’m capable. I feel like I’ve become reacquainted with myself, and the things that I’m good at, because I forgot the things that I was good at, and I’m rediscovering myself as I’m continuing along this path of leaving the classroom.
Daphne:
Well, I’m so happy for you, Becca, especially, you wrote down that you found your dream role. I can see it on your face as I’m watching you on the video camera. No one else can see your face right now, but I can see it on your face. You are just beaming joy and happiness, and I’m so happy for you and I’m just so happy that I met you, and thank you for coming on the show, and sharing with everyone.
Becca:
Thank you for what you’re doing for this community of teachers that really needed this platform, and I can’t thank you enough for how you really changed my life.
Mentioned in the episode:
- Our career path quiz at www.teachercareercoach.com/quiz
- Explore the course that has helped thousands of teachers successfully transition out of the classroom and into new careers: The Teacher Career Coach Course (If you are a Teacher Career Coach Course member, you can also sign up for our one-on-one Career Clarity calls.)
