Here is a short summary of my current thoughts on this matter.
4 Weeks complete @ Makers Academy! Do I still consider myself a teacher?
This question raised its head considerably this week. I don’t believe that the answer is entirely related to the Makers Academy course I am taking. But it has been influenced by this book:
This excellent book, ‘Working Identity’ by Herminia Ibarra (Harvard Business School Press) was an incredible recommendation from the founder of Beta Baboon- Richard Hynter.
Richard interviewed me in December. The job was a junior position in his fledgling business, born from an extraordinary career with Saatchi & Saatchi. He swore this book was an enormous influence on his decision to launch Beta Baboon and empathised with my desire to change career direction.
Why’s the book so important?
Whereas many career-change books are rammed with advice on writing CVs, setting up a LinkedIn profile and sending thank-you notes, ‘Working Identity’ is different. It explores the stories of countless people and their career changes, many that appear bizarre or radical at first glance, but later are found to be a patently clear.
Ibarra observes that we learn and change through doing, and this continuous process forms our ‘Working Identity’. As we explore interests, we form a working identity that either converges or diverges from our current work. We look for aspirational figures that we admire and subtly begin to model ourselves, through action, in their image.
For example: I created a working identity as a teacher. If I were asked, “What do you do?” I responded that I taught Physics. I was interested in educational theory, in developing curricula and in self-development. However, my interest in travel and the sea began to sculpt my identity away from that of a inner city-dweller and towards the coast and the communities there. I admired the expertise of brilliant surfers, their commitment and their athleticism.
This was the first influence.
Next, I responded to changes in government and school policy by pulling away, rather than into education. My attempts to improve our department through carefully constructed curricula were swallowed by seas of marking and testing. I felt misaligned with the profession: inadequate and dispassionate as a marker and unappreciated as an creator. My identity shifted again.
I no longer considered teaching fulfilling, so began to disassociate myself from the identity whilst searching for a new one (much to the consternation of my colleagues).
Development and learning to program is now beginning to overtake this. I don’t feel like I want to be back in the classroom right now. I don’t feel like I’m missing out, or fucking up.
I can feel it, the tipping point:
I think it’s only weeks before I can say, “I’m a developer” and my (current) identity change is complete.
So, do I still feel like I’m a teacher?
No. It’s beginning to feel like a past life, another me. And of course, it really is.
7 Steps: How not to regret leaving teaching:
- Stay in your current job (for now). It supports you. You might dislike/loathe it, but it’s the stick you need to chase the carrot you want.
- Experiment with what you’re genuinely interested in. Like climbing? Climb more. Like writing? Write more. Do something with the results. Immerse yourself.
- Stop taking loads of advice. Yeah, I know. But the only person who really knows what’s going on up there is you. By the time you have the opinions of three people on your life direction, you’re fucked. They’ll all be based on the ‘you’ they know. And they will all be true and all be different.
- Accept that while a career change may appear dramatically different, it rarely is so- your own perception of yourself, your ‘Working Identity’ will change with the things you choose to pursue.
- Stop lying to yourself. Stop doing what you think you should do and start doing what you want to do, however small. Your path to change is unique to you.
- Extend your time and kindness to others. If you’re doing things you like, these people will become your new support and ‘network’ (I bloody hate that word).
- Don’t spend time ‘working it out’ or ‘thinking it over’. You will learn NOTHING. Seriously, nothing. Your change will come from committing to doing something, not thinking about it.
This is probably the bit where I use surfing as a metaphor for all this. I’ve definitely got a few tasty examples up my sleeve (e.g. ‘You’ve got to commit to the drop- pick your wave, eye your line, drop your chest and paddle without any hesitation or question. Only then will you taste the exhilarating success of the ride, rather than a violent, salty cuff round the head).
I wouldn’t do that to you though.
Up there is Jon Jon Florence. Look at that turn. Look at it.
Now get the hell off my blog, stop thinking about it and start doing it.
Feel free to leave comments, like and share :). Feedback always welcome.
