一位教师分享了她从教学岗位离职，转战企业，最终又重返教育行业的经历。文章探讨了她选择重回教师岗位的五个关键原因，包括热爱与学生的互动、注重社区建设、灵活的工作时间、丰厚的带薪假期以及能够兼顾个人事业。作者认为，教学工作提供了创造力、良好的工作与生活平衡，以及服务社会的满足感。尽管教育行业存在挑战，但对她而言，教学是能让她长期投入并感到快乐的事业。

🍎 **热爱学生成长与互动：** 作者喜欢与学生一起工作，见证他们的成长与进步。这份在课堂上建立的深厚情感联系，是在企业环境中难以获得的。

🏡 **重视社区与创造力：** 教学工作让她能够发挥创造力，打造独特的课堂氛围，并组织社区建设活动，培养学生的社交情感技能。这种工作方式让她感到充满活力。

⏰ **工作与生活平衡：** 教师的工作时间安排让她能更好地平衡工作与生活，方便照顾家庭，参与孩子的活动，这在朝九晚五的 corporate 环境中是难以实现的。

🏖️ **丰富的带薪假期：** 教师拥有多个带薪假期，包括暑假、春假、感恩节和圣诞节假期，这与许多企业提供的有限带薪休假形成鲜明对比，让她有更多时间休息和放松。

✍️ **兼顾个人事业：** 作者能够在全职教学的同时，经营自己的写作事业，这得益于她高效的时间管理能力。教学工作为她提供了事业上的满足感，也让她有时间发展个人兴趣。

I quit my teaching job because I experienced burnout and joined corporate America.After less than a year in an office, I realized I missed teaching and returned to the job.Teaching allows me to be creative, offers great PTO, and has a great work-life balance.

I never planned on being a teacher, but sometimes, life has other plans for you.

I entered the profession in 2019 when I earned my CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) on a part-time basis. Within a few years of teaching ESL online, I transitioned into K-12 education and started working as a teacher full time.

It didn't take me long to realize I liked the work, and after transitioning out of ESL education, I taught at a charter school for a few years. During that time, I grew my travel writing business on the side. I did this for a good portion of my mid- and late 20s, but after a while, I started to experience the all-too-common "teacher burnout."

So, in 2024, I took a break from education and transitioned to working in an office. While I loved my experience working for a big company, corporate life ultimately wasn't for me, and I returned to the classroom nine months later.

Every teacher's experience is different, but here are five reasons I was eager to start teaching again.

I love working with students and watching them grow

When you find a good school to work for, it's easy to spend years teaching different cohorts of students. The longer you stay in a school, the more students you get to see, and the more you become part of the community.

As an educator, I have the blessing of watching my students grow, learn, and mature — even after they leave my class.

I deeply value this social aspect of teaching, and I definitely didn't experience it in a corporate environment.

I'm a community-focused person

Teachers are some of the most versatile and talented people I know, and I love how working in education requires me to use my creative skills to build classroom culture.

Each year, I can decorate my classroom and create a vibe that suits my students and me. I can also plan different community-building activities to help my students develop their socio-emotional skills.

While I experienced some collaborative work during my time outside of education, I haven't found another profession that is so creative and community-focused.

My teaching schedule makes it easier to balance work and life

In the past few years, my home responsibilities have changed. I've shifted into a caretaker role, and, schedule-wise, working in education makes it easy for me to be present for the children in my care.

My teaching schedule coincides with theirs, so I'm able to attend games and award ceremonies, and I can easily pick them up from school or take them to appointments. In my experience, this was much harder to do in the corporate world because so many businesses in the US operate on a 9-5 schedule.

I get multiple paid breaks a year

Teacher schedules are a controversial topic, and I wholeheartedly believe educators should be paid on 12-month contracts. However, this is not the case in a lot of school districts, so many educators are not paid over the summer.

I'm blessed to work at a school that pays year-round, and I really enjoy having a job that enables me to take summers off without worrying about the break affecting my finances.

I also get a lovely spring break, Thanksgiving break, and Christmas break each year, not to mention federal holidays, which is a stark difference from the 10 PTO days so many corporations offer employees in the US.

I can maintain my business while still teaching full time

I thrive on creative work. So, on top of running a household and teaching full time, I also have a travel writing business. Over the years, I've learned how to be efficient with my time, and I'm able to balance owning a business and maintaining a full-time job.

Since I have been teaching for a while, I have gotten quicker at lesson planning, grading, and other teacher admin tasks, so I rarely have to take work home.

With my free time, I'm able to grow my business and focus on building a passion project, in addition to a career that gives me a great sense of purpose and joy.

Teaching isn't for everyone, and many aspects of education do not benefit teachers or the children we serve. These are deep-rooted structural issues that need to be addressed. However, given my skill set, interests, and lifestyle, teaching is a job I can see myself doing for many more years to come.