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

Bottom of Form

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

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

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

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 [email protected].

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: [email protected]
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: 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: [email protected]
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: 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

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

Bottom of Form

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

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

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

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. 
  Bottom of Form

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

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

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

Bottom of Form

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

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

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

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: [email protected]
(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: [email protected]
• 📱 Call or Text: 512-640-9099
• 📅 Book a Free Discovery Call: 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:
 [email protected]

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

Bottom of Form

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

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

Support the show