Ex-halfspaces guy | Teacher ➡️ instructional designer ➡️ project manager. Cheers. 🥃 ✝️ ⚽️🏒 〽️🏈
Cleveland, Ohio
Joined October 2013
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I taught middle school science for 17 years. I didn't realize I was burnt out until I'd been gone for a couple months.
Here are 5 I lived:
1. You’re mentally checked out months before the school year ends.
2. The library gets turned into an ISS room and you just shrug because nothing surprises you anymore.
3. You sit through CYA meetings where the eval was already written before the admin walked in...and it doesn't even bother you.
4. You are losing friends to teaching jobs in "better" districts (or other careers) and you are happy that they got out.
5. You don’t hate teaching or the kids… you just can’t picture doing 20+ more years of it.
Anything you'd add from your experiences?
Ben retweeted
Body language from Dan Campbell and the players feels like they might make some kind of staff change after this game.
This Lions defense has zero chance of winning a Super Bowl.
Ben retweeted
Some info for context:
▪️PFF no longer controls the grades they're selling. Teamworks owns/controls those. PFF just licenses them to keep selling them to you.
▪️Neither of these guys has graded a game or really fully understands the PFF grading system. Most of the people who do don't work there anymore. They don't have anyone left who can explain the grades publicly. "Triple negative" ?
▪️The biggest problem with the grades remains, imo, the translation to the 0-100 scale. It warps the raw grade to try to manipulate it onto a closed scale because some people believed that accessibility was more important than accuracy. Guess who pushed that.
▪️As a former PFF grader, I also disagree with the raw grade in this case, especially on the 2 biggest plays (The negated INT and the Kmet TD.) 'Fix' those 2 grades and you get a lot closer to consensus opinion.
Ben retweeted
Man I've been watching the USMNT a long time. Here are some little things I've picked up on this World Cup that may/may not be interesting (in no order).
Nothing new but it suggests Poch gets this team:
The pace of work in corporate ID/PM is steady year-round but much slower than the classroom.
There’s no giant exhale at the end of May with two months to recover.
I was worried that I would miss that summer reset badly but the stress is so much less that I haven’t.
I actually prefer the consistent rhythm — no more crashing hard in June and scrambling in August. Just steady work with actual vacation time I can plan around.
Teachers thinking about leaving: how do you feel about giving up the traditional school calendar?
Going to a storytelling workshop last week for my education team role made one thing crystal clear:
The best instructional design (and PM work) isn’t about fancy tools. It’s about telling a story in a clear, compelling way.
Spent years doing exactly that with middle schoolers who didn’t want to be there. Turns out the same skill works even better with adults that are motivated to learn.
Teachers moving into ID — how much do you lean on storytelling in your work?
Here's a career path almost nobody talks about: Teacher → Instructional Designer → Project Manager.
ID was the perfect bridge — it let me use my lesson planning skills for adults who are motivated (usually) learners.
Six months later I was running real projects as a PM. Same skills (deadlines, stakeholders, clear communication), but better pay and way less drama.
If you’re a teacher in (or considering) instructional design right now — this is a career path to consider.
Similarities between Instructional Design and Teaching (my experience)
• Details matter: The difference between a science lab or corporate interactive learning module that you have put time into and proofread 17 times is glaringly obvious
• Learning Objectives: This isn't my favorite thing, but higher ups in both fields want them...get used to using that list of Bloom's verbs
• Humor works: If you can make people chuckle (or feel any emotion really) the learning you create will stand out
There's more, but I'll stop here. Other suggestions?
So I landed a remote Instructional Design job in Feb of 2022. My favorite non-work things about the change:
1. Two seasons: mesh shorts and sweat pants
2. Taking my kids to school in the morning
3. Going to parent-teacher conferences/school events for my own children
4. Lunch dates with my wife/lunch with kids during the summer
5. More energy and patience at home with everyone
Others?
I wouldn't have said I was "burned out" when I was at the end of my time teaching, but looking back on it...I think I was.
I wonder if that's a common thing. You just do what you need to do to get through the days but never sit and reflect on where you are.
We need good teachers and I hope many stay, but there's a right time to move on as well. Take the time to think about it - go for a walk and pray about it.
The kids need you, but maybe your family needs a less stressed version of you.
How I Passed the PMP Exam
~ Short practice quizzes - the PMI Pocket Prep app is like $20 per month but it makes studying in small chunks convenient, 10 ?s at a time whenever you have a spare few minutes
~ Mock exams - Anywhere from 30 questions all the way up to full 180 questions, you can find these several places (I used Percipio)
That's kinda it. I bought a couple study books, but did use them a lot. Doing tons of practice questions did it for me and I passed above target in all three domains.
Good morning, X. The school year is winding down and if you're feeling burned out maybe it's time to polish up the ol' resume.
Best piece of CV advice I received when I transitioned out of the classroom was to be specific. You need to decide on the role you're targeting and make sure your resume matches.
If you aren't sure and are applying to different types of positions you'll need to create multiple resumes.
AI makes that a lot easier now, but you still need to make sure you review and clean it up.
"Human in the loop" and all.
Four years ago I was designing instruction for the first time in a corporate setting.
Today I’m a healthcare PM helping lead multimillion-dollar projects. The transition wasn’t a huge leap — it was the natural next step.
ID taught me how to make complex things simple and measurable. PM let me own the outcome end-to-end.
17 years of managing 30 kids, chaotic admins, and impossible deadlines prepared me better than any certification ever could.
ID-to-PM is a viable career path if you're wondering what might be next.