From boardroom to classroom

Taking a different call, Middle Tennesseans leave the business world to teach

Friday, October 14, 2011, Vol. 35, No. 41
By Virginia Roberson

Summers off; job security; short work days… they’re just a few of the “mythical perks” of the teaching profession. In reality however, teachers work long hours (both in and out of the classroom), give up their weekends, and get paid very little for their efforts.

“It’s not a nine-to-five job,” says Mark Ishee, who teaches English at Oakland High School in Murfreesboro. “It’s not uncommon for me to spend 12 or more hours a day at school. Then I have to come home and make more preparation for classes the next day. I spend weekends and evenings preparing lesson plans. No two classes are the same.”

Ishee, who spent three of the six weeks he had off last summer attending conferences for professional development, was recently named as Chair of the school’s English Department, extending his work days.

Yet despite the low pay and long hours, Ishee only three years ago joined the ranks of America’s educators. He left a successful career in publishing because he felt the “call” to teach.

And before you think Ishee’s career shift is a rare exception to the rule, know that there are several Middle Tennesseans following suit. They’re giving up their lucrative corporate gigs to dedicate their lives to educating young minds.

A small, motley crew comprised of these individuals recently took a rare timeout from their busy schedules to speak with the Nashville Ledger and offer their reasons for going into one of America’s toughest professions.

Why give up a promising corporate career to go into teaching?

Mark Ishee: “Chess was how I got started in my career change,” he says. “In addition to my writing and editing job, I was on the original Board of Directors for the Nashville Chess Center. I started tutoring the young chess players after the parents and the students started asking for private lessons. I discovered I enjoyed teaching and I seemed to have a knack for it. Some of my chess students became state and national champions. I decided maybe teaching was my true calling.”

(Ishee points out that he’s been able to use his background as a writer and as an editor in the classroom.)

“In some respects, teaching is not that much different from editing manuscripts,” he says. “Many of the fundamentals are the same. The main difference is that instead of editing books for publication or profit, I’m trying to pass on my knowledge of writing to as many people as possible. They say you can’t take it with you. I’m trying to leave something behind and make the world a better place.”

Danielle Norton: “I started waking up every morning really hating going to work,” Norton says. “I felt like I wasn’t contributing to society. I did some soul searching and tried to decide what I was passionate about. I love kids and I used to have my own babysitting service. I wanted to teach Pre-K and work with children who were disadvantaged. Now that’s what I’m doing and I love it. “

(Like Ishee, Norton’s background in the corporate world helped prepare her for a career in the classroom.)

“I have a quirky viewpoint of education,” she says. “I’m basically a salesperson every day. I have to get the kids to trust me enough to teach them the skills they need. I do a tremendous amount of fundraising and community relations for my school. So I use a lot of my sales and marketing skills as a volunteer and as a teacher.”

Ken King: “As an attorney, I worked for a large law firm in Nashville, where I represented mostly corporations and rich folks,” he says. “I was a litigator and I did trial work. Eventually, I noticed whether we won or lost, money just changed hands.

“It never seemed like I was really winning anything. It seemed sort of soulless. I thought I could contribute something to society, instead of to rich folks and corporations.”

(King started going to night classes at Tennessee State University to earn his Master’s in Education. During his student teaching, he was able to make connections at Nashville’s Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet School, where his son attended classes. Now he says he’s found the perfect place to work.)

“The best part of working as a teacher is that I have a more mature clientele now!” he says with a laugh. “My position at Hume-Fogg was the first teaching job I got and I love it.”

Natalie Hennes: “I just fell into marketing and television after college, and I liked it,” she says. “I was the marketing manager for Comcast Spotlight CABLE Advertising and I was a TV host for On Demand.” (Still, Hennes says she felt like something was “missing” in her career.)

“In my spare time, I had started coaching a soccer league for girls ages 15 and 16,” she adds. “I realized I loved working with kids. So I quit my job and went back to school to get my Master’s of Education at Belmont (University). My internship was in middle school and I loved it. I feel it was the best decision I ever made.”

David Deutsch: “I had been working at Comdata for about 13 years,” he says. “I left my job there four years ago when I found out there was a rare opening for math instructors at MBA. My sons went to school there and I heard that four math teachers had recently left.”

(Deutsch approached the director of the high school and) “I asked if they would be interested in someone like me,” he says. “Teaching has always been my dream job. I have a background in mathematics and computer science, but I come from the business world. Yet I’ve coached everything from soccer to baseball to softball for my sons’ and daughter’s teams. I’ve always thought my dream job would be to coach and teach for a living. The rest is history.”

Have you ever second-guessed your decision to teach? Any regrets?

Ishee: “I have no regrets about my decision,” he says. “Every teacher is in this business to help someone master a skill or a concept that students can use for the rest of their lives. When I’m sure I’m able to do that, I feel in some degree I’ve helped them enrich their lives. That’s why I’m in this.”

Norton: “When I went back to school to get my teaching certification, I had no clue I could earn my master’s degree and certification at the same time,” she says. “But I’m glad I did it that way, because I enjoyed my undergrad classes in philosophy and education. (She’s now earning her Master’s in Leadership and Administration at MTSU.)

“The more I do things in Metro, the more I’m hoping I can be involved in programs that will create opportunities where I can make a positive impact on the Pre-K program here,” she adds. “And I need a master’s to do that.”

King: “The salary is awful,” he says. “Having been a lawyer, I think the pay is inversely proportional. Teachers are incredibly valuable and lawyers are not, yet attorneys make more money.

“This is the perfect school environment to work in and I have the perfect principal,” he adds. “I was incredibly lucky to get this job and I’m probably luckier than I deserve. That’s not to say I don’t miss the people I worked with at the law firm. I just determined there was something more important.”

Hennes: “This job is not easy,” she says. “You’re technically never done. After putting my daughter down to bed in the evenings, I work on grading papers.

“(Still,) I feel like I have more control over my schedule, even though I work a lot of hours for not much money,” she says. “I feel less pressure now if I have to leave work early to take care of my child.”

Deutsch: “Well, I guess the money could be one regret,” he says. “But I’ve always had the opportunity to make more money. At the same time there was so much stress associated with sales and quotas. There are tradeoffs. I think there’s more to life than having all of that.

“It’s like the role you had as a parent,” he says about being a role model to his students. “It’s similar for a teacher, and I’ve always felt comfortable in that role. For me this job is a vocation. I think it’s most rewarding when I know and the parents know we’re working together to raise solid young men. That’s the vocation part of it.”

Do you have any advice for others considering changing careers to teach?

Ishee: “Go into it with your eyes open. The hours each day are longer and you work weekends. And that’s not counting the extracurricular activities you’re expected to attend, like clubs and ball games.

“There has to be something in it besides the money,” he says. “It’s not a lucrative business. Teachers are true believers. If you don’t believe in the value of what you’re doing, you can’t do this job.”

Norton: “For me teaching is a calling, not a job,” she says. “If you are not spiritually led to really affect a child’s life, you really don’t need to teach. It’s hard! Sometimes it’s difficult dealing with parents and people will be rude to you. You have to have a love for teaching.”

King: “Don’t go into this profession unless it’s meant for you. It’s so easy to get hung in this job if you don’t have a genuine love for the students.” (And, as for the “10 months a year and 6 hours a day” (that many people believe teachers give), “there’s after-school work, extracurricular activities and there are great expectations.

“You should be involved and help kids in ways other than the classroom. It’s a lot more than standing up in a classroom for a few days and then going home.”

Hennes: “If you want to become a teacher, then do it. I have a ton of friends that could never see themselves in education. Ask yourself how patient you are and how much you love working with children. And I have had to learn patience for the last couple of years.”

Deutsch: “I think the biggest thing is to really know your subject matter well and prepare to be very accurate in your delivery or communication of that material. You can’t fake it with these kids. They’re just too sharp. That also gives you confidence and that just radiates when you know your material well.

“I try to be consistent and make (my students) understand what it takes to do the right thing. I think as a real-life business person, being a parent, and having coached and raised children; it’s the best education you can have.”