I can hear it already. Why come to an internet message board to receive advice on how to live your life. Well, it’s because you folks are brilliant and I trust you more than a Google search.
Here’s the scoop. I’ve been teaching 5th grade for the past 4 years. Before that I worked for a travelling museum. My BA is in History and my MA is in History. I do not have my teacher certification (my school doesn’t require it). Teaching is great except for all the things that aren’t teaching (i.e. dealing with parents, paperwork, dealing with students, dealing with administration). I love having discussions about history and literature but that may make up perhaps 20 minutes of my day. I dread coming into work so I figure it’s time to change (after this school year of course).
What possibilities are out there for someone who loves history, but doesn’t like dealing with lots of people? I’d be willing to go back to school (say for a Library Science degree) but that isn’t ideal as I’ll be paying off my undergrad and grad loans for another couple of decades. I live in a big city. I don’t have any children so I only have to worry about supporting myself for the time being. I’ve thought about working in the education department in a museum, but I’d most likely start at the bottom and have to work my way up. What about a library? Are there any other possibilities out there that I’m not thinking about?
You say you live in a big city. Is this big city in the US, or anywhere else that puts a lot of emphasis on standardized test scores for college or university admissions?
I was a full-time SAT tutor for several years. I still do it part-time, which gives me a middle-class income while I’m in grad school. I know plenty of people who’ve made tutoring their career and wouldn’t switch to anything else.
Not only is the money much, much better than what you’d make teaching almost anywhere, but you get to focus almost solely on the teaching. And you can tailor what you do to the needs of each individual kid. Where I work, at least, there’s no grading, very minimal lesson planning, and almost zero administrative BS.
DON’T DO LIBRARY SCIENCE. Seriously, there are no jobs, and you have to talk to the public all damned day in most of the jobs that are still around. The first things to get cut were archives, tech services, all that stuff. Librarianship is great except for all the things that aren’t librarianship, which should sound familiar to you.
Umm, apply to work as a history researcher for Dan Carlin, of the Hardcore History podcast?
Find other history podcasts that you like and apply to work for them?
And while I hate to even mention this, how about the History Channel? Actually, everything I remember seeing on the History Channel hasn’t been anything I’d want to be associated with. So forget I mentioned it.
There are lots of companies that provide classes on their products. Start applying for “corporate trainer” positions in local companies?
For me, informal education is the perfect job. I teach in a zoo now, but have worked in wildlife rehabs, science museums, history museums, cruise ships (AVOID AT ALL COSTS), etc.
There’s lots of paths into museum ed. My recommendation is to start networking hard; join AAM, attend some fuctions, get to know people, and let them know right away that you’re looking for an education or interpretation position. Some museums place a lot of value in NAI certification, which is certainly cheaper than a university qualification.
There are a lot of museums out there, and even the tiniest has education staff. If you already have a favorite, yes, start as a volunteer or docent, get your name and face known. You’ve got the classroom experience, which a lot of museum ed jobs require. For me, changing fields from school to zoo education was mostly a matter of perception - I stopped thinking of myself as a classroom teacher, and started referring to myself as an informal educator. It really helped!
