Episode 25: Successfully Skipping a Grade: When To Move To a New Grade Level— and How To Do It Well with Heather Planchon

Are you itching for a change? If one of the reasons you were initially drawn to education as a profession was that you thrive off of being in an atmosphere that is different every day, just a few short years in, you may start to feel doubt regarding your career choice. While some educators love honing their craft in one grade level and relish the opportunity to iterate year after year, others, like Heather Planchon of The Primary Party find this draining and find themselves questioning what to do next.

In this week’s episode, Danielle and Nicole interview Heather regarding how she successfully made the transition from teaching kindergarten to teaching 4th graders. Heather shares candidly about the struggle she had coming to terms with a lack of satisfaction at a job she was really good at (and one she had known she had wanted for a long time). She talks about the self doubt she experienced making such a big leap in grade level, the support systems that helped her throughout, and why in the end, she feels like it was the best decision for her. Heather’s story reminds us not to settle just because something is comfortable and illustrates that by being honest with ourselves and articulating our goals to the right people, we can find ourselves in the places and grades where we feel we belong.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

-Why you shouldn’t ignore your gut feeling

-How transitioning into a new grade can bring up many of those same “first year teacher” feelings all over again

-The pros and cons of making a big grade level switch

-5 steps to make even the biggest transitions as seamless as possible

Links:

Heather's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/stories/theprimaryparty/

Heather's TpT store:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Primary-Party-Heather-Planchon

Heather's Blog:

https://theprimaryparty.com/