As an educator with a new school year underway, you may already have a lengthy to-do list, but do you also have a career bucket list? That is, do you have a list of goals or desired experiences you’d like to complete as an educator before you retire?
Having a career bucket list can be energizing and motivating—sharing your bucket list can be inspiring, which is why we invited the Free Spirit Advisory Board to share their career bucket lists.
Have your own bucket list? Share it with us in the comments below.
1. Further my own education and training.
2. Conduct more research/investigations concerning the poverty cycle.
3. See the end to extensive testing.
—Katie, elementary school teacher
1. Write a social-emotional curriculum.
2. Present at a conference.
3. Conduct a parent workshop.
—Jenny, school psychologist
1. To teach 10,000 students before I retire. But I’m only at 6,055 and will probably retire in the next seven or eight years. (If you count my YouTube views, I’ve far surpassed that goal.)
2. To be the teacher who kids remember fondly and with love. I want them to remember what I taught them, too.
3. To get a doctorate.
4. To be our state’s Teacher of the Year.
—Nancy, rock star teacher
My bucket list as an educator expands to a more micro-level. I love my role in children’s mental health and assisting children at their most difficult moments and helping them transcend their individual barriers in order to succeed by their definition of the word.
1. I would love to make a more lasting impact by continuing my education and pursuing a LICSW with a specialty in educational technology—I want to knock down as many barriers as I can between kids and education, whether it be academic education, emotional education, or independent life skills education.
2. I would love to write a book that speaks to teens in crisis that is empowering and gives these teens practical tools to access important resources, tips on how to speak with adults, and guidance for learning power dynamics between themselves and the adults in their lives.
3. I’m also passionate about emerging technology because it is so important to the newer generations, so I would love to be in a position to teach workshops and consult with youth nonprofits on improving their processes and creating more efficient ways to complete paperwork so they can truly focus on their clients.
—Michelle, case manager
If I could do anything, without any thoughts to money and time:
1. Get my doctorate.
2. Tutor struggling children free of charge.
3. Start a school where I can cherry-pick the best of the best educators to work—those who aren’t afraid of change, who are innovative, who only think of the kids and what’s best for them.
—Liz, district SRBI (RTI) coordinator
1. Start a money-making educational blog to help teachers.
2. Travel around the world giving workshops on gifted education.
3. See again my first class of students from the first year I started teaching.
—Felicia, talented & gifted K–6 teacher
Oh heavens, my bucket list is long!
1. I’d like to create a student-led coffee shop in the school, where my SPED students could learn job skills and have social interactions with more students and staff!
2. I’d like to see our Student Child Learning Center (childcare) be remodeled to allow for new materials for student-parents and their children.
3. I’d like for every one of my seniors to have a plan for life after high school.
—Rebecca, SPED counselor
I am an educator with twenty-four years’ experience. I finished my master’s degree in 2001. One of the bucket list items for me is to mentor new teachers.
—Gina, music teacher
My bucket list:
Open a “hang-out” space for children and teens with ASD where there would be a meditation space, video game room, massages, and lounge with food and drinks where they could use their own money, and in this place, all of their therapies could take place—PT, OT, SLP, etc.
—Rebecca, ASD behavioral coach
The Free Spirit Advisory Board of Educators is a group of professionals who provide feedback that helps make Free Spirit books be even more beneficial for kids, teens, and the adults who care about them. Interested in becoming a member? Recruitment is ongoing! For more information about the benefits and responsibilities of membership, download our Free Spirit Advisory Board flyer and our Free Spirit Advisory Board application.
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