From Mrs. Roberts to Shelby Roberts.

If you have found your way to this blog then chances are you either know me in real life, were invited to follow my new Facebook page by a mutual friend, or you have already purchased something from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. No matter how you found your way to this blog, I am so freaking thankful for you!

I have had a million ideas bounce around in my brain over the last few weeks when I began thinking of starting a blog. I am not a professional writer, nor do I have any idea how to make a blog mimic an actual business but what I am is someone that needs a creative outlet to manage my anxiety and Imposter Syndrome. Even if this blog isn't your cup of tea, I'm doing this for me (and anyone else that needs reassurance that they are not alone).

My name is Shelby Roberts and I am a former agriculture teacher in Kentucky...emphasis on the word FORMER and this is my story...(cue the Law & Order music).

2006...the year I took my first agriculture class and decided that I was going to be an ag teacher and have my very own classroom one day.

2010...the year I started my bachelors degree in Agriculture Education at Morehead State University.

2014...the year I got the keys to my very own classroom.

2022...the year I walked away from it all.

I dreamed of being an agriculture teacher for so long and was beyond excited when that dream became a reality. I thought this was going to be my life until retirement. I couldn't wait to raise "ag teacher's kids", have my real family and my FFA family basically be the same thing, and all of the romanticized aspects of being an ag teacher. And for the first few years, I had that life. I had a supportive husband that would rush to my school farm to help me secure all of my animals when a storm would come through. I had parents that gleamed when they told people that their daughter was a teacher. And I was an active member in my community and felt like I was truly making a difference in other people's lives besides my own.

In 2016...only 2 years into my dream career...I started to feel the first version of teacher burn out. Looking back I think many teachers feel that burn out so early in their career because the system is nothing like what we are prepared for when we graduate college. College didn't prepare me for angry parents, shelling out my paycheck to pay for my classroom things or a student's school fees when they didn't have it, or how to create a healthy work life balance.

However, I knew that this was the career I was supposed to be in so I pushed those feelings down and applied for the NAAE Teacher's Turn The Key Award. I initially applied because I wanted the accolade to go with my resume. I felt like I was a good teacher but in order to be a great teacher I needed awards to prove it. This award was just the beginning. What I didn't expect was that this award and the program that went with it was going to re-ignite my flame.

When I came back from the Teachers Turn The Key Professional Development program at the NAAE Convention, I felt like I was on fire! I was so excited to be in the classroom again...then that same year I became pregnant with my first child. I thought that my "Ag Teacher Dream-life" was really falling into place.

In 2018, my husband and I welcomed our first child, our daughter. I had Ryleigh in the summer so I was able to pack her up and take her with me to student farm visits and teacher conferences. By the time the school year rolled around and I had to leave her with our babysitter I started to feel that sinking feeling in my stomach again. But this time it wasn't just "burn out"...it was more. I pushed it down because I was so excited to be raising an "ag teacher's kid".

But that school year proved harder than all of the others. Not only was I missing my daughter, I felt like I couldn't get ahead with my classes this time. The school I was at was overcrowded and the smallest class I had was around 30 students with one of my classes having 42 students and 7 adults (plus me!...there were 50 people in my classroom!!!). I felt like I was running a circus every day instead of being a teacher with a master's degree.

That same year a greenhouse company was starting up in the town I went to college and met my husband. This company was making a splash with its media and marketing and I was starting to "drink the kool-aid". I kept looking for job openings and when they didn't have anything I was interested in, I decided to write them a cover letter anyways. I was so excited at the prospect of joining this company on the ground floor that I started to envision a very different life for the first time since I decided I was going to become an ag teacher. That's when my teacher transition story started to begin.

Thank you for reading this far and I do plan to continue this story, share my favorite teacher resources, things that helped me when transitioning out of the classroom, and so much more so please be sure to subscribe so that you know when the next blog drops.

Until next week!

PS: If any of this story is already resonating with you, this book helped me when I started my teacher transition journey.