media matters
How to be a Happier Teacher Self-help book encourages teachers to rediscover their ‘why’
“We are in charge of our lives,” says Jen Reed Molitor ’00 MEd ’04, author of The Happy Teacher’s Handbook. “If we want to be a better teacher, and we want to love our job again, we can. It’s up to us to find the way around the obstacles that are holding us back to get to the other side. And the other side can be fantastic.”
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miamian magazine
Ever since she was 8, Jen Reed Molitor ’00 MEd ’04 wanted to write on chalkboards and use a red pen to grade papers. She wanted to teach. So she did. She earned a bachelor’s in education at Miami and jumped all in. Loving her students, she’d stay at school long into the evening planning lessons. But as meetings and paperwork increased, so did her disenchantment. The enormity of the job and her students’ increasing needs got to her. After having her son, she returned, but she struggled to balance teaching and motherhood and wondered whether her heart was still in the classroom. She sought to rediscover her why. That involved switching to a school district closer to home in Clarksville, Ohio, talking to a lot of great teachers, and much soul-searching. She found her why and her way, and now she’s a gifted intervention specialist and a coach to other teachers. She’s sharing what she learned in her new book, The Happy Teacher’s Handbook: From Overwhelmed to Inspired — Helping Teachers Embrace Resiliency. “I can’t make another teacher love being a teacher, but I can help them. I encourage teachers to find your gem, that place where you light up. It might not be in the classroom anymore. Maybe it’s time to move to a different district or to teach a different grade or a different subject. There are options.” Now 18 years into her career, the chalkboards are gone, and the last thing Molitor wants to do is grade papers. She yearns for more. “I want to help teachers stay passionate about their jobs without being pulled into the negativity that often accompanies the profession. I want school to be a source of inspiration for students, too.”