Teachers assign you essays, teach you about the Revolutionary War, and help you with proofs. But teachers have a life- and sometimes a job- outside of school. You may be surprised to learn about these 4 teachers that have a side job while they are not teaching.
Mr. Goldberg is a history teacher, but he is also a musician who plays at bars, restaurants, and parties. He grew up loving music. His first real encounter with music was when he started the guitar at age 15. From there, his passion only got greater. He played in local bands in his home of Long Island and continued to grow his love for music.
But when he started teaching after finishing college, he found that he started to play the guitar less and less. He almost stopped music entirely until his former band mate and friend started having success in cover bands. Mr. Goldberg realized that he should start playing music again. His only weak spot was singing, so he took voice lessons with Mr. Wheeler’s wife, and from there, started playing gigs.
“It’s a lot of fun” Mr. Goldberg said. “It’s definitely something I missed doing.”
He’s not the only one doing something musical. Mrs. Schleicher is an English teacher for grades 9, 11, and 12. In her free time she works at a dance studio part time.
Mrs. Schleicher has loved dancing since she was a little girl, and her love continued on until college, when she got a job at the local dance studio. She worked there until she graduated, but she found that it was something that she loved, so she continued working there. Now, she works around 10 hours a week, helping other young minds grow their love for dance.
Mr. O’Connell teaches web page design, as well as business and personal finance. He is also a professional musician. While he got his first paying job at age 13, his love of music goes farther back then that. He grew up in a musical household. His mom was a professional dancer and singer on a Broadway show, and his brother played the saxophone. His father tried out numerous instruments, and filled the house with them. From there, surrounded by music both figuratively and literally, Mr. O’Connell started the guitar.
“In most years, music accounts for a quarter to a third of my income. Although teaching is what I do, music is what I am.”
He now plays almost every genre of music in his gigs, although his favorite is jazz, and he is working on recording a video album of solo guitar pieces, and he plays with the Mystic Corral, a 230 voice choir.
Mr. Carey is a math teacher at Oliver Ames, but he has had many jobs on the side. He is a bit of a jack of all trades, as his jobs range from working in restaurants, at Dunkin’ Donuts, tutoring, investing in gold and selling it to services like Alliance Gold & Silver Exchange, and even driving for both Uber and Lyft. He works around 10 hours every week on these other jobs, using them as a small source of additional income.
His feelings differ on his jobs. Some of them were enjoyable, like when he worked in restaurants, as he had many friends that did as well. Some jobs were just for a source of additional income, unlike some of the other teachers interviewed.
Talking to all these teachers with interesting lives and jobs goes to show you that teachers aren’t just what we see in school. Some have extra jobs to fulfill their additional passions, and some just need a little extra money on the side. Either way, I think we can all agree, that they are some of the hardest working people around.