Victoria Thompson, M.S. is resting and relaxing!

And frankly, this is for better or for worse.

There are some situations where this is a net positive and other situations where this is a net negative.

It's up to you to figure out how much you're going to be okay with.

This goes for all industries--feedback on anything is valuable but at the end of the day, people who work in admin or for corporations generally do what's going to make them money, keep them employed, keep the majority of people around them happy, and doesn't cause a massive scandal.

This is sometimes an adjustment from people leaving the classroom because you go from having a ton of autonomy in your own space to essentially having to work FOR the system instead of working WITHIN a system.

The feedback teachers give on tech is valuable but only goes so far (to be truthful).

Even when I *didn't* work with folks who held the primary credit card when I was a coach, the goal was to be an advocate for educators but also to work alongside administration to advance goals forward. The job was bigger than a classroom. It was the entire school, and I had to operate accordingly.

In my role I cater to decision makers who have purchasing power, and in previous roles I've also had to cater to this as well. The bottom line is that most educators do not have purchasing power. They can give feedback, but they don't hold the credit card. I work with folks who hold the credit card.

On the topic of leaving teaching:

I haven't had a classroom in 8 years. I did re-enter in 2018 but was also consulting. Then I was a coach. I've worked full time in tech since 2022.

When you're no longer in a teacher-facing role, your end game is no longer other teachers. It is the SYSTEM.

T-Mobile slashed their K-12 department. PowerSchool did layoffs (in December, but it was so close to the holidays that we still count them in our groups). Prodigy did layoffs. Vimeo laid off a majority of their staff. And now, Renaissance.

We’re speechless. This is a lot.

2/2

So I’m in quite a few professional learning networks and this has been the first time I can think of where at least 10 people have already been laid off this year and it’s only FEBRUARY 5TH.

1/

Additionally, his father seems completely checked out. Part of the reason why they moved is because his father got a different job. But it seems like that was his ONLY focus. He'd come home from work completely aware that no schooling was done all day and just kind of ignore what was happening.

I can tell that he really, really has compassion for his mother and her challenges, but from the outside looking in I spotted the red flags pretty much immediately. She’s like the “boy moms” on my mom forum who are entirely too dependent on their sons for their own happiness.

I'm about 150 pages into this book (it's taking me slower to read due to work travel) and my biggest takeaways so far are that his mother was insecure and unstable, he was struggling with moving to a new town, and his mother used that to her advantage to push homeschooling.

100%. I always tell people: do NOT quit your classroom/district/school/whatever job until your next job is lined up AND you have your start date AND you've cleared the background check AND it is absolutely confirmed that you will work there. There's way too much uncertainty now with layoffs.

And I totally get it. Sometimes it does feel like an "Ariel in the first act of The Little Mermaid" situation ("when's it my tuuurnnn?"). But at the end of the day folks really aren't doing themselves any favors when their public social media becomes more of a diary when they're job searching.

6/6

...treat it like you are looking like your next professional stepping stone.

If you were in a position of hiring, you probably would go for the candidate that speaks about the neat things they're doing professionally versus the one who is always moping about how they didn't get their chance.

5/

I know it might be hard but you need to ground yourself in GRATITUDE. You can be frustrated about where you're at professionally but pivoting professionally means that you also need to put yourself out there in a professional way. Do not treat social media like a diary. Instead...

4/

5 Ways to Maintain a Professional Online Presence Teachers can unlock the potential of social media in constructive ways that lead to personal and professional advancement.

A company does not want to hear about all the times that you were rejected, nor does it want to hear about your ongoing job search.

I've spoken about this in many articles (one linked below) but you need to post POSITIVE THINGS.

Link: www.edutopia.org/article/5-wa...

3/

Lesson number two is that if you are serious about transitioning out of a classroom/coach/school/whatever role and into corporate is that you need to stop posting about your search publicly.

Lil Wayne said "real G's move in silence like lasagna." You need to be like lasagna!

2/

Alright y'all:

I'm happy that I'm seeing less "transitioning teacher" content on LinkedIn and other platforms but some of the stuff I am seeing is truly out of pocket. Y'all absolutely HAVE to stop saying "hire teachers." These corporations do not owe you anything. That's lesson number one.

1/

The kids: “Mrs. Thompson, we made a playlist for you of songs from when you were a kid.”

Me: “…okay…”

The first song was Rockin’ Robin. I AM THIRTY-TWO YEARS OLD

Putting this out there:

We can feel thankful that we are alive, employed, and able to take care of ourselves and our loved ones. But we can absolutely also feel angry about the state of the world. These feelings can 100% coexist and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

Did I purchase this book? Absolutely.

I heard about Block’s story on NPR and how his mother “homeschooled” him (it was more like unschooling) and how he fought to exit that environment and become independent, all the while still trying to stay close to his mother. I am excited to read this memoir.

Exactly. I kind of feel like this is a craven attempt to curb behaviors seen by nonstop screen use at home, and instead of telling people directly that they need to limit screens at home they're limiting screens in schools and calling it a solution.

Utah’s legislative season began *checks notes* YESTERDAY (January 20th) and runs until March 6th so we will see how this plays out.

I can absolutely see the SAFE Act passing, but not the BALANCE Act (BALANCE is the screen time ban one).

Well, my day just got a lot more interesting!

Utah has introduced two bills regarding technology usage in schools. One of the proposed bills completely eliminates “non-essential screen time” in grades K-3.

Link: www.abc4.com/news/educati...

Homeschooled: A New York Times Bestselling Memoir and Read with Jenna Pick Homeschooled: A New York Times Bestselling Memoir and Read with Jenna Pick [Merrill Block, Stefan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Homeschooled: A New York Times Bestselling Memoir and Read with Jenna Pick

But anyway, this is the book and it reminded me of that podcast segment.

Whether it's kindle or hardcover, I'm definitely interested in reading this man's story.

Link: www.amazon.com/Homeschooled...

3/3

The Girl Who Doesn't Exist In today’s episode, we meet a young woman from Texas, born and raised, who can’t prove that she exists.

If you are interested in listening, the link is below. It's a VERY interesting listen. Essentially, her parents were part of the sovereign citizen movement and with the help of her grandparents she was able to truly escape.

Link: radiolab.org/podcast/invi...

2/

A book came across my feed and I'm lowkey thinking about purchasing it for my kindle and reading it.

I was locked into "The Girl Who Doesn't Exist," which is a real story about a girl whose parents didn't have any legal documentation for her, and it made it impossible for her in adulthood.

1/

Thank you Ebony! You are so awesome. I hope you're doing well too.

I don't know how much time she spends online anymore but this is a quick @victoriathetech.bsky.social appreciation post. I hope her and her wife are doing great and staying safe and well

In 2026 news, if y'all are attending FETC in Orlando, FL I will be there (as always) and look forward to seeing you there!