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The new school year is in full swing, and you might be thinking about what your future looks like in your school. Maybe a leadership role has been calling you, or maybe you鈥檙e considering leaving the classroom to focus on instructional coaching or pursuing administration.

I moved out of the classroom two years ago to pursue a role with an edtech nonprofit, and while I love having an impact on students across the country, there are some things you can鈥檛 replace outside the classroom. If you鈥檙e thinking about leaving the classroom yourself, here are a few things you might just miss more than you鈥檇 think鈥擨 know I do.

Being the Adult Someone Needs

Many of us in education know how important the adults in our students鈥� lives are. One of the main reasons I pursued a career as a teacher was to become that trusted adult in a student鈥檚 life when they needed one. When I was a student myself, I relied heavily on my teachers for inspiration, motivation, and support, and I wanted to be able to provide that support for someone else.

In my classroom, I was honored to be a person my students could lean on, could cry to when they needed that, and could ask for help from. Showing up every day for your students with the positivity, openness, and care that they need impacts them far beyond your classroom walls. You can probably still name some of the teachers from your own life that had a huge impact on you when it counted. 

When you leave the classroom, you don鈥檛 have the chance to show up like that for students anymore. It doesn鈥檛 mean you stop caring about them or stop thinking about them, but it makes it a lot harder for them to know that.

Becoming Part of the Family

Your classroom is a community, and more than that, your classroom is its own kind of family. And it doesn鈥檛 just include the students who sit in front of you every day鈥攊t extends to the parents, siblings, grandparents, and guardians who help get each and every one of your students through the school year. 

As a classroom teacher, you get the chance to become part of each of your students鈥� families鈥攖hey rely on you and they trust you. I looked forward to calling my students鈥� families with exciting news of academic, emotional, or social progress in the classroom and genuinely shared in the excitement those families were feeling.

Like being the trusted adult your students need, being part of the family gets a lot harder when you leave the classroom. Even if you take a role within the school, families might not reach out and connect with you when you aren鈥檛 in front of their students every day. 

Seeing the Impact of Your Work Every Day

Every role in a school and in the broader world of education is important. But when you鈥檙e in the classroom, you get to see the impact every single day, and that鈥檚 hard to beat. Whether it鈥檚 a student having an 鈥渁ha鈥� moment about a complicated topic, a student finally finding the perfect book to get them hooked on independent reading, or a shy student starting to speak up during class, there are small moments of success happening all around you in the classroom. 

I miss feeling proud of my students now that I鈥檓 working behind the scenes. Even though I know my work is helping teachers and students, I do wish I could see the impact. We all know how tough the tough days in the classroom can feel, but seeing the impact of your work can make them all worthwhile. Without the chance to see students succeed in front of you, those tough days you still face in the world of education can feel that much tougher.

The Silly Stuff

Finally, there is just no replacement for how absolutely silly the classroom can be. Whether you鈥檙e teaching elementary, middle, or high school, your students are going to make you smile and feel loved, and . I miss hearing my sixth-grade students try to remember the punch line to a joke or recount a story from the weekend. Even if it would derail the lesson for a few minutes, I relished the opportunity to laugh with my students when someone said something witty during class.  

Even though my coworkers are wonderful, there鈥檚 nothing in my current role to compare to the joyous moments I got to share with my students. 

There鈥檚 are a lot of intangible benefits of being a teacher鈥攜ou get the chance to see your students succeed academically, you get to watch them mature and become their unique selves, and you get to make a difference every day. And even though you can still have a huge, positive impact on students from outside the classroom, it鈥檚 hard to replace the magic of being a student鈥檚 favorite teacher.