How Much Can I Make? - Discover Your Dream Job.
"How Much Can I Make?" - Explores career opportunities and job advice.
If you're looking to understand the job market and want to make informed career decisions, this is the podcast for you!
Whether you're just starting out, or looking to make a major career change, getting the ins and outs of any job, is key to making informed decisions.
This podcast dives deep into what different careers are really like—what the day-to-day looks like, how much you can earn, and what it takes to succeed. You'll hear firsthand job advice from professionals who've been there, done that, and are eager to share their stories.
If you're curious about your next move, or just exploring career possibilities, you're in the right place!
Nominated for 2025 Women Podcasters award.
How Much Can I Make? - Discover Your Dream Job.
Teaching In A Red State
Florida Teacher
In this episode, Danielle Goodman from Florida joins Mirav to talk about the state of teaching. Florida is a difficult place to be a teacher: factors like low earnings and the cultural climate make a challenging job even harder. In spite of the challenges, countless educators choose to stay and make a difference in the lives of our nation's next generation. Tune in to learn more about teaching as a career and the nuanced story of America's teachers today.
Topics
00:36 Introduction
02:14 Necessary certifications and education
03:44 It's a full time job
04:19 Earnings for a teacher in Florida
06:55 Florida's teaching climate
08:19 Is it possible to be an agent of change as a teacher?
10:40 With all the challenges, why stay a teacher?
14:19 More on earnings
15:02 Biggest challenges
20:36 Ending on a high note: a story of success
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Music credit: Kate Pierson & Monica Nation
after covid, it was very. You know, we were very mental health, mental health well we're not even allowed to talk about mental health anymore in florida.
Speaker 2:There's no more hi and welcome back to how much can I make. I'm a curious journalist with a passion for exploring what people do for a living. This time I wanted to dig into what it's really like to be a teacher in Florida. Because all the new rules and regulations and all the stuff we're hearing about in the news I thought it would be interesting. So I contacted Danielle Goodman she's a Florida teacher of many years to try and find out what the job is really like and is it worth the paycheck. So let's dive right in, danielle. Thanks a lot for doing it. First of all, my pleasure.
Speaker 1:I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2:My first question is did you always want to be a teacher?
Speaker 1:So I knew you were going to ask me that that's what most people ask me, and the answer is no. I did not always want to be a teacher. Teaching is actually a second career for me. I didn't start teaching until I was about 39. Oh, so yeah, it was so how did it come?
Speaker 1:about I was getting divorced and it was sink or swim time. So my actual degree was in liberal arts and you know what can you do with a liberal arts degree? So I spent a lot of time when my children were little in their school volunteering PTA reading to the class, and I realized this is something I did want to do, you know, at turning 40 years old.
Speaker 2:Why? Because you had small children and you're so important.
Speaker 1:I had small children and I just loved it. I realized that I connected with the children. So, no, when I was in college originally I didn't think about education or teaching. It was not even anywhere near anything I wanted to do. So being in the school system, having small children, immersing myself in education, really shined a light on that aha moment. This actually is something I want to do. However, I was 40, not 20. So I found out what I had to do, because in public school, you need the proper certification.
Speaker 2:This is what I want to know what kind of certification do you need?
Speaker 1:Well, it's different now than it was 20 years ago.
Speaker 2:What is it now?
Speaker 1:Now it's a lot less rigorous because we have a teaching shortage. So, as it used to be, you had to have a four-year degree, you had certain certification tests you had to take, you had something called a general knowledge test that you had to pass, and it was much more rigorous where now they're hiring students straight out of high school to substitute and quick, like a fast track towards becoming a teacher.
Speaker 1:That's a problem, don't you think it's a huge problem? It's a huge problem. When I was doing it. I had to go back to school to get all this certification. So here I was, this 40 year old woman getting divorced with three little kids going back to college to take classes so I can get certified and take all these tests, and it took me about two years. I was substituting in the meantime at the private school that my kids were going to and then realizing, once I got divorced, they could no longer attend private school and shuffled them off to public school and started substituting there and formed a relationship with the principal at the school that my kids went to and he helped me get all of my certifications and he gave me a job.
Speaker 2:Oh, and is it a full time job?
Speaker 1:Like eight to four. It was a full. So that was elementary school. So it was a full time job, 820 to 320. And summer's off. I started out in fifth grade.
Speaker 2:And you were teaching art history or art or something. Okay.
Speaker 1:I started out in fifth grade teaching reading to fifth graders.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And once I got the hang of it I realized I wanted more. So I know this job has to do with salary also.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to talk about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going through this with my brother today, who's visiting from Chicago, you know just thinking about in preparation for this and I looked back at the salary that I was making when I taught fifth grade and I can't even believe I lived on that. It was embarrassing.
Speaker 2:How much was it?
Speaker 1:It was about $32,000 a year.
Speaker 2:A year. Oh my God, how can they do that?
Speaker 1:That's what my brother said. This is it's criminal. So it is criminal, especially, and I'm sure, when you talk to San Francisco and New York, those teachers definitely in New York it's much better. I don't know how it is in California and San Francisco. It's bad. Here it has gone up and there is a happy ending to my story that you know.
Speaker 1:I make about triple that right now, thankfully right so it's about 15 years later and I decided I wanted out of elementary school and I was able to get a job in a high school. In a high school when in the last seven years I've been working in a high school.
Speaker 2:As a teacher. You make more money if you teach in high school.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's the trick. So in high school the days are split up by period and by contract. If it's a six period day, you teach five periods and you have one planning period. However, if the school's overpopulated, you can ask to have no planning period and then you get paid for that period. So you're making about an extra six to $7,000 a year. Then you could become a club sponsor, you can become a coach, you can add on all of these different supplements to your paycheck.
Speaker 1:And that's only possible in high school, not in only in high school, not in elementary school, because in elementary school you have your with your class the whole day. You're teaching one subject with that class the whole day, so there are ways to supplement your salary. Now I also tutor. So once I got to high school I started tutoring SAT tutoring, college essays, my college, when college applications are ramping up, you know I'm busy, busy, busy helping students write college essays and, if their parents can afford to have them, a college essay tutor, an sat tutor, it's really really good money.
Speaker 2:it's very helpful and to supplement your income so the teaching job you're tutoring you're doing after school hours, privately school private school yes, after school hours what's the going rate for a tutor in In high school?
Speaker 1:Yeah, For SAT tutoring, and it could be anywhere from $75 to $100 an hour.
Speaker 2:This is really nice.
Speaker 1:Yes. So that is helpful to supplement your salary because, as you heard, our salaries in Miami and all of Florida are not great in education.
Speaker 2:They're terrible. I think they're lowest.
Speaker 1:I think we're third lowest, which is insane because the cost of living in Miami has skyrocketed.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's why you have a lot of turnover of teachers.
Speaker 1:No, A huge amount of turnover and a lot of the younger teachers still live with their parents and you mentioned before the size of classes.
Speaker 2:I read that the sizes in Florida are really large. They're huge. What do you have? 40 kids in a class 37, 40.
Speaker 1:In the electives they could have 45 to 50 children in high school. It's insane and they get away with it. There's loopholes. There's things that they can do to get away with this's insane and they get away with it. There's loopholes. There's things that they can do to get away with this class size.
Speaker 2:And do you believe that it hurts the education Children are?
Speaker 1:dumber, 100%. I was just reading that. Our report card, the nation's report card, is terrible. Yes, children are. It is definitely the dumbing down of society and we see it. We see it in the data, we see it in their, the way they dress, the way they look. They just look like they're so don't care about anything, and certainly not their education.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's very sad If a vigilante teacher would want to get in and change things. Do you have any kind of creativity of what you can teach with all the book banning and curriculum restrictions?
Speaker 1:So I'll just talk about myself being the advanced placement literature teacher. So I taught English literature for the last five years and then I was able to teach advanced placement art history, which are these are college level courses, so the curriculum is completely separate from the Miami Dade County Public School curriculum. So I could get away with teaching stories like Willa Cather's Paul's Case or the Yellow Wallpaper, willa Cather's Paul's Case or the Yellow Wallpaper. One of our novels was A Thousand Splendid Suns. No way a regular classroom teacher could teach that right now.
Speaker 2:What they'll actually come in and arrest them. What?
Speaker 1:Yes, parents could come in and complain. I mean, we have the we passed in a couple years ago. I wrote down the exact year because I knew you were going to ask me about it in 2022,. A couple of years ago, I wrote down the exact year because I knew you were going to ask me about it In 2022,. The don't say gay bill here in Florida. You know there's no more. Your pronoun is your pronoun that you were born with. You can get in serious trouble as a teacher. You know a student says hey, miss Goodman, can you call me this instead of this? And I say I'm sorry, but in the grade book this is your name and this is what I have to call you in order to protect myself and my job.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:It is very scary, and especially not as much in high school but in the elementary school and the middle schools, because the children are younger and the parents are very you know the helicopter parents. It's scary for those teachers. We have a little bit more leeway. But I will tell you, we are seeing a lot more kids not wanting to put up going to administration. Oh, my teacher said this. My teacher said that they're just immature. They've really. It really is the dumbing down of America. It's sad.
Speaker 2:Wow. And what about the teacher union? Don't you get organized? Don't you try to make a change? I mean, you are teachers after all.
Speaker 1:Yes, Florida is. Our union is not that strong because we have. They just actually tried to take away our union.
Speaker 2:Right, they weakened it lately.
Speaker 1:They weakened our union and it's sad.
Speaker 2:This is what I'm asking you. With all the problems in florida, with all that you have to teach what you have to teach and call somebody whatever they tell you, and all of that, why do people still stay teachers?
Speaker 1:that's a good question why do teachers still stay teachers? Well, I'll tell you for myself. Yes, I'm out the classroom but I deal with children every day, all day long. I am the student activities director now. It is the connections that we make, especially in high school, with these children. So they're not all as I'm painting them to be. There's still that top 20, 25 percent that they push themselves. They're in it to win it, that they pushed themselves, they're in it to win it. They are smart and creative and they just, you know, understand, they get it. They're putting their phones down, they're reading the novels, they're doing the work, they're going the extra mile. And you see that group, and if I can save 25 percent of them, or I can help a certain amount, then I'm going to stay and I'm going to do it. You know I meant to bring them. You know today was Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:The amount of cards that these kids wrote me. Wow you know I got a rose and I get, you know, notes and flowers. And you know we, as the activities director, this morning we rolled out a red carpet and we played music and every student that walked in we handed a little pink heart with candy. And you know that fills my heart, because school is not. It's not only about the education, it's about creating a full person and having these children, who grew up to be adults, become productive members of society in every way.
Speaker 2:Do you keep in touch with them after?
Speaker 1:society in every way? Do you keep in touch with them after after they 100? I keep in touch with not all of them, but absolutely on they come home from college, I go to brunch with them. You know we're friends on social media.
Speaker 2:Yes, I keep in touch with them 100 and I see what they're doing and it fills my heart yeah, I can see that yeah you have to take the good with the bad right.
Speaker 1:You have to have the sweet and the salty or else you don't know how sweet it is. So that's why I stay in teaching. I see the younger kids come in and especially in high school, it's hard for them, you know it's tough Because now, if you're not teaching the high level courses and you're teaching the general education or you're teaching remedial courses, you are given a script. You are teaching to a test what? Oh yeah, you're giving a script. It's basically like a script of what you're saying, what you're teaching. We have guidelines. There is a textbook. Yes, you are teaching to a test. These kids are tested three times. A textbook yes, you are teaching to a test.
Speaker 1:These kids are tested three times a year and if they don't pass that test in certain grade levels, they take it till they pass or they don't graduate. These teachers are teaching to a test. The teachers are graded on their data.
Speaker 2:So there's actually no creativity in teaching if you have to it's terrible.
Speaker 1:It's frustrating for these teachers and that is again why I was fortunate to teach these AP level courses where I had full control of my curriculum. No one could say anything because it was not part of the Miami-Dade County curriculum. Most of the children I had in my classes were amazing. Their parents were super cooperative. Their parents loved the novels and the stories and the poetry that we read. Oh, I read that when I was in high school, you know. So I was very lucky. But I see it with the other teachers and it was, for me at least, time for a change to kind of progress out of the classroom and into the administrative role, not to mention I make more money. Yeah, that's what I want to ask, to mention I make more money?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's what I want to ask you. You make more money, but if somebody stays in teaching, what's the top that they can make in?
Speaker 1:florida. Yes, so if you're in high school and you have all the extras, probably about 95 to 100 000 more talking teachers have been in for about 30 years 25, 25 to 30 years.
Speaker 2:That's not bad, and they get pension and 401k.
Speaker 1:They get. We have a Florida pension, yes, and we also. When you retire, you get your pension, and I know in some cities like Chicago or San Francisco the teachers get to keep their insurance forever also. But they have to choose between their pension or their social security, whereas in Florida we don't get our insurance, but we get both a pension and our social security. Whereas in Florida we don't get our insurance, but we get both a pension and our social security.
Speaker 2:Okay, you told us you express the rewards you know when you see your kids succeed, and all of that, which I can totally understand. What's the biggest challenge of the job? The adults, the adults. What do you mean by the adults?
Speaker 1:Administration. When the district comes in and you're not doing that, well, the new rules that come down the pike every year, everything changes. Just when you're getting used to something the adults want to throw in, a brand new textbook, or everything changes. You know there's no more. You know diversity, equity and inclusion anymore. So we can't. You know we have new stories, new textbooks, new. What do you mean? New? Since when New? Since when? In the past year or two?
Speaker 1:So we used to be after COVID, it was very, you know, we were very mental health. Mental health. We're not even allowed to talk about mental health anymore in Florida. There's no more. It's very vanilla, I'm sure, Wonder Bread and mayonnaise, as I call it. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Not only you're not making enough money and, by the way, I heard that some teachers have to spend their own money to buy supplies for the kids.
Speaker 1:Who do you think bought the candy this morning to get out? Miss Goodman.
Speaker 2:Yes, but even for class supplies. I heard for lesson supplies that they have to buy some things with their own money.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we are given money at the beginning of the year, but you can only spend it on certain things. So if you're want to buy items outside of this strict supply, then yes, you have to spend the money on your own, absolutely, and we do. We spend a lot of money outside of what we're given in the beginning of the year, which isn't that much. It's about $250.
Speaker 2:I think it's really not that much. You said the challenge is the adult. I thought that you would say mental health, health and mass shooting. You know, every time there's a mass shooting they say, oh, it's mental health. But now you're telling me you're not allowed to talk about mental health.
Speaker 1:So, marav, it's funny that you bring that up because today, february 14th, is the anniversary, the seven-year anniversary of the largest mass shooting here in Florida, marjory Stoneman Douglas. And we received from the district something to read, and this year it was a quarter of the length of what it is normally. In the past my principal got on at 1117 or whatever the time the shooting started. I mean the horrific, horrible thing. And when he put the phone down he looked at me and he said what did I just read? This is not what I normally read. It was very cut and dry. It had didn't mention anything about mental health, didn't mention anything about how horrible all of this is. It was just in memoriam of those who died on February 14, seven years ago. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:It was heartbreaking, it's unbelievable. Let's take this situation, for example. So then, if, as a teacher, you go back to the classroom, are you allowed to talk about it and about, without saying, mental health, but say the problem in the head, or whatever?
Speaker 1:Yes, you can talk about it in a sort of roundabout way without using the words that we're not allowed to use anymore. I am really getting into this is.
Speaker 2:America. This I can't believe it.
Speaker 1:I know Well, welcome to Florida, as we'd like to say, with a d-u-h at the end wow it is difficult and you know. You talked about the mass shootings and we have drills. How often do you have drills? We have lockdown drills. I want to say at least twice every nine weeks. I know we have a big fire drill coming up next week. We have to keep our doors locked. It's just you know, if you constantly are thinking about that, you're going to be paralyzed with fear. You know, we just don't think about it.
Speaker 2:Did you ever go through some?
Speaker 1:weapon trainings, oh no no no, not me. I'm anti weapons personally. However, we did have a lockdown. We did have a scare about a year and a half ago where they put our school on lockdown. It happens all the time.
Speaker 2:When you say lockdown, what does it mean? The whole school is locked inside.
Speaker 1:The whole school is locked inside until the police officers come with their dogs and their guns drawn and check every single classroom. So we were in school. School normally lets out about 220. This maybe happened at about 11. We were in school till about five o'clock that day. Thankfully it was a false alarm, but this happens every day that these schools go on lockdown every day?
Speaker 2:Wow, that is so depressing. So let me ask you something Can you point the students to things online that they can learn and get more knowledge than you were allowed to teach them? Is it like in secretive, that you have to tell them like we are in?
Speaker 1:Russia A little bit. I feel like you have to develop a trust and communication with certain students. You know who you can talk to. However, maybe they mentioned something at home and their parents come back. It's kind of scary. It is kind of like we're in Russia. But you have to develop a relationship with the students that you can trust to try and help them, to try and point them in the right direction.
Speaker 2:So I don't want to end on a bad note and a depressing note, because I've been following Florida politics and all of that. That's infuriating, but it's even more than I thought. This is really crazy and it's the education, it's your next generation. How can you do that? You know, but I don't want to end on a depressing note. I want to know if you have a success story of a student that comes to mind that you can share with us and we will all understand why people are staying under this condition and keep educating the youth oh, I have so many success stories of so many students.
Speaker 1:when I taught fifth grade and I moved to the high school, it was the theater pattern high school, so I taught students in fifth grade, in ninth grade, in 10th grade and in 12th grade. So some of these students I've had for four years running. So you know, I've seen students who were maybe struggling in elementary school and kind of came into their own in high school. And I have one student in mind I won't say his name. He was struggling with his own sexuality and was able to finally, you know again, we have a lot of Hispanics and that's very, there's the machismo, but he was able to shine and really come into his own. He eventually was a water polo team, national honor society, all student government association on a whim applied to Dartmouth, got in early decision.
Speaker 1:Oh I mean amazing, and so we have the students come back every year to speak to the seniors, our alumni and he came back this year and he's graduating and he's so happy and he looks so amazing, and that's the other thing I get to see them. They come back, and there are so many success stories. And I don't want to end on a bad note either, because this is what I do and this is something that I will be doing for the next seven or eight years, and, yes, I will wake up at 5 30 in the morning and, yes, sometimes I don't get home till four o'clock, but you know, this is our future and it's very fulfilling.
Speaker 1:It is fulfilling and we have to, and we have to have hope, we have to have hope. There has to be a shining light Again. I'm not going to save everybody, but I'm going to make my mark and that's what I want. I want them to carry the light. Carry the light with them.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Do you think that student, by the way, changed anybody's mind in the school? All the machismos? Did it change anybody's?
Speaker 1:mind, in the, in the school, all the machismos. Did it change? Did it make a dent? Probably, he probably did, because he was, he was able to speak up for himself and he was able to rise to the top and become a leader. So, yeah, I think it did that's great absolutely that's great. I mean he showed them he sure did. Wow, graduating from dartmouth in a couple months and, yeah, really proud of him.
Speaker 2:That is a great story, yeah well danielle, thank you so much, that was so interesting, thank you we just hope for better days for florida, for florida's youth I agree, we, you know, shine the light right.
Speaker 2:Okay, take care bye-bye, thank you. Thank you bye-bye. Thank you, mara. Thank you Bye-bye. Okay, that's a wrap for today. If you have a comment or question or would like us to cover a certain job, please let us know. Visit our website at howmuchcanimakeinfo. We would love to hear from you and, on your way out, don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with anyone who is curious about their next job. See you next time.
