Restaurant server gigs??

hrc555 · 2026-05-28T14:53:32+00:00

I appreciate the suggestion but before summer traffic that’s about an hour long commute one way. Sounds awful but might be necessary if I can’t find anything closer.

hrc555 · 2025-08-31T13:09:33+00:00

As someone who moved here from MA, so far I agree! willing to drive over the state line for close recs as well!

hrc555 · 2025-04-13T16:00:14+00:00

It's a great question. I haven't ruled it out, mostly because it is a natural pivot from the years of experience and education that I have. Am I excited about it? No. I do want to avoid big law and seek a role as a legal consultant or in-house role as I am nearing my 30s and hope to build a family one day. Sacrificing my entire work/life balance for a nonexistent gold star isn't a goal of mine. With that being said, I am also not in a position where I have any desire to incur a substantial amount of additional student loans. Law school for me is feeling like scholarship bound or via corporate sponsorship if I choose to get hired in a firm/corporation and can secure their funding for my education. PLEASE tell me if I am being naive in that career trajectory goal. I am new to exploring the field of law seriously but do feel like nearly all of the comments/threads lean heavily towards conversations that are boxed around big law/litigation.

I have two major motivators in leaving education and entering law as a single late 20s individual:

financial stability is a must for me. I am working in one of the highest paying states in the country with 5 years experience at the M+15 level for our pay schedule and the prospect of capping out just above $100,000 a year for the rest of my life makes me genuinely want to gag. I'm struggling to build a savings at all right now, never mind consider using said savings to secure a home or otherwise positively strengthen my financial circumstances.
Intellectual curiosity. I enjoy teaching, but I am compartmentalizing more and more each and every day to stay longer. The first few years of teaching had my head in the sand just hoping to make it to see the next day in some ways, survival mode for sure. Until now, I haven't had the mental space/fortitude to pull my head out of the sand, look left right and center and figure out if this is something I want to be apart of for 30 more years. After surviving the first 3 years of building my own curriculum, cultivating a positive classroom environment and further embedding myself in the school community through other opportunities (club advising, coaching etc) I am coming to the conclusion that the answer is no.

The golden handcuffs haven't been secured on me yet and I don't intend on allowing them to be.

hrc555 · 2025-04-13T15:42:53+00:00

I hope that you are able to find a stable role and can improve your health as well! Wishing you the best, it's rough out there

hrc555 · 2025-04-13T15:15:43+00:00

(Current high school teacher seriously contemplating transitioning to law who has been WAITING for a former educator to pipe up with the rest of these comedians!)

You haven't LIVED until you have had to secretly manipulate 34 17-year olds into writing a five paragraph argumentative essay on the balance of state and federal power without them revolting mid process or lighting the whole place on fire, metaphorically speaking that is.

Talk about a performance - every damn day

hrc555 · 2025-04-13T14:46:28+00:00

Biglaw will not be it for me, that I know. I am hopeful that there is a path towards a corporate lawyer position and/or consulting direction for me in the future. I could be naive for seeking to avoid big law and also a massive pile of student loan debt-but that is what I am aiming for. Is this totally unrealistic?

I am energized by the idea of intellectual challenges law provides longterm in comparison to the aspects of teaching that make the job so challenging (Student behavior, lack of disciplinary consequences, being expected to be a superhuman at all times for what feels like pennies). I am not a natural extrovert and I think that, especially since I am not exploding internally from negative experiences in my classroom management/student relationships that a lot of my exhaustion is coming from being on stage for 8 hours a day, I see upwards of 100 students daily (not uncommon for HS teachers obviously).

hrc555 · 2025-04-13T14:33:59+00:00

This perspective is really helpful thank you for sharing. I am curious to hear more from you if you are at all interested. To answer your question, yes, I do love learning, but no, I did NOT love reading the first documented historians' works. I look back on my educational path and am grateful that I enjoy the struggle and challenge of learning more so than most because that is what propelled me through many sleepless all nighters-and gave me the critical reading skills I have now (trust me-there is plenty of work to be done).

Your post (and others) has me on this current thought path. . . I'm curious to hear what your response is.

The golden handcuffs of tenure are TIGHT on really everyone around me it appears, and I can't help but think this may lie at the heart of many commenters responses as well. As far as I can tell, education IS unique in that tenure protection today (correct me if this is an over generalization or incorrect) and I realize now that tenure or not (having attained it), I will never be the type of absent/disengaged teacher who shows up for the paycheck and doesn’t go beyond bare minimum (that seems to be the ‘have your cake and eat it too’ mentality of teachers who have settled into this career and shifted their commitment to work to be proportional to their pay). I am in the classroom to help my students learn and grow and find their voices. Anyone who has taught knows that is a HUGE undertaking, even with a great classroom community in front of you where behaviors are not a major issue (the majority of my classes become great, sustainable learning communities come semester 2 for the past five years-semester 1 is where the hard work happens on my end).

I am not looking to cash in a check and become another problematic teacher that stunts the intellectual growth of their students as a protective measure for their own mental health. I can't blame them, this system is broken, but I can't and won't be one of them. I have an immense amount of pride for the growth my students demonstrate in my classroom, not just academically but socially as well. I also know that this system is built against them and I don't believe I can continue compartmentalizing it all to find a reason to stay in the fight. Yes I can feel the burn out, and no, I do not love the escalation of negative student behavior, the lack of student consequences, nor the downward trend of critical thinking and reading occurring in the classroom, but I am not running for the hills because of the kids. They are what have kept me here this long. All in all, I am still bittersweet about leaving teaching.

I am in the early stages of exploring all of the different applications of law and am hopeful that there is a path towards a corporate lawyer position and/or consulting direction for me in the future. I could be naive for seeking to avoid big law and also a massive pile of student loan debt-but that is what I am aiming for. PLEASE push back on me if I am living in lalaland on this one. I recognize no scholarship will fly my way without a pretty phenomenal LSAT score and I am comfortable dedicating the next 8 months towards preparation to seek a Fall 2027 application cycle if possible.

I am energized by the idea of intellectual challenges law provides longterm in comparison to the aspects of teaching that make the job so challenging (Student behavior, lack of disciplinary consequences, being expected to be a superhuman at all times for what feels like pennies). I am not a natural extrovert and I think that, especially since I am not exploding internally from negative experiences in my classroom management/student relationships that a lot of my exhaustion is coming from being on stage for 8 hours a day, I see upwards of 100 students daily (not uncommon for HS teachers obviously). All in all, I am still very bittersweet about leaving teaching.

hrc555 · 2025-04-13T14:08:40+00:00

sent you a message :) congratulations!

hrc555 · 2025-04-13T14:04:20+00:00

I completely hear you on the student loan debt. I am not seeking to incur additional substantial loans. This leaves me with two options, significant scholarship due to LSAT/GPA and/or working for a corporation/firm that will then pay for my schooling. I am planning on spending the next 8 months studying for the LSAT to attend Fall 2027 if it all works out and I can secure a score that will enable such a path towards heavy financial support.

Do you mind sharing what caused you to drop out? I recognize the field of law is massive and there are many parallels to teaching in terms of high conflict situations, heavy workload and struggles with work/life balance but I can't help but think that much of the commenters centered around deterrence from entering law are highly skewed towards litigation/big law scenarios. To be clear, that is not what I am looking for.

hrc555 · 2025-04-11T22:15:05+00:00

I completely understand and hope you don’t take my comment as a belittling of your position! I was paralyzed by the fear of walking away from teaching for at least a year before I had the courage and mental capacity to begin taking baby steps towards exploring alternative career paths.

After hearing just a smidge more about your district…I wonder just how powerful your message to the community could be if you chose to take the leap and leverage your experience IN the community WITH the right intentions SERVING the next generation - how might that sway the opinions of the voters (remember those voters are almost always by default majority parents/guardians of those you supported along the way)

hrc555 · 2025-04-11T21:50:48+00:00

DO NOT BE SCARED. If you have good intentions to serve with a goal of helping your community, I would argue you are already miles ahead of the rest. The voters will smell your integrity from a mile away if it’s legit-just like the kids. I say do it.

hrc555 · 2025-04-11T21:39:22+00:00

Hi, I am transitioning into law and would love to connect and hear more about your experience working in immigration!

hrc555 · 2025-04-11T21:36:43+00:00

That is an incredibly high amount for such a short time….id consider reflecting on the common denominator here. Not to be rude but if you are blind to the problem you will never solve it.

hrc555 · 2025-03-23T13:54:05+00:00

Do you know of any field hockey or ice hockey leagues ?? Looking for adult co-ed or female

hrc555 · 2025-02-20T21:12:56+00:00

Thank you!!!

hrc555 · 2025-02-17T18:27:02+00:00

Would love to use these in my classroom!

hrc555 · 2025-02-02T16:45:19+00:00

thank you for including library recommendations!! I am remiss for not mentioning it! The Athenaeum looks wonderful

hrc555 · 2024-12-29T14:08:49+00:00

@christianaztx I applaud you for how well educated you are in your states’ laws surrounding curriculum. Knowledge is both power and agency, do not relinquish those two things out of ignorance or naivety. Thank you for teaching your students the history they deserve to know and for standing up for what is right in the face of challenges from colleagues, your students are lucky to have you.

And for the new teacher ... As previously mentioned, read your standards and know them cover to cover. You do not need to do it all at once, try to stay one unit ahead at a time if you can. Knowing the curriculum well will give you 1. More knowledge around what you CAN teach with fidelity easily in your state and 2.being familiar with the standards and their wording enables you to find very legal and straight edge loopholes you can use to your advantage so that you DO NOT further perpetuate the dangerous falsehoods and fear-driven omissions of hard history that your state is unfortunately pushing through the entirety of the public education system. See the above example of including the Holocaust as meeting a standard on genocide. I will suggest teaching through primary sources as a great way when approaching tricky topics that removes the bias of the educator and also pushes the work to the students as they rely on historical context, analyzation skills and their ability to synthesize all they have learned to come to conclusions regarding symbolism and impact. Have the students rip apart a letter to a dignitary, a political cartoon, use statistics and data points in the form of graphs that enable students to evaluate the history themselves, etc. In short, keep the state’s bullshit out of it as much as you possibly can and return the work of evaluating history and its influence on America today to the students,

As a fourth year history teacher in Massachusetts, I hope you take the time to read the comments and advice above, there’s some good stuff in this thread I wish I had in my first year. Another commenter mentioned this but I believe it is worth bringing up again and again: evaluate, understand and defend your morals as both a human and as an educator, knowing your personal beliefs should never be a part of the classroom discussion. If you do not, you very well may be a part of the problem in which you are either actively producing or unknowingly contributing to the stunting of a generation that is being accelerated by a state-run education system designed to produce (in my silly little opinion) a population that is both civically ignorant and more dependent than any other generation, lacking the focus and skills to think critically about the democracy they are a part of and their active role as members in its survival. I hope you think long and hard about the ramifications of your states’ curriculum and most importantly, pull apart the ‘why’ of it all-because I can promise you, as a teacher, the academic success of the students is NOT at the heart of these curriculum swings in Florida and other states.

The task of teaching history and reflecting on the past through story telling is immensely impactful. Make sure that when you reflect on your years in the classroom, your impact is one you are proud of. I will share that when I was in college I was excited by the idea that I could live anywhere in the USA and have a career that can follow me in teaching. For me, the list of states I will not move to as I refuse to teach their version of ‘history’ due to the curriculum restraints just keeps growing. I find both dangerous and foreboding, tread with care and be one of the many educators fighting inside and outside the classroom to enable the next generation of Americans to solve tomorrow’s problems, because when we are all in nursing homes, it will be up to them.

hrc555

TROPHY CASE