Teacher and law student? Forum

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ohmmm2018

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Teacher and law student?

Post by ohmmm2018 » Sat Feb 24, 2018 7:45 pm

Anyone here ever taught school while going to law school at night?

I'm currently a night student and I'm a paralegal by day. I'm looking to switch to the teaching profession to have summers to do internships. Plus I have no real holidays and other reasons. My undergrad is English. I always wanted to teach but ended up switching directions. I remained interested but just figured the opportunity to teach would present itself in a different way one day. I think it would also be great to have been in the classroom as I'm interested in policy and education policy.

I'm concerned about the take home work and the stress of teaching. I talked to an old teacher of mine who was encouraging that it could be done. I would pretty much only take the job if it were at a magnet school. Most other schools in my area are high needs and it's just not a field to get into without a lot of training and the will to stay for a long time. Aka it's not something to do while trying to get a law degree at night.

So any advice is helpful! Even if you have suggestions for some other field that would get me off in the summers.

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totesTheGoat

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Re: Teacher and law student?

Post by totesTheGoat » Sat Feb 24, 2018 8:50 pm

General advice: Don't go to night law school while working a full-time job.

Specific advice: Choose a goal and make all your choices in furtherance of that goal. Switching to a teaching job and starting law school seems like you're going in multiple directions. If you need a job to bring in some cash while going to law school, stay at your paralegal job. If you want to teach, don't go to law school. Mixing and muddling (especially with the purpose of "doing it because I always thought it would be fun") is going to result in you doing nothing particularly well.

Bonus advice: Night school for law is very different than getting a MBA or M.Ed. at night. The only reason you should go to night school for law is that you literally have no other option, and you're planning on only working 20 hours per week at most. Part-time law programs are not designed for people with full-time jobs, and you will be at a competitive disadvantage to your classmates (in the highly competitive field of law) if you try to do the part-time program while working a full-time job.

Have I raised the red flag high enough yet? Something about your plan is really fishy, and the potential is there for your dream of law school to turn into a nightmare if you don't address the issue.

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bretby

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Re: Teacher and law student?

Post by bretby » Sun Feb 25, 2018 8:31 pm

ohmmm2018 wrote:Anyone here ever taught school while going to law school at night?

I'm currently a night student and I'm a paralegal by day. I'm looking to switch to the teaching profession to have summers to do internships. Plus I have no real holidays and other reasons. My undergrad is English. I always wanted to teach but ended up switching directions. I remained interested but just figured the opportunity to teach would present itself in a different way one day. I think it would also be great to have been in the classroom as I'm interested in policy and education policy.

I'm concerned about the take home work and the stress of teaching. I talked to an old teacher of mine who was encouraging that it could be done. I would pretty much only take the job if it were at a magnet school. Most other schools in my area are high needs and it's just not a field to get into without a lot of training and the will to stay for a long time. Aka it's not something to do while trying to get a law degree at night.

So any advice is helpful! Even if you have suggestions for some other field that would get me off in the summers.
I know people who have taught and done law school at night. It requires an incredible amount of commitment, as you will have no free time, ever, but it can be done. As for the comment above, a lot of people go to law school part time as night students and end up in successful legal careers, so it can be done, but it is extremely challenging.

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totesTheGoat

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Re: Teacher and law student?

Post by totesTheGoat » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:09 am

a lot of people go to law school part time as night students and end up in successful legal careers, so it can be done, but it is extremely challenging
Of course it can be done. I did it for my first 3 years of law school and have ended up in a great legal career. A few of my night school classmates did it all 4 years and have great legal careers. Some are still struggling to switch from their pre-law job to their legal career. I'm using my personal and second-hand experience and of having gone through a night program to dissuade the OP from doing it. Why? Because 99.9% of the time it's better to do what's necessary to go to law school full-time. Most of my classmates who stayed in the night program while working a full-time job were doing so because they had a spouse and/or kids and couldn't quit their job without completely turning their family's lifestyle on its head.

To OP: In my opinion, any gains in authenticity caused by working as a teacher while going to law school will be offset by competitive disadvantage and added difficulty. If you want to get teaching experience, go teach for 2 or 3 years, save up some cash, and go to law school full-time in a few cycles.

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