Finishing up your job

[stell4]

For those employed folk who know you'll be headed off to school in fall, what are you doing to help drag yourself to work every day now that you know you have bigger brighter things ahead in your future? Especially those of you with a current job that is not at all aligned with what you'll be going to school for.

I teach high school and am going back to school to make a complete career change. Teaching has been fun and a good experience, but it's not for me and I do not intend to go back to it again. Once accepted to my top pick, I've been painstakingly dragging my self to work everyday thereafter (I've unfortunately used up all my days off). I think the worst of it is dealing with all the work space politic BS and endless meetings that I am just not willing to jump through hoops for anymore. I suppose I can't complain too much, I only have until May 22nd when my work ends and the whole summer off before starting in the fall. The one thing that's helping me continue to put the effort in is the thought that I do not want my current students to find themselves in a college Chem or Physics class and be the dumb kid in the back of the class picking their nose because they never learned how to balance an equation or what that funny upside down "y" character stands for in high school.

So while I am visualizing my students picking their nose in a college class that some of you may be TA'ing, what are you doing to make it through the day/week/months?

[far_to_go]

During my last few months on the job (and I worked right up until 2 weeks before my program started), I also found it a bit difficult to keep my motivation up. One way I dealt with it was by giving myself little things to look forward to: scheduled dinners with friends, weekend trips, etc. That helped me to focus on the present and take one day at a time, and was also a nice way for me to say goodbye to a lot of friends in the area where I was living before I moved across the country to start school.

I was working at a tutoring job, and I had a lot of conversations with students about what going to grad school means, what anthropology (my field) is about, and so forth. In that way, I was expanding my students' horizons a little bit and also keeping my own enthusiasm up.

I also did as much as possible to eliminate BS meetings and administrative stuff; this got worse toward the end, when my attitude was becoming more and more one of "what are you going to do? fire me? I'm leaving in 3 weeks anyway, and I know you haven't hired a replacement." I tried not to be too much of a b*tch, and didn't do anything that would have created real problems for my fellow co-workers, but at the same time, I genuinely did not care about the BS and was done with trying to hide it.

Leaving work for the last time was a great feeling. Feel free to go ahead and start counting down, stell4. Best of luck to you!

[stell4]

Leaving work for the last time was a great feeling. Feel free to go ahead and start counting down, stell4. Best of luck to you!

My students and I made a chain out of paper for each school day left and rip one off at the end of every day, 27 more to go. It's a nice way to visualize it. I sometimes feel like I am one of the seniors with serious senioritis.

I also did as much as possible to eliminate BS meetings and administrative stuff; this got worse toward the end, when my attitude was becoming more and more one of "what are you going to do? fire me?

I had my last evaluation yesterday, my students were in the middle of a lab doing their work and of course my admin walks in right as one of my students asked me what I am doing with my Ass (donkey) since I'll be moving. I definitely have the same attitude "what are you going to do? fire me?", I didn't even bother trying to make it clear that the student was talking about my donkey, I just let myself have a moment to snicker to myself.

[mallorn]

I feel bittersweet about leaving my job- I currently work in a lab where the hours are relaxed, the work is interesting, can't say anything bad about my boss, and I get along fine with almost all of my workmates. Then again, I know it's not a traditional job at all and I would be expected to leave eventually, but there's something I can't put my finger on when I think about leaving- I think it's a mix of slight regret of uprooting myself from somewhere so comfortable and a fear of the unknown- moving somewhere that is more than 20 hours by plane from where I live and going back to school. I'm really excited about grad school of course, but I think I am still in the process of sorting out my 'this is it, I am really leaving' feelings.

[butalas]

I currently teach English in the Czech Republic and will be moving to Boston in the fall. In fact, I do nothing to keep myself going each day. This job is terribly boring and very time consuming. Maybe, as someone has said before, I try to take one day at a time. It makes me stress less about all the crappy lessons I have that week and in some way makes the weeks go faster. But I can't shake the negative thoughts about all the other English teachers here who actually enjoy the job. Knowing that I'm going to graduate school really makes me not care about this job. But always I see the others who try really hard, and in a way force themselves to care...seems pointless to me. It really is a deadend, unrewarding line of work which doesn't even pay well.

[Hillary Emick]

I'm actually feeling a lot more positive about my current job knowing that there is an end in sight. I was feeling very burnt out and tired of what I am doing, and knowing that I won't be doing it for much longer makes it easier. I have a lot to do to finish up all of my projects before I leave, and they just offered me a bonus to revise my notice and stay on for an extra couple of weeks.

[TMP]

I am working in a job that is directly relevant. So everything I do helps to prepare me for my graduate studies and beyond. My boss is trying to make the use of my labor and mind so anything i do from here on will actually be beneficial. It is so thoughtful of him and I try to keep that in mind. i may not love putting together a filmography list but he's right, I'll need this down the road when I'm creating my own syllabus.

I am trying to schedule to see friends each week to keep the time moving along. I am trying to make the most of my weekends by doing something in this city, whether it's visiting a museum or scanning documents at the local archives for my current/future projects.

[mandarin.orange]

I teach high school and am going back to school to make a complete career change. Teaching has been fun and a good experience, but it's not for me and I do not intend to go back to it again. Once accepted to my top pick, I've been painstakingly dragging my self to work everyday thereafter.

Did you somehow sneak into my classroom and view my life last spring? This was totally me. We even had a paper chain.

As the year ended, I became extremely motivated with the task of gutting the storage closets, binders, and file cabinets I was in charge of, and clearing the years of detritus. Once admin and counseling staff got wind of my admit to grad school, they immediately decided to axe the curriculum I taught (the earth sciences get no respect, man). They'd been after me for years to switch to teaching bio or physics, so not surprising. This added to my overall feeling of "f--- it." Everyday, I would clean something or throw out entire boxes of stuff...it got my mind off the kids that were acting out, and kept me excited about my new life in scientific research.

Half of my students were seniors; seniors tended to get "phased out" faster at my old school - their last day of class was a week prior to underclassmen, and many could get exam exemptions. I still had about 5-6 juniors to keep occupied, and used the opportunity to do a few labs with them that only work in small groups. Having more time during the school day allowed me to keep school work at school, and use more of my free time to see friends, do sports, beer tastings, plan my move to California, etc.

The biggest thing that got me out of bed in the morning, though, were the colleagues and kids I knew I would miss. You interact with 100+ people everyday as a teacher. While this type of environment was a bit much for me to sustain for an entire career, I'd enjoyed the craziness - at times - and was still a bit mixed about returning to the solitude of a research lab.

The moment I turned in my keys, wonky work-issued laptop and Employee Policies Handbook was the best. Look forward to that!

[lydibird]

Well, my job is related to my field, but it's entry level and completely dead end. I like my job, but now that I know a huge change is coming I can't wait to move on. I basically sit at a desk waiting for students to ask for help, so I spend a lot of time reading, blogging, checking message boards, etc. Ocassionally I've worked on something related to my future plans, but I do feel a bit guilty about that. I finally told them a month ago that I'd definitely be leaving this summer so at least I'm not hiding stuff anymore.

I think the advice to take one day at a time helps me the most. I'm not leaving my current job until August and while the idea of waiting for months to get started on my new life is incredibly frustrating I know that in the long run I'll be glad that I stuck it out.

[TropicalCharlie]

I left my analytical chemistry job 5 years ago after feeling burnt out in the field and have dabbled in admin work since then. Once I started in admin, i knew right away that i couldn't do this forever, even though i enjoy certain aspects of it. Knowing that i will be wrapping up my job in June is very invigorating. I have too much pride in my work to totally slack off and dispense the 'i don't give a crap - what are you going to do, fire me' attitude. Until the end of June, i will be a busy bee here and enjoy the last 2 months. So excited and looking forward to starting school in August. Yippee!

[hbeels]

I am working in a job that is directly relevant. So everything I do helps to prepare me for my graduate studies and beyond.

Ah! How I wish I had your goof fortune!

I sell suburbanite-rich-white-folks overpriced pastries and coffee. All with a dangerously superficial smile on my face and a precipitously balanced artificial interest and delight in the intricacies of my customers' lives.

Good times.

Although, it has become a little more bearable knowing that the end is in sight.

[hbeels]

And by goof, I mean good.

[CageFree]

For those employed folk who know you'll be headed off to school in fall, what are you doing to help drag yourself to work every day now that you know you have bigger brighter things ahead in your future? Especially those of you with a current job that is not at all aligned with what you'll be going to school for.

I teach high school and am going back to school to make a complete career change. Teaching has been fun and a good experience, but it's not for me and I do not intend to go back to it again. Once accepted to my top pick, I've been painstakingly dragging my self to work everyday thereafter (I've unfortunately used up all my days off). I think the worst of it is dealing with all the work space politic BS and endless meetings that I am just not willing to jump through hoops for anymore. I suppose I can't complain too much, I only have until May 22nd when my work ends and the whole summer off before starting in the fall. The one thing that's helping me continue to put the effort in is the thought that I do not want my current students to find themselves in a college Chem or Physics class and be the dumb kid in the back of the class picking their nose because they never learned how to balance an equation or what that funny upside down "y" character stands for in high school.

So while I am visualizing my students picking their nose in a college class that some of you may be TA'ing, what are you doing to make it through the day/week/months?

Oh gosh, I was just about to ask this very question. I am a high school teacher too and ever since I got my first acceptance, I've had the hardest time getting up to go to work. June can't come fast enough. I have a student-teacher, so I'm teaching less than half of the day, which ironically makes my day drag on and on and on.

I hear you on the meetings and what not. Right now everyone is working on the master schedule, and new professional development... and I just want to go into my classroom and do something valuable with my time.

[CageFree]

I had my last evaluation yesterday, my students were in the middle of a lab doing their work and of course my admin walks in right as one of my students asked me what I am doing with my Ass (donkey) since I'll be moving. I definitely have the same attitude "what are you going to do? fire me?", I didn't even bother trying to make it clear that the student was talking about my donkey, I just let myself have a moment to snicker to myself.

LOL.

I had a parent email that really pissed me off (demanding I give her lazy son, who is also a big-time jerk, "extra projects" so he can make up points and graduate), and I wrote her a restrained yet terse response saying I do not allow late work and don't give extra credit projects, so he's going to have to do the work for the rest of the semester and study. My last paragraph was, in a nutshell, "By the way, you may want to do your job and be a parent, for a change. You need to talk to your son about whether he actually plans to graduate." That's when I realized I am D-O-N-E. I can't take it anymore.

I haven't heard from the principal but if I do... what are they going to do, fire me for telling the truth?