Tell me about substitute teaching.

In My Humble Opinion
1

So here I am, close to graduating with my BA in English, and I’m considering graduate school. I have looked into several programs and different schools, but I know I will need to work if I plan on paying for graduate school. My sister suggested substitute teaching since we are looking into moving back toward my hometown. She thinks it might be easier for me to get hired there as a substitute instead of where I live now, but what is it like?

I’m sure some Dopers have been substitutes before or known someone who has. What is it like, and what should I know before I even think about applying?

Brendon

2

I’ve been subbing “full time” for a couple months now. There was a thread somewhere on these boards recently (found it) that characterized the job as getting paid to “read, surf, watch DVD’s and meet attractive people.” That only vaguely matches my experience; it’s certainly far from the hardest job I’ve ever had, but it’s not the easiest job either. A couple thoughts:

  1. The higher grade level you sub in, the less you’re going to actually be teaching. Few high school teachers expect a sub to be able to step into their shoes and, say, discuss the symbolism in Chapter 3 of “The Lord of the Flies” or teach irregular French verbs or explain higher level calculus. So if you sub in high school, you’ll usually either be playing a video, passing out worksheets, or, more rarely, actually teaching a course by reading from a book, writing examples on the board, and calling up student helpers. You might do some more actual teaching if you become known as the “go-to” teacher for a certain field, but even there don’t count on it – I have a music degree, but I’ve only been called on to sub in Music class three times, and every single one of those times all I did was show a video.

You’ll teach more in the lower grades – middle school teachers usually expect you to be able to explain about fractions, or read from a history textbook. In elementary school, you’ll be doing the whole show – science, math, history, English – everything.

  1. Even though you won’t do much actual teaching in high school, high school is more difficult in other ways. Unless you’re at a high school full of unusually well-behaved kids, you’re going to be doing a lot of babysitting and fighting just to keep the kids focused on what they’re supposed to be doing – even if all they’re supposed to be doing is watching a movie or doing a worksheet. If you don’t really care whether or not they do their work, you’ll have a breeze – but I wouldn’t recommend this approach. Unsupervised kids can get very loud and out of control very quickly, which can make other teachers step in to see what’s going on. Or, worse, the principal – in my schools the principal usually pops in unannounced to see how things are going whether the kids are being loud or not. So you end up spending a lot of time wandering around, telling kids to stop talking (politely at first, then with increasing frustration as they just…won’t…shut…up…!!!), prodding kids to do work, waking kids up, etc. It’s boring and can be frustrating but it’s not particularly hard.

  2. Kids can be bad, and a lot of them will have no respect for you whatsoever. It is amazing how many kids will blatantly ignore a direct order from what is, after all, an authority figure. I’m not a dictator in the classroom – I know I’m just a sub – but it amazes me how many kids will completely ignore me when I tell them several times to do something, even when I call on them by name. I’m growing increasingly impatient with it. I’m much more willing to write kids up nowadays for poor behavior than I was when I started. Kids are also rude – I always greet the students as they’re walking into class and say goodbye when they leave, but I seldom get a response. I’m more likely to get an “Oh great it’s you again” or “Aren’t you that annoying sub?” than I am to get a hello.

  3. Kids can also be good, and some are a lot of fun. You’ll meet some fun personalities, and run into some kids you like and want to help. Sometimes you’ll laugh at the class clown along with the other students. Some kids will like you and be excited to see you when they walk into the classroom. Some will greet you in the hallways and say they think you’d make a good teacher. This helps make the job worthwhile.

  4. Expect to be ignored in the teacher’s lounge, especially at the high school level. I don’t know if it’s some kind of caste thing, or if there’s just so many subs in and out all the time that they’re not really seen as being much worth talking to, but I’ve been very disappointed at how unfriendly many (but not all!) teachers are. It’s like the cliquishness of the high schoolers has infected their teachers – blech. (And I’m not sure where that other guy works that he’s meeting so many hot young teachers…) Be prepared, too, for the conversations you’ll hear in the lounge – I’ve heard the teachers gossip about how dumb some students are, which ones smell the worst, which ones they think are gay, etc. Last Friday in the teacher’s lounge there was a big group conversation about herpes and nude beaches in the Caribbean. I guess they’re just human, but it can be disconcerting if your primary image of teachers is from your own school days.
    That’s all I have time for now, and of course you should keep in mind that these are just my experiences in one particular school district, and other districts might be very different. If you have any more questions, let me know, and I’ll be glad to answer.

3

I don’t know that this applies, but I will be trying to work in a school system I am very familiar with. My wife and I both graduated from school there, and my mother has been a teacher there for about 6 years (she will be retiring this year) and my father was an administrator there until 2 years ago. This means I have an odd relationship already with many of the teachers I’d be working with (more friends and such than authority figures). By this, I mean I have spent a lot of time with the teachers there outside of a school setting (when I first went to college I went home over the summer and spent every Friday in the bar with my old math teacher). The elementary there is somewhat the same, but it is a small town, where everyone is related or knows each other - county-wide population can’t be more than 18k, which is the size of the town I live in now.

I guess my biggest question is that I wonder if it will provide enough work? I basically need to work part-time, since my wife will have a full time job and be making decent money (she is finishing her Master’s degree now) and I want to be able to work at least 2-3 days a week if possible.

Does subbing provide semi-steady work?

Would it help more (experience-wise) since I would have classroom experience (In the interest of full disclosure: I’m pretty well decided on a Master’s in Education Administration with a principal/vp certification, so I assume classroom exposure is good in either case, but just checking to be sure)

Brendon

4

I can’t speak as a sub or as anyone involved in the school system, but I can speak as the child of the “sub lady” (the person who called the subs for her district)

If you want to work, be available to work. You have to get in good with the person who calls subs FIRST, and then the administration and the teachers. If you’re hard to reach or you turn down a lot of jobs then you won’t get called as much. If you’re reachable and willing to teach everything they throw your way for a while, you’ll start to get more “primo” jobs - building subbing (if they have that in your area) and long-term subbing. It’s the “sub lady” who gets you in, and then it’s up to you to make an impression on the staff so that they request you more often or look to you for long-term positions. Being a child of the district and a child of staff is a very big plus too.

If you are often available at a very short notice (especially if you live in town) you will get more calls too.

Also in my area you can sign up to be on a county-wide sub list. That makes you available for all schools in the county not just the one district you like. Being available across the county gives you more opportunity to work and you can remove yourself from that list if you find that you’re getting enough work in your home district.

5

Not a teacher, but my mom subbed some, and I am working on my second graduate degree. Would your master’s program be an evening program compatible with working during the school day, then going to class? If not, then I think subbing may not be the way to go.

Personally, I think other part-time jobs are better suited to match with graduate school. Your classes and exams are not flexible, so you might have a hard time being available enough to make money as a sub. As a graduate student, you might do better to look for a part-time job with steady hours that you can plan your classes around, and vice versa. Tutoring or teacher’s aide might be options related to education.

6

I had a decent time subbing. If you accept what they offer, you’ll get as much work as you want. Bring some movies with you, just in case. Sometimes the teacher will leave some pointless movies, and if you bring some more redeeming films, you can have a more positive impact. Don’t take anything too seriously, otherwise the kids will pick on you.

7

I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting 2-3 days a week, if that’s what you want. I wouldn’t rely on it for 5 days a week, but 2-3 shouldn’t be a problem. (My school district is only slightly larger than yours.)

Be aware, though, that it can be a hard job to plan around – a lot of the jobs you’ll get will be last minute. Last week I knew in advance that I was booked solid; this week my calendar was completely empty, except for one half-day, but I know I’ll still end up with almost a full work week. Let the “sub lady” know what days you’re available.

I don’t know if it will matter much if you have classroom experience – my sub lady, at least, just seems to want somebody to fill the jobs, especially since timing is of the element. A bigger factor, as ZipperJJ says, is getting in good with the sub coordinator – be reliable, be available at the last minute if possible, be willing to take crummy jobs if it’s an emergency. (And there are some crummy jobs, down to and including being the aid of some extremely handicapped students, whose diapers you have to change – and I’m talking about high school students. I haven’t taken one of those jobs yet.)

8

My M.Ed. program I plan on applying to is online through the University of Cincinnati, so I do not have to drive to campus to attend class, just work through notes and book and take tests online. It isn’t my first choice, but it is affordable and accessible for me. The town I would be living in doesn’t have a college within 30-45 minutes, so driving time is always a factor, and I figure online will work for me.

In response to the county-wide sub idea, we are one of the two school systems in Ohio that are county schools instead of city schools. This used to mean that there were 5 elementary schools, 1 junior high, and 1 consolidated high school. This is changing, but not much - they are moving to 3 or 4 larger elementary schools and leaving the junior high and high school the same. It has been this was since the 1970’s (when they consolidated) and it will probably always be because of how spread out the student body is. Most families in the area are farmers.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Brendon

9

Pepper Mill currently subs in our daughter’s school (and elsewhere in the system – she goes where she’s needed), and she contributed to the thread Rogers01 has marked. She’s subbing as we speak, in fact. I’ll see if I can get her to post additional comments tonight.
But, in brief, easy it ain’t. And Pepper Mill is a certified Nanny (among other things), used to dealing with Little Angels.

10

I’ve subbed for about two years now. I’ve been able to scrape out a living by being both a substitute and tutor part-time. Here’s some of my feedback about it-

1.) It takes a LOT of patience. Sometimes I feel like being a substitute is like being the new guy in prison- show weakness and they’ll be all over you.

2.) Subbing elementary school was exhausting. The teacher leaves pages and pages of instructions, which is fine. However, never having been in the classroom, its a scavenger hunt trying to find all the materials. There is definitely more to do in primary school (which may or may not work for you. Middle/High school was easier in this aspect because there were generally only 1-2 different classes, simply repeated several times through the day. After first/second period, I’d generally get the hang of things.

3.) So far, I personally believe substitute teaching provides EXCELLENT classroom management experience- you are thrust in a classroom with no prior rapport with the kids or staff (usually), are more likely to get treated rudely and get put in a position where you have to be really dynamic and creative- thinking of games/activities to keep the students engaged and well-behaved, and ways to stay sane. If you can hack it, subbing also raises your patience threshold. Try not to be too serious- downplaying some things often made the difference between having a horrible day and having an okay day at work.

4.) If you sub high school, the class you sub in can be a huge factor in how your day goes. From my personal experiences, the worst classes to substitute teach are Special Ed and PE, both of which had the worst behavior problems. PE has the disadvantage of no seating chart, so if a student takes off and cuts class, you won’t know who it was unless someone wants to snitch on them. Also, not surprisingly, higher-level subject classes are easier than remedial level classes. I had no problems with AP English, but the Basic Reading class (which had materials that looked like they were desgined for a 3rd grade class) was fifty minutes of hell. However, if the demand in Ohio is anything like it is in California, you’ll have enough calls to pick and choose.

5.) One of my favorite things about this job is the flexibility. At any given evening, I might get 8 potential assignments- of those I can choose which one will be the most worthwhile. Or, if I am ill/tired, I can pass up all of them and sleep in! :smiley: The downside, however, is that I’ll get long-term assignments that get cut short under virtually zero advance notice (like 2 days into a 30-day assignment, they will tell me it has been canceled because they found a credentialed teacher to take over). I’ve gotten burned by this before- I had a teacher ask if I could sub long-term for her for 3 months. She asked 8 months in advance, then a week before it was supposed to start she changed her mind and picked someone else :mad:

11

Hallgirl1 is doing a long term sub (9th grade PE and Health). She hates it for the most part, but she hates teaching and is itching to go to pharmacy school. That being said, I think a lot of what I’m reading here is very similiar to her experience. Her teacher (from whom she’s subing) decided she’d built up too much sick leave before she retired, so she took a long-term sick leave, hence is why Hallgirl1 is subing.

When she came to the class, they’d had a variety of subs for several months. The whole class was outrageous and nearly uncontrollable. In the past few months, she managed to get them under control, but for the first several weeks, she would go home, crying in the car all the way home. (She desperately needed the income and couldn’t find a fulltime teaching job. She’s certified to teach History/Social Studies.) She basically walked into a classroom that was unfamiliar, with someone else’s students who were unfamiliar, in a school that was unfamiliar, with a support staff (and students) who greeted her each day with “Oh, you came back!”. :dubious:

I think she accepted the long term sub position because it provided a steady income, plus benefits. (The benefits through the school district are amazing, especially her healthcare. She finally has consistent access to healthcare insurance, the first time in almost four years.) The money is okay, but still nothing compared to what she’d be making if she had a full-time teaching position with her “own classroom” as she phrases it. There’s no telling what she’ll do next school year. I keep telling her that NOW is the time to apply for a full-time position, but she’s dragging her feet, ready to go to pharm. school instead. (She can’t start until 2008/09 semester.)

12

My mom is a sub teacher. I just know that she gets paid very little, but she did take some sort of certification class/test that allowed her to be paid more (state of NC), so make sure to look into that.

13

I’ve been subbing for 2 1/2 years. One of the benefits is that the schedule is pretty flexible. Since you need to work only part-time, it may be a good choice for you. I wouldn’t count on getting called everyday, especially at the begining.

Like everyone said, getting on the sub coordinator’s good side is the best way to make sure you get called and get the type of job you want. The way to do this is to be willing to accept any job at any time. The quickest way to stop getting called is to turn down a lot of jobs. This is especially true if you have a real person calling you, instead of a machine. She’ll soon learn to stop wasting her time calling you if you always say no.

If you know what days you won’t be able to work, try to tell them ahead of time, again so so their not wasting thier time in the morning calling you. Especially if you know you can only work, say, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Ask the coordinator if she’d like you to email her or just tell her when you’ve got her on the phone one day, if there isn’t already a procedure for requesting days off.

Keep in mind, subbing can be very stressful. You are walking into a brand new situation pretty much every single day. You won’t know what you’ll have to do that day until you walk into the room. You won’t know what kind of students you’ll be getting, and most teachers aren’t that informative about special needs, either. You just have to figure it out as you go. If you do high school, you’ll probably have to do less actual teaching, but figuring out how to control 30 teenagers who have very little concern for you more than makes up for it. Especially if you’re still young yourself. Besides, I hate just sitting there bored with nothing to do. If you do Elementary, expect to be on your toes all day. Every school and every classroom will have their own rules and own special little ways of doing things that you’re expected to know. Expect to hear, “That’s not how you’re supposed to do it!” on a regular basis. Little kids can be fun, but they’re also a handful. You’ll have pages and pages of notes left by the teacher to complete (which, by the way, is better than the days when the teacher only leaves a vauge schedule for you to figure out) and you’ll most likely have little or no downtime during the day. And, when, at the end of the day, you actually know some of the kids names and how some things are done in that classroom, expect to go home and have to figure it all out again tomorrow. A teacher once told me that, stress-wise, being a substitute teacher was similar to being in the army. Both people never know what’s coming and have to be constantly hyperaware of their surroundings. In both jobs, it’s hard to prepare ahead of time and you have the think on your feet. I don’t know where she heard this, and most of the time I wouldn’t completly agree, but there are certainly days when I would, so there you go. At least most of the time, subs can count on making it out alive.

There are pluses to subbing, too. When you’re done for the day, you’re done. There is no work to take home, no lesson planning, no paper checking, and you’ll never have to see difficult students again. But on the other hand, you also never have a chance to develp a relationship with students, which I think is one of the reasons most people go into education in the first place.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to write so much. To be perfectly honest, I’m sick of subbing, and that’s why I’m looking for a teaching position. You say you’re in a small town where you grew up, which will actually make your job easier, I would think. That’s the situation I was in for the first year I subbed. It was nice, because I knew a lot of the teachers, so I had people to go to with questions or if I needed a little extra help, or just to chat with in the lunchroom. Also, since there were less schools, I would get calls for the same school over and over, and often for the same classes, so I got to know the kids and become familiar with how things are done.

Sorry for the ramble, if you have any more questions, just ask.
Good luck!

14

Just a tip: If a kid walks in, sees you and says, “Oh, Yes! We have a Sub!” Then that’s one you’re gonna want to keep an eye on :slight_smile:

15

Oh yeah! I was that kid! heh

Brendon

16

Yes, if you really want to do it and you really don’t have any preference as to what you’re doing. This runs the gamut from kindergarten, the district’s alternative school for misbehaving children, special ed, to high school.

I subbed for the local high school once.
Once.

It was ridiculous. I got next-to-no assignment from the teacher (they had to take a test 99% of them already took) so I was basically babysitting 17 year olds for 6 hours or so.

I got more information about the lockdown procedure (PFF) than any of the school’s actual procedures, e.g. what to do with attendance, where the hell everything WAS (the principal, the john, the cafeteria), the RULES, how to work the wacky lock, and the school’s screwed-up schedule that kept one class in there over 90 minutes doing absolutely nothing. The neighboring teachers couldnt be f-ing bothered and I didn’t know how to get the kids to sit down and shut the hell up.

And I sure as hell could have taught bottom-level 11th grade history. We ended up watching some goofy video. I don’t know why high school teachers are so goddamned vain.

BTW I think there are a million better jobs you can get.