The truth about substitute teaching…
Sometimes I am a highly paid glorified
babysitter and sometimes I actually teach. As a substitute it truly depends on the class and what
lesson plans are left by the teacher as to whether I teach or babysit. Some days are busy and very productive,
other days are boring and tedious; again it depends on the class and the lesson
plan.
I prefer subbing for high school and middle
school, or upper elementary. We
already know that I do not have the patience to deal with the lower grades;
hence my license, which says, I teach 3rd-8th grade! Students in the lower grades take a lot
more energy, and higher grades are more independent. Don’t get me wrong I love all ages, but for me to continue
loving to teach I need to teach the students that I enjoy. Substituting also requires that you
have a sense of humor and can easily adjust to changes; I find that middle and
high school students usually understand my sense of humor.
I recently was called to substitute at a
local high school, Trig… I have never taken a Trig class in my life but it
sounded like a challenge, and let’s face-it I needed the money. The sub call came almost an hour after
I knew the high school had started (school starts at 7:15 a.m.), but I hurried
on over to the school. When I
checked in at the main office, I was told that the first period class was over
taking state testing (OAKES Testing), and that I should head over to the
classroom. Key in hand I head over
to the classroom, find a student in the room – who I later determine to be a
student aide. My lesson plans from
the teacher were handwritten and photocopied (to hand-out to the students for 3rd/4th
period), below are the lesson plans that were left.
I had no notes as to the
schedule for the day, I didn’t know whether I had 1st or 2nd
lunch, I didn’t know when the teacher had prep period. Normally I would get this information
from the teacher’s notes or lesson plan, but then I learned that the teacher
had been there that morning got first period started and left extremely
sick. This high school is also on
an A/B schedule, so I had to determine if it was an A day or a B day. Class periods are 82 minutes long. I sit and wait, and wait, and try to familiarize
myself with the Trig book, and make sure that I am confident with the lesson
plan I’ve been given. First period
finally ends. Advisory period
starts, 30 minutes of socializing, I have no lesson plan for these students I
take role send it to the office and call it good. Second period, no lesson plan, no students… oh this must be
prep period (rolling eyes). I
can’t handle doing nothing for another 82 minutes, I go to the office looking
for something to do (this usually works), they have nothing for me to do and
send me to main office – the main office has nothing for me to do, they hand me
a newspaper to read. During my
stint in the office I also find out that I have 1st lunch, so my
boredom continues. First lunch, I
hit the staff room across from my classroom use the microwave, there are no
chairs and nobody in the room, and nuke lunch and head back to the
classroom. Finally 3rd
period, STUDENTS! I’m supposed to
have 30 students, when I take role I only have 21, wow that many are sick! This is a well behaved class, I hand
out the lesson they get to work and finish it way before their 82 minutes are
up, I tell them they have free/quiet time. 4th period, 16 students and all are here (13
girls omg!), I hand out the lesson and nobody does anything, they think this is
social hour. I spend most of this
class walking around nagging students to work on the assignment. As I walk around talking to students I
realize that 9 out of 16 students do not have their textbook with them! Can we just say that by the end of this
period I had a raging headache and was done with high school girls.
I learn something new with every sub
assignment and I hope for my own classroom soon. I try and take notes every sub assignment that would pertain
to my future classroom.
