Substitute Teaching

Ah, I had such lofty goals and high expectations before we moved here. I wasn't surprised that I wasn't able to find a full time teaching job for this year, so I planned on substitute teaching. I really didn't mind the idea. I would only sub in secondary schools, which frankly, would normally mean popping in a video or giving students a bunch of busy work. While they did that, I could read a book or maybe even do a little crochet. Even if I was expected by the teacher to actually teach...it probably wouldn't be anything difficult, I wouldn't have had to do the lesson planning, and I wouldn't have to grade the assignments when they were turned in. And of course, when you consider the hourly wage, substitutes get paid pretty well.

The main problem with subbing, however, is actually getting the jobs. If you don't have a job on any given day, you don't get paid...simple as that. So that means no income during the summer, on national holidays, or when the kids are on winter or spring break. And the rest of the year...there's no guaranteed income.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you may recall that I submitted my application to sub in August. I was notified by the district in September that I'd been accepted. I finally turned in my paperwork in October. I wasn't added to the substitute system until Thanksgiving. And despite bringing the phone to bed with me (so I'd hear it ring in the early morning hours) and checking the online sub system multiple times every day...I had no jobs. It wasn't even that I was being picky and turning jobs down; there simply were never any jobs listed as available.

Until yesterday. I was almost startled to see an actual job listed when I clicked "available jobs" on the website. It was only a half day job, but I went ahead and accepted it. So this morning...I got up at 5:30 and headed to a nearby middle school. I spent my morning teaching 7th grade English. I thought it went pretty well. It wasn't the "pop in a movie and sit back" kind of morning I was expecting, but since it was my own subject area, I had no problem helping these kids with some reading strategies work and some writing skills.

I actually already have another (half day) job lined up, so stay tuned for next week as I attempt to teach middle school Math! (My dad did it for 38 years...I'm sure some of his knowledge and talent rubbed off on me over the years, right?) :-)