District Office Roving Sub...

A "roving sub" assignment implies that you won't be in one classroom the entire day. I've "roved" for several classrooms at a single school. I've "roved" two different schools the same day to work a half day at each.

It seems that 2015 is the year of "perfect storm" conditions for substitute shortages.  The number of teachers being out of the classroom has greatly increased for "Teacher Training" while the number of active substitutes teachers has not.  I know a number of substitutes purposely cutting back work availability or leaving for one reason or another.

Last week the district office contacted me to see if I would be willing to do "roving assignments for the district office". I hadn't heard of this before so I had to ask exactly what I would be doing as a "district office roving sub".

I would be pre-reserved as a "District Office Roving Sub" for any days in the week I was willing to be available. If they didn't need me, I would still get paid. 

If they did need me, the office would call after 07:40am with a list of schools and grade levels to pick from.   

As an added bonus, being pre-reserved means that the automated system will not be calling at 05:30am. My wife especially likes this feature.

Switching It Up....

One of the assignments I had last week was "roving sub" for 26 teachers over two consecutive days at the same school.  

Twenty-minute slots in 26 classrooms while the teachers had to attend some kind of "coaching meeting". Twenty minutes isn't really enough time to do more than monitor the class with what they were already doing when I walked in. In one of the Kinder classes, the teacher told me to just read them a book from the classroom library.

After having several selected choices rejected as "we already read that one", I picked up "The Three Little Pigs" and sat down and read them my inverted rendition of: 

 The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Piggy.

Imagine my surprise when composing this blog post that a book with that title already exists. I should probably get a copy for my sub bag.

Easy Short Day for Full Day Pay...

My roving assignment schedule for today was to cover nine classes starting at 08:00am for some kind of company sponsored individual insurance/investments review. Sponsored means that the company reimburses the school district for a "roving" substitute.  

By 10:45am with the first six classes complete, there was a

 90min break in the schedule before the start of the afternoon assignments.

After a nice long unexpected lunch period, I covered the first of remaining three assignments. The office then called to let me know that I was done for the day as the last two teachers cancelled their appointments.

I was home before 1:00pm.

I am on the schedule to do roving again at the same school come Monday & Tuesday.  

Can lightening strike twice or thrice? 

Roving Is AOK...

The first week of school is usually the time for school principals to schedule individual teacher planning meetings. I am busy "roving" this week and next.  Four days total at two different schools covering meetings for 8-9 teachers per day for 30mins each.

Since the teachers do not know who will be covering for their meeting time, the usual "plan" is pretty much monitoring the class while the kids continue work on their current assignment, outside P.E, silent reading or some other individual class work.

When roving, I take only a hat, whistle, pen, pencil, and my Kindle. The heavy subbing bag stays in the car.

The meetings themselves rarely last the full 30mins and that sometimes allows me time for the short restroom break or time to read the next couple chapters of my current Kindle book.

A usual single class subbing assignment starts 30mins before the school bell and ends after the end of day report is complete and the kids are gone.

 A roving day starts about 15mins after school bell and ends after the last meeting is complete which can be as much as 10-15mins early.

That extra bit of sleep in the morning and avoiding the parent traffic jam in the parking lot in the afternoon makes "roving" an AOK day.

Fast .vs. Slow Roving …

There are two types of “roving sub” assignments. I have just completed one “fast” roving assignment this month and have four more unknown types lined up for Feb. and March.

Since I never know who will be running the roving schedule, I will ask the interviewer if they want me to hold strictly to the schedule (slow) or to send the next teacher as soon as the previous returning teacher releases me (fast).  

The health insurance auditors usually want to be done as quickly as possible (fast) whereas the twice yearly principal/teacher evaluations tend to plod along at the preset, scheduled (slow) pace.

If I have a choice, I prefer the fast roving schedule. Even just a few minutes sliced off each early ended interview adds time to the front end of my lunch period and subtracts time off my end of day release.

In either case, I’ve never had a school require me to stay beyond the end of the last interview.

Moth Dakota...

I’m not sure if it’s a state wide, district wide or just this school where all 5th graders do a “State Report”. They collect research, data and illustrations on one of US states for compilation into a handmade book. They are allowed to use any resources before refining as a finished product for grade.

My job today as a roving sub ended in a 5th grade class where one student was designing, in pencil, the title and illustrations for the front cover of his book. I noticed an error and being a helpful substitute teacher that I am, suggested that he recheck the spelling of “Noth Dakota”.

I’m almost positive he was kidding when he showed me the corrected title: “Moth Dakota”

Rovingest Sub…

The “roving sub” assignment is just school jargon for “scheduled wandering” from class to class to cover the time period necessary for teachers to conduct meetings or functions that can’t be handled outside of school.

Roving is usually a rare assignment, as I’ve previously experienced only one or two of these per year. This year seems to be an exception. I’ve had nine roving assignments in September and October so far. My record for the most classes covered in one day is eighteen!

Roving sub duty is usually easy. There is no preparation required. The first “assignment” usually starts a half hour after school begins and frequently ends before the final bell.

The teacher usually has you supervise work already in progress, do a short lesson like a spelling test or the favorite default, silent reading until her return. There is a lot of walking involved and if you take a “roving sub” assignment, be sure to get a map of the school so you don’t waste time getting lost.

Question: Is “roving-est” even a word?

Winding Down...

The last day of school is June/11 for this year. The prevailing atmosphere in the classroom is that most of the kids have already checked out.

I was asked to do a “roving sub” assignment for three of the 6th grade classes yesterday. I was brought in to work 1.5hrs in each classroom to allow the teachers additional time to catch up evaluating the “writing” ability of their students. The teachers need to complete the student writing assessments for final grades.

Each teacher I talked to before my time slot made similar comments about the kids being more talkative than usual now that they’re in the final weeks. The final classroom lesson plan even listed:

“1:50 – 2:30: Science practice book pages xxx to xxx…or just take them out to the school yard for P.E. if you feel the need to get out”

No science practice book pages completed!

The Value of Visibility…

Going into the Spring Break week (April13-17), I had exactly one assignment day pre-scheduled for the week coming back and nothing beyond that to the end of the school year. In previous years, experience showed that subbing assignments after a week long school holiday is pretty dismal for at least the following week.

My one and only assignment last Wednesday was as “roving sub” for seven teachers that had parent-teacher meetings. For one reason or another, these meetings couldn’t be conducted before or after school. Scheduled 40 mins apart, I would be called to the teacher's room when the parents arrived to take over the class while the teacher and parents talked.

Three of those parents meetings were “no-shows”, as it turned out, so I spent most of the day in the teachers lounge reading a book.

I could have gone back to the car to read but I have found that just being visible in the high traffic area of the teachers lounge is an efficient way to pick up future assignments.

“Oh! You’re here today. I was wondering if you are available for the last Thursday before summer vacation?”.
Why yes I am, as I open my assignment book.

“I’m getting married at the end of the month and need someone to cover a five day assignment. Are you available?”
I can do that! Assignment noted.

“Mr. Homework? There is a call for you from a Mrs. N---? Line 2”.
Yes, Mrs. N--- (different school) I CAN sub for you tomorrow.

“I’m glad you're here, did you remember that I need you for June 3?”
(I did vaguely recall, but since it wasn’t firm…)
Ok, I’m entering it right now. We’re all set.

…and so it continued the rest of the week.

I currently have 11 of the final 34 days of school booked, where I previously only had 1 at the start of last week.

Speed Subbing…

Today set a personal record for me. I subbed for eighteen (18) teachers in four (4) hours.

I was called into be a “roving sub” for the day. The teachers had some kind of personal information audit they were required to do so my job, today, was to work 30 minutes for each teacher while they were being “audited”

As it turned out, an actual “audit” ran anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes each so I was finished by 11:00am after the initially scheduled 14 teachers were done. It was something like speed dating, as I was traversing the campus to the next classroom every few minutes of the day.

Since this was supposed to be done over a 2-3 day period to catch all school employees, the school rounded up an additional four teachers and pushed them through the audit process before I left for the day at noon.

Since I was only in each class for a few minutes, the kids didn’t really have time to goof off or act up knowing the teacher would be back, literally, any minute!

Easiest day subbing…EVER!

Half Day Roving Sub...

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I was called today to be a “Roving Sub” for the afternoon.

The first 40mins was…..MY lunch!

This was followed by a total of 1.5 hours of herding three classes totaling 96 sixth graders through various field games under the direction of a “parent activity leader” and two other “parent helpers”.

The only reason I had to be there is to satisfy a state requirement that at least one of the activity adults have a “certified credential”. Otherwise, the school could have done just fine without me and saved the half day $65 substitute teacher pay.

Not sure just where the three 6^th grade teachers were this afternoon. Some kind of conference I guess.

The Scary Lady…

I was called to be a “roving sub” for the day at this school. Since I hadn’t done that before, I thought I’d try it. When I got to the school, they changed it on me and gave me a 6^th grade class for the day. That’s ok. I’ve had my share of 6^th graders before. No problem.

Boy was I wrong.

This wasn’t the nosiest class I’ve had but it comes close. The basic problem was that I never had a constant core group of kids for this class. As soon as role was taken, all but six for language arts (LA) remained to be replaced with kids from the two other 6^th grade classes.

When that section was over, it was another mix for math, and finally the “homeroom” mix for the balance of the day.

At one point, a teacher came into the class and lambasted them for the disrespect and noise they were exhibiting. She really tore into them and laid on the guilt telling them that their poor tired teacher that just had her baby had called her earlier that morning and was worried about her class and was hoping that they were behaving themselves. She went on and on for about 15mins. and the kids were wide eyed and riveted in their seats. Not a peep.

This teacher was amazing. I didn’t know teachers were still allowed to talk like that to kids anymore with all the PC, self esteem, new age theory, and parental lawsuits against anyone who dares “instruct” kids on the proper way to behave.

She was really, really scary! It was really memorable!

…But in a good way!!!

P.S. The kids went back to their old ways about 10 minutes after she left. We must be producing a thicker skinned, shorter termed memory breed of kids these days.