Snubbed Sub…

“You’d think that seniority would count for something…,” she said exiting the teachers lounge.

I didn’t know who she was when she came in, but she initiated the conversation by asking for whom I was subbing today. I replied, assuming that she was one of the teachers at the school. It never hurts to establish a presence in the teacher’s lounge that might lead to future assignments.

“It’s pretty tough getting assignments this time of year, isn’t it? I’ve only received a few calls all this month…,” she told me.

I agreed that in previous years, the assignments pretty much dried up the last two weeks of the school year, but this month and last was an exception for me. In fact, I told her, I’m subbing the last week of school in a 4th grade class and handing out their final report cards.

“What school district did you work for before retiring and subbing?”

When I disclosed that I hadn’t ever worked in the schools before, she seemed a bit surprised.

“How long have you been subbing since retirement?”

My reply that I had five school years subbing experience under my belt didn’t impress.

“I’ve been subbing for nine years now and even did some long term assignments for several months! You’d think that seniority would count for something...”

I was so dumbfounded by that remark that I didn’t say anything. My tape delayed brain kicked in as the door closed with a mentally conceited rejoinder: “Well, maybe I’m better at it than you! Na Na Na Na Na!!!!”

It was only on the drive home that a different reason came to mind. Maybe it’s not that I’m “better”, but I sure might be “cheaper” to hire than she is.

As a lowly “30-day Emergency Credentialed Substitute”, I am not allowed to work for any single teacher any more than 30 days in any single school year. That means I can’t work any long term assignments in excess of 30 days.

Her comment about long term subbing indicated that she holds an actual teaching credential. As such she most likely gets, as the rumor has it, a higher daily pay rate than I do for ALL subbing assignments.

All else being equal, which would a perpetually, funds-deficit school district prefer to hire for essentially the same job?

Yep, I win…(kinda)!

TB or Not TB, Is That the Question?...

“Your personnel records indicate that you will be prevented from taking any assignments on or after Sept/4.”

That’s message I get when I try the school district SubFinder system. To fix it, I simply pay a fee to renew my substitute teaching permit, submit a copy to the district and everything is right with the world until next summer.

School is back in session starting Monday. Several weeks ago, I renewed my “Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit” and submitted a copy to the school district office as required.

I called the SubFinder system this week only to still hear:
“Your personnel records indicate that you will be prevented from taking any assignments on or after Sept/4.”

Ok, so the office hasn’t noted my renewal yet but school DOES resume on Monday. I don’t want to be “prevented from taking any assignments”. It’s surely a simple clerical error to be corrected as soon as I point out the problem.

A second visit to the office verified that they do have a copy of my renewed permit but it seems that I need to have an updated TB test to bring my personnel records up to date.

It WOULD have been helpful had the automated system tell me what PART of my “personnel records” was preventing me from class assignments. It WOULD have been helpful if the district office, while noting my renewed permit, could have mentioned the expired TB test.

Ok, so now I’ve paid for and passed my TB test and am now in “good standing” with the district. But what would have happened had the test and the subsequent x-ray came back “positive”?

I understand the initial requirement for a TB test starting the job. They don’t want contagious people exposed to kids but I didn’t know that I needed to be tested for TB every four years to continue.

I know of no other industry, except health care for obvious reasons, that requires periodic TB testing. The only reason to periodically test employees is there must be a risk of contracting TB from the classroom clientele.

I’m starting to wonder if this job really worth the risk of contracting TB for such minimal compensation and no employer provided insurance.

Substitute Teacher Typical Day…

The StatCounter feature listed on this blog shows individual search strings that different search engines used to land here. Some of the search strings used to find this blog have been interesting to say the least.

A few days ago a search for “What is a typical day for a substitute teacher?” didn’t find the answers for one nervous guest teacher, so she emailed me with some basic questions. I now realize they might be useful for other prospective newbie substitute teachers. I only sub for elementary grades K-6^th but I assume the basics are the same for Middle and H.S.

The major differences being you teach only one lesson to 5-6 H.S. classes instead of all the subjects to one elementary class. You also have to take attendance for each period.

This following information may or may not be in the “substitute handbook” you received when you applied for the job. It wasn’t in mine.

My Typical Day:

1) Getting the assignment:

The first year, almost all of my assignments were automated calls in the early morning. About 2-3 hrs (4:30-6:30AM) before the assignment, the phone will ring and request consent to take a class. As you get experience, teachers will pre-arrange assignments days and even weeks in advance. (I hate the early morning phone calls…)

2) Getting Ready:

Shower, shave, dress business causal and make a sack lunch. I take a sack lunch because the typical school “lunch hour” is exactly 40mins and there usually isn’t any time to go off campus to eat. Don’t even ask about buying the school cafeteria lunch. It’s too expensive and crappy quality.

3) Getting There:

Make sure you know how to get to the school before you leave home. I have a binder of MapQuest maps for all the elementary schools in the district. Your assigned arrival time is 30mins before the kids are due to enter your room. If you are a few minutes late, it’s no biggie. If you decide to get there too early you might find yourself waiting in the parking lot until the school secretary arrives.

4) After Getting There:

Check in with the school secretary. Some schools make you sign in before class; others insist you sign on the way out. Get your classroom key and room number. If this is the first time at this school, ask for a map with the location of the office and “your” room marked. Ask for directions to the restrooms, teachers lounge and teachers mail boxes. Use the restroom. You won’t have another opportunity until the first recess.

5) Get Data:

After stowing your lunch in the fridge, find “your teacher’s” mail box and check for an attendance list and/or lesson plans. If they aren’t here then they may already be in the classroom.

6) Locate Classroom:

Unlock door, turn on the lights and, if necessary, the A/C or heating system. I suggest leaving the door locked until you get settled. You don’t want kids running in/out dumping back packs or hanging around while you’re getting settled.

7) Locate Materials

Locate the lesson plans and attendance sheet if you haven’t already brought them over from the office. If you are lucky you might even have a seating chart. If not, this might be a great time to make a rough one using the table arrangements and name tags on the student desks if available.

8) Arrange Materials

Look over the lesson plan, locate all the books and handouts referenced. Might be a good idea to arrange them in the order used and open all books to pages referenced.

9) Board work

Write your name (or alias) with today’s date on the white board. If there is additional time, you might write the day’s agenda on the board from the lesson plan.

10) Go Get’em

When ready, go find where your class lines up. Sometimes it’s right outside the door most times it’s out in the playground. Once the bell rings take them to class and let them get unpacked and settled.

11) Attendance

Introduce yourself and wait until any morning announcements from the office are complete. Take the attendance and lunch count. If you don’t accomplish anything else for the day, you must have the attendance turned in. Most elementary schools here also want to know how many are buying lunch and include it on the daily attendance sheet. Ask the kids who gets to run the attendance over to the office. Different schools, classes have different procedures but the kids “know what to do…”

12) Teach

If you’re lucky, all you have to do is follow the lesson plan, take breaks during recess and lunch and have a great day.

If it isn’t a great day, vent online with your own blog…

13) Cleanup and Leave Report

When the final bell rings and kids are gone, leave a written report for the teacher to let her know how your day went. List anything on the plan that didn’t get done or that you didn’t think went well. Let her know about how her class was with you today. If you have notorious names, list them. If you had any exceptionally helpful kids, list them also. I’ve been told teachers don’t trust subs that write “everything was great” when they find out later it wasn’t.

If you feel up to it, clean the room. The teacher appreciates coming back to a clean room. I usually make the kids clean it up before I let them go home.

14) Exit the Building

Return the classroom key to the office, sign out and go home to relax.

…Until the next day!

(P.S. See attached comments for helpful tips for those in the upper grades that I don't do...)

Substitute Teacher Credential Rip-off…

One of the irksome facets of substitute teaching in California, is that I have to renew my “Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teacher Permit” each year to be eligible to work. The renewal fee is about ½ a day’s pay.

I have to pay THEM for the privilege of working and it’s not even deductible.

My New Life as a Substitute Teacher


One year and 5 months ago (May/2003), my old job as a computer programmer ended. Contrary to management’s promises, the entire department was outsourced to India.

A combination of a lack of manual skills in construction, house painting or professional athletics in any form had me facing the classic dilemma: “What can I do for income if there are no computer programming jobs available?”

Well, that might be a little too strong a statement. There ARE jobs but at this point I don’t want to relocate out of the area and I don’t speak the language to where my old job migrated (India).

So with the mindset that it might be another year or more before the job market in my field returns to the previous levels where everyone is employed, I began my search for something else to do.

Almost every teacher I know said the same thing. “You are really good with kids, why not substitute teach?” Well, I can readily think of a few reasons “why not” like “Do I have any qualifications to do this?”

Don’t teachers have to have advanced degrees in everything from child development to combat battle tactics to do their job?

Well it turns out that while an actual teacher needs all that stuff, a “Credentialed Substitute Teacher” needs only:
1. A college degree
2. A passing score on the state mandated California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST).
3. TB immunization test.
4. Fingerprints and criminal background check through the state of Calif.

So with all the required test and paperwork firmly in hand I apply for my “Substitute Teacher Credential” and submit my application to three of the local school districts near home.

The following is my journal of “My life as a Substitute Teacher”.

Entry: 03-Sept-2004 - Stop, Abort, Reboot…..

Got my first assignment call this morning at 8:30am to report at 8:15am at a local Elementary school if I want it.

I had just rolled out of bed, hadn’t showered or shaved yet and I’m already 15 minutes late for the start of class!! I had to decline the assignment because it would be at least an hour before I got there.

Great start on my new career, eh? I guess I need to start rolling out of bed at 6:00am and be ready for that next call.