Chronicles of A Substitute Teacher: How Did I Even Get Here?!

tltran (59)in #teaching • 7 years ago (edited)

Before I tell you the requirements to become a substitute teacher, I thought I would share how I found myself joining the club of substitutes. I had always heard two things about substitute teaching while in college: A. It’s a great way to get your foot in the door and gain real world experience, and B. Don’t even bother with substitute teaching, it’s nothing like real teaching and it’s of no benefit to you because you don’t actually work for the district. There was no middle ground or compromise between the two.

I had zero concrete work plans for after I graduated except to start applying for positions. In October during my student teaching assignment, the next door teacher asked if I would substitute for her class during her maternity leave from February through May and if I would fill her vacancy for a position in summer school. Knowing the teacher, class, content material, and team of teachers made it easy for me to say “of course.” This gave me, essentially, an entire year of teaching 7th grade science and helped me build connections within the building where I worked.

So, after graduation, I went to an orientation and registered as a substitute teacher with my temp agency. I did have to fill out an application, but since I was graduating from a local university my transcripts, teaching certificate, insurance, and FBI fingerprinting and background check was already on file and just needed to be verified. I never interviewed and began taking positions that week. Since then, I have subbed on and off for almost two years.

^{I like this organization and setup I saw in another teacher's classroom.}

In my experience, there is a middle ground for substituting. It does give you practical experience in classroom management, building relationships, and you get to beg, borrow, and steal all of the ideas and activities from the classrooms you visit if you think they are useful for your future classroom. However, in most situations it is nothing like real teaching. There is no grading (regularly), the students often make up their minds about you and how the day is going to be from the moment they walk in, and you do not get to choose the lesson plan or activities for the day. I said in most situations because when I have taken on long-term positions I did get to build strong relationships with the students and I was responsible for daily grading, updating the gradebook, communicating with parents, and assisting other teachers. The networking I learned to do was crucial to finding daily jobs as well a full time position and I recommend everyone try substituting if they are interested in education or just need a job with decent hours and pay that will increase your communication, improvisation, and problem-solving skills.