So for those that don’t know me, this last year I took a step back, out of my classroom. I took a leave to be with family due to things going on personally. I decided I would keep my toe in the pool though and continue as a substitute teacher. Crazy enough, I decided to put my name in to sub in three different school districts. Little did I know what I was in for. Five months later, I would like to call this my thank you to all the substitute teachers out there doing their best to fill in when teachers are ill, called to do PD, need to deal with their personal issues and so much more.
Thank you to those subs who walk into a classroom and take on all that they find that day. Whether they were given meticulous well written and thought out plans, or those that were written on a post it note because things fell apart last minute. They come in and try to deal with routines they don’t know, students who names they are trying to figure out (don’t get me started on how many times I’ve apologized before doing attendance because I knew I would say so many names wrong before the list was through) Along with that subs are trying to get through what has been shared usually to the groans of “our teacher does it this way…” or “we don’t usually have to do that”. Again I have been there, I have put together a lesson that would be easy peasy for the sub so that I didn’t have to think too much not realizing the blowback the sub might get because my students were be like “ugh what is this?”
Thank you to those subs who walk into a school they have never walked into before and maybe they were acknowledged and thanked, felt like they were appreciated for taking the absence. But also to those who walked in and no one talked to them, no one offered to show them around and explain things. Please know I am not pointing fingers and judging, just know for some subs (myself included) it can be very overwhelming and intimidating walking into a school you don’t know and having to ask something as simple as where the washrooms are or where “Area A” is for supervision.
I am an experienced teacher of over 20 years and walking back into the subbing world was an eye opener for me. I realized how challenging it was, how hard it was, especially for those new to the teaching game. How overwhelming it must be for those who don’t have a tickle trunk of tricks when things go off the rails, those who can throw together a lesson when technology fails, the gym isn’t available last minute, or the planned lesson just didn’t take as long as the teacher thought it would. I had kids who hugged me and thanked me for coming one day and others who were rude and disrespectful the next. I had kids who would follow the plans and do what was asked quite happily and other days I had kids yell, “I’m not doing that!” Most days I went home exhausted and wondered why anyone would want to do this.
I get those that say subs have it so easy – no marking, no report cards or staff meetings. They get to walk in at 8 am and walk out the door at the end of the day. But realize too that some sub jobs you were not quite sure you were getting when the online job said “teacher” and it was a k-9 school. Some days I was learning how to do the phonetic chopping of words when I had to do Haggerty in Grade 1 and other days I was googling the math equation for the circumference of different prisms in Math 8. Did I know I was going to be doing this when I walked in the door that morning – not at all. But I would always do my best to follow whatever was asked of me that day. I would leave copious notes explaining what went well and got completed, what didn’t go as well and would need more time, and even what went off the rails and would need further explanation the next day. For every “pro” that a sub may have, please know that there is also a challenge that goes along with it.
It has definitely been a circus ride of sorts these last five months. Some days it was like a carousel and I came out smiling, but other days I felt like I had done the roller coaster three times back to back. Just know as I work towards having my own classroom again (fingers crossed) come September, I go in having a new respect for those who come into our classrooms as guest teachers, as subs.
catherined2014 