the joys of subbing

so i'm back substitute teaching and i would like to share my thoughts and feelings of being a substitute and also a certified teacher and a few theories i'm testing as i sub. i've been subbing off and on since may 2006. in jersey i subbed for k-12 and also aides, here in SC i'm just doing high school.

so i really dislike subbing, but it works right now with the flexibility of working around my retail schedule and i'm getting my face in a few schools down here. and while i know some people who like subbing because they like picking & choosing when they work and it is always different. i hate that aspect of it. i like creating the relationships with my students and getting to know them and what works for their class and vice versa they know me and know the structure of my class. i don't like walking into someone else's class and trying to figure out their routine and quirks. i know when i sub i sometimes come off as a bit of a bitch - i'm working at trying not to let the little things get to me that i would never let fly in my class but it isn't mine. as a sub if it is just minor disruptive/disrespectful behavior i can either just leave a note or call the office. 9.9/10 i'm leaving a note. i rarely call the office. i can think of twice in all the times subbing i've called the office and there were other issues besides behavior there. the kids don't care - they might not see me again and that's my attitude towards it too. if it was my student i'd have an idea why they are being disrespectful and then talk to them, call home, detention and if severe send a referral. i sent about 15 referrals my first year teaching and 5 of them were for cafeteria duty related things and 8 of the others were for one student who kept cutting my class and had a boatload of problems and ended up dropping my class. so i guess my biggest issue with subbing is classroom management or the lack of it in a lot of teachers.

so in the classroom management side of things i can tell within the first 2 minutes of walking into a classroom if i am going to have a good day or not. by reading the plans, seeing what notes teachers have left up, the bulletin boards, walls, general look of the classroom i know. teachers who leave better notes and lesson plans i rarely have a problem that day. they leave enough work for their students, seating charts/notes for attendance help me with names, they generally have more of a structure/routine and usually pretty good classroom management. they say write down the names and i'll deal with them tomorrow and the students ask if they've been good. on the flip side i walk into a room that has no posters/wall decoration, desk is a hot mess of papers, a minimal assignment on the board that is just busy work, no attendance list just a note have the students write down their names and i know it is going to be a rough day. the regular teacher has very little classroom management, let's behavior slide and doesn't expect much. it makes it that much harder for me as they are more likely to go crazy.

those are both examples from last week. monday i was in a class that was horrible. one of the worst days subbing ever - teacher said could work in groups and unfortunately they had to as there was only 12 workbooks for classes of 20-29. so even when they became crazy they couldn't do the work individually because there wasn't the materials. and half of the workbooks has answers written in them. they were extremely rude and disrespectful and it was hell.
friday a teacher left me a note saying the class was a bit rough out of a class of 20 there were 18 freshman boys... 2 other teachers said let me know if you have a problem with them. it took a few minutes to calm them down and get started but they were great once they got working. i had to stay on them but there was more than enough work, if they finished there were things to do and they were respectful. the difference was structure and classroom management. and it wasn't like the first teacher didn't know that was a rough class, i saw the notes from 3 other subs on the notebook i was given for attendance and all of them said that class was horrible, rude and needed more work. and nothing had changed in what the teacher did.

i guess it drives me crazy because i know what it is like to be a teacher and to sub. after subbing when i was absent when i taught i left clear, detailed sub plans, emailed my supervisor and another teacher my plans, had all my materials clearly labeled, enough work and my classes were read the riot act on appropriate behavior for a sub. because i knew what subbing was like. i really think most teachers should have to sub for a few weeks before teaching to get a better idea of it. like i understand in an emergency. which is why you have emergency sub plans - super broad. i made it easy for my USII classes and did a video corresponding to the month it was on which decade we were studying and they had to write a paragraph about what they thought was most interesting about that decade. our supervisors had to have a copy of our emergency plans and they had to be clearly labeled on our desks with a complete class roster. and believe me i hated being absent because sub plans were a pain.

one last vent. i hate subbing for coaches, at least in my recent experience here both coaches i've subbed for in the last week had more on their desks about football & baseball than social studies. the posters on the wall were all sports related (if any) and they create their own class rules and i find let the students get away with more. drives me batty. and i guess the frustration comes from the high number of coaches in social studies. i can admit in my department out of the 13 teachers - 10 of us were coaches, including myself. there is something (especially in males) were because they want to coach they either teach history or gym. and i feel sometimes their students get shafted. both history teachers i subbed for who were coaches in the last week just did questions straight out of the book and book worksheets. and that is all they did. and it frustrates the hell out of me as someone who is looking for a social studies position that never did anything just out of the book. i created my lessons, make my students think and hold them accountable.

so my theories are male social studies coach = coach and classroom appearance is linked to behavior.

so thanks for listening to me vent about subbing and my type a personality hating subbing because i like being in control and as a substitute you aren't in control. any other teachers notice any common traits or remember any funny sub stories from school?