I’m hanging up my substitute teaching hat for the rest of the year, folks.
Summer break has officially started for me!
The announcement is a little less climactic than, say, the official school calendar final day for everyone, because I just decided not to work anymore instead of victoriously pushing through to the end like contracted teachers…
…but I’ll have my moment.
Here’s my reflection on the past school year as a substitute teacher:
The 2023-2024 School Year in Review: From a Substitute Teacher’s Vantage Point
Grades and Subjects Taught
This year, I substitute taught a whopping 11 full days. I keep pretty busy caring for my toddler, running this blog, co-running my family business, and taking on other odd side jobs, so eleven days in school was the perfect amount.
Here are the stats:
- 2 days in the sweetest Kindergarten class
- 1 day switching between 1st and 2nd grade halfway through
- 3rd grade three times
- 4th grade four times (rad pattern totally not on purpose!)
- 1 day in high school culinary aka the waiting room to Hades
The Best Day:
I’ll preface this story with going back one year. Last year, I covered for a magical advanced third-grade class. It was actually two groups, switching halfway through the day. But I always said, after I had them, that I’d substitute for them on Christmas Day if I were asked. They were just incredibly sweet, well-behaved, and took the boring book work assignments left by their teachers like champs. A rare breed, indeed.
So this year, I headed back to the same school and tried to find the group in fourth grade. I found them on my second try.
When I had them again, they were still delightful. A boy dressed in a pirate hat happily chatted to me about his weekend at the Gasparilla family parade while the rest of the class dutifully attended to their reading.
It also happened to be National Reading Week filled with special literary celebrations, and so when an announcement came overhead about stopping what we were all were doing to read, there was not a single utterance heard in the room– just amazingly quick extractions of novels from nearby secret compartments and the fluttering of pages. They were so serenely reading, I felt comfortable pulling an interesting-looking tome off the shelf myself.
I know this may sound rather… average? Unremarkable? But if you question any substitute, they will attest that a well-behaved and respectful group, a shining gem in a fog-obscured pit, will brighten any day and elevate it to the uppermost rankings.
The Worst Day:
I alluded to it earlier in my stats, and I’ve written a whole post detailing my high school subbing experience. Substitute teaching for Culinary 1 took the cake, in the worst possible way.
First: I believe I was a victim of false advertising. The assignment was labeled “Family and Consumer Sciences,” which is a course I’m actually certified to teach in and have great passion for. Textiles! Cooking, baking, and meal planning! Personal finance and family planning!
But this course was to include none of those topics.
As I swung open the door into a dimly-lit cinderblock room on the edge of campus, my heart sank as I trudged through the tight rows of lab tables, blue metal chairs and soft-cover textbooks flopping neglectedly around the apocalyptic scene. My cardiovascular organ sank even further as I approached the paper-strewn teacher desk.
The desk contained:
- Hall passes dated from a month ago
- Random fliers and official-looking school handouts
- A pen
No lesson plans.
I was already out of my element– I don’t teach high schoolers. I taught elementary for five years. But the proposed subject drew me in. When it came to Family and Consumer Sciences, I pictured myself as an ardent Robin Williams character rapturously chanting poetry on tabletops!
We would not be mounting the tables today. We would be surviving.
I stumbled through seven periods giving students the assignment of a random egg word search I had unearthed among The Piles and probably an outdated span of textbook pages to read that was written on the board like an ancient hieroglyph.
Am I scarred by the experience of not having any guidance through this tumultuous day?
Yes, yes I am. But I am stronger for it, and some high schoolers maybe made a meme about me, and I’m never going back there.
Trends of the Year:
Oh my, do teachers and substitutes get the front seat to trends among the youth of today.
It keeps us young and confused.
What seems to be in vogue: High socks, hair dyed any color of the rainbow, Stanleys, insanely plump stuffed animals, “vintage” meaning 1990s and early 2000s, baggy pants, water bottle stickers, pencils and erasers that are really toys, etc.
A term I learned this year is “That slaps,” which I believe has a positive connotation.
Moods of the Year:
Teachers will tell you that students lost something after the pandemic, after months or years of screen learning, social distancing, masking, etc. That students have lost proper socialization, respect for themselves, and respect for others. That the misbehaviors are increasingly widespread and more severe.
I would agree, even with the short tour of schools I experienced. Even from a glance, I can tell that these things are happening.
But even in all of this challenge, I mostly got glimpses of age-old, endearing classroom occurences.
I’ve taught for over a decade combined, and I still notice heartwarming patterns: the way a chatty Kindergartener lingers on the bench by me at recess just for the sheer enjoyment of sharing her little heart out, or how little kids organize elaborate imaginary games and find things funny that aren’t really all that funny. How high schoolers try to act cool, because I guess they are pretty cool, and how there are a few that still care about making grades or getting into colleges or extending an act of kindness to a stranger.
As the world burns, there are still rays of humanity shining through.
How Much I Made Substitute Teaching:
11 days of substitute teaching, after tax, equates to: $1,529.
Not the best, but not bad at all.
Will I be back for the 2024-2025 school year?
This gig fits in with my puzzle-like life situation at the moment, and I don’t see myself giving it up any time soon. My district is also building a brand-new school, and I’m ridiculously nosey about it, so I’ll have to take at least one assignment there. As long as it isn’t labeled “Family and Consumer Sciences”….
Have a great summer, and see you all on campus next year!
Substitutes: What have been your highs and lows of the school year? Spill some tea in the comments, plz!
