Okay, I prefer the title part-time teacher nomad. Here I document my adventures, misfortunes and tips on substitute teaching while balancing motherhood and various other life undertakings. Take a look!
"Being a long-term substitute is a scam." -Reddit user. The job of a long-term substitute is never easy. These adventurous, and often naive, people can get gobsmacked with an avalanche of classroom...
Right before a teacher packs up his clsasroom for the summer, something glorious happens. (Or-- depending how it's celebrated-- a week of lackluster attempts at fanfare comes and goes.) However a school...
It's possible you've found your way here because you've decided to teach summer school this year. You've taken up a noble quest. You will join the ranks of myriads of other tough...
"Hi! Come on in!" I cheerfully intoned as I swung open the door amidst the sweltering summer heat to a squiggly line of bouncy almost-Kindergarteners. My summer school students were eager to...
When school's finally out for the summer, it's debateable who's more thrilled: the students or the teachers. Summer break in traditional schools can be seen as a restorative stretch of freedom, a...
While I'm a firm believer in giving students consequences for misbehavior, it's much more fun to reward the positive behaviors. Positive behavior can be reinforced in a number of ways as a...
Substitute teaching can be a daunting task, especially if you're new to the profession. I'm a substitute with a few years of full-time teaching and subbing experience under my belt, and I'm...
We all want better education for our kids. But there seems to be a major disconnect between the politicians that get to set the rules for schools, the educators having to enact...
My focus in the past few years has shifted. For so long I was a people-pleasing career builder, grasping to be the perfect teacher. (Can you tell I was a straight A-...
"I know..." she shook her head and mustered a pitying smile at me when I suggested substitute teaching as means for occasional extra income while raising little ones. "I just could not...
"Nice try-- I was born at night, but not last night," I explain coyly to a student trying to pull a fast one on me. How, you ask, are you a substitute...
Surely you've seen various mementos and trinkets cutely embellished with quotes like "Teaching is a work of heart" or "Teachers who love teaching teach children to love learning." Maybe you've wondered, like...