Want to Know What Really Goes on at Your Child’s School?

Last updated on January 31st, 2024 at 08:01 pm

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 the policies, and the parents and residents who ultimately pay for the education through tax dollars.

Of course, you can spend time talking with educators and your children to sketch out a picture of what the day entails. But the single best way to understand, in full view, what the school is like?

Substitute teach.

What you’ll notice when substitute teaching

Substitute teaching kicks open the school doors wider than any other parent visit: far more than the pickup line, the fundraisers, the events.

You’ll learn more about the campus and its young denizens in one hour of subbing than in a whole year of attending parent-teacher conferences.

Substitute teach enough, and you’ll gain an intimate understanding of the structure of lessons teachers generally leave, the curriculum used, and the computer programs logged into.

You’ll see the books students like to read, the rotating batch of popular gadgetry and fashion items kids tote around, and the kinds of games they play.

As a sub, you’ll probably get a feel for the culture of the school: this communal organism’s qualities less written and more felt:

How staff interact with each other and the students.

How people dress and talk and walk down the halls.

You’ll become familiar with the people, maybe even the people who instruct your child, forming them in your mind’s eye as fully, pleasantly, imperfectly human instead of just a name lining up in an email inbox.

You’ll likely be called a pet name like “Sugar” by an administrative assistant and be able to fist-bump the custodians.

You’ll find out if the cafeteria serves up a decent pizza.

Even if you sub for one day, that short period will brightly illuminate what once was fogged up in layers of mystery.

Subtitute teach for longer than that, and you just might become a part of this litttle school community.

And you’ll know a great deal of what happens there.

How to become a substitute teacher

The process for becoming a sub varies from state the state and within districts.

I’ve outlined the whole process I went through to become a sub in Florida, but in short, it included filling out an application, getting background checked, taking a drug test, and completing an orientation.

Then I had to visit the school board office to get photographed and badged up.

I was placed in the system, which started sending out assignments. In my online system, I can set preferences for when and how it notifies me of jobs and even which schools I’d like to hear from.

I quickly learned to filter out many of the schools in my large district to hone in on less than ten.

Otherwise, my phone would be chiming incessantly with this or that absence to fill.

The system works well in my current life situation as a mostly-stay-at-home-mom and blogger. I can pick up jobs every once in a while, when I line up childcare. As long as it’s not last-minute, I can cancel job assignments if a family matter comes up.

Substitute teaching is an inarguably tough and underappreciated gig. I’d be wrong to paint it as a perfect picnic– there have been days that left me with nothing else but the small willpower to crawl into bed.

But when you start getting into a groove, learning which methods work best and which ones to toss, the job gets substantially better. It improves even more when you can find a slate of schools to stick with, learn, and become a part of.

The set-your-own-schedule aspect of the job starts to look even more attractive for busy parents or caregivers of little ones.

Maybe substitute teaching really could fit in with your life right now.

Subbing in your child’s school

Substitute teaching will inform you of your child’s educational environment more than anything else. There’s no competition.

Whether you’re interested in observing the general state of education by hopping from school to school or just curious to know more about your child’s particular school, there’s a lot to experience firsthand.

There’s something about having to get through a school day with total strangers, against all odds (maybe little to no lesson plans left, or a class with behavior problems). Suddenly, you’ll gain a wide-eyed awareness of the struggles of teachers, what all they have to juggle.

It may move you to compassion.

It may energize you to fight for change in the system.

Or it might lead you to start homeschooling your child.

Whatever you decide to do for your son or daughter’s education, you can make the decision with your eyes wide open, having considered all of the evidence.

When you substitute teach, your view no longer has to be informed by hearsay, or your assumptions, or information from social media posts.

You know what it’s really like because you’ve been there. You’ve been teacher for a day.

Parents! Have I persuaded you to start substitute teaching? This site is teeming with information to guide substitutes through their days in the classroom— you can find all of my tips, tricks and true stories right here on the blog. Thanks for stopping by!