“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 teacher with an uncommon amount of street smarts? (Sometimes)
Because it’s not my first rodeo. I used to be a full-time teacher.
Subbing as a former teacher endows me with more classroom skills
One time, I was subbing as a paraprofessional aide in an ESE classroom. The teacher was out in an IEP meeting, and another aide and I were tasked with supervising the students while they ate snack and enjoyed some educational films.
All of the sudden, there was a tech glitch. Somehow, the video froze up, and when the aide made desperate attempts to revive the entertainment, the website refreshed, demanding login information.
Hell was starting to break loose. The students intensified from fidgeting to outright mutiny. If we waited too long, furniture may have started taking flight.
“Can I try?” I asserted as I swooped over and quickly keyed in credentials I had buried in the recesses of my brain from years ago.
The video resumed its play, and the students calmed again, transfixed on the colorful screen.
There are moments like these that I’m grateful to use my knowledge from my teaching career.
I happen to know a thing or two about the computer programs and devices students are using, the texts, curriculums and methodologies left behind for me in lesson plans. I’ve even been a full-time teacher recently enough to have a feel for the current school climates– general abstractions of what kids are into and how to handle certain behavior situations based on current educational practices.
This means the students fool me (probably) considerably less than the average newcomer.
But I admit, the further the distance between my old career days and these new classrooms stretches out, the more I fear I slip into obscurity. Sure, I’m familiar with the popular computer programs used now, but tech is rapidly changing and evolving to reveal all kinds of new sites and gadgetry.
You know what was popular with the kids when I taught?
Rainbow Loom bracelets, palm-sized stickers on metal water bottles, Tik Tok, and the Whip and Nae Nae. Elf on the Shelf, Minecraft, and Takis.
I’m familiar enough with historical cycles to realize these trends will soon be vintage.
So am I the most relevant sub out there? The most experienced, savvy, full of know-how substitute teacher out there?
Not by a long shot.
But my teaching experience of five years grants me a certain level of knowledge that comes in handy from time to time.
It’s also demeaning to substitute as a former teacher
Now for the negative side of the coin: Being a substitute after being a teacher is demeaning.
Embarrassing. A downgrade.
It’s just funny (by funny, I mean plain rude!) how different occupations accommodate part-timers. My nurse friends, for example, wanted to go part-time when they started having children. And guess what? Though they scaled down to working 2 days a week, they’re still nurses.
With benefits and real nurse pay.
I, however, chose to become a teacher– with all its certifications and trainings and years in the classroom, etc. Years passed before I decided to tone it down when I have children. Take the job down to part-time.
Guess what? Part-time teaching positions are nary to be found. The closest thing is to be a substitute, just like any other person who passes the background check.
But regardless of whether you have the degree, the knowledge and the experience, you’re still paid as a substitute. No benefits.
So yeah, maybe I’m a bit bitter about that?
Reconciling the pitfalls of the job with what I need right now in life
You may be thinking: Alright, Char- you’ve made some salient points. But no one is forcing you to sub, or make an entire blog revolving around substitute teaching either, for that matter.
Even though subbing isn’t an ideal situation, I’m still venturing into unfamiliar classrooms full of mystery, brand new groups of children, and occasionally an interesting class pet.
I’m still teacher nomading, and enjoying it for the most part.
I remain a substitute teacher because it’s actually the gig that fits in best with our lifestyle right now.
Substitute teaching is the most flexible job I can think of.
With a baby/toddler at home to take care of, I need flexible. I love being able to create my own schedule and having to answer to no one– all of my job assignments are taken or declined through a computerized system, so I don’t have to explain myself to anyone.
For example, I’ll take a job days or weeks ahead, and if I find out it doesn’t match up with the babysitter’s schedule, I have a serious sit-down with Frontline in which I log in and press a cancel button and then I’m relieved of ever stepping foot in that classroom– no questions asked. It’s pretty much an introvert’s dream situation aside from maybe living in a library or hobbit home, etc.
I wanted something that could fit into our life, not something we’d have to twist and bend our life around to fit the job.
And subbing, as imperfect and frustratingly flawed as it is sometimes, fits the bill.
As much as I feel looked down upon as a humble substitute compared to when I was regarded as a teacher, I have to swallow my pride. I have to think positively and be grateful for the benefits of this job.
After all, there were reasons I left full-time teaching.
I don’t have to make nice with any of those burdens (the extra hours worked, the extra money spent on classroom supplies) now that I’m a sub.
Each day I enter a new classroom, I bring with me my wonderful teaching memories already made and an optimism of new treasured moments to create. I can choose to wear my identity as a bonafide educator while brushing off any insecurities about my current role, or I can simply take on the assignment in anonymity (it depends on the day, but I vacillate between the two characters).
I remember all of this and say to myself happily: I’m just a sub.
And I like it that way.
Any former teachers out there considering subbing or currently subbing? I’d love to hear what you think! All this being said, I’ll still advocate for meaningful part-time positions in school systems for educators who want to scale back. In a time of teacher shortages, you would think some creative solutions could be formulated, no?
