So you want to be a substitute teacher? There's a lot more to it
than filling out an application and waiting by the phone.
"Sub teaching is a challenge, a great challenge," said Neil
Young, director of personnel, who started as a substitute teacher
in Lodi Unified School District. "I learned to enjoy it a lot as I
met a lot of kids in a lot of grades."
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Jackson Scott posted at 9:40 pm on Wed, Aug 3, 2011.
Interesting comments Ms/Mr? O'Malley. I guess I never put myself in your shoes.
$100 per day? Wow, that's a bit low IMO. A 4-year College Degree plus pass a state test (cbest), background checks (which sub pays for), all of that for about $14.00 per hour? The article danced around this, but it sounds like LUSD is one of the lowest paying districts.
Jennifer- what I'm curious to know is how many "teacher days" Subs, errr, Guest Teachers were needed?
Kelly O'Malley posted at 6:57 pm on Wed, Aug 3, 2011.
Those of us who do this position preferred to be called a "Guest Teacher." Being called a Sub is so 1960's and a bit demeaning.
Many of us who have done this for a few years or more have a group of teachers who call us on a regular basis. It is not unusual to have a couple Guest Teacher be on the same elementary school site quite often. This shows all of the students that we might not be in their classroom today but we are on campus on a regular basis, so they need to give us the same respect, attention, focus, & effort as they do for their homeroom teacher.
It is VERY rare to get an assignment with no lesson plans. Yes, sometimes the lesson plans might be short & very basic, but that has only happened to me when the teacher became sick at the last moment or in case of an emergency.
The part of the story where it talks about arriving early is misleading. We are to arrive 30 minutes before the start of school. We must check-in, get materials from the Admin Asst's, check the teachers mailbox, and find out if we have any yard duty. Next we get to the classroom and hope to find all of the instructions in order, books & handouts organized etc. Next I will read through the entire lesson plan for the day checking each of the teacher's manuals and any handouts.
If the LUSD wants to really assist their Guest Teachers they would spend some time on how to read a H-M Teachers Edition, as well as the Envision Math textbook. Another idea a friend of mine has is for Guest Teachers to be issued LUSD Staff ID Badges like every other staff member.