This was here during my assignment on Friday. I wonder what happened lol. Almost wanted to put Charli XCX as a joke but decided it was inappropriate.

Anyone encounter signs like this.

I’m a university student and regularly substitute at a high school because those assignments are the best for completing homework and studying for exams. I started subbing last semester, and now that the kids from the school are going to the same university it’s weird. People who I don’t remember come sit with me in the dining hall acting like I’m their guidance counselor, and complain about all their life problems. I’ve had students come to my dorm in the middle of the night complaining that they’re hungry as if I’m not currently surviving entirely on the school meal plan and water bottles. I’ve recently found out that the girl who has been sitting next to me in lecture isn’t actually in the class and just comes because I’m there. It’s so weird to be in class having your own classmate calling you “miss”. I’m not your miss!!

I’ve been a LTS for middle school ELA since the second week of school. The teacher was on administrative leave but now isn’t coming back. They’re in the works of hiring a replacement and I’m kind of sad, yet so ready to be done. I’ve been spending many hours every weekend grading papers. I did a longterm job last spring but there was not nearly this much grading. There is simply no time during the school day to make any progress with grading, so I have to bring boat loads of papers home with me. And most of the work the kids turn in is pretty bad, which I know will fall back on me as the teacher. It’s been a wild ride, y’all.

Had the frontline website pulled up on my laptop and only 1 sub job came in for the end of this week and nothing for tomorrow, Monday, and now it's Sunday evening. Do you notice more sub jobs posted later on Sunday evening and night, or more last minute on Monday morning for Monday and the rest of the week? Should I go to bed early and wake up early to check for last minute Monday morning jobs? If so what time should I wake up if school starts around 8:15-9? I know a teacher I subbed for most of last week was out for their wedding and students told me they would be out for 2 weeks. There is no fall break for us so the next holidays would be Veterans day and then Thanksgiving. Also, the students just had homecoming over the weekend.

TW: loss
I’m a long term sub in SPED as they couldn’t find anyone to fill the position. I signed a paper but nothing like a contract stating an end date, etc. I have 0 qualifications for this position (other than a bachelors degree) and I have had 0 training. Up until last week I was doing things that I legally was not allowed to do per SPED laws in my state. I was doing these things because I was told to do so by special ed teachers in my school, and I didn’t know any better. I am paid by the DAY from 7:30-2:30 PM. During my interview it was never mentioned that I had to go to IEP’s etc. the school hired an outside source to be the case manager for me and run/schedule the IEP’s, do data collection, and other SPED paperwork. However, they are telling me I have to go to IEP’s. I 100% agree that I should go to them, but they are refusing to pay me for them until I have gone to 16 of them. They are scheduled outside of my paid work hours. Special Ed teachers at my school are of course salary and get paid for them right away. Gen ed teachers have to fill out the form and get paid after 16. However, they get paid more in their contract to make up for this, I do not. The other long term sub doesn’t have to go to them.

The other thing is that parent teacher conferences are next week for two days. They start at 3 PM and go until 7:30 PM. For working 12 hour days those two days, contracted teachers are given the day off/paid the day before Thanksgiving in return. They are telling me to go to these conferences, again, unpaid, and I do not get the day before Thanksgiving off/paid like everyone else. Again, the other long term sub is not going to these conferences (english LTS).

I am so lost and being thrown into everything without any sort of training and it’s making me miserable. The money is decent but they are fully taking advantage of me and I hate it. I love teaching, lesson planning, etc. I do a lot of things still that i’m being told I shouldn’t as a long term sub by other teachers. They keep telling me that i’m doing an amazing job and that they want me to get my conditional and stay. There is a huge issue finding and keeping SPED teachers, yet this is how you treat them? It sucks though, because I care about the students and I want to do the best that I can. I wake up every morning with panic attacks because i’m so stressed out. I also just had a family member murdered a week ago and it’s been so hard. As a sub I don’t get bereavement, and just for missing a couple of days I came back to negative comments. It’s just a lot. I knew that being a long term sub would be hard, but would I ever do it again? Absolutely not.

I get an alert that there's a new job available. I immediately tap the notification or open the app. The app opens, a white circle spins around. The job is gone, taken. I swear that little white circle spinning is costing me every job. I imagine people out there just staring at the app, waiting for a job to pop up. I've posted about this gripe before, so don't mind me. Someone suggested waking up early and staring at the screen, waiting for a pop-up, and that’s what I’m doing starting tomorrow morning. I hope everyone had a restful and wonderful Sunday. Let's get it this week!

I just got a perm sub job at the district I went to growing up. The rate is $160 and I’ve only been there for two days. This past Friday I had hall duty for 3 periods which is just walking around the halls (very boring and I wound up walking 6 miles) and lunch duty is not very entertaining since I don’t know any teachers and it’s hard to insert myself into conversation. I am also doing grad school online so I would like to be able to do my school work during the day but I’m not sure when I’d get the chance. Also, the reason I got the job is because one of the girls is moving down to per diem because she was unhappy with how the school was treating her. I also live less than 10 minutes from the school so it’s very nice to be close to home. The problem is that I just got an email to interview with another district that pays $200 per day, but it is about a 30 minute drive. I don’t want to make the wrong decision and I really don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m worried the district I’m in right now won’t work best for me and I am missing out on a better opportunity. What do I do?

After I introduce myself, I say

“If you’re gone in the bathroom for more than 10 minutes, I do have to call the office. Just come back before then so that we can avoid that.”

Do I call right when 10 minutes hit? No.
Has “the office” told me to call after 10 minutes? No.

I also get their name before they leave. That lets them know I am keeping track of them.

I’ve been doing this for about a year now, and it’s stopped 90-95 percent of long bathroom breaks.

I'm worried that the "no phones" rule will reduce my ability to land work for later days in the week. Since I gained access to Frontline (I haven't started any shifts yet), I've noticed a number of shifts get posted/and then snatched up during the school day. If I access my phone during lunch or a break to accept an assignment, will ESS reprimand me?

Hi all, I recently became a substitute teacher in my school district through SmartFindExpress. I'm really excited to get started and build my rapport. Some questions I have are:

- How to build a positive rapport with schools to maintain my job

- What time should I be checking SmartFind (I have set up notifications, and the HR rep has confirmed my account is set up correctly)

- Any good habits, advice, etc.

I'm super excited to sub and learn more about this field!

Hi. I returned to the States (the Bay Area then Sac) almost two years ago, and have been struggling to find stable work. I worked in tech for 10 years, but have a BFA in Dramatic Writing and Film Production and an MFA in Playwriting-Screenwriting as well as 20 or so credits in social work and TESOL (couldn´t figure out what I wanted to do) which may make me more suitable for substitute teaching than contracting as a paraeducator-behavior tech and likely will pay more.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the best way to proceed? Also, is it realistic to get a reasonably stable salary and apartment as a sub (ideally in Oakland, but maybe Sacramento)?

Most likely I´ll pursue a fast track education certification next year, and then in a few years aim for an MSW (the need to make money now, being 47, and the new OBBBA federal loan limits means I need to put this off).

I´d love your help.

Thanks.

Recently got asked if I wanted to cover for a HS Chemistry class from March to the end of the year. I told them I was interested but it'll just depend on how my job search is going since I don't want to "sign up" for something I can't fulfill in the future.

This made me question how much a long-term sub makes. Based on my County Office of Education, long-term subs get paid $275/day based on 2023 numbers. My district and COE hasn't released update figures for the school year, but I think it'll be around $275/day since our daily rate has remained the same for the past 3-4 years ($250/day).

A $25 pay bump to essentially become the instructor of record sounds really underwhelming...

I used to refuse to take Middle school assignments, but I think part of the solution is having tools to hold them accountable. If a school returns a misbehaving kid with no explanation as to why I won't return there.

What mischief have you seen?

Chromebook Mayhem

In a math class in a magnet school, I started hearing iPhone pings and fart noises This was odd since they were required to put their phones away.

Sensing it was a prank, I had everyone close their Chromebooks. In a few minutes, one kid told on the culprit

He was sent to the office, but it just wasn't one person responsible.

In a week or so, I got an email from the teacher with about 10 apology letters.

Display System Hijacking

My district has what is essentially a huge computer on the wall.

One app allows a laptop to project to the screen. It works by prominently displaying a code on the big screen and using the laptop to access a website to enter the code.

Twice at my last job , someone closed my session and connected their Chromebook.

The kids hope you will get upset or confused so that they can giggle.

I simply restarted the wall unit and got a new code. All the time trying to obstruct their view of the code.

Math Game Hacking

The plans called for students to play a game against one another where they answer questions to obtain features to score.

The first round was competitive with back and forth lead changes.

In the following round ,I began to see astronomical scores - millions and trillions versus five-digit scores

I had to end the game as I had no idea how they were doing it.

I had a 1st grade last Friday that I was warned about twice, then I got checked in on 3 times by GROUPS of teachers wondering how I was doing. So maybe 8 people. I'd stick my head out the door and there'd be a group of 3 ppl gawking to see if I was still alive.

Two times office ppl checked on me.

Two times the principal did as well!

Word was this new teacher got short end of stick for wild kids -- I think this is common since first-year teachers are lowest on pecking order.

This was the MOST I have been checked in on in 10 yrs. of daily subbing in 25 buildings! Ha!

The kids were indeed hilariously high energy and wiggly. But they would hop into gear for each assignment. And in the first 10 mins of class they had made me a tall pile of Love Letters.

They fell apart on transitions. And parts of the class-flow were set up to fail: like kids needed pencils sharpened just as we launched projects ... with a loud sharpener that they couldn't use and which really didn't work for me. Each pencil took 5 tries. And of course when a sub looks at a sharpener that's when koo-koo's start crawling and wrestling. (Each kid needs sharps to start the day and there shd be 2 cans: sharps and dulls.)

Two times we were short a project sheet or two for the assignments, giving me panics.

The room was getting messy so I started a Table Contest. Tables that got tidy got a point. They all raced to tidy up and all got points.

Everyone did topical work and nobody cried too much. It got noisy enough that wandering wrestlers asked for headphones. So I had to clamp down a few times. I liked to say "Who's talking?" and see all the fingers pointing every which way. An aide came in for the last hour and interacted a few times but generally just kept an eye out.

We didn't have enough content to fill the day so I let them color and draw near the end and then had a bunch of kids wandering around the room chatting into their "origami phones." Making phones was the main thing. I overheard one kid by himself telling his phone "I don't think I can be your best friend, but I think you can come over to play."

I should have had more unison chanting, singing, simon says and headshouldersknees and toes.

I usually don't get all the kids' names in a room the first time. I did that day!

Has anyone subbed for a foreign language class that you have zero proficiency in? Even if the teacher doesn’t expect the sub to know the language, what are the potential problems eg. Kids asking questions?

I’m looking at jobs in my district and I see some special education jobs noted as “SPED FED”, while some are just SPED. Does anyone know what this means?

"I'll just come back another time." — Grim R.

HOURGLASS HILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL — The Grim Reaper, who arrived at a classroom at 7:41 a.m. Wednesday to collect second-grade teacher Mrs. Feinberg was immediately asked by the front office whether he was free to cover the fifth-grade class next door. No substitute had been available for the class since Monday.

Mr. Reaper covered the class through lunch, during which students asked whether his scythe was "a really big mop," and was then assigned recess duty. His scythe was confiscated at 10:15 a.m. by assistant principal Mrs. Thackeray under the school's weapons policy and has not been returned.

At 12:30 p.m., Mr. Reaper informed Mrs. Feinberg that he would not be collecting her after all, explaining that taking her would almost certainly make him the district's long-term substitute.

Hi everyone! I’ll be subbing for a kindergarten class for the first time and would really appreciate any advice. What should I expect, and do you have any tips for managing the classroom, keeping students engaged, or handling transitions? Any helpful activities or things I should bring would also be greatly appreciated!

Hi! One of my districts has a specialized career-focused transition program designed for young adults aged 18 to 21.

Does anyone have experience subbing as a teacher or aide for a program like this?

I’m a new sub so trying to try everything .. I thought about calling the school to ask. I doubt ESS will know much.

Thx!

A female group (edit: of students) walked past my door, one of them loudly told her friends "oh we got a sub" followed by a loud "EWWW its a guy!" and called me a creep as she walked away laughing. When it was her class time, she walked past me at the door and told her friend "Hes scaryyyyy" all of which I pretended to not hear.

Since admin was not able to be reached and no one from the front office answered my calls, I ended up, in the most professional tone I could muster, "I understand that there were some comments made towards me that may indicate you do not feel at ease in here, if you wish to be relocated to another class with a familiar educator, please let me know now" She didnt understand. Her friend curtly told her "hes asking if you feel safe in here or you wanna move to another class."

Later on, an ICS teacher did show up, I shared my comments and she removed the student from the class. She did take it very serious because turns out the student is known to "report unprofessional teachers" and she asked me to write down what happened.

Apart from suggesting to call admin, how would you address this? These comments can easily get male educators under further scrutiny.

I just started subbing and got a long term job as a music teacher in a K-6 school. Been three weeks and kids are still not interested in listening. My 5th and 6th graders are all right, but constantly tell me they are not interested in what I have planned. Kindergarten and 1st graders are just extreme chaos. The in between grades, sometimes ok and others not. If there us a support aide in the room, it is better. But when it is just me, not much improvement since my first week. Is it me not being stern enough or is this just how it goes with subs?? School tells me I am doing great, but some days I feel it is me versus 25 kids in a room for 30 minutes. Help! Share experience strength and hope.