I informed my administrators that I would be out with a baby, oh, eight months before I intended to be out. Finally, 2 weeks before my planned absence, a substitute was found. Wohoo! He was even certified in science, the subject that I teach. I felt a lot better. Then, problems arose with him, and he was replaced by a non-science substitute. Two substitutes over eight weeks, one of which was filled with a variety of subs while the second was found. Yikes!
Even before I had this baby, I noticed problems securing a substitute teacher. There are not enough of them, and many that are on the sub list shouldn't be. I can recall the chain smoker who, at the urging of my students, allowed them to use their books on a test. She said they claimed not to be ready for it, and after all, my note had only instructed them not to "have their books on their desks." That meant that their laps or the floor were okay. This was just one of several strange behaviors of this lady. The assistant principal said they had to keep her on staff because they didn't have enough substitutes.
Is this common everywhere? I do understand that finding a science-certified substitute might be difficult, but is this usually a general problem? Does anyone know anything about the finding and maintenance of substitute teachers?
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5 comments:
Tbis is definitely an issue in my district as well. There are several factors that contribute to subs being as "slack" (for lack of a better word) as they are. Poor training, low pay, poor classroom mangement skills all contribute to their disregard for the job they have to do.
My students do a better job at running the class in my absence than the subs I have encountered over the years. I actually had a substitute that kept falling asleep throughout the day. The students said she never left my desk. When she wasn't sleeping, she was talking on her cell phone. Needless to say nothing was taught or learned that day.
In Georgia, subsitutes are required to have a 2-year college degree and intensive training. If this is what college graduates with Associates Degrees look like, then I will just go to work everyday!
Someone else secures a substitute for you? WOW! In my district we have to find our own subs. Until recently this meant making several phones call to people on the approved sub list. Now with the implementation of an automated system, teachers call SubFinder and input the information. It is also accessible online. Either way, the system works until it finds a sub to accept the position. The acceptance is documented electronically. Substitutes that accept jobs and then cancel at the last minute are removed from the approved list. There are still plenty on the list taht should never step foot inside a classroom.
I think that training is the one area that districts can improve upon when it comes to substitute teachers. Courses covering a substanial time frame as opposed to one afternoon of training are needed to better prepare substitutes for the rigor of a classroom.
Substitutes are babysitters and babysitters are never as good as Momma. We just hope that the babysitter keeps our child safe by watching the child and keeping them form harming themselves or others. We want our babysitters to keep documentation of what our baby did while we were out, just as the sub should do. The substitute is never asked to raise our children, just watch them when we have to be away. Your school system should have done one of two things in the event of your long absence. They should have either assigned a non-science certified teacher to your classroom or combined your students into the other science classrooms. Long term SUBS should not exist. If I needed to be away from my child, I would not use the teenage sub or babysitter from across the street, I would look to a relative who I feel is close to equivalent in care. Just some thoughts.
I'm not a member of the k-12 education, but I have seen people with no science, music, or language skills asked to teach those areas as substitute teachers. This turns those classrooms into study halls, no lessons or instruction imparted on those days. I would think that any information imparted prior to these days would be lost in the shuffle. Do substitute teacher requirements change from district to district? How are substitutes trained? Do they have to be licensed like contracted teachers? How ethical is it to place an untrained person in a classroom? How are they trained in case of an emergency, including school lockdowns? Are some school districts forced to rely on putting a warm body in front of the class just to say they have a “teacher”?
I fear for both the students and the person at the head of the class if this was the case. I know there are fingerprint and background checks, but I have noticed more reports in the newspaper of substitute teachers violating student’s rights. Could this be a part of ill training and lack of respect on the part of the students? I have no answers, I just can pose the questions.
Well, Sutton Says, we do have to find our own subs, unless they are long-term. We, too, have the approved sub list, but it is not the snazzy automated kind. I've woken up nauseous before, calling potential substitutes for 30 minutes. Alas, previously, an administrator even found those, which I'm sure was an absolute nightmare. I think a lot of teachers abuse the absence option, calling at the last minute or not at all, resulting in an awful predicament for the administrator.
Like you, Kirby, I wonder about some of these substitutes and their 2-year degrees. Nonetheless, even many 4-year degreed individuals are not necessarily great in the classroom. Dealing with kids is very much a learn-on-the-job experience. School might teach you some specifics, but actually managing and interacting with a class is another bear altogether. I think some substitutes (or new teachers) mimic the behavior of the substitutes and teachers of their youth, which is not always a positive thing.
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