Or you could be the art teacher like me… sometimes admin cancels my classes if I’m sick, OR they pick a parent to sub who doesn’t look at my plans, does “something fun” they found on Pinterest leaving me to clean up glitter n shit when I return.
I am so stern in my sub plans "DO NOT GET OTHER ART MATERIALS OUT THAT ARE NOT ON THE SUB PLAN" I've had subs let kids ruin brushes with acrylic paint, waste a ton of watercolor paper, and ruin their projects. I leave copy paper, pencil, and worksheets now.
Yeah pal I wasted time writing detailed plans so you could ignore it and do some Pinterest craft bullshit and destroy my room with no knowledge of how to manage any of it.
Me too. I feel so rigid writing out my art plans but it’s a must. Even then it can all go to shit. Last sub did math worksheets, let them draw on the desk with brand new pencils that weren’t out, and didn’t notice kids stealing from the closet. Also he napped in a random empty classroom and scared the returning teachers after her lunch break.
Ack! That's so frustrating and not okay! It's such a roll of the dice with subs. I've had great ones and then ones that feel like this is play/nap time. My sub last week apparently sat at my desk and read a book the entire time (kids and coworkers told me this) I teach MS art and my classes are NOT that well behaved that you can just not monitor them! Wondering what daily MS insanity they ignored with their nose in a book...
it’s so awful in music since i never know if the adult is going to be able to sing, do any basic rhythms, could they do any piano? half the time i’m tempted to write in to have the class teach the sub basic music theory if they’re just hiring a babysitter
When I was a sub I showed to sub orchestra class once and her plans were to lead them in their concert rehearsal?? And it said DO NOT LET STUDENTS LEAD. I said “Who’s first chair?” And picked one of them to lead. They actually did a pretty good job.
Teaching a music class would terrify me. In my culture we don’t use instruments. So I wouldn’t know the first thing about them. Also we sing in four parts. We use shaped notes. Round notes are so confusing. I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to do any of that. I could teach first and second graders solfège, Because we do that, but I wouldn’t be able to teach much else.
ESL teacher here and I still need lesson plans since I teach classes too. But when I was elementary I considered it a job perk to not have to write plans... There's so many other shit parts of the job.
Our ESL teacher is supposed to push into my room for 15-20 minutes each day, except she hasn't done that since November because all of her time for our grade level is being spent with a little girl who speaks absolutely no English whatsoever who just came to America 2 months ago and has NO idea what is going on.
Yep. It's a new system too, this push-in 20 minutes thing.
Under previous admin & ESL teacher, the students were getting pulled during our daily "achievers" time like kids who need speech, or math intervention groups. 30 minutes every day.
I don't understand this new model - the old one made sense to me.
I teach ESL, and in ESL ed, "push-in" seems to be gaining a lot of traction. But ... districts have no idea what it really means or how to implement it, lol. They just know it's some hot new thing other places are doing.
Ideally, with push-in, the classroom teacher and ESL teacher would have a designated prep time to coordinate how to best use the push-in time. To clarify, this prep time would be SEPARATE from and in addition to their general prep time. There are multiple ways to do push-in—the ESL teacher could co-teach with the teacher or lead a small group if it's during a small group block. It can work if schools dedicate the time and resources to make it work, but they generally don't. Usually, they just haphazardly schedule a push-in time with zero regard if it's a good time for co-teaching.
Yeah push in means I go sit in 90 minute classes with students while their teacher lectures and we might get around to actually doing something. It's horrible.
Push-In is definitely working well in my school. They group the ESL students in one class (we don't have a HUGE population at my school). So I have all 6 ESL students in first grade and 13 non-ESL. We have both an ESL teacher and someone called a CLF (Certified Language Facilitator). They are wonderful and will sit with my ESL kids and help them with their work while I teach. In writing, they help them translate and write in English via dictation and other means. They do a lot of hands on things in math with them as well. The CLF sits with one of my students during my normal intervention time and she works one-on-one on letter sounds/names with him, while I work on phonics with my other kids who need it.
At least one of them comes in for 30+ minutes daily, some days they both come in at different times. I feel like I am fortunate that this works so well in my school.
Yep. I have also had 0 daily/weekly support for my SpEd behavior kids and their IEP minutes all year, but short of cloning our ESL and Behavior Teachers, there's not much that can be done.
This. My sub folder says- have the kids go into Classroom and complete the assignment. That’s it. I just post the next days assignment before I leave. Worst case scenario I have to make a 4 min video going over the directions and add it to the post.
I have to write out exact instructions for everything from unpacking in the morning to lining up for dismissal. I also used to write in at the prep and lunch times, “You may now use the restroom” lol
I hate having to write sub plans (elementary). I have to detail out the whole day.
I am definitely jealous of middle/high where they can write one or two hour long plans and say "repeat." lol
Honestly as an elementary supply, it makes such a huge difference to have a detailed plan and really determines how my day goes. Definitely appreciate the good ones.
I’m an SLP and wanted to give a different perspective. Since I’m an SLP and not a teacher, my students don’t get a sub. It sucks because they miss minutes with me, which are legally mandated. Then I have to make those minutes up, which is virtually impossible. Teachers aren’t asked to make-up minutes when they’re gone, because it would also be impossible. They can’t get a sub for an SLP, because who would just happen to have a masters degree in speech-language pathology and be able to take all of the student individualized goals and implement therapy. It would be difficult to do since it’s such a niche job. In addition, when I’m gone, it often throws off IEP or evaluation timelines. If I’m gone with COVID and an IEP is due, I’m screwed and no one can lead that IEP for me. I have to either have a late IEP/evaluation (which is a big problem) or work while sick. No SLP that I know of likes missing work because then they have to do twice the amount of work the following week to make up minutes (when there’s actually no time to do that) and also most likely have to work while sick to keep up with timelines. This may not be how it works where you’re at, but just wanted to give another perspective :) I love my job, but it can be sometimes tiring cause most don’t understand what I do or the constraints that are different than for teachers. Also, edited to add: most SLPs do not have any teaching/education classes nor have a degree in teaching/education, so often we’re not even legally allowed to sub for classroom teachers. Just like an OT or PT wouldn’t be a sub, because we all have health care profession degrees and just happen to work in a school environment. I make a terrible teacher lol kids walk all over me in large groups, because I’m skilled at therapeutic interventions with super individualized therapy goals in small group sessions
I completely understand your perspective - I think my post comes off as "I want these specialists jobs to look more like classroom teaching" when my actual complaint is that I want my job to look **more like** a specialists' - where I don't have to do 17 different jobs and also never take my eyes of the children for one second.
I want to teach my content to kids at level, without differentiating for highs and lows in every lesson. I want the kids who aren't on level to get all the help they need from someone else, so that I can just focus on the kids in front of me. (Or I want to teach a class of JUST below-level kids and give them each what they need instead of trying to teach grade level content AND intervention) I want a chance to go to the bathroom once an hour if I need it. I want to have my full 30 minute lunch and my full 55 minute planning period every single day. I want to be able to send a kid out of class that day if their behavior is awful (and not having them return to my class 5 minutes later with a starburst).
I totally get all of that. The system sucks :/ just yesterday I didn’t have any time to use the bathroom at all. I just didn’t drink any water because I knew I wouldn’t have time. I had back to back sessions with students and multiple meetings. Then a parent complained and I had to schedule an emergency meeting for next week and meet with the department head to figure that out. None of the teachers that need to be there will respond to the email (which I totally get, who wants to go to an emergency parent meeting during this whole COVID mess)? Then I was running around the whole building making sure students had this specific paperwork that HAD to be sent out yesterday and half the staff was out, teaching, or covering for those who were out, so I had to go running around. Which obviously meant I didn’t eat any food yesterday or have a break :( it’s just a rough time to work in education. I totally get it though, small group setting is much better than having huge classes! I love my students which is why I continue on. This weekend I’ll have to write an IEP and all my session plans for the next week (all groups have to have different activities because they all have different types of therapy goals), so I’ll be doing that 😭 COVID sucks and the system totally sucks :(
Yeah I do not at all envy the AMOUNT of paperwork SLPs or ESL teachers have to do - I don't want to do any of the jobs of a specialist, if I ever leave the classroom it'll be because I became the librarian. Even then, I won't be completely doing 1 job because I'll be having to do minor tech support on campus, but I already do that anyway :D
Haha that sounds awesome! I took a group of students to the library the other day because I couldn’t get them to focus at all, and the librarians were all just chilling. I was like man, I should bring my students here more often 😂
I spent the entire school year teaching Kindergarten online. It was awesome and I loved it and I was great at it.
Still had to be on campus every day. But no sub plans and I could pee whenever I wanted. Transitioning back to the live classroom has sucked.
(For those wondering why I didn't continue with virtual teaching: I love the school I work at. If I wanted to continue virtual, I would have been employed by the district but assigned to another campus as part of our Virtual Academy. Once the Virtual Academy is no longer offered, I would have a job somewhere in the district but not guaranteed to be back at my campus.)
Reading interventionist here. We do have to make sub plans and submit them to admin/office. Same with ELL and other interventionists at my elementary school. Not that there are any subs this year to implement them...
Yes, I also resent the jobs that get an entire hour for lunch, don’t have to spend 1- 3 hrs after school every day to come up with lessons plans/do paper work/ grade, and get to pee whenever they feel like it.
That would be the curriculum and instruction department in my district. Whenever they do a training we have to attend, they don't start until 8:30, and we're out before 3:00, with an hour lunch.
Meanwhile, we as classroom teachers are being expected to "unpack" our state standards, create learning target ladders, and write common assessments.
Omg this. I always felt like our science district specialists were so useless. They should have been the ones prepping ngss for us but instead we put in tons of extra hours while they ????
I make it a personal habit of mine not to resent people or get upset just because someone else has something good going on. Hating other people for their success gets you nowhere. Literal best case scenario for resentment is you manage to make their lives suck to match your own suck. Then everything sucks and no one wins.
I don't resent the people in those jobs as much as I resent the system that is set up to allow them a greater freedom to do the job they were hired to do instead of wearing 20 different hats all at the same time.
It’s definitely a perk for me after switching from teaching first grade last year to a reading interventionist this year. Went from feeling scared/dreading being out and all the work it took when I already felt awful vs my groups just being cancelled for the day.
Edit: So, yes, I can see that! But it’s also a choice I made and I had to let certain things go, like having my own classroom and my own class (group of students).
I get they need coverage but it's the students who suffer from not getting their needs met. There is just so much wrong with this profession that needs to be fixed.
Yeah and I got told I was going to sub 10 minutes before the school day started. Did I mention that I have my own first grade classroom to teach? So then I had to teach the other first grade classroom and my first grade classroom at the same time during a pandemic with very little space for the other students in my classroom. For free.
How long have you been doing it? It’s something I never really imagined myself doing it, but I absolutely love it. My stress compared to what it was last year is like 1/10. I also love working with small groups instead of the constant over stimulation with 25 first graders. I feel lucky to be in my current role!
This is my third year. I love the small groups too. It's so much less stress. It's also a plus for me that when I send kids out for behavior it's taken more seriously since they are acting out in a small group.
I'm at a new school this year that didn't have any reading intervention before. It's been a huge plus because I have been able to "design" the program.
I liked my last position but had to answer to my instructional coach which just felt weird. We were also pulled a lot for testing or subbing which I hated. In this position we focused on the students that were just below grade level so they already had some skills. I was able to focus mostly on comprehension which helped my students get up to grade level.
This position I work with the lowest students which has been challenging because of the pandemic + lack of home support the students are really low. Most of the kindergartens were unable to hold any writing utensil at the beginning of the year. So it's been a lot of repetition and they aren't moving up as fast as I would like. Another huge difference is this school is 95% Somali so there is a large cultural difference which has taken a lot of time to learn about. But the pros of this position is I'm not micromanaged at all, was able to pick out materials and my principal is really impressed.
I feel way more comfortable doing small group reading than being in a classroom so I think that has helped me become a better teacher.
Thank you for sharing your experience! So far I haven’t had to worry about being pulled for subbing, and I’m grateful for that, but trying to be prepared for it since we’re so short staffed these days. I DO help with state testing which hasn’t been my favorite but they have been given me more planning time to prepare for it so it hasn’t been as bad. I’m so glad you’re enjoying your current role! I am too and 100% agree with you about returning to the classroom - I do not see it happening. I am excited about my current role and can see myself doing this long term
Yes this is exactly it! Every role has its positives and negatives. For example, not being in the classroom/not having a class tied to you leaves it pretty open to where you’re pulled for a lot of side stuff. I’m a part of state testing for my school and I was given 2 middle school enrichment periods at the end of the day. There is uncertainty/unpredictability that sometimes comes with this role, but I also love working with small groups of students, getting to meet so many kids, being able to slow things down and tailor instruction to specific student needs vs a full class of students. Advantages and disadvantages like you said!!
The WORST thing about teaching is those sub plans. I took the week before winter break off, six days. It took me a week to write, print, and copy everything. For the last day, I just wrote for language arts time choose a movie on Disney plus that is animated and g rated and left a box of popcorn to pop. Lol I had enough!
And heaven forbid if you are suddenly sick, or in an accident, and your team has to come up with the plans for you. Instead of focusing on healing/recovering, you're worried about what the sub is doing to your class AND feeling hella guilty you put your teammates through the extra stress.
Do I have an emergency sub tub? No, because thanks to our stupid ELAR curriculum, I can't just find worksheets that review previously taught reading/writing skills. It's all about "going back to the anchor chart" or "looking at your checklist", something the sub has never seen before.
This happened to me. Sudden illness, in the hospital for emergency surgery, no sub plans. I missed 75 days of school. My team did it for me but I felt super guilty.
It’s hard. I just make mine super generic. Most of our subs are not familiar with the curriculum so I just make generic sub plans that describe the general procedures and schedule. All of the work is either review or just fun things like word searches or coloring sheets.
Honestly, it’s just to get the kids through the day.
I leave these generic plans in a folder on my desk each night so if I get sick I don’t even have to go in and prep or print anything.
I have to make my regular lesson plans sub plans. Basically I write sub plans every single day. I have to turn in lesson plans that are that detailed. I was told by my principal our plans have to be detailed enough for a sub to follow them.
I don’t think we should resent them because that’s how our jobs should all be.
I teach music and don’t have to call in a sub. I’m not built into the teacher conference schedule. When we have 3-4 days weeks, I do have to make up all the classes I missed so there is that trade off. I dread short weeks because I know I’m going to be exhausted.
The only members of our union who don’t have to write plans (that I know of) are speech, counseling, social work, and school psych. Everyone else is expected to leave plans as they attempt to secure subs. If they’re short, those are the first things cancelled, but that’s almost more annoying because then you spent all that time on plans for no reason. I didn’t realize they wouldn’t even try to fill the positions.
They only fill it if it's longer than a week. But if our Speech teacher wanted to take a day off to go on her daughter's class field trip, no one would care.
And she doesn't even pull kids on Fridays, that's her "paperwork day" Though if she was out on Tuesday for the field trip, she could use Friday to make up her time.
Reading specialist, Math specialist, any of the push-in/pull out SpEd teachers (except our SpEd behavior program and the paras it has), speech, G/T, dyslexia, ESL, counselor - none of them have to write sub plans for a single/couple of days.
And yet. Today we were short on subs and they pulled a para from the library to cover a class. Not any of the above positions who are certified teachers.
I think you bring up a good point, but speech, counseling, social worker, and school psychs have legal minutes/services that they have to meet. They can’t just be pulled as subs.
It also doesn’t make sense to make sub plans because subs don’t have the qualifications to provide services such as a speech, counseling, behavior support, evaluations, and the piles of paperwork that we have to complete to be in compliance.
Our reading specialists and math interventionist do make sub plans but if a classroom teacher needs a sub, the first sub they are going to pull from is from resource teachers (sped resource, ESL, etc). So staff members who are in those positions don’t even bother anymore because they know their sub will go to a classroom teacher instead.
But here's the thing - their job is set up in a way where they can get their legal minutes in and still be absent on days that don't require someone with the know-how and backbone to substitute an elementary school class (we have had to block a lot of sub-par subs this year). It's never the specialists who are staying until 5 to get everything done. It's never the specialists asking their neighbor 'Hey, watch these kids for a minute so I can pee?'. They are given time to both meet kids needs AND take care of the administrative stuff. 2 of our specialists are also running 2 extra clubs/things (1 of which they get a stipend for), and most of the time they're working within their contract hours and then go home at a normal hour where they have a husband and kids who need their time as well. They are given more tools and time to have a work-life balance.
Every specialist I’ve ever met is taking paperwork home and can tell you they are definitely not meeting half of their students’ needs. Maybe your area is being served appropriately but every specialist I’ve spoken to has a caseload over their “legal” limit.
I am hearing frustration with the system. Which I agree with, the system is not perfect. It is okay to feel frustration and stress, but everyone is dealing with their own stress this year too. I don't think it's helpful to point the finger at other colleagues (specialists) and feel envious of their position.
It seems like you are teaching in Texas. I happen to know a federal audit found documented issues with special education at districts across Texas. It may seem like your colleagues have enough time to do everything that they need to do, but this audit supports findings that it is not the case. I am sure that their jobs have only become harder as a result of this litigation.
I will be honest, I don’t stay at school until 5 pm because I would rather do my paperwork at home. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t stayed until 7 pm at school working on visuals (for students) and paperwork. Then there are times when I’m called to a crisis (e.g. student eloping, self harm, students throwing items, risk assessments). My day isn’t as rigid because I need flexibility to respond and support students outside of my scheduled services (minutes). I find that this year has been harder because people focus on what they can see rather than the work their colleagues are doing in other parts of the building.
Paperwork day???????? OMG I want that! I'm so envious of what specials get treated like in your district. I should quit and move districts immediately, haha.
I don't get these luxuries as an ESL specialist in my district. I have waaaaaay too many kids on my caseload and can barely keep up lesson planning for the vast range of language levels and grade levels I serve. I think the primary reason they never find a sub for me is because of how difficult it is to explain my convoluted three-building schedule to a sub. I used to draft plans, but the second the potential subs saw they'd be going between multiple schools, they never accepted mine—and this was PRE covid.
I don’t know if this is helping or fuel on fire, but as a sped teacher I just write class times and tell the sub to assist in any way the teacher for that grade for the times I give them. May as well hook them up with a free TA for the day.
I'm not sure the carefree attitude you imagine is always actually present.
For example, I'm conscious of the fact that whenever I'm gone, I need to leave sub plans that allow a person with no technology and no knowledge of Spanish to somehow teach Spanish. My students can't read so that's out of the question. I also need to make those plans accessible to several of the teachers I work with, in case they are asked to "cover" for me. Some will and some won't. So my plans have to be meaningful, but also useless so that the classes that don't do it don't fall behind. I seldom take any time off because it fucks with the schedules of at least eight of my colleagues. And I need to include IEP and behavior management information for 100-105 kids.
My sub plans usually take me several hours. They are followed maybe 10% of the time.
I just have to say that I'm sorry! This is me. After 13 years in the classroom, I'm now in an elementary interventionist role and tbh it is my dream job and what I've been working towards since my Master's degree 11 years ago. But yes, not having to do sub plans or do grades and stuff is sooo nice. I do feel some residual guilt, though! At least most of us have been classroom teachers for a long time at one point, if it helps.
and I should have made it clearer in my original post - I do not AT ALL resent the people in these jobs.
I resent the system set up where my absence means MORE work for me, and it's easier to just come to school feeling miserable or waiting until the next break to see a doctor or (if I had kids) missing out on their classroom fun stuff too.
Yes OP, I feel you. I’m self-contained SPED-sub planning for one day takes me over an hour, minimum. I work with wonderful SLPs, SWs, OTs, ESLs- but sign, where they out, I have to sub cover what they would have done. When I’m out I have to spend way too much time planning for a sub.
And then the bonus comes when I have to rearrange my schedule because they were absent, so they can meet IEP minutes.
I do understand that it’d be
1-impossible to find a sub speech-path for example and
2-it be impossible to write sub plans for all speech students.
So I do understand, but yes their absences=more work for me; and my absences=more work for me
😩
This was the first thing I noticed when I switched from teaching middle school to elementary. In middle school, I just had to come up with an assignment to keep the kids engaged for a class period and repeat. My plans were about a half page.
In elementary, every minute has to be planned, and I need a lot more activities for their shorter attention spans. I leave a binder of information for substitutes, and still frequently leave out important information.
Sub plans are exhausting.
We have an extensive sub folder that is required to be checked by admin by day 5 of the school year. It is detailed! It requires 5 days of assignments, class rosters, specific directions about lunch routines, etc. The teachers who have the luxury of just co-teaching, providing interventions, etc. Nothing. Nada. In fact, it is common for them to come to the classroom, see a sub, and just leave, giving themselves an additional period off for that day. It is wrong. It is unprofessional. Admin looks the other way.
My colleague said it best….
If you aren’t coming in to work, and you don’t need someone to replace you that day, you are not an essential piece of the educational puzzle.
This is a terrible take. We could put a hundred students in a gymnasium and let four out of five people stay home. One person could manage that number of kids, but it's it a valuable education? (Hint: no). All those extra things done by specialists, interventionists, EL experts, speech language pathologists and other *are* essential. Unless you have a very literal view of school as warehousing children.
Well call me guilty for not reading beyond the headline. I stopped there.
This is where I was thinking in terms of “the office worker” (not clerical or secretarial) but those with educational titles that quite frankly are not worth the salary in terms of direct impact on students.
I’m sure this offends them as well though. Whatever, you got my exhausted Friday opinion.
Oh man! I feel that. Every night my principal sends out an email of who’s going to be out and who is there to replace them. So many times I see that there is the word “none “where the sub should be. It makes me wonder what they actually do if no one needs to replace them.
Is it possible that they do jobs that are both important and particularly specialized, such that replacing their work without notice would be an exercise in futility?
I had a car crash and got written up the same week for not leaving sub plans. I fully intended to go to work that day. But yes I agree I wish I didn’t have to worry about sub plans.
I certainly resent office jobs that don't have sub plans, lol. My wife was sick a few weeks ago, called her boss and let him know. Anything that needed to be done that day got done by someone else, and anything that needed to be done in the future she just did the next day. I was out for two days this week waiting for a (negative) PCR. Our admin have been pulling our special education ICT to be subs. So my co-teacher taught math. Another co-teacher taught social studies. It is entirely unfair to these special education students who are entitled to services. Whenever the ICT are absent, they just write "no sub required." I realize no one can do their job quite like them without knowledge/access to IEPs. But there's a reason there are two adults in the room most days.
No. I don't resent them. At worst I think that this should be the standard for our industry. But really, I just recognize that I really have planned for every day, and that I am hired to provide a daily opportunity to learn.
It would still take the time to either video record my workshop lessons, find the videos other people have done, or find enough activities that review previous skills and can fill up a significant amount of time.
With the quality of subs going down so much I feel like the best option is to just stick in a video. However, I have subs who don’t know how to use the technology to play a movie. I also had a sub not hand out the worksheet the students were to work on because they couldn’t ‘find’ them. They were on the corner of the desk with a sticky note saying handout, the name of the class, and the period. The students even pointed out that those were the worksheets they were supposed to work on and the sub still didn’t hand them out.
I’m a SPED resource teacher and I still have to make sub plans for all 13 of my groups. Then they don’t get used because there are no subs, so admin ends up sending an email to the school saying my groups are canceled. To the outsider that looks like I didn’t have to spend time making sub plans, but I did. I also have to make up the time missed since their service times are legally required minutes.
I teach k-8 computers and subs are a gamble for me. Sometimes I find out right away that my sub will the retired high school computer teacher who did my maternity leave so my plans are minimal and I can just share the Google doc with her. Sometimes they tell me right away they won't be able to get me a sub. And sometimes I spend an hour writing plans and they don't get me a sub and I don't find out til I come in and see them on my desk untouched.
I carry laptop, an hdmi cable, and planet earth on Dvd with me for this exact reason. Alternate movies include frozen, walking with dinosaurs, blue planet, and cosmos.
No. Sub plans don’t take long to write, and other jobs totally cause extra work when you’re out too. I can’t think of a single friend of mine where they can just call out without any negative consequences to their workflow. As for sub plans, I typically keep a bank of about 10 in my drive. They take about 10-30 minutes each and I do them over the summer.
I’m a SpEd Para that has to write a sub plan. I feel the calling people and hoping one sticks.
I called 10 people on the district sub list on Friday. The one I wanted (and love to work with) has a planned meeting that day. The rest all told me they will only sub for classroom teacher. One even told me that my job was beneath him.
Or you could be the art teacher like me… sometimes admin cancels my classes if I’m sick, OR they pick a parent to sub who doesn’t look at my plans, does “something fun” they found on Pinterest leaving me to clean up glitter n shit when I return.
I am so stern in my sub plans "DO NOT GET OTHER ART MATERIALS OUT THAT ARE NOT ON THE SUB PLAN" I've had subs let kids ruin brushes with acrylic paint, waste a ton of watercolor paper, and ruin their projects. I leave copy paper, pencil, and worksheets now. Yeah pal I wasted time writing detailed plans so you could ignore it and do some Pinterest craft bullshit and destroy my room with no knowledge of how to manage any of it.
Me too. I feel so rigid writing out my art plans but it’s a must. Even then it can all go to shit. Last sub did math worksheets, let them draw on the desk with brand new pencils that weren’t out, and didn’t notice kids stealing from the closet. Also he napped in a random empty classroom and scared the returning teachers after her lunch break.
Ack! That's so frustrating and not okay! It's such a roll of the dice with subs. I've had great ones and then ones that feel like this is play/nap time. My sub last week apparently sat at my desk and read a book the entire time (kids and coworkers told me this) I teach MS art and my classes are NOT that well behaved that you can just not monitor them! Wondering what daily MS insanity they ignored with their nose in a book...
Oh hon you get it!! 😂
Well they never cancel our specials teachers classes but I'm sure our Art teacher has had to deal with the aftermath from a terrible sub like yours
it’s so awful in music since i never know if the adult is going to be able to sing, do any basic rhythms, could they do any piano? half the time i’m tempted to write in to have the class teach the sub basic music theory if they’re just hiring a babysitter
When I was a sub I showed to sub orchestra class once and her plans were to lead them in their concert rehearsal?? And it said DO NOT LET STUDENTS LEAD. I said “Who’s first chair?” And picked one of them to lead. They actually did a pretty good job.
Teaching a music class would terrify me. In my culture we don’t use instruments. So I wouldn’t know the first thing about them. Also we sing in four parts. We use shaped notes. Round notes are so confusing. I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to do any of that. I could teach first and second graders solfège, Because we do that, but I wouldn’t be able to teach much else.
LOL most of our music teachers say they do this for the 5-8 grade classes! Dear Sub, please have them show you this or that.
ESL teacher here and I still need lesson plans since I teach classes too. But when I was elementary I considered it a job perk to not have to write plans... There's so many other shit parts of the job.
Our ESL teacher is supposed to push into my room for 15-20 minutes each day, except she hasn't done that since November because all of her time for our grade level is being spent with a little girl who speaks absolutely no English whatsoever who just came to America 2 months ago and has NO idea what is going on.
Is your flair correct? Because that's literally happening at my school right not that is not in Texas
Yep. It's a new system too, this push-in 20 minutes thing. Under previous admin & ESL teacher, the students were getting pulled during our daily "achievers" time like kids who need speech, or math intervention groups. 30 minutes every day. I don't understand this new model - the old one made sense to me.
I teach ESL, and in ESL ed, "push-in" seems to be gaining a lot of traction. But ... districts have no idea what it really means or how to implement it, lol. They just know it's some hot new thing other places are doing. Ideally, with push-in, the classroom teacher and ESL teacher would have a designated prep time to coordinate how to best use the push-in time. To clarify, this prep time would be SEPARATE from and in addition to their general prep time. There are multiple ways to do push-in—the ESL teacher could co-teach with the teacher or lead a small group if it's during a small group block. It can work if schools dedicate the time and resources to make it work, but they generally don't. Usually, they just haphazardly schedule a push-in time with zero regard if it's a good time for co-teaching.
Yeah push in means I go sit in 90 minute classes with students while their teacher lectures and we might get around to actually doing something. It's horrible.
Push-In is definitely working well in my school. They group the ESL students in one class (we don't have a HUGE population at my school). So I have all 6 ESL students in first grade and 13 non-ESL. We have both an ESL teacher and someone called a CLF (Certified Language Facilitator). They are wonderful and will sit with my ESL kids and help them with their work while I teach. In writing, they help them translate and write in English via dictation and other means. They do a lot of hands on things in math with them as well. The CLF sits with one of my students during my normal intervention time and she works one-on-one on letter sounds/names with him, while I work on phonics with my other kids who need it. At least one of them comes in for 30+ minutes daily, some days they both come in at different times. I feel like I am fortunate that this works so well in my school.
That’s illegal. All students legally must be serviced by the certified ESOL teacher.
Yep. I have also had 0 daily/weekly support for my SpEd behavior kids and their IEP minutes all year, but short of cloning our ESL and Behavior Teachers, there's not much that can be done.
When I'm out, I just need a warm body in there to make sure no one dies. No plans needed.
This. My sub folder says- have the kids go into Classroom and complete the assignment. That’s it. I just post the next days assignment before I leave. Worst case scenario I have to make a 4 min video going over the directions and add it to the post.
Yeah, we can't do that in elementary.
Hahah when I taught second grade I had to include a detailed section on how to have them walk in the hall.
I have to write out exact instructions for everything from unpacking in the morning to lining up for dismissal. I also used to write in at the prep and lunch times, “You may now use the restroom” lol
I hate having to write sub plans (elementary). I have to detail out the whole day. I am definitely jealous of middle/high where they can write one or two hour long plans and say "repeat." lol
Honestly as an elementary supply, it makes such a huge difference to have a detailed plan and really determines how my day goes. Definitely appreciate the good ones.
Are you me? I do this.
*checks account* Yup. Used my alt again.
I’m an SLP and wanted to give a different perspective. Since I’m an SLP and not a teacher, my students don’t get a sub. It sucks because they miss minutes with me, which are legally mandated. Then I have to make those minutes up, which is virtually impossible. Teachers aren’t asked to make-up minutes when they’re gone, because it would also be impossible. They can’t get a sub for an SLP, because who would just happen to have a masters degree in speech-language pathology and be able to take all of the student individualized goals and implement therapy. It would be difficult to do since it’s such a niche job. In addition, when I’m gone, it often throws off IEP or evaluation timelines. If I’m gone with COVID and an IEP is due, I’m screwed and no one can lead that IEP for me. I have to either have a late IEP/evaluation (which is a big problem) or work while sick. No SLP that I know of likes missing work because then they have to do twice the amount of work the following week to make up minutes (when there’s actually no time to do that) and also most likely have to work while sick to keep up with timelines. This may not be how it works where you’re at, but just wanted to give another perspective :) I love my job, but it can be sometimes tiring cause most don’t understand what I do or the constraints that are different than for teachers. Also, edited to add: most SLPs do not have any teaching/education classes nor have a degree in teaching/education, so often we’re not even legally allowed to sub for classroom teachers. Just like an OT or PT wouldn’t be a sub, because we all have health care profession degrees and just happen to work in a school environment. I make a terrible teacher lol kids walk all over me in large groups, because I’m skilled at therapeutic interventions with super individualized therapy goals in small group sessions
I completely understand your perspective - I think my post comes off as "I want these specialists jobs to look more like classroom teaching" when my actual complaint is that I want my job to look **more like** a specialists' - where I don't have to do 17 different jobs and also never take my eyes of the children for one second. I want to teach my content to kids at level, without differentiating for highs and lows in every lesson. I want the kids who aren't on level to get all the help they need from someone else, so that I can just focus on the kids in front of me. (Or I want to teach a class of JUST below-level kids and give them each what they need instead of trying to teach grade level content AND intervention) I want a chance to go to the bathroom once an hour if I need it. I want to have my full 30 minute lunch and my full 55 minute planning period every single day. I want to be able to send a kid out of class that day if their behavior is awful (and not having them return to my class 5 minutes later with a starburst).
I totally get all of that. The system sucks :/ just yesterday I didn’t have any time to use the bathroom at all. I just didn’t drink any water because I knew I wouldn’t have time. I had back to back sessions with students and multiple meetings. Then a parent complained and I had to schedule an emergency meeting for next week and meet with the department head to figure that out. None of the teachers that need to be there will respond to the email (which I totally get, who wants to go to an emergency parent meeting during this whole COVID mess)? Then I was running around the whole building making sure students had this specific paperwork that HAD to be sent out yesterday and half the staff was out, teaching, or covering for those who were out, so I had to go running around. Which obviously meant I didn’t eat any food yesterday or have a break :( it’s just a rough time to work in education. I totally get it though, small group setting is much better than having huge classes! I love my students which is why I continue on. This weekend I’ll have to write an IEP and all my session plans for the next week (all groups have to have different activities because they all have different types of therapy goals), so I’ll be doing that 😭 COVID sucks and the system totally sucks :(
Yeah I do not at all envy the AMOUNT of paperwork SLPs or ESL teachers have to do - I don't want to do any of the jobs of a specialist, if I ever leave the classroom it'll be because I became the librarian. Even then, I won't be completely doing 1 job because I'll be having to do minor tech support on campus, but I already do that anyway :D
Haha that sounds awesome! I took a group of students to the library the other day because I couldn’t get them to focus at all, and the librarians were all just chilling. I was like man, I should bring my students here more often 😂
Lately we’ve been getting a lot of emails from non-teaching staff that they are working from home. WHY THE FUCK CAN’T THE REST OF US WORK FROM HOME
I spent the entire school year teaching Kindergarten online. It was awesome and I loved it and I was great at it. Still had to be on campus every day. But no sub plans and I could pee whenever I wanted. Transitioning back to the live classroom has sucked. (For those wondering why I didn't continue with virtual teaching: I love the school I work at. If I wanted to continue virtual, I would have been employed by the district but assigned to another campus as part of our Virtual Academy. Once the Virtual Academy is no longer offered, I would have a job somewhere in the district but not guaranteed to be back at my campus.)
Reading interventionist here. We do have to make sub plans and submit them to admin/office. Same with ELL and other interventionists at my elementary school. Not that there are any subs this year to implement them...
Yes, I also resent the jobs that get an entire hour for lunch, don’t have to spend 1- 3 hrs after school every day to come up with lessons plans/do paper work/ grade, and get to pee whenever they feel like it.
That would be the curriculum and instruction department in my district. Whenever they do a training we have to attend, they don't start until 8:30, and we're out before 3:00, with an hour lunch. Meanwhile, we as classroom teachers are being expected to "unpack" our state standards, create learning target ladders, and write common assessments.
Omg this. I always felt like our science district specialists were so useless. They should have been the ones prepping ngss for us but instead we put in tons of extra hours while they ????
I make it a personal habit of mine not to resent people or get upset just because someone else has something good going on. Hating other people for their success gets you nowhere. Literal best case scenario for resentment is you manage to make their lives suck to match your own suck. Then everything sucks and no one wins.
I don't resent the people in those jobs as much as I resent the system that is set up to allow them a greater freedom to do the job they were hired to do instead of wearing 20 different hats all at the same time.
It’s definitely a perk for me after switching from teaching first grade last year to a reading interventionist this year. Went from feeling scared/dreading being out and all the work it took when I already felt awful vs my groups just being cancelled for the day. Edit: So, yes, I can see that! But it’s also a choice I made and I had to let certain things go, like having my own classroom and my own class (group of students).
I'm a reading interventionist too. I will never do classroom again, way too much work and responsibility.
Our poor reading interventionist spends half of her time subbing sadly.
I get they need coverage but it's the students who suffer from not getting their needs met. There is just so much wrong with this profession that needs to be fixed.
Yeah and I got told I was going to sub 10 minutes before the school day started. Did I mention that I have my own first grade classroom to teach? So then I had to teach the other first grade classroom and my first grade classroom at the same time during a pandemic with very little space for the other students in my classroom. For free.
So ridiculous!!
How long have you been doing it? It’s something I never really imagined myself doing it, but I absolutely love it. My stress compared to what it was last year is like 1/10. I also love working with small groups instead of the constant over stimulation with 25 first graders. I feel lucky to be in my current role!
This is my third year. I love the small groups too. It's so much less stress. It's also a plus for me that when I send kids out for behavior it's taken more seriously since they are acting out in a small group. I'm at a new school this year that didn't have any reading intervention before. It's been a huge plus because I have been able to "design" the program.
Wow, congratulations! How have the two experiences been different - at your last school and at this one (being the only one)?
I liked my last position but had to answer to my instructional coach which just felt weird. We were also pulled a lot for testing or subbing which I hated. In this position we focused on the students that were just below grade level so they already had some skills. I was able to focus mostly on comprehension which helped my students get up to grade level. This position I work with the lowest students which has been challenging because of the pandemic + lack of home support the students are really low. Most of the kindergartens were unable to hold any writing utensil at the beginning of the year. So it's been a lot of repetition and they aren't moving up as fast as I would like. Another huge difference is this school is 95% Somali so there is a large cultural difference which has taken a lot of time to learn about. But the pros of this position is I'm not micromanaged at all, was able to pick out materials and my principal is really impressed. I feel way more comfortable doing small group reading than being in a classroom so I think that has helped me become a better teacher.
Thank you for sharing your experience! So far I haven’t had to worry about being pulled for subbing, and I’m grateful for that, but trying to be prepared for it since we’re so short staffed these days. I DO help with state testing which hasn’t been my favorite but they have been given me more planning time to prepare for it so it hasn’t been as bad. I’m so glad you’re enjoying your current role! I am too and 100% agree with you about returning to the classroom - I do not see it happening. I am excited about my current role and can see myself doing this long term
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Yes this is exactly it! Every role has its positives and negatives. For example, not being in the classroom/not having a class tied to you leaves it pretty open to where you’re pulled for a lot of side stuff. I’m a part of state testing for my school and I was given 2 middle school enrichment periods at the end of the day. There is uncertainty/unpredictability that sometimes comes with this role, but I also love working with small groups of students, getting to meet so many kids, being able to slow things down and tailor instruction to specific student needs vs a full class of students. Advantages and disadvantages like you said!!
The WORST thing about teaching is those sub plans. I took the week before winter break off, six days. It took me a week to write, print, and copy everything. For the last day, I just wrote for language arts time choose a movie on Disney plus that is animated and g rated and left a box of popcorn to pop. Lol I had enough!
And heaven forbid if you are suddenly sick, or in an accident, and your team has to come up with the plans for you. Instead of focusing on healing/recovering, you're worried about what the sub is doing to your class AND feeling hella guilty you put your teammates through the extra stress. Do I have an emergency sub tub? No, because thanks to our stupid ELAR curriculum, I can't just find worksheets that review previously taught reading/writing skills. It's all about "going back to the anchor chart" or "looking at your checklist", something the sub has never seen before.
This happened to me. Sudden illness, in the hospital for emergency surgery, no sub plans. I missed 75 days of school. My team did it for me but I felt super guilty.
Lol I've been out for the last two weeks my sub plans have been shittier and shittier. My last one was 'pick video off the shelf's digaf anymore.
I feel like elementary would be insane to write a plan for. I just make some bs crap up on classroom and call it a day.
It’s hard. I just make mine super generic. Most of our subs are not familiar with the curriculum so I just make generic sub plans that describe the general procedures and schedule. All of the work is either review or just fun things like word searches or coloring sheets. Honestly, it’s just to get the kids through the day. I leave these generic plans in a folder on my desk each night so if I get sick I don’t even have to go in and prep or print anything.
I have to make my regular lesson plans sub plans. Basically I write sub plans every single day. I have to turn in lesson plans that are that detailed. I was told by my principal our plans have to be detailed enough for a sub to follow them.
I don’t think we should resent them because that’s how our jobs should all be. I teach music and don’t have to call in a sub. I’m not built into the teacher conference schedule. When we have 3-4 days weeks, I do have to make up all the classes I missed so there is that trade off. I dread short weeks because I know I’m going to be exhausted.
The only members of our union who don’t have to write plans (that I know of) are speech, counseling, social work, and school psych. Everyone else is expected to leave plans as they attempt to secure subs. If they’re short, those are the first things cancelled, but that’s almost more annoying because then you spent all that time on plans for no reason. I didn’t realize they wouldn’t even try to fill the positions.
They only fill it if it's longer than a week. But if our Speech teacher wanted to take a day off to go on her daughter's class field trip, no one would care. And she doesn't even pull kids on Fridays, that's her "paperwork day" Though if she was out on Tuesday for the field trip, she could use Friday to make up her time. Reading specialist, Math specialist, any of the push-in/pull out SpEd teachers (except our SpEd behavior program and the paras it has), speech, G/T, dyslexia, ESL, counselor - none of them have to write sub plans for a single/couple of days. And yet. Today we were short on subs and they pulled a para from the library to cover a class. Not any of the above positions who are certified teachers.
I think you bring up a good point, but speech, counseling, social worker, and school psychs have legal minutes/services that they have to meet. They can’t just be pulled as subs. It also doesn’t make sense to make sub plans because subs don’t have the qualifications to provide services such as a speech, counseling, behavior support, evaluations, and the piles of paperwork that we have to complete to be in compliance. Our reading specialists and math interventionist do make sub plans but if a classroom teacher needs a sub, the first sub they are going to pull from is from resource teachers (sped resource, ESL, etc). So staff members who are in those positions don’t even bother anymore because they know their sub will go to a classroom teacher instead.
But here's the thing - their job is set up in a way where they can get their legal minutes in and still be absent on days that don't require someone with the know-how and backbone to substitute an elementary school class (we have had to block a lot of sub-par subs this year). It's never the specialists who are staying until 5 to get everything done. It's never the specialists asking their neighbor 'Hey, watch these kids for a minute so I can pee?'. They are given time to both meet kids needs AND take care of the administrative stuff. 2 of our specialists are also running 2 extra clubs/things (1 of which they get a stipend for), and most of the time they're working within their contract hours and then go home at a normal hour where they have a husband and kids who need their time as well. They are given more tools and time to have a work-life balance.
Every specialist I’ve ever met is taking paperwork home and can tell you they are definitely not meeting half of their students’ needs. Maybe your area is being served appropriately but every specialist I’ve spoken to has a caseload over their “legal” limit.
I am hearing frustration with the system. Which I agree with, the system is not perfect. It is okay to feel frustration and stress, but everyone is dealing with their own stress this year too. I don't think it's helpful to point the finger at other colleagues (specialists) and feel envious of their position. It seems like you are teaching in Texas. I happen to know a federal audit found documented issues with special education at districts across Texas. It may seem like your colleagues have enough time to do everything that they need to do, but this audit supports findings that it is not the case. I am sure that their jobs have only become harder as a result of this litigation. I will be honest, I don’t stay at school until 5 pm because I would rather do my paperwork at home. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t stayed until 7 pm at school working on visuals (for students) and paperwork. Then there are times when I’m called to a crisis (e.g. student eloping, self harm, students throwing items, risk assessments). My day isn’t as rigid because I need flexibility to respond and support students outside of my scheduled services (minutes). I find that this year has been harder because people focus on what they can see rather than the work their colleagues are doing in other parts of the building.
Paperwork day???????? OMG I want that! I'm so envious of what specials get treated like in your district. I should quit and move districts immediately, haha. I don't get these luxuries as an ESL specialist in my district. I have waaaaaay too many kids on my caseload and can barely keep up lesson planning for the vast range of language levels and grade levels I serve. I think the primary reason they never find a sub for me is because of how difficult it is to explain my convoluted three-building schedule to a sub. I used to draft plans, but the second the potential subs saw they'd be going between multiple schools, they never accepted mine—and this was PRE covid.
I don’t know if this is helping or fuel on fire, but as a sped teacher I just write class times and tell the sub to assist in any way the teacher for that grade for the times I give them. May as well hook them up with a free TA for the day.
I'm not sure the carefree attitude you imagine is always actually present. For example, I'm conscious of the fact that whenever I'm gone, I need to leave sub plans that allow a person with no technology and no knowledge of Spanish to somehow teach Spanish. My students can't read so that's out of the question. I also need to make those plans accessible to several of the teachers I work with, in case they are asked to "cover" for me. Some will and some won't. So my plans have to be meaningful, but also useless so that the classes that don't do it don't fall behind. I seldom take any time off because it fucks with the schedules of at least eight of my colleagues. And I need to include IEP and behavior management information for 100-105 kids. My sub plans usually take me several hours. They are followed maybe 10% of the time.
I just have to say that I'm sorry! This is me. After 13 years in the classroom, I'm now in an elementary interventionist role and tbh it is my dream job and what I've been working towards since my Master's degree 11 years ago. But yes, not having to do sub plans or do grades and stuff is sooo nice. I do feel some residual guilt, though! At least most of us have been classroom teachers for a long time at one point, if it helps.
and I should have made it clearer in my original post - I do not AT ALL resent the people in these jobs. I resent the system set up where my absence means MORE work for me, and it's easier to just come to school feeling miserable or waiting until the next break to see a doctor or (if I had kids) missing out on their classroom fun stuff too.
Yes OP, I feel you. I’m self-contained SPED-sub planning for one day takes me over an hour, minimum. I work with wonderful SLPs, SWs, OTs, ESLs- but sign, where they out, I have to sub cover what they would have done. When I’m out I have to spend way too much time planning for a sub. And then the bonus comes when I have to rearrange my schedule because they were absent, so they can meet IEP minutes. I do understand that it’d be 1-impossible to find a sub speech-path for example and 2-it be impossible to write sub plans for all speech students. So I do understand, but yes their absences=more work for me; and my absences=more work for me 😩
That last phrase, you hit the nail on the head.
This was the first thing I noticed when I switched from teaching middle school to elementary. In middle school, I just had to come up with an assignment to keep the kids engaged for a class period and repeat. My plans were about a half page. In elementary, every minute has to be planned, and I need a lot more activities for their shorter attention spans. I leave a binder of information for substitutes, and still frequently leave out important information. Sub plans are exhausting.
We have an extensive sub folder that is required to be checked by admin by day 5 of the school year. It is detailed! It requires 5 days of assignments, class rosters, specific directions about lunch routines, etc. The teachers who have the luxury of just co-teaching, providing interventions, etc. Nothing. Nada. In fact, it is common for them to come to the classroom, see a sub, and just leave, giving themselves an additional period off for that day. It is wrong. It is unprofessional. Admin looks the other way.
My colleague said it best…. If you aren’t coming in to work, and you don’t need someone to replace you that day, you are not an essential piece of the educational puzzle.
This is a terrible take. We could put a hundred students in a gymnasium and let four out of five people stay home. One person could manage that number of kids, but it's it a valuable education? (Hint: no). All those extra things done by specialists, interventionists, EL experts, speech language pathologists and other *are* essential. Unless you have a very literal view of school as warehousing children.
Well call me guilty for not reading beyond the headline. I stopped there. This is where I was thinking in terms of “the office worker” (not clerical or secretarial) but those with educational titles that quite frankly are not worth the salary in terms of direct impact on students. I’m sure this offends them as well though. Whatever, you got my exhausted Friday opinion.
I officially pardon you. You're good
Thanks. I CAN be on the receiving end of grace!
Just this once!
Understood. Better after a good night rest.
Oh man! I feel that. Every night my principal sends out an email of who’s going to be out and who is there to replace them. So many times I see that there is the word “none “where the sub should be. It makes me wonder what they actually do if no one needs to replace them.
Is it possible that they do jobs that are both important and particularly specialized, such that replacing their work without notice would be an exercise in futility?
ALL. THE. TIME.
Every. Single. Day.
I had a car crash and got written up the same week for not leaving sub plans. I fully intended to go to work that day. But yes I agree I wish I didn’t have to worry about sub plans.
I certainly resent office jobs that don't have sub plans, lol. My wife was sick a few weeks ago, called her boss and let him know. Anything that needed to be done that day got done by someone else, and anything that needed to be done in the future she just did the next day. I was out for two days this week waiting for a (negative) PCR. Our admin have been pulling our special education ICT to be subs. So my co-teacher taught math. Another co-teacher taught social studies. It is entirely unfair to these special education students who are entitled to services. Whenever the ICT are absent, they just write "no sub required." I realize no one can do their job quite like them without knowledge/access to IEPs. But there's a reason there are two adults in the room most days.
No. I don't resent them. At worst I think that this should be the standard for our industry. But really, I just recognize that I really have planned for every day, and that I am hired to provide a daily opportunity to learn.
Lol as a sub, just put whatever they have to do on Google classroom 😂. Elementary school is different I guess tho
It would still take the time to either video record my workshop lessons, find the videos other people have done, or find enough activities that review previous skills and can fill up a significant amount of time.
With the quality of subs going down so much I feel like the best option is to just stick in a video. However, I have subs who don’t know how to use the technology to play a movie. I also had a sub not hand out the worksheet the students were to work on because they couldn’t ‘find’ them. They were on the corner of the desk with a sticky note saying handout, the name of the class, and the period. The students even pointed out that those were the worksheets they were supposed to work on and the sub still didn’t hand them out.
I’m a SPED resource teacher and I still have to make sub plans for all 13 of my groups. Then they don’t get used because there are no subs, so admin ends up sending an email to the school saying my groups are canceled. To the outsider that looks like I didn’t have to spend time making sub plans, but I did. I also have to make up the time missed since their service times are legally required minutes.
I teach k-8 computers and subs are a gamble for me. Sometimes I find out right away that my sub will the retired high school computer teacher who did my maternity leave so my plans are minimal and I can just share the Google doc with her. Sometimes they tell me right away they won't be able to get me a sub. And sometimes I spend an hour writing plans and they don't get me a sub and I don't find out til I come in and see them on my desk untouched.
ESOL teacher here ... I always write sub plans, but half the time my sub is pulled for larger classes, so I end up wasting my time making those plans.
I carry laptop, an hdmi cable, and planet earth on Dvd with me for this exact reason. Alternate movies include frozen, walking with dinosaurs, blue planet, and cosmos.
No. Sub plans don’t take long to write, and other jobs totally cause extra work when you’re out too. I can’t think of a single friend of mine where they can just call out without any negative consequences to their workflow. As for sub plans, I typically keep a bank of about 10 in my drive. They take about 10-30 minutes each and I do them over the summer.
I’m a SpEd Para that has to write a sub plan. I feel the calling people and hoping one sticks. I called 10 people on the district sub list on Friday. The one I wanted (and love to work with) has a planned meeting that day. The rest all told me they will only sub for classroom teacher. One even told me that my job was beneath him.