Since the school year started (and the slow approval process finally caught up), I’ve been subbing as my work. I’ve been jumping from school to school, really getting to know what schools I would like to work in. This is not a strategy for finding work so much as a way to stay afloat at a little more than half my previous salary. If I miss a day, there’s no sick leave. There’s no insurance. There’s no safety net, but it keeps me above unemployment and gets my name out there in case some school wants to hire me.
Junior high kids are really curious about college, and they’re floored that dorms don’t really have curfews (some do, I know) or that you don’t need permission from your professor to go to the bathroom. One of them found a video of someone showering in a lecture hall during class, and he was convinced it must be true.
Subbing is often dull, staring at a room of students who (depending on the school) might get chatty or, worse, harassing of my sub. Many classes are quiet and work hard on their assigned work. I saw a note from one school about how a sub can use leadership to make the job more than babysitting, but there are specific lessons to be taught, often not something I know (I’ve subbed for art, biology, and home ec, for example).
Oddly, one school I want to get back to is technically elementary, but I got to teach some English to that class (by following the lesson plan), as opposed to telling them the work and leaving them to do it. School faculty say nobody wants to sub there, but I enjoyed feeling useful again.
I do like that some students can spot me in the hall, having had me sub in their classes before, and they call me by name and give me a friendly fist bump. The other faculty are generally great. Some classes have aides to help (or to nap). Students don’t treat subs as badly as I feared at times (and when they do, I tend to avoid those schools, which isn’t really many of them). And teachers have planning bells, which I sometimes get to keep (but often get to sub in some other class during the break).
I’m not like most other subs. I have a teacher certification. I just wasn’t offered a teaching job. I’ve taught college for 20+ years. I know how to teach. At times, I miss it.
Maybe someday.
