Long term sub not teaching much

[Anonymous]

Isn't there a 90 day max, for long term substitutes? I think it's a state of VA law?

[Anonymous]

It depends on what subject. Math and foreign language build up and if you don’t learn something this year it will be hard to do well next year. If it is history or biology then not as big of a deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't there a 90 day max, for long term substitutes? I think it's a state of VA law?

There’s plenty if workarounds to this. Plus 90 days is 4.5 months of work (without breaks). That’s half the year.

[Anonymous]

We have a good long term sub right now, in upper elementary school. She’s trying very hard to keep the kids up to speed—very thankful for her even though it’s not the same as having our regular teacher. She is on the career switcher track, so not planning to be a sub forever. Hope this semester doesn’t scare her off!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe speak to the grade level administrator— to ask if LT subs are provided with lesson plans, and how the school provides support to the students and to the sub when / if the lesson plans run out.

It's a subject where each year builds on previous. I would do this, but am afraid it might come across wrong. I would want it to be a way to get more support for the sub, but could backfire. If I knew the admin well I'd say something, but some admins instantly turn on the teacher and it is a nice person who the kids like and there is some teaching going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a long-term sub, though not in high school. In my experience, the school needs to have a specific plan for the sub to execute, rather than leaving it up to the sub to make lesson plans with no support. I did great teaching my class during the first week when there was a prearranged lesson plan, worksheets, etc. for me. However, after that, it was very difficult getting any kind of guidance from the grade level team as to what I should be teaching next. Remember - subs aren’t teachers and don’t have access to all the things a permanent teacher would have.

Long Term subs are not provided lesson plans. Usually if a teacher knows they will be out, they will provide several weeks of plans. After that, you are on your own. Hopefully the CT/department provides some guidance, but with the current demands placed on them, they just don’t have the bandwith to help in a meaningful way. This is why long term subs are paid at a higher rate. I’m not saying it is enough pay or that the level of help should not be substantially more, but it is the reality of the situation.

+1, and they still send emails to parents, grading, conferences and progress reports. Then, because of the pay they often don’t want to workers hours beyond what they getting paid for.

Ok, I'm the long-term sub who wrote about my experience, above. How are LTS supposed to know how to handle parents, grading, conferences, and progress reports? There is zero training given in any of these areas. I will remember this in the future and avoid all LT assignments if taking them means that I will be doing a deep dive into all of these areas and expected to somehow pick it up on my own. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see why anyone would long term sub. I think it’s only $3 an hour more and you have to do all your own planning, communicating with parents, etc. Unless the teaching market was such that it was hard to find a job and you wanted to get known at a school to be hired in the future, I don’t see a point. It’s not enough money and no benefits. You could easily have a regular sub job daily if you wanted.

It’s about $6 more an hour. Not saying that makes it worth it, just posting the link.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY23-hourly-substitute-and-homebound-rates.pdf

Terrible pay. Under $25/hr, no benefits and all of the responsibility and hassle of a regular teaching job including working last contract hours unpaid if you want to even do the minimum to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a good long term sub right now, in upper elementary school. She’s trying very hard to keep the kids up to speed—very thankful for her even though it’s not the same as having our regular teacher. She is on the career switcher track, so not planning to be a sub forever. Hope this semester doesn’t scare her off!

Are the kids respectful of her? The last time I subbed, the kids - barring about six of them - were awful. The boys were fighting/wrestling on the floor and/or running around the room. The girls were constantly talking. A couple of kids in particular absolutely refused to listen to direction or anything at all I asked them to do. I'm not a yeller but I found myself yelling all day, just to be heard. It was absolutely miserable. Lower elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a long-term sub, though not in high school. In my experience, the school needs to have a specific plan for the sub to execute, rather than leaving it up to the sub to make lesson plans with no support. I did great teaching my class during the first week when there was a prearranged lesson plan, worksheets, etc. for me. However, after that, it was very difficult getting any kind of guidance from the grade level team as to what I should be teaching next. Remember - subs aren’t teachers and don’t have access to all the things a permanent teacher would have.

Long Term subs are not provided lesson plans. Usually if a teacher knows they will be out, they will provide several weeks of plans. After that, you are on your own. Hopefully the CT/department provides some guidance, but with the current demands placed on them, they just don’t have the bandwith to help in a meaningful way. This is why long term subs are paid at a higher rate. I’m not saying it is enough pay or that the level of help should not be substantially more, but it is the reality of the situation.

+1, and they still send emails to parents, grading, conferences and progress reports. Then, because of the pay they often don’t want to workers hours beyond what they getting paid for.

Ok, I'm the long-term sub who wrote about my experience, above. How are LTS supposed to know how to handle parents, grading, conferences, and progress reports? There is zero training given in any of these areas. I will remember this in the future and avoid all LT assignments if taking them means that I will be doing a deep dive into all of these areas and expected to somehow pick it up on my own. No thanks.

Grade level partners pick up a ton of slack with grading, etc. Lots of new teachers without traditional teaching training are in the same situation as long term subs. More and more new teachers are coming from there alternative teaching programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a good long term sub right now, in upper elementary school. She’s trying very hard to keep the kids up to speed—very thankful for her even though it’s not the same as having our regular teacher. She is on the career switcher track, so not planning to be a sub forever. Hope this semester doesn’t scare her off!

Are the kids respectful of her? The last time I subbed, the kids - barring about six of them - were awful. The boys were fighting/wrestling on the floor and/or running around the room. The girls were constantly talking. A couple of kids in particular absolutely refused to listen to direction or anything at all I asked them to do. I'm not a yeller but I found myself yelling all day, just to be heard. It was absolutely miserable. Lower elementary.

That sounds like some of my ES classes over the past few years and I'm a veteran teacher.

[Anonymous]

Be prepared to have this sub the entire year, and get a tutor ASAP if it’s math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe speak to the grade level administrator— to ask if LT subs are provided with lesson plans, and how the school provides support to the students and to the sub when / if the lesson plans run out.

It's a subject where each year builds on previous. I would do this, but am afraid it might come across wrong. I would want it to be a way to get more support for the sub, but could backfire. If I knew the admin well I'd say something, but some admins instantly turn on the teacher and it is a nice person who the kids like and there is some teaching going on.

Ok. Then would it make sense to speak directly with the sub and ask what sort of support from parents might be helpful — and might not be?

My thought is that it’s possible that there are other teachers who could share lesson plans, lesson plans from a previous year, or some way to get a bit of help for the teacher — and that a parent with suggestions might get more attention than a sub. I appreciate your concerns though, and take them very seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a good long term sub right now, in upper elementary school. She’s trying very hard to keep the kids up to speed—very thankful for her even though it’s not the same as having our regular teacher. She is on the career switcher track, so not planning to be a sub forever. Hope this semester doesn’t scare her off!

Are the kids respectful of her? The last time I subbed, the kids - barring about six of them - were awful. The boys were fighting/wrestling on the floor and/or running around the room. The girls were constantly talking. A couple of kids in particular absolutely refused to listen to direction or anything at all I asked them to do. I'm not a yeller but I found myself yelling all day, just to be heard. It was absolutely miserable. Lower elementary.

That sounds like some of my ES classes over the past few years and I'm a veteran teacher.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe speak to the grade level administrator— to ask if LT subs are provided with lesson plans, and how the school provides support to the students and to the sub when / if the lesson plans run out.

It's a subject where each year builds on previous. I would do this, but am afraid it might come across wrong. I would want it to be a way to get more support for the sub, but could backfire. If I knew the admin well I'd say something, but some admins instantly turn on the teacher and it is a nice person who the kids like and there is some teaching going on.

Ok. Then would it make sense to speak directly with the sub and ask what sort of support from parents might be helpful — and might not be?

My thought is that it’s possible that there are other teachers who could share lesson plans, lesson plans from a previous year, or some way to get a bit of help for the teacher — and that a parent with suggestions might get more attention than a sub. I appreciate your concerns though, and take them very seriously.

I only know elementary school teachers personally, but one I know well has a long term sub on her team, and yes, the full time teachers basically share lesson plans at the beginning. But at a certain point, the long term sub needs to respond to his/her own classroom.

Seeing the pay (which is actually a little more than I thought), I would consider taking long term sub jobs in my field (the arts) after I retire from my actual profession. I won't need benefits, and for a subject I know well, I think it might be fun to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids in high school has a long term sub everyone likes, but he seems to have given up teaching. They have lots of catch up days and he stopped posting tests and quizzes. He just tells them the class before and it's random. So frustrating. My daughter loves the class because it's a breeze, but she is going to be so behind when the teacher comes back and has to catch them up. I choose my battles and letting this one slide and just trying to catch her up myself since it's a subject I know well.

Anyone else dealing with a long term sub who barely teachers? usually they have been pretty good.

Yeah, that’s what happens when parents, politicians and administrators drive teachers away from the profession in record numbers.

You’re lucky there’s a sub period.