What are your overall experiences working as a substitute teacher within FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

This only works if admin is receptive. At the schools in which I have subbed, the principal and assistant principal do NOT want to be bothered with disruptive students. It is frowned upon to bring them to the front office. I suppose that way they can pretend there aren’t actually any disruptive students and everything is going along smoothly. I now avoid those schools altogether.

I'm a teacher and former sub and I don't blame you. There are tons of unfilled sub jobs every single day. Subs are not paid enough to put up with crappy treatment or lack of support if a student is out of control.

+1
I'm considering no longer subbing this year. It's too bad - FCPS is losing out not only on great teachers, but also great subs who are responsible, conscientious, intelligent, and caring. If they were truly worried about losing this talent, they would immediately change their discipline policies so that disruptive kids are *removed* from the classroom after three infractions, period. Principals and ass't. principals need to be fully present and willing to help the teachers with disruptive students, rather than pretending they don't exist. The teacher/sub and other students shouldn't have to pay for the bad behavior of one or two kids.

I'm a former teacher-you couldn't pay me enough to walk in to the unknown every day. And of course the chilly office staff that friends who sub tell me about. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

Can a sub show a movie without a computer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

Can a sub show a movie without a computer?

Subs are given a computer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

This only works if admin is receptive. At the schools in which I have subbed, the principal and assistant principal do NOT want to be bothered with disruptive students. It is frowned upon to bring them to the front office. I suppose that way they can pretend there aren’t actually any disruptive students and everything is going along smoothly. I now avoid those schools altogether.

I'm a teacher and former sub and I don't blame you. There are tons of unfilled sub jobs every single day. Subs are not paid enough to put up with crappy treatment or lack of support if a student is out of control.

+1
I'm considering no longer subbing this year. It's too bad - FCPS is losing out not only on great teachers, but also great subs who are responsible, conscientious, intelligent, and caring. If they were truly worried about losing this talent, they would immediately change their discipline policies so that disruptive kids are *removed* from the classroom after three infractions, period. Principals and ass't. principals need to be fully present and willing to help the teachers with disruptive students, rather than pretending they don't exist. The teacher/sub and other students shouldn't have to pay for the bad behavior of one or two kids.

FCPS is afraid of the problem students - whose problem parents know their kids are a problem, and are well practiced at dictating how many ways their snowflake should be allowed to stay, including and not limited to blaming and targeting innocent students. Problem parents will try to shut this truth down, but parents (of non-disruptive students) need to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

This only works if admin is receptive. At the schools in which I have subbed, the principal and assistant principal do NOT want to be bothered with disruptive students. It is frowned upon to bring them to the front office. I suppose that way they can pretend there aren’t actually any disruptive students and everything is going along smoothly. I now avoid those schools altogether.

I'm a teacher and former sub and I don't blame you. There are tons of unfilled sub jobs every single day. Subs are not paid enough to put up with crappy treatment or lack of support if a student is out of control.

+1
I'm considering no longer subbing this year. It's too bad - FCPS is losing out not only on great teachers, but also great subs who are responsible, conscientious, intelligent, and caring. If they were truly worried about losing this talent, they would immediately change their discipline policies so that disruptive kids are *removed* from the classroom after three infractions, period. Principals and ass't. principals need to be fully present and willing to help the teachers with disruptive students, rather than pretending they don't exist. The teacher/sub and other students shouldn't have to pay for the bad behavior of one or two kids.

I'm a former teacher-you couldn't pay me enough to walk in to the unknown every day. And of course the chilly office staff that friends who sub tell me about. No thanks.

You would think they would be grateful - paying taxes AND subbing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "bait and switch by the front office" mean?

It means that you accept a sub position with a 1st grade class but when you arrive at the school, they send you to another class. I would refuse anything but the one I accepted. Their response will tell you all you need to know about whether you want to be a sub there.

This happened to my cousin's child's class last year multiple times. They were an "easy" level 4 classroom. The teacher would be out, the school would get a sub for the class, but the sub would be sent elsewhere in the building and cousin's kid and classmates were divided up and sent to sit in the halls outside the other 5th grade classrooms on their laptops. There wasn't room inside the classrooms, so they had to sit in the hall on the floor all day. She complained after the third time but the school actually denied it and said she must have misunderstood what her kid told her and that the idea was ridiculous. Then her child messaged her a photo of her classmates and her sitting on the floor in the hall, for the fourth time. She went to the principal supervisor but didn't get any kind of satisfactory answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "bait and switch by the front office" mean?

It means that you accept a sub position with a 1st grade class but when you arrive at the school, they send you to another class. I would refuse anything but the one I accepted. Their response will tell you all you need to know about whether you want to be a sub there.

What kind of classes would they send you to instead and in this scenario, who is subbing in the first grade class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "bait and switch by the front office" mean?

It means that you accept a sub position with a 1st grade class but when you arrive at the school, they send you to another class. I would refuse anything but the one I accepted. Their response will tell you all you need to know about whether you want to be a sub there.

This happened to my cousin's child's class last year multiple times. They were an "easy" level 4 classroom. The teacher would be out, the school would get a sub for the class, but the sub would be sent elsewhere in the building and cousin's kid and classmates were divided up and sent to sit in the halls outside the other 5th grade classrooms on their laptops. There wasn't room inside the classrooms, so they had to sit in the hall on the floor all day. She complained after the third time but the school actually denied it and said she must have misunderstood what her kid told her and that the idea was ridiculous. Then her child messaged her a photo of her classmates and her sitting on the floor in the hall, for the fourth time. She went to the principal supervisor but didn't get any kind of satisfactory answer.

Oh, I would be so pissed if my kid sat in a hall all day at school once, but four times?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "bait and switch by the front office" mean?

It means that you accept a sub position with a 1st grade class but when you arrive at the school, they send you to another class. I would refuse anything but the one I accepted. Their response will tell you all you need to know about whether you want to be a sub there.

What kind of classes would they send you to instead and in this scenario, who is subbing in the first grade class?

They often divide up a class. Half goes to one teacher and half to another. This happens frequently when they can only find one sub and they need multiple subs. They figure it's easier to divide up a first grade class than it is to divide up a fifth grade class. Or they might find a para or an ESOL teacher to cover for a teacher and send the sub to another class that needs coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

This only works if admin is receptive. At the schools in which I have subbed, the principal and assistant principal do NOT want to be bothered with disruptive students. It is frowned upon to bring them to the front office. I suppose that way they can pretend there aren’t actually any disruptive students and everything is going along smoothly. I now avoid those schools altogether.

I'm a teacher and former sub and I don't blame you. There are tons of unfilled sub jobs every single day. Subs are not paid enough to put up with crappy treatment or lack of support if a student is out of control.

+1
I'm considering no longer subbing this year. It's too bad - FCPS is losing out not only on great teachers, but also great subs who are responsible, conscientious, intelligent, and caring. If they were truly worried about losing this talent, they would immediately change their discipline policies so that disruptive kids are *removed* from the classroom after three infractions, period. Principals and ass't. principals need to be fully present and willing to help the teachers with disruptive students, rather than pretending they don't exist. The teacher/sub and other students shouldn't have to pay for the bad behavior of one or two kids.

I'm a former teacher-you couldn't pay me enough to walk in to the unknown every day. And of course the chilly office staff that friends who sub tell me about. No thanks.

PP here and I completely agree. There was one elementary school in which the office staff was super kind and friendly. The rest of the schools I've been to have had rude, cold, and condescending front office staff, who treated me (and presumably, other subs) like morons. No thanks, indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

This only works if admin is receptive. At the schools in which I have subbed, the principal and assistant principal do NOT want to be bothered with disruptive students. It is frowned upon to bring them to the front office. I suppose that way they can pretend there aren’t actually any disruptive students and everything is going along smoothly. I now avoid those schools altogether.

I'm a teacher and former sub and I don't blame you. There are tons of unfilled sub jobs every single day. Subs are not paid enough to put up with crappy treatment or lack of support if a student is out of control.

+1
I'm considering no longer subbing this year. It's too bad - FCPS is losing out not only on great teachers, but also great subs who are responsible, conscientious, intelligent, and caring. If they were truly worried about losing this talent, they would immediately change their discipline policies so that disruptive kids are *removed* from the classroom after three infractions, period. Principals and ass't. principals need to be fully present and willing to help the teachers with disruptive students, rather than pretending they don't exist. The teacher/sub and other students shouldn't have to pay for the bad behavior of one or two kids.

FCPS is afraid of the problem students - whose problem parents know their kids are a problem, and are well practiced at dictating how many ways their snowflake should be allowed to stay, including and not limited to blaming and targeting innocent students. Problem parents will try to shut this truth down, but parents (of non-disruptive students) need to know.

Yep. I had a principal refuse to call the mother of one problem student (dad was out of the picture). I asked her if she would be contacting the girl's mother and she shrugged. It was clear she wasn't about to do so. The mother herself was a bully - she would pick fights with the bus drivers and admin whenever she did happen to come to school. I could understand not wanting to deal with that kind of parent, but that does nothing to solve the problem of the kid who is ruining it for everyone else. Isn't this part of a principal's job??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It is important as a sub to let the principals know if you are struggling with a certain kid or class. They can help, if you let them know. They are desperate for subs, so they want you to return. See if you can be specific about what is difficult. Is it lack of lesson plans, or classroom management? Other teachers in the grade will likely help out if you ask. You could only take pre-arranged sub jobs, so you know there will be plans and always ask for an educational movie to be left, just in case.

If you have a particularly troublesome student, they can move that child to another class for the day, but you have to tell them.

I would be liberal with praise and tell kids if they finish all the work for the lesson, they can tell appropriate jokes or have free drawing time.

Can a sub show a movie without a computer?

Subs are given a computer.

At my ES daily substitutes aren't given laptops. Monitors do receive them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "bait and switch by the front office" mean?

It means that you accept a sub position with a 1st grade class but when you arrive at the school, they send you to another class. I would refuse anything but the one I accepted. Their response will tell you all you need to know about whether you want to be a sub there.

What kind of classes would they send you to instead and in this scenario, who is subbing in the first grade class?

The subs are often sent to special ed positions they can't fill when they post them, and regular staffers are used for the 1st grade classroom. Ie a classroom monitor or ESOL teacher on the payroll already, but who is savvy enough to refuse certain assignments.

It is terrible when schools do this: subs don't earn enough to be expected to just suck it up and be grateful for whatever work is tossed their way, front office can at least be honest with expectations.

Teachers themselves are also sometimes horrible to substitutes. They sometimes forget to cancel sub requests if their plans change and will walk into a classroom after a sub has arrived and tell them "oops sorry, decided not to take today off after all."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "bait and switch by the front office" mean?

It means that you accept a sub position with a 1st grade class but when you arrive at the school, they send you to another class. I would refuse anything but the one I accepted. Their response will tell you all you need to know about whether you want to be a sub there.

What kind of classes would they send you to instead and in this scenario, who is subbing in the first grade class?

The subs are often sent to special ed positions they can't fill when they post them, and regular staffers are used for the 1st grade classroom. Ie a classroom monitor or ESOL teacher on the payroll already, but who is savvy enough to refuse certain assignments.

It is terrible when schools do this: subs don't earn enough to be expected to just suck it up and be grateful for whatever work is tossed their way, front office can at least be honest with expectations.

Agree....this is how FCPS operates they act like everyone should be grateful for the nonsense they throw your way. I think they are still loving on their very old reputation-"we are the best". It's why that are losing SPED teachers at an alarming rate. My friend said his school needs three SPED teachers for this year.....it's an ES so pretty much half the team is not filled.

Teachers themselves are also sometimes horrible to substitutes. They sometimes forget to cancel sub requests if their plans change and will walk into a classroom after a sub has arrived and tell them "oops sorry, decided not to take today off after all."

[Anonymous]

If a sub is onsite and cancelled, are they paid for the minimum three hours?

Any suggestions for someone who might try this?