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I am a retired teacher who has been subbing for the last few years. I have always had great feedback from the teachers and schools where I worked. I only sub in two districts and was hoping to increase my subbing this year so I signed up as a possible sub in a HS in a nearby district. I was called once last October for a special education position and never called again.
Today I was talking to the sub. service that schedules jobs and asked them to check why I haven't been receiving vacancies from that district (I would have done it sooner but I have been pretty busy subbing in the other two districts). I was stunned to find out that they put me on the "do not call again" list because I "did not offer to help other special education teachers during my down time". I remember that day and to the best of my recollection the only "down time" that I had was my lunch break and the teacher's scheduled prep time (free period).
I do not recall being asked to help anyone, and I certainly would have helped if someone said that they needed my help. Either I was confused about what "prep time (free period)" means at that HS or I misread the schedule or something. Maybe they have an "unwritten rule" that subs do not get prep time. In that case someone really needs to tell the sub before putting them on the "do not call again" list.
Sheesh! If is now six months later and hard to remember everything about that one particular day. I just feel horrible if the other special education teachers were expecting me (the sub teacher for their colleague) to offer to help them and I didn't offer. At my other two HS occasionally students would use the computers in your classroom or you may be asked to watch the class next door for a few minutes but 95% of the time your lunch time and prep periods/free periods were your times to catch your breath, get set for the next class, go to the bathroom, eat lunch, etc.
My question to my fellow teachers is: At your HS are sub. teachers (especially in special education) expected to ask other teachers if they need help during the prep time/free period of the absent teacher?
Thank you.
Last edited by germaine2626; 04-14-2014 at 11:55 AM..
I've subbed at nine different high schools and I was never expected to ask other teachers if they need help during the prep time. I am occasionally asked by the office secretary to cpver another class during the prep period. I have also been in a shared resource special ed. classroom with other teachers and aides, and I will offer to help students if anyone needs assistance or just walk around and look for students to help.
In my district, subs have the prep time to themselves unless we are short subs. The office is required to have subs cover classes before they ask the teachers to sell their preps. The subs are not compensated for losing their prep. If they are not asked to cover for a sub shortage, then their prep is their own.
I think it's very strange. I can't imagine expecting a sub to offer to do anything beyond what's in the plans - how would she know that was expected or even appropriate? If they didn't tell you, then it's their problem, not yours. Also, it could have been a mistake or misunderstanding somehow. I also wouldn't expect any sub to skip lunch or not have a prep period - I've subbed plenty and that prep period was necessary. When else was I supposed to read the teacher's plans and familiarize myself with the materials? Sounds to me like a screw up on their end, not yours. If I was really concerned about it, I'd maybe email the principal of that school or the head of special ed or something and get some clarification.
I think it's very strange. I can't imagine expecting a sub to offer to do anything beyond what's in the plans - how would she know that was expected or even appropriate? If they didn't tell you, then it's their problem, not yours. Also, it could have been a mistake or misunderstanding somehow. I also wouldn't expect any sub to skip lunch or not have a prep period - I've subbed plenty and that prep period was necessary. When else was I supposed to read the teacher's plans and familiarize myself with the materials? Sounds to me like a screw up on their end, not yours. If I was really concerned about it, I'd maybe email the principal of that school or the head of special ed or something and get some clarification.
I agree that it was strange and probably some type of mix-up. The sub teacher placement center was going to contact the school & district and try to get it straightened out for me. At worst, the school will never let me sub there again, and at best they will remove those comments from my record and allow me to start subbing again (possibly on probation).
Man, I have had 33 plus years of successful teaching experience , 5 years of successful substitute teaching, hold both a bachelors & masters degree in education and now a school where I subbed one time puts me on their "do not call again" list and never told me about it.
If I do sub there again I will ask the front office and co-workers and other subs if there are any "unwritten rules" that I need to know about. I suspect that I will try to be as extra helpful as I can those first days.
Thank for letting me vent and telling me what is common in you HS.
In high schools I subbed at, subs did not get the prep time unless the office had nothing for them to do. We were expected to ask in the office. If they didn't need anyone, then we had the period free.
I think it depends on how long the prep is, to be honest. Subs don't need prep other than it gives them a chance to go to the bathroom and breathe a little. So it is one thing to have a 30 minute prep time to just sit around and another to have a 90 minute prep. At the last high school I was at the teachers were expected to monitor the halls during half of their prep at desks where they usually graded papers and the subs were expected to be out there the whole prep except bathroom time. I didn't mind at all, I just read a book and asked kids to show their passes. No big deal but it was explained at the beginning of the day that you had to report to the office during your prep. If they were short subs you were expected to cover the class rather than a regular classroom teacher.
All that said, making subs do office work or busy work just because you want them to "earn their money" is petty. I do think that sometimes regular teachers and office people forget how very little pay subs make and that they get zero benefits.
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My question to my fellow teachers is: At your HS are sub. teachers (especially in special education) expected to ask other teachers if they need help during the prep time/free period of the absent teacher?
At our school, subs are routinely stopped by the sub coordinator (the attendance clerk on our campus) as soon as they sign in for the day and given an alternate assignment for any "prep" periods the teacher they're subbing for might have. Which makes sense if you think about it, since the subs don't have anything to "prep." They aren't responsible for grade entry, writing lesson plans, calling parents, etc. So often that's working in the office doing secretarial type stuff, or monitoring the lunch room (they do get a 30 minute lunch no matter what as it's state law for all teachers) during the prep, or subbing in another teacher's room (maybe that teacher just needed a half day sub and they could get two subs to cover the half day because of the way their preps fall.)
In something like special ed (which at our school depending on what kind of special ed is often team taught) yes, the sub would be expected to help out, not take a break and read the newspaper or whatever. Or at least offer. Sometimes there's nothing they need help with (some of my classes are team taught too) but I know my preps never result in me having enough time to just take a break, and if the sub had no lesson plans to write, no responsibilities beyond being there for the 8 hours of the school day, and I were teaching the whole day in a co-teaching scenario, I would expect them to be "on" and helping the whole time I was teaching, not just taking a break to chill and read the paper, go to the bathroom when I couldn't, etc. And certain kinds of sub jobs do result in a lot of down time (if the teacher has a movie/worksheet for the kids, etc) but I know I've put subs on the "do not call" list if every time I gave them a task in a co-teaching situation (while I taught), they did it and then hid in back and read the paper rather than coming to see what they could do next. My view has always been if I don't get any downtime, why would they? I'm not getting downtime during my prep either. I'm always on the move to prep for the next class.
I am a retired teacher who has been subbing for the last few years. I have always had great feedback from the teachers and schools where I worked. I only sub in two districts and was hoping to increase my subbing this year so I signed up as a possible sub in a HS in a nearby district. I was called once last October for a special education position and never called again.
Today I was talking to the sub. service that schedules jobs and asked them to check why I haven't been receiving vacancies from that district (I would have done it sooner but I have been pretty busy subbing in the other two districts). I was stunned to find out that they put me on the "do not call again" list because I "did not offer to help other special education teachers during my down time". I remember that day and to the best of my recollection the only "down time" that I had was my lunch break and the teacher's scheduled prep time (free period).
I do not recall being asked to help anyone, and I certainly would have helped if someone said that they needed my help. Either I was confused about what "prep time (free period)" means at that HS or I misread the schedule or something. Maybe they have an "unwritten rule" that subs do not get prep time. In that case someone really needs to tell the sub before putting them on the "do not call again" list.
Sheesh! If is now six months later and hard to remember everything about that one particular day. I just feel horrible if the other special education teachers were expecting me (the sub teacher for their colleague) to offer to help them and I didn't offer. At my other two HS occasionally students would use the computers in your classroom or you may be asked to watch the class next door for a few minutes but 95% of the time your lunch time and prep periods/free periods were your times to catch your breath, get set for the next class, go to the bathroom, eat lunch, etc.
My question to my fellow teachers is: At your HS are sub. teachers (especially in special education) expected to ask other teachers if they need help during the prep time/free period of the absent teacher?
Thank you.
Yes, subs are expected to cover other classes or help out in other ways during the prep of the teacher they are covering. I always put this reminder in my sub plans because some of the subs "forget" to check in the office during the prep period.
The assumption is that subs don't have to grade or actual prep for the next class. If that wasn't made clear to you, I would explain that and ask for another chance.
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