Parking

Knowing where to park my car at a new building is always a bit of a challenge.  I get to the school and wonder should I park in visitor parking? Staff?  General?  All these questions while I'm just trying to get into the builiding on time.    I don't feel as a sub I should park in the staff parking because I would feel terrible taking another teacher's usual spot.  As for the other two, it depends on where I am.  Elementary schools generally do not have large parking lots, but in the morning there are many spaces in the general lot available.  Elementary school do often have many different portals of entry to parking lots and often have one area that is enter only and one area that is exit only. 

Junior High schools I have found to be the easiest to park at.  There usually aren't a lot of parents or other volunteers that come here, so parking is generally wide open.  High schools, however, are the strangest beasts to figure out parking.  At high schools, the students can all drive and are easily upset when someone parks in their lot.   Each high school seems to have their own way of parking control.  My very first day subbing I was at a high school and was very nearly late to class because they were very particular about their parking.  They prefer to have subs park in the assigned parking slot for the staff member they are subbing for.  Usually, though, for half-day subs, this option is not available.  In that case, I have to find the parking/traffic director so he can tell me where I am to park.  I've started at this school though in the afternoon where there is no parking director and no way of knowing where to park.  These days I just try to park far away where there are several open spots so as to try and appease the most people.  The problem with knowing the parking policy is that you never know what you are supposed to do until you get inside and look through the sub information for the school.  Either that or you do something wrong and get the parking police after you.  Either way, sometimes the hardest part of my sub day is just getting into the door.

Early Release

It's every students favorite day.  The day they get to go home early.  Two hours of free time devoted to video games or sports while their teachers attend meetings or prep for the coming week.  As a sub, these days are great because there are fewer lessons to have to figure out for the day.  But often, when the students leave, there is nothing to occupy those two hours except the emphatic click of the clock (or the silently meandering digital clock). 

On fortunate days, I am given something to copy, correct, or construct from the teacher I am subbing for.  On less fortunate days, I am stuck looking for something to fill the void in space.  Sometimes surrounding teachers swoop and in gladly except any help available.  High school and junior high schools are great for needed extra help doing anything from correcting papers to designing bulletin boards for the less artistically inclined teachers.  Elementary schools are usually much more sparse in their needs at the time.  Teachers are usually wisked into some sort of conference, team meetings, or other tasks in the first half hour after the students leave.  If I don't find something to spend my skills on in those first few minutes, I'm usually left, like I am now, staring at a computer screen wondering exactly what I am allowed to do that isn't considered a misuse of school property.  Hopefully blogging about my experiences counts as an enriching activity.

Attendance

Most schools have a strict attendance policy.  I know all of this goes to federal laws about kids attending school and keeping records and reporting truancy as mandated.  This poses a problem though for substitutes.  Taking attendance with a room full of strangers is hard!!  Usually, for high school or junior high schools, this process is outlined clearly in the information in a sub folder with proper forms and details regarding submission of attendance.  At the schools I've been to, this process can be as simple as turning in a form at the end of the day or sending a runner to the attendance office at the beginning of each class period.

Surprising to me, the most difficult schools to take attendance at is the elementary schools.  Every full-day job I have had at an elementary school has been incredibly difficult regarding attendance.  First, elementary schools don't always have a sub folder that clearly spells out how the particular school would like to receive said attendance.  And, teacher's often do not give me the folder when the school does require it.  Also, there are numerous pull-out programs in elementary schools.  At any given time, I could have three or four students working with an ELL specialist, in the resource room, or working with a reading group.  Also, elementary teachers often work with their partner teacher and split reading or math according to skill level (one teacher will take the high readers from both classes while the other takes the low readers).  One school I was given no attendance instructions and then called in the middle of reading class to take attendance when half of my mysterious faces were with the other teacher and thirteen new ones sat in their desks.  Another day it took me fifteen minutes working with the reading specialist outside my room to call the other specialist to find out where all my kids were.

Every day I am taken by surprise at things that take me by surprise at school.  Each day is a new adventure.

The system

Substituting has gone hi-tech.  Instead of waiting for someone to call me for a sub position, I go online to an automated system to find jobs.  I log in and press the search for jobs button.  On a lucky day, one or two different possible assignments appears on the cue.  If I want to take the job, I simply click on the assignment and then click the accept job button.

However, most days I'm not so lucky.  Usually I spend hours searching the site, hitting the search again button over and over.  On these days, I see the red "All available positions are filled" message with each refreshing screen.  Occasionally it will take longer to refresh, and I think that this time the screen will load with a new and exciting job for me to fill.  Most the time, I am continually disappointed with the glaring red message.

I think I have it down to a system now.  Finding jobs that is.  When I'm at school, I log onto the system from my computer and try to search a couple times an hour, hoping to find something for the next day.  If I don't find something by the time I get home, I spend the next hour or two refreshing the site every other minute until I give up on a job or I find something.

When the black and blue block pops on my screen, my heart starts beating rapidly as I search over the job description.  I know I must move fast because other vultures circle the site hoping to get a job for their own.  My brain switches into overdrive as I punch the button to learn the details of the job.  I try to process all the pertinent questions for the job.  Where is the school?  Is it too far away.  What time of day is the job for?  What does the teacher teach?  Should I accept a half day now, or do I think a full day job will come along later today?  I scan this information, often not processing what I see fast enough, then I try to make the right decision.

Again, on bad days, the job gets taken in the thirty seconds I take to click "accept job."  But the right day, at the right time, I get the job confirmed screen.  The screen warms my heart as I know that I will have work the next day.  I breathe easier and am finally able to relax and enjoy my evening.  I know that tomorrow, I get to be Mrs. Teacher again.