Makeup of the average week

My history teacher taught me that a soldiers life in the Civil War was 10% terror and 90% boredom.  I believe the life of a sub is very similar.  Let's start with the terror.  Terror comes from never knowing what I will find waiting for me in a school. The same designation as history, math, or even fourth grade teacher can vary in classroom responsibilieties from school to school.  I once had a fourth grade designation, but taught only the math, science and writing for several fourth grade groups.  Sometimes I never know what type of students I might get.  Sometimes I have the talented students, sometimes the special ed students.  At a high school I could get anything from troubled freshman to graduating seniors.  I can have AP classes or just students learning things I know nothing about.

Another part of the terror is always in the lesson plans.  Some days I get fabulous, well thought out plans.  The best plans are detailed while being brief.  Other days,  I get a few sentences only specifying what students are to work on during the day.  No specification of due dates or any instructions for general classroom expectations and procedures.  On the most terrifying days, I receive no lesson plans and spend the first few minutes of my work day in a panic trying to figure out what I am supposed to do for the day.  Luckily I have always had another teacher appear or disover a late night e-mail that quickly details the work for the day.  These are usually the briefest lesson plans creating a chaotic day.  Another terrifying moment is when I realize the lesson plans are not enough to fill the class time.  Usually this is not too big of a problem in elementary schools.  These days I just go on to the next subject and try to spend a little extra time explaining to make up the extra time.

Terror also includes unruly classes, or particularly beligerent children.  These types can appear at any time so there is the constant terror of knowing you may have to manage a difficult situation at any time.

Boredom seems to take up the most part of my day.  Usually the plans in junior high or high school include overseeing a project that the students already know how to do or watching a film.  I also usually have an at least fifty minute planning period with no kids and nothing to do.  Elementary school usually isn't quite as bad.  I often spend recess and specialists time to prepare for whatever the next subject is.  Sometimes in elementary school though, students spend extended times at specialists, have a special movie day, or just have down time for the teacher when the kids are working quietly on a project.  Note to full-time classroom teachers: please leave detailed lesson plans and extra grading for your sub.