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Confessions of a substitute teacher
Topics: teaching, substitute teacher
Posted by admin Tue Mar 25, 2008 14:45:57 PDT
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I actually love your kids.  Your students are well behaved and adorable.  They're smart.  I spoil them.  It's a vacation from my real life.  The hours are incredible.  It pays well.  I do have favorite classes.  Minimum days are the greatest.  I hate yard duty.

 

I want to come back.  But not forever.

 

These are the confessions of a permanent substitute teacher.  I don't want to teach full-time.  I don't want to conduct parent-teacher conferences, I don't want to make lesson plans, and I really don’t want to do all of those art projects that look so good hanging on your wall.  In short, I do not want the responsibility that goes along with working full-time in a classroom.

 

Instead, teachers, I want to be the one who makes your leave a happy one— like your friendly flight attendant, whose job it is to make your vacation (from work) as pleasant as possible.  “Thank you for choosing Dana Martin’s substitute services today.  I know you had a choice in replacements, thank you for choosing me.”

 

Most people consider the substitute teaching position as a temporary stop on the way to the teaching credential, a layover on their college itinerary—a rite of passage, if you will, in becoming a full-time, retirement-building, benefit-having member on the food chain of education.  It’s where soon-to-be educators gain classroom experience, earn their stripes, and pay their dues. 

 

"So, when will you be finished with the credential program?"

 

Never.  That's when.  I never started it.  Who will stand-in for you if all the subs keep getting teaching degrees?  It would be like a football team with no second-string quarterback.  A baseball team with only one pitcher in the bullpen.

 

For some of us, substitute teaching is a permanent temporary position.  I don’t aspire to anything more because I’m happy being behind the scene.  Teachers are like the main event and substitutes are the backstage crew.  There is a need for us as there is for a nurse in surgery.  We can’t all be doctors, after all.  I am the body double, the understudy.  I’m in triple-A ball, with no desire for a call to the big leagues.  I am prepared for that 5:30 a.m. wake-up when someone else’s child has a fever.  

 

Substitute teachers are the spare tire of the classroom.  You don’t think about them until you really need one, and then you’re grateful to find you have a good one nearby.

 

I take over, but I can’t take credit.  You teachers are in the trenches every day doing the real work that molds young minds.  Often, you trade precious family time for after hours, off-the-clock school responsibilities.  I am the child of a teaching parent; maybe that's why I sub.  I know too well the sacrifices teachers and their families make.  It's now my job to be there when you're not, and you can be sure that all is well in your absence.

 

I look at my job as an opportunity to make a small difference.  I’m a fresh face, a fresh perspective.  I am ignorant of a class’ preexisting disciplinary problems, and my nerves are not yet frayed by overuse.  I am unfazed by any shortcomings in the educational system because I’m not privy to problems inherent in most school districts.  I don’t have to worry about standards testing. 

 

In a way, I get to be Grandma for a day: spoil ‘em and send ‘em home.

 

I can float into a classroom on a happy breeze, follow the plans, straighten the desk, grade some papers, make some kids smile, and leave.  I hope that both teacher and students feel a benefit from my having been there.

 

So, when you see a substitute teacher at school, say hello.  Better yet, give your sub a hug.  I may not have a teaching credential, but what I do have is nearly as coveted: the ability to be there when you can't.

 

And I’m glad to do it, so rest easy.  Your charges are in loving hands.

 

*Dana Martin is now editor of The Southwest Voice

 

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