Has anyone here been a substitute teacher?

[halfpint]

I've thought for several years now that I'd like to get into teaching.  For a multitude of reasons, I've never pursued it, mainly not wanting to spend $$$ on more education just to take a pay cut when I'm done.  I almost took the plunge a couple of years ago when I was accepted into a masters program for teaching.  

I recently learned I can register as a substitute teacher in my state without having a teacher's license.  It does limit what I can do, like I couldn't take over a class for several months if someone were on leave.  I kind of think it could be a great job down the road - part time many weeks, flexible, holidays off, but still able to have a professional role and bring in some income.  I don't think I want to ever completely stay at home with kids, but the idea of not working 50-60 hours and being stressed as a working mom is appealing.  

Anyone want to chime in and say it's great or terrible?  A mix of both?  I could see it being challenging, I remember we always pushed the subs a little more than we would our regular teacher, and maybe you don't build camaraderie with the other teachers since you're never in the same place for very long.  

[hulley]

I'm a certified teacher currently working as a sub while looking for a FT job (I just finished my program in December). Even as a trained teacher, subbing is *hard*. You never know what you are walking into, the kids are already out of sorts because their classroom teacher is out, and some teachers are really bad at leaving plans for you. You have to be confident in your discipline/classroom management or they will walk all over you.

The other thing is, you are going to be up against certified teachers who are having trouble finding jobs and, chances are, schools are going to choose a certified teacher to sub over someone without that background. I've been told I get more calls because of this.

If this is a future alternative to SAHM full time, are you prepared to be called in at a moment's notice? If your kids are in school that might work fine, but it could be hard to find childcare if you have children at home.

The pay is pretty bad, depending on where you sub. I make less per hour subbing than I would working at many retail jobs. I do it because I love it and it gets me exposure to more schools, which I hope will turn into a future full-time opportunity.

As far as making a career change to teaching, it's a very tough market right now. I know people who have been working as assistants or subbing for 2-3 years before finding a teaching job. If you want to explore it, I would recommend asking a school if you could come in and observe a classroom. This will give you a good idea of the day to day operations. Good luck!

[simpsongal]

My mom has done it for about 20 years. She likes it, as well as the flexibility (you can decline jobs if you have childcare issues). She could have had a career but she decided to be SAHM.

It's a little extra income but not a ton - no benefits or anything. I think she makes like $75/day? Veteran subs like her often get called more often. But she's had trouble this year b/c all of the unemployed teachers -- the principal has been trying to get them classroom experience through subbing. So that might be a problem. If you're new in the game, you might only do a couple days per week.

Beware middle school, it's the worst. Oh, and my mom used to do the kids in disciplinary programs. That ended when one pulled a knife on her.

[halfpint]

Feb 1, 2013 12:43:34 GMT -5 hulley said:

I'm a certified teacher currently working as a sub while looking for a FT job (I just finished my program in December). Even as a trained teacher, subbing is *hard*. You never know what you are walking into, the kids are already out of sorts because their classroom teacher is out, and some teachers are really bad at leaving plans for you. You have to be confident in your discipline/classroom management or they will walk all over you.

The other thing is, you are going to be up against certified teachers who are having trouble finding jobs and, chances are, schools are going to choose a certified teacher to sub over someone without that background. I've been told I get more calls because of this.

If this is a future alternative to SAHM full time, are you prepared to be called in at a moment's notice? If your kids are in school that might work fine, but it could be hard to find childcare if you have children at home.

The pay is pretty bad, depending on where you sub. I make less per hour subbing than I would working at many retail jobs. I do it because I love it and it gets me exposure to more schools, which I hope will turn into a future full-time opportunity.

As far as making a career change to teaching, it's a very tough market right now. I know people who have been working as assistants or subbing for 2-3 years before finding a teaching job. If you want to explore it, I would recommend asking a school if you could come in and observe a classroom. This will give you a good idea of the day to day operations. Good luck!

I'm thinking of this for a little further down the road, when kids are in pre-school/early elementary.  
I did also think of being up against unemployed certified teachers, but I don't think (though I have little to back this up other than opinions from friends who are teachers) that the market is quite as bad in my state.  

I didn't realize the pay was so low, though!  I think I was imagining closer to $20 an hour?  

[Deleted]

I hire and schedule all the subs for my district. We are in need of subs here, certified or not. If your not willing to take 1/2 days, please don't waste my time, I hate it when a sub will never take a half day. If you will have childcare issues, think through that before you sign up. I have a sub who constantly has childcare issues, cancelling or will turn down assignments frequently because she can't get childcare, I have quit calling her. If kids give you trouble, call me! I am here to support the subs and will do whatever is needed to retain one.

[halfpint]

Feb 1, 2013 13:18:54 GMT -5 @ruralrabbit1 said:

I hire and schedule all the subs for my district. We are in need of subs here, certified or not. If your not willing to take 1/2 days, please don't waste my time, I hate it when a sub will never take a half day. If you will have childcare issues, think through that before you sign up. I have a sub who constantly has childcare issues, cancelling or will turn down assignments frequently because she can't get childcare, I have quit calling her. If kids give you trouble, call me! I am here to support the subs and will do whatever is needed to retain one.

RR, is there an option (at least for your district) to know a sub is only available on set days?  Like always available MWF for any hours, but not TR?  Or is that too much hassle?  

[Deleted]

$20/hr Um, no. We pay $90/day.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 13:21:54 GMT -5 halfpint said:

Feb 1, 2013 13:18:54 GMT -5 @ruralrabbit1 said:

I hire and schedule all the subs for my district. We are in need of subs here, certified or not. If your not willing to take 1/2 days, please don't waste my time, I hate it when a sub will never take a half day. If you will have childcare issues, think through that before you sign up. I have a sub who constantly has childcare issues, cancelling or will turn down assignments frequently because she can't get childcare, I have quit calling her. If kids give you trouble, call me! I am here to support the subs and will do whatever is needed to retain one.

RR, is there an option (at least for your district) to know a sub is only available on set days?  Like always available MWF for any hours, but not TR?  Or is that too much hassle?  

That's totally fine.  I have two subs who have schedules like that.  If I know ahead of time, I'm totally happy to work with it.

[sporky]

Ditto pretty much everything hulley said. I've been subbing for 4 years now waiting for a full-time position to open up and while I love the flexibility, I dislike a lot about it. I'm one of those people who prefers organization and a plan, and you just don't get that a lot with subbing. Since I've been doing it for several years, I do have preferred schools and teachers who will request me and I have a running list in my head of which classrooms/schools are great to work in and which ones are disasters. And yeah, LOL, on $20 an hour. My district pays $80 a day. The "big money" district in my area pays $90.

[halfpint]

Yikes. We pay temp admins with no degrees more than that. I think I would love teaching, but maybe not that much.

This is why I ask questions here. Maybe this is not a good alternative path for me

[halfpint]

Feb 1, 2013 13:28:08 GMT -5 suzubell said:

As a teacher with 8 years experience an d two master's degrees I make $32/hr if you count just the hours I'm required to work. My state (PA) isnt considered underpaid for teachers. Subs make a flat $75/day.

Your salary seems very reasonable to me.  


I guess I'm surprised a sub is paid SO much less, given that they don't have to pay any benefits for them.  I understand it's not as much responsibility, and they probably aren't as experienced, but this is still someone with a four-year degree responsible for teaching kids.  

[halfpint]

Feb 1, 2013 13:32:48 GMT -5 suzubell said:

Feb 1, 2013 13:28:25 GMT -5 halfpint said:

Yikes. We pay temp admins with no degrees more than that. I think I would love teaching, but maybe not that much.

This is why I ask questions here. Maybe this is not a good alternative path for me

Cue the teachers are underpaid conversation....

Honestly, at least in my state, I don't think teachers are all that low on the pay scale, especially when compared to other state employees or non-profit workers.  

I'm just surprised at low the pay scale is for subs.  

[Deleted]

In my state (NJ) you only need 60 credit hours to be a sub, which isn't even the equivalent of an associates.

A lot of my friends and I applied to be subs the summer after our sophomore year in college. The $85/day my district paid was pretty sweet to a 19/20 year old.

[halfpint]

Feb 1, 2013 13:38:10 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

In my state (NJ) you only need 60 credit hours to be a sub, which isn't even the equivalent of an associates.

A lot of my friends and I applied to be subs the summer after our sophomore year in college. The $85/day my district paid was pretty sweet to a 19/20 year old.

Wow!  
Here, to be a certified sub, you need a teacher's license.  There's an alternative if you have a bachelor's degree only, but it does limit some of the types of classes and number of consecutive days you can teach.  

[julygal]

I am a certified teacher. I subbed one fall to "shop" schools I would want to get a full-time position in. I did not like it and jumped at the full-time position at a school I liked when it was offered. Subbing is very unpredictable what your hours will be, and while I was consistently working it was difficult to predict my pay for our budget. Some weeks I only worked one day and a lot of it was only partial days to cover dr appts, etc. Many of my calls came at 7 AM or later to be there by 7:45. This was 5 years ago, but I made about $10-12 an hour based on the school (I only subbed for private ones, so it varied). If I were you I would look into being a teacher's assistant-more regular schedule, can be part-time and pay was often better than the sub.

[CloudBee]

What would you do about childcare, as being a sub is not a day to day gig? You may find out at 7am on a Monday that you're needed at 8am.

Growing up I saw a lot of moms sub once their kiddos were in K on up. I'm not sure how you would do it without good backup care that could take your child at a moment's notice.

[macmars45]

Four years ago my sister made $60/day subbing as a teacher.

I was a substitute para (classroom aide) for 2.5 years. It's crap pay. Not that my current (non-subbing) para job pays a ton more. I didn't go into my job for the money. I love what I do and I'm SO much happier making less money in a job I enjoy than finding some other higher paying job that I didn't like.

[Deleted]

Being a sub was the worst job I've ever had. Do you have any experience with classroom management?

You have no power and the kids know it. I lasted 3 months. And I also had a teaching credential and had been teaching summer school before that.

I'd also be surprised if you can actually find sub work right now without a credential. My area has so many displaced and laid off teachers that school districts closed sub lists to only those teachers.

[hulley]

I'm amazed at some of the sub pay - the district I do most of my work in pays $65 a day. There is no pay differential for having an B.A. vs just the minimum (60) credits. It's the same for everyone.

[halfpint]

I finally found it online - it looks like in our area, it's pretty consistently $110/day. Not quite as bad. However, they require certifications and don't accept the "authorized subs" without certification.

Oh well.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Maybe this is something I'll look into again in 5-ish years.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 13:42:30 GMT -5 halfpint said:

Feb 1, 2013 13:38:10 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

Wow!  
Here, to be a certified sub, you need a teacher's license.  There's an alternative if you have a bachelor's degree only, but it does limit some of the types of classes and number of consecutive days you can teach.  

Yeah here I believe it is 20 consecutive school days subbing for the same teacher. When our choir director was out for 2.5 months we had 3 different subs b/c of this rule. However, it probably helped our first sub get a job as she became a FT history teacher the following year.

[ebeth]

I subbed circa 2004 in AZ. I was not/am not certified to teach, but had to be licensed to substitute teach. no benefits or anything.

Everything was automated in the district I worked in. You let the district know your availability and if there was a job on one of your 'available' days/times you got a call from the automated system.

the worst thing about it was probably the unpredictability in terms of work/income. it was a small district, but I'd often go several weeks without any calls. I was also on the sub list for a charter school in the area that called me far more frequently. I guess my main tip would be to not turn any jobs down at first. I was often the first sub called for the charter school because I almost always agreed to come in.

other downsides are that you aren't really teaching and you don't have much continuity with the kids.

I don't recall having an especially 'bad' class. I had some spirited kindergarteners that I subbed for more than once, but they weren't naughty. just v. high energy. BUT I did learn that you kind of have to be a hard ass as soon as you walk in and then you can back off later in the day. being really strict for the first hour of the day made the days go much more smoothly IME.

[Deleted]

I completed an MAT in social studies in Jan 2006 and did subbing until I was hired at my current university in June. Between student teaching and subbing, I realized I would be much more comfortable doing something other than teaching, lol. You have to be flexible and ready to handle any situation. I had teachers with full outlines and more than enough activities for the day; I had one class where the teacher didn't even have a list of the students' names or a seating chart and it was a very long 45mins with 8th graders; thick skin and stubborness helps. Also, you never know what you're going to get each day--I spent one day as a gym teacher and couldn't believe the headache I had at the end of the day. If you're a regular sub and a teacher likes you, then you may start getting requested and having repeat classes, which is a nice development. One survival tip I had was a list of 'rules for the day' that I put on the overhead when I started the class. 'Stay in seats until you have permission, raise your hand, work first then free time.' Those seem obvious, but if you go in there letting the students know you have expectations while you're 'in charge,' I found they responded better. I want to say in NY, most districts paid around $90 for the day for certified teachers and around $75 for non-certified (I got a raise once my certification was completed); it did vary by district and I was signed up with 3 different ones to increase my chances of being called every day. The sign up process also took a while with submitting fingerprints, background check, and board approval; that could vary based on your state and the district's requirements.