Substitute Teacher Leverage and When Not to Use It

As you build your reputation as a substitute teacher, you'll going to gain some leverage.  This could prove to put you in a situation where you'll have to make some tough decisions.

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Greg: 0:11

As teachers get to know you, you're going to kind of develop substitute teacher leverage, you can use that to your advantage, you're going to love it sometimes. Sometimes you're going to second guess yourself alright guys, today we're going to talk about substitute teachers leverage. This is Greg Collins substitute teachers lounge. We can talk about this further and in more detail. Probably more back to back discussion, if you want to join our substitute teachers lounge, Facebook group, we're having a lot of good discussions on there. I will tell you this, when I first started as a substitute teacher, I didn't have any leverage. I was desperate, I just I shouldn't say desperate. It's not like it was the end of the world. But I didn't get a substitute teacher job that day. But it was just something that I always enjoyed. So we'll talk about that here in just a moment. Just as a follow up of last week, we were talking about the different substitute teacher styles. And one that I said, I'll probably never say this was me was the babysitter style and was proven wrong. I was kind of forced to be a babysitter this week. Here's what happened. I taught an English class, this class had five periods of independent reading scheduled, one, not only can I not interact as much when that's going on, I shouldn't interact because every my interact with them, I'm kind of breaking up their pace of reading. And it's just something they have to get back to. I even joked accidentally joked maybe not accidental, but I told them that I like to read to and sometimes I put instrumental music in my ears, because otherwise songs like Baby shark pop into my head that can't get it out and can't concentrate on reading. And unfortunately, then the student said, now I've got that song going in my head, and I can't get settled back down. So that was my problem when I interacted this week, so I didn't have to be a babysitter. So sometimes you just have to do it. Leverage substitute teacher leverage, as you gain in popularity, as the teachers start requesting you instead of maybe other possibilities when they start calling you directly when you have the school start calling you directly. When you have the principal's start to recommend you that's when you know you've got leverage. In my early years of substitute teaching, when I first started gaining a little bit of leverage, first started learning how frontline works, learning how sub alert works, the other apps that may be help you with substitute teaching, well, I begin to realize how they worked. And how I could since I was getting maybe a couple seconds headstart on the other substitute teachers seeing jobs before they did, I would accept them immediately without even looking at what the job was, then I would go back and look at it. And if it's something I really didn't want that day, I would go ahead and cancel it. I didn't feel that guilty about it to be perfectly honest, because I would cancel it within seconds of scheduling it. So it's not like I gave the schools a reason to think they had that substitute teacher job build, because I cancelled it almost as soon as I schedule it. And then that opened me up to look for other jobs for that day. And because of that, I would start looking for something that I would prefer more often I remember and it's been three years since this happened maybe two and a half, probably six months into my substitute teaching experience. I might cancel two or three jobs in the morning. I've figured out that it really doesn't even affect your ability to receive jobs. You still see all the jobs. Can schools cross you off their sub lists? Yeah. I guess technically if they figure out how to show that you sign up because they will get an email as soon as you accept a job and then cancel right away. You know, if you're not doing a good job in In the classroom, they might choose that to be a reason why they just can't throw you off. So keep that in mind, but do a good job all the time. And if you're worth it, they will come after you, even when you make it convenient on yourself. But then as time goes on, it reaches a different level. And you're truly going to have leverage, you're going to have schools that ask for you, you're going to have teachers that contact you directly and absolutely hate it when you're not available. And it escalates. It starts out as a few classes at a time. It starts out sometimes we're teachers, teacher, God taught me one time, and it was really one of her best friends that teaches across the hallway she had gotten to me first. And she just laughed about it and said, I got to figure out how to get ahead of the lady across the hallway here. And it was kind of funny because she was upset about it, but it was her best friend. And this, this ended up being a situation where she needed a substitute teacher quickly, because she just found out it was a family situation, probably a child sickness that she didn't find out about until that morning. So she was hoping I was available. I am to the point now and I know most of you are to that. You don't have to go looking very much, especially those of you have that have taught several months, or maybe your substitute taught, I should say several months or a year, the jobs are coming to you now that's just the way it works. When that happens, you're in a leverage situation. Now, I'm not advocating lying to anyone, if somebody contacts you. And you know ask you if you're not if you're available, and you tell them no, even if you have errands to run that day, you don't, you don't have to give them an explanation. If you had scheduled a day of errands, tell them you're not available. If you want to go to another school, tell them you're not available. You don't have to come right out and say, I don't want to teach at your school today. I want to teach over here. And I know something's getting ready to open up to give them all that spiel, you're not available because you choose to go somewhere else. Some of you will not do that. That's okay, I do that. There are times when I want one job over another. And I know that that job is coming up, I know that that particular teacher was going to be out a couple of days, they haven't posted it yet. Maybe somebody contacts me a week ahead of time about a job. And I just know that the situation is going to come up next week at another school that I would prefer, I'm not going to tell him all that I'm just going to tell him I'm not available. It might be to run errands that day, it might be to go to another school that day. So that's the first way that I tend it to use leverage. Now, you know this, you've if you listen to the podcast every week, you know this last year because of COVID. I was hired for the entire year as a full time substitute teacher at a middle school. And I enjoyed it very much. I really got close to those kids. And maybe even closer to the teachers. I learned so much. It was a learning experience. And after all that, they asked me back they told me before I left in, what would that have been left in May, of course, because that's when the school year ended. But I think they might have told me in March, that obviously they there was a lady that was going to have a baby about eight months ahead of schedule. They knew that was projected for about November, and they said Mr. Collins, we really want you to come back in November, and teach. And I said, Well, I'll plan to do that. And I went on the schedule to do that. So then here's what happened. Another school contacted me about a job that started at the beginning of the school year, it was going to be multiple jobs that lasted for several months. Now I have the first choice to make. I could take the one job that's going to last about six weeks to eight weeks, maybe based on what the mother chooses to do the mother that's a teacher or I could accept the first job for several weeks. So I consider the situation I didn't want to back out of my original commitment. I really didn't. But at the same time I knew I had leverage. Here's what I was hoping I was hoping that the timing would be perfect. And I could accept both jobs. I was hoping that the job at a highest school, I knew it would start right at the beginning of the school year. In fact, it ended up starting for me a week ahead of the school year start, because they wanted me in there for a week of training. And I knew that that lady I had already trained to half day with her, I knew that she was coming back about a month and a half into the school year, then they had already told me that there was another lady that was going to have a medical procedure, and she was going to be all for a while. And they needed me to fill in for that, right after that. Now, all of a sudden, I'm thinking, Man, I do have leverage, I can go where I want to go. In fact, I'll be honest with you. I think part of it is I went through 38 years of working in a corporate environment. And the attitude there is when it comes down to accepting jobs, positions, you can't worry about how much is going to inconvenience somebody, you got to look out for yourself. It's a job situation, you got to look out for yourself. And I learned that through the corporate world. At the same time, I'm not the kind of person that backs off a commitment. So here's the way this worked out, at least initially. It just so happens that that procedure at the same school, the high school that was going to be over the very week before the middle school needed me. So it worked out perfectly. That scheduled me for a job from August, through the end of October at the high school. I knew the lady that was going to be out at the middle school to have a baby was going to be about the second week in November. That was perfect. I could do both jobs. I didn't have to worry about that anymore. It worked out I wouldn't have to back out on a commitment. Well, you know what's going to happen to and I'll get to that here in just a moment. Now, let me tell you what else that happened. First of all, the job I described for the lady had a medical procedure because of the overwhelmed hospitals due to COVID. By the way, this is November 7 2021. That's when we're recording this. Because of that she got her procedure pushed back. That means then I didn't have a specific job. After about September 27. I think it was till the end of October. I was due at the middle school in November. I didn't have a job between those two. But the high school said, Mr. Collins, here's here's where the leverage comes in guys, Mr. Collins, we want you to stay at the high school until you have to go to the middle school, which was about six weeks, they said, We need a substitute every day. So we want you here we want you to be our first choice. And they made a deal with me. They said, even on the days that you come in, and for some strange reason we don't need a substitute that day, we're still going to pay you we might have to have you do something unusual, like interacting with the students when they come in for the day. Maybe working in the library a little bit which was fine with me maybe working in the office some but even if it was just sitting around waiting until something comes up, which I hate, by the way, but I had to do that during on an AC T day. But anyway, that's what leverage did for me. That's what doing my job well did they want me back, even if they didn't have a substitute teacher job that day. So keep in mind that took me through the end of October, about the second week of October. They told me, Mr. Collins, we have a teacher that we now know that is leaving in January, we know you got your middle school job that's going to last through the end of December. The holidays, we want you back in January, we're going to need you for several weeks, several months, even until we get that job field. You know, they would post the job they need a substitute teacher. Sometimes it's difficult to hire a job or a hire a position in the middle of the school year. So all that came along. So it was really like possibly most of the year was now planned. I would finish at the high school end of October. I would go to the middle school in November come back to the high school in January. So I actually went and trained to half a day at the middle school with the lady that was going to leave in November. Here's what happened next. The very day after that. I walked into the high school and again this is because if you do your job Well, you're going to have schools contact you from everywhere. They said, Mr. Collins, the lady that was going to leave in January is now going to leave. In the middle of November, they have to go up to their new job early. And all of a sudden the light bulb comes on. They told me that they jokingly said that, if anything happy, they said, jokingly, it was for real. But they said, If anything happens, that interferes with that middle school job, we show it like you to have you in November 7 Instead of January. And I can read between the lines, I knew that also meant that if I didn't accept the high school job in the middle of November, which would last possibly several weeks, two months, then I would get it at all. I mean, they couldn't very well feel that from November through December, and then hire me in January, that wouldn't be fair to the long term person they hired in November. So all of a sudden, I'm faced with a dilemma. It's because of the leverage I have that I'm in this situation, because I had two different schools that wanted me, what do I do? Do I stay with my original commitment? With the middle school, that's going to be six weeks? Or do I say, all right, middle school people, I hope you understand. But this other opportunity is going to be a much longer job a much longer opportunity, I think I'm going to go that way, I'll let you stew a little bit and think about what you think I told them. Again, all of this is because of leverage, you're going to eventually find yourself in a unique situation, where you've got multiple teachers, multiple schools that want to use your service. And you might be faced with a dilemma like this, you might be faced with. I've never been faced with this. But I know some of you are that. There might be one location you love to go to. But another location that you don't enjoy as much, but they pay quite a bit more. You might be faced with something like that. And you have to good situation to have yourself in your in that leverage situation. But then what are you going to do? So there was a lot of moving parts to this, I contacted the middle school, I'll be honest, the middle school principal, is one of the best individuals I've ever met in my life. I hate it to do this, but I just said it like this. I said, here's the situation, I described it, I described how the high school situation if I took it in November 17 would be a much longer opportunity for me. And if I didn't, it would probably go away completely. And I wouldn't have a bonafide long term row in January. That's what I told him. I said, That's my dilemma. I'll understand if you can't replace me, but I would really prefer the high school job. At the same time, I tried to take the guilt trip away from myself by mentioning that if you can't get it field, let me know. And I'll stick with my original commitment. That part made me feel better, because I wasn't sincere. If they couldn't get it field, I was going to stick with my commitment even though I didn't want to I love everybody there. I really do. I even though I couldn't stick with my original, even though I if they couldn't feel the job. I was going to stick with my original commitment. They got back to me, immediately. The principle is a class act. She just told me now, I don't know what she was thinking about me behind the scenes. But she just told me, We understand your situations, we'll get the position covered. So that's where I was. Now. I found out this week that the lady actually had to be gone a week early. The baby came early. And all of a sudden, I'm starting to feel guilty. I really am second guessing myself. I'll not because I don't love the high school that I'm going to be at. But it's a situation where it would have started earlier. I know they wanted me to be there. Yes, I'm in a leveraged situation. There are some of you out there that are on opposite ends of this argument. There are some of you that say, I'm not going to feel guilty at all. I'm going to look out for myself. On the other end. There are some of us that are going to say I don't care if it was a four month job. If I made a kitten commitment to a six week job OB, I'm going to stick with that. I know you're out there, because you've expressed that on our discussion boards on our substitute teachers lounge group page, you kind of make that decision for yourself. The important thing to remember is, when you get a little bit of leverage, you're going to have decisions to make, you got to decide what's best for yourself. So the way it's going to fall out is I will begin this long term row at the high school, that's going to last into January. I know their job posting doesn't even close until January, or maybe it was worded, that position can start as soon as January. And of course, I know that they need a permanent teacher, I'm not going to be disappointed if the new teacher rose in there the first of January, that's what those kids need. But I'm looking forward to that job. The longer I went after I made that decision to go with the longer term the long greater number of weeks. Yes, I feel guilty about it. I think people are listening to this podcast from both of those schools. For the middle school that I didn't end up coming to, man, I'm gonna miss you guys, I miss you already. I think about the things that I would have been involved with as I was there, and I'm already missing. Not being able to do that I'm missing the students. I was closed as you might expect to the volleyball players. They talked to me all the time, they asked me for suggestions. I'm going to miss that so much. I'll still get to referee I hope that they still consider me somebody that they enjoy seeing I will certainly miss them. Do I regret going to the high school. Of course not. That was probably one of my favorite things that I've done in the last three years since I've been substitute teaching nothing against middle schools, I've always said that middle schools are my favorite ones to teach. I might just back off on that a little bit. Because I think to be honest, it's where you're teaching at the moment that you really enjoy most, you if I had gone to the middle school, it wouldn't have taken me a couple of weeks to say I enjoy teaching there most. So it's just one of those kinds of things. You can have more intense conversations with high school students, I think you can have more controversial discussions. So that's why I like the high school. At the same time, I've always enjoyed teaching sixth grade, that's where I would have been. Because, you know, jokingly, I'll say that they're not quite old enough yet to have developed their attitudes. But yet, they're old enough to have some good discussions with That's why I teach middle school. But the bottom line of today's episode is as you move forward in your substitute teacher career, or stepping stone, however, you're considering that you're going to gain some leverage, you do a good job, they are going to want you back, that means you're going to be able to be a little bit selective, you're going to have multiple teachers contact you, you're going to have multiple schools contact you, maybe you're still the type of person that you'll take the first one that contacts you regardless. Or maybe you're going to be those kinds of things that you kind of hold off for what you like best, because you're no it's coming, that I hold off for what I like best. I don't know if I can say that. I like both of those schools. But did I hold off for a longer term job? Yes, I did. When this came up, I'll be honest, on my on the substitute teachers lounge Facebook group, the majority thought I should have stuck with my original commitment, which I didn't. But there was some that felt strongly the other way. They were just not as large a number. So it's got to be your decision. You're going to have the leverage, you're going to have substitute teacher leverage. Try to get over second guessing yourself. I'm doing it myself. Don't second guess yourself. You got to make your decision and roll with it and not look back. If you let it bother you. You're not going to do a good job where you're at. So those of you that are at that middle school, I am sure going to miss you. Do I feel bad about not taking that job? Absolutely, man, especially since I promised you guys I was going to take it. Am I glad that I'm going to have a longer role. I'm going to have a multi week to multi month job at the high school. Absolutely. I'm proud that I've gotten to the point that there are multiple schools asking for me to be a substitute teacher. And I've gotten the leverage that I've always wanted to be able to make some decisions. You're going to be faced with that decision to you're going to have leverage situations decide now what you're going to do so that you don't have to guess when the moment gets there use your leverage to your advantage