Substitute Teachers Lounge
Substitute Teachers Lounge
The Vanishing Sub Day and Other School Secrets
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Ever found yourself running late, not due to the mundane reasons of traffic or family emergencies, but for reasons completely unexpected? Well, that happened to me this week. Welcome to a particularly enlightening episode where we'll uncover the secrets that schools keep, get a grip on last-minute subjobs, and stay a step ahead of unforeseen circumstances. The moral of this story is to be prepared and always have a few ideas up your sleeve for sudden subplans. Also, we'll tackle the importance of communication, especially if you're multitasking between jobs that end simultaneously.
Subjobs and School Secrets
Speaker 1Man , lots of stuff to talk about this week . I'll first tell you the story about how I had a day this week when I was supposed to be at school 7.30 , didn't make it in until 8.30 , and it had nothing to do with traffic or family emergencies . Then we've got follow-ups for the last two episodes , including something else I found out that schools know that you probably didn't know they know . And also we'll talk about one more thing that I forgot to say last week about accepting last-minute jobs , and since the last two episodes have been the most listened to in their first week so far this year , I think you're gonna wanna hear about it . Greg Collins , substitute Teacher's Lounge . It is November 14th 2023 . I guess , man , that means there's only 41 shopping days left . ["dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"] . All right , I think I am going to challenge my artificial intelligence part of my podcast . As I've told you before , our publisher , buzzsprout , now offers an artificial intelligence service who actually is smart enough to listen to the podcast and decide on a title . The title I have in mind for now , and I don't know what they're gonna choose yet , so I haven't made it that far in the process . My title for this would be something along the effect of subjobs aren't always what they appear to be , and I will tell you why I came up with that , I think . Since that's the crux of the episode , I'll save that as the third thing I'm gonna mention today , gonna go back and tell you some things about one thing that I did mention I meant to mention , I guess I should say , last week , I forgot to and then another thing , when we go back to the episode about what schools know about you that you didn't realize they know about you , we're gonna talk about that too . So let's first of all talk about one follow-up thought about last week that I meant to mention and you probably already know it , but it's worth mentioning anyway .
Speaker 1If you do in fact pick up last minute jobs , just keep in mind that there's a reason they were last minute jobs . I would think the majority of jobs I get these days are of the non-last minute variety , and that means that most likely , the teacher has something they've got to do a dentist appointment , a workshop , something along those lines that they know what they're gonna do several days in advance , right ? So they schedule them several days in advance . So that makes it kinda nice . You can pretty much assure yourself that Subplans are gonna be in order . You're probably not gonna have to search around for them . Now let's go back to what I left out about last week , those last minute subjobs . You gotta remember . It's great that you picked up a job , but there's a chance that you're gonna have to search for subplans because what has happened ? There's either been a sickness or an emergency in the family more times than not . Something that pulled them away at the last minute , which means they didn't prepare less than plans the night before . Most likely they're in a situation where they can't come in and prepare them now . Perhaps they could type something in quickly in their phone and send it to the secretary at the or another teacher in the hallway at the school and let them bring it over to you .
Speaker 1But keep some things . I always call it the back pocket . Keep some ideas in the back pocket so that you're ready to go even if there's nothing in the classroom . Don't go begging to the office . Don't go begging to the teachers . Some of you can't do that . I never do , because they're busy too . They'll help you and they won't feel that bad about it , but I think they like the self starters , so try and do as much as you can on your own and these days , more times than not , tell them to look on their Google classroom to see if an assignment has been posted , cause that's something a teacher can do fairly quickly from her phone , even if it's just busy work . It's probably gonna be work to support the subject , but maybe not work they would have assigned otherwise .
Speaker 1Now the thought about things that schools know about you another part of that that I didn't realize . I'm assuming , because of something I heard this week , that they know this , so I'm gonna lay it out there . I'm gonna try to discreetly . I've got I don't know of one secretary who is probably the best of any school as far as seeing the engine outs . I really based that episode on her thoughts . So .
Speaker 1But something happened this week . I accepted it was getting maybe late in the day before , so I went ahead and accept it . A half days job . It was a school that I liked to go to . It was afternoon so I said , okay , I can be there at 1130 , that will be fine , and I accepted it .
Speaker 1At the same time I saw there were also a couple of jobs listed that started in the morning and was over at 1130 . So I was really curious about two things Are those schools close enough that I could do both ? And if I picked up one job that ended on , started on 1130 , another one that ended on 1130 , would they even ? Would the system even show them all to me once I picked one of them up ? Or , since both jobs mentioned 1130 , is that considered an overlap ? My gut told me no , because it would . One would have to go to 1131 maybe to be an overlap . But sure enough , I did it . I found two schools that were within two miles of each other , so I accepted both .
Speaker 1Now I could have just done it . I could have just walked in at the last minute at the second school and tell them I just came from another school . I'm sorry I didn't do that . I called the day before and I said listen guys , this is Greg . I signed up for this teacher's subbing at 11.30 , but I want you to know I'm coming from that other school also that ends at 11.30 . I want you all to know that there's probably a strong chance that I'll be about 10 minutes late . Would you prefer me to just turn that job back in and not take it , so that you can not have to cover it . So they went and asked a question and it's funny the message that got back to me was yes , mr Collins , we'd like you to come on in , we will cover for those 10 minutes .
Speaker 1In actuality , here's what happened that day the last of the three hours at the first school was the teacher's planning period . The first of the three hours at the other school was also the teacher's planning period , so there wasn't even a class that needed to be covered for those 10 minutes . But as , in addition , since it was planning in the other one , I just left that one early . I told them what I was doing . When I left and went on to the other school , I got kind of bored because I had an hour of nothing to do at the end of the first half day and an hour of nothing to do at the end of the second half , and of course , I guess there was a lunch thrown in there too . So it was really two and a half hours with no students in the room . So that's what I did .
Speaker 1But here's my observation when I got to the second school , I walked in . I said you know I had called ahead yesterday and told them I would probably be late and they said oh yeah , the teacher could see that you're coming from another school . Now that kind of took me back a little bit , because I'm thinking can the teachers just punch in our name and see all of our jobs ? If they could , why don't they just look at that first instead of texting ? I guess texting is easier . I'm going to find out additional information this week . That happened on Friday , so I didn't have time to do it yet , but that's just one more thing that we probably didn't know . The schools could tell , but perhaps if they know what they're doing , the smart secretary that I keep referring to I'll bet she'll be able to not only tell when I've rejected a job that I had it first taken , but I bet she can tell if I have a job bumping right up to the next . Or maybe she can tell I have a job Thursday . I'm going to flat ask her the next time I'm there and we'll go from there . All right , the main thing today .
Speaker 1Here's what happened . It was in the middle of a Monday teaching day when I was called by another school . I didn't answer it because I was teaching and I don't answer too many calls that I can't identify who it is , even if it appears to be a local number , because spam calls or whatever . They're pretty clever now about making it appear like it comes from a local number to try to get you an answer . It so I didn't , but I did listen to it at the end of the period and that's not really true , because what I really did was read the text that was created on my iPhone from that message and I should have known better , because that's always the computer's version of what was said . Sometimes it's not what actually was said . The message said Mr Collins , would you like to teach seventh grade math for Miss Preston tomorrow ? And I used that name because there is no Miss Preston at this school Now . I only read it . So when I called back they know I love to teach math , perhaps maybe the first one they call when a math job comes open I called back . I got somebody else and this person said oh , I know who she wanted you to teach . I'll go ahead and send it to you and you can accept .
Speaker 1So I went in in that situation . I needed to go into front line and actually click the green arrow I should say check mark to accept the job . Now it was probably a couple hours later , and remember Tuesday was election day , so our schools there weren't students in the school , even though I think it was a PD day for our teachers . But I left a message after I discovered something . I looked down and it said gave the teacher's name and indicated that the job was for a special needs class and I said well , that's OK , but did I accidentally accept the wrong job ? So , not knowing what to do , not being able to reach anyone , I left a message on their phone . Like I said , nobody ever heard the message . I'm not sure where messages go when there's no one at the school .
Speaker 1But anyway , I said man , I better reject this job because she wanted me for that math job . So I canceled it . There were other jobs that came up for Wednesday that I didn't take because I expected this lady to give me this math job . Well , it never happened . Now I started to call her at seven o'clock the day that that job would have been , because I ended up turning down jobs and here I am setting home now . But I waited until eight o'clock because I knew seven to eight at a school is extremely hectic as you're getting students in . So I called her and I said hey , I just wanted to let you guys know and apologize , because I think I accidentally accepted the wrong job . And then I never did see the math job show up .
Speaker 1I said well , you know , mr Collins , I explained the whole situation about the description that showed up . So I thought it was the wrong job . She said , for some reason , that teacher used to have that special needs job , but now she's a math teacher , so that was the job I was supposed to take it . And the secretary also told me I tried to reassign it to you , greg , but it said you weren't available . Well , here's what happened
Job Rejection and Miscommunication
Speaker 1.
Speaker 1We've talked about this before , but we don't think through it often . Once you reject a job , if that job shows up again , you don't . Not only do you not see it because you rejected it , but they don't see you as being available because you rejected it even though you haven't accepted a job anywhere else . And I guess that makes sense for a system , because there hasn't yet been any manual intervention . So it was purely a mistake . But interestingly enough , she said you know , mr Collins , nobody ever picked up that job . Would you like to come on in anyway ? And I said well , sure , that works out perfectly .
Speaker 1I had already , like we talked last minute jobs . I had already gotten up that morning prepared to leave in an instant in case something came up . So I was ready . That's why I didn't get to a job at 830 . And you know , I know they Enjoy having me there and they know my sarcastic sense of humor because as soon as I walked in they were really giving me laughingly , giving me a hard time about what happened and not showing up until 8.30 and all that stuff . So I guess , to summarize , here's the things I would want to make you aware of .
Speaker 1Don't just read the transcript of a voicemail . Ms Preston didn't exist and when the other teacher's name showed up , it wasn't Ms Preston , it was a different name and a different class . So I just assumed I messed up and or , you know , maybe , maybe the first thought in my mind was the school messed up , sent me the wrong job , but it was because that her description wasn't yet updated that that situation happened . Then what might not be apparent to you , think about it . I told you that , since I then rejected that job , when she tried to reassign it , she couldn't because it looked like I wasn't available . But that was really the case because I had rejected the job and in fact , even when she said , mr Collins , come on in , nobody ever accepted it . She still couldn't give me that job . She had to delete the job and repost it as a different job so that she could assign it to me . She couldn't assign it to me with a job that I had rejected .
Speaker 1So moral of the story is don't overreact , everything's going to work out . And I showed up that day . I had a great day taught math . It was sixth grade math , so I actually was able to do some good teaching . I'm good at math , but I'm still rusty about the upper level stuff because you don't use it as much . We were talking about proportions . Everything turned out fine . So make sure you understand that job and I'm sure everything will work out great for all of us .