Substitute Teachers Lounge
Substitute Teachers Lounge
Medium Term Substitute Teaching Is the New Long Term
Our latest discussion dives into the joys and challenges of medium-term substitute teaching, emphasizing the deep connections with students that can emerge in just a few short days. We explore how embracing this teaching style can lead to rewarding and memorable experiences for both teachers and students.
• Exploring the transition from short-term to medium-term teaching
• Sharing memorable experiences from a recent four-day assignment
• Discussing the benefits of establishing student connections in a classroom setting
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Greg Collins. Substitute Teachers Lounge. It is March 4th 2025 today, or maybe I should say years ago, maybe the first year of this podcast, I told you how much I liked short-term substitute teaching because I got to meet a lot more students. Later, when I got a long-term job, I said long-term is the way to go. In fact, that was in the sixth grade. Those kids are seniors graduating this year and I still feel close to them. One of them actually invited me to their graduation. Then I had a long-term job. That previous long-term job was from just before spring break until the end of the year. Then I had, because of COVID, right after COVID, I had a long-term job that I had the same students for an entire school year. Then, shortly thereafter, I recorded an episode, probably two years ago, that said you know, I'm back to liking short-term better because I got to meet new students. Well, it's changed again. No, not back to long-term, I'll call this medium-term substitute teaching. I'll tell you what it means. I'll tell you how I just experienced it and loved it, and we'll see if it might now be your favorite too.
Speaker 1:Substitute Teacher's Loud. All right, guys, I actually told you in the last episode that I was coming up on a four-day assignment. Obviously, that assignment is over now and I really enjoy it. It's third grade. I think some of the third graders even listening to the podcast. I will tell you something I did. I had them write last day. I had them write something about me and I'm going to read a couple of those at the end of the episode because I thought they were really good, really creative, and I'll tell you the parameters that I gave them to write that it wasn't just about me as a person. I let them go fictional, science fiction, superhero, villain. However, they wanted to write something about me, and one of them it kind of humbled me a little bit when they wrote it, but in a nice way. So all right. So I'm going to call that medium term.
Speaker 1:There's things that let's first of all, let's just do long-term. You know that and I assume all of you know this. It's happened to me once that when you get above a certain number of weeks in your assignment, there are several things that kick in In our area. Let's just talk about the pay here. I don't mind telling you at my level. I am a non-credentialed teacher from the past. I was a financial guy, but I do have a master's degree. So in our area I'm getting paid $135 a day. So in our area I'm getting paid $135 a day.
Speaker 1:If I went on an assignment, I want to say 10 weeks, but now that I say that that sounds long. But if you go on a long-term assignment your pay goes to $185. Now, obviously my assignment that went for the whole year. Well, guess what else kicks in? Benefits. You have all that insurance. Now it probably wouldn't work for me now because I'm 67 and Medicare is paying for mine. So just from a legal standpoint I'm sure the school would no longer provide any insurance of any kind.
Speaker 1:In fact, it's kind of comical to me, regardless of whether I'm short term, long term or whatever, they require me to take some of my pay out for retirement. You know I'm already retired. I don't know how long I'm going to do this, but sure enough I'm in my seventh year. And if I stay through 10 years, if I'd substitute, teach for 10 years, which I guess I would be 70, then, holy cow, 70. Well, I get a teacher's retirement. That wouldn't be as much as my wife's, obviously, because she was a credentialed teacher for almost 30 years, but that's kind of. I would almost rather just have the money for now, but what the heck? We'll see how that goes here in about three years.
Speaker 1:All right, this medium term is a four day assignment If you're going to do some long-term. You got some inconvenience. You got some conveniences and some inconveniences. To me, the biggest downfall is that you are with the same kids now for a long, long time, and just as it is with teachers, students are excited when they meet their new teachers at the beginning of every year. As the year progresses, they get used to them. They don't really get disrespectful because they get used to them, but they get used to them and it's just not the same. Maybe the teacher has to now lean on them a little bit more.
Speaker 1:By the way, subbing a majority of elementary school now my last eight days of assignments have been elementary school and it's so refreshing to watch them stand up, do the Pledge of Allegiance enthusiastically, do their classroom motto right after that, almost, I mean loud. They like to do it loud because it's still fun for them. Bless our hearts as we get older and we get stuck in our ways. You know we find reasons. Well, maybe I don't want to say it this time, maybe I even want to sit down. I've told students before in high school that I can't tell them to stand up during the Pledge of Allegiance, but I make them be quiet. Some of them were talking through it and I said I can't make you stand up, but you're not going to distract from my enjoyment of the Pledge of Allegiance. I didn't go all political on them, but that's what I told them. It was kind of refreshing. That is a side note. So it was with these kids four days. I'll just give you the conclusion first. I now think that this medium range maybe just for a week is the perfect length of time for me, because it gave me time to get to know them. But yet I still get a new batch of students every week or so. So I really like it. And the thing I like most is that the teacher it's funny In elementary school those kids are so programmed to do the same thing at the same time every day.
Speaker 1:This is our extra math time, this is our reading time, this is our writing time. When I got to day three, there's a lot of times when we would come in from recess or lunch or whatever. We'd been out of the room and I would say, all right, what's everybody working on now? And they would all say writing. They would all say that together or whatever the project was at the time. So these kids were so programmed I really wouldn't have had to do anything.
Speaker 1:Obviously, the specific assignment changes every day. You're writing about something different or you're reading about something different, and they had stations where some of them were doing iReady and some of them were doing independent reading and some of them were doing a specific reading that had a paper to go with it that they were supposed to answer questions about, and I got to help them a little bit. I'm not as savvy about stuff like that as I would be about math. I could help them. I'm pretty decent with punctuations. There was one assignment where they had to put quotes around when people were talking, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:But the four-day thing, every day, he gave me the freedom of doing things for the first 15 minutes, I should say for the doing things. That will help me and the students get better acquainted. So the first day I asked them what their favorite food was and then I told them mine. I asked them what their favorite TV show was. I asked them what their favorite thing to do outside, stuff like that. And then by day four I was running out of things. So I said you know they're going to be writing at 8.15. Anyway, I said, all right, kids, here's what I want you to do today. Take out a piece of paper. You're going to write a couple paragraphs about me.
Speaker 1:Now, it doesn't have to be truthful, it can be fiction. They knew what fiction was. It can be. You can make me a superhero, you can make me a villain, or you can make me something else. And I'm looking forward to reading this to you, because I tell them from the beginning. Now, you all are going to think this is kind of harsh, and I do this more in high school than I do in third grade, but it was really a good class.
Speaker 1:So I told them now, guys, I'm very sarcastic. Do you all know what that means? And every hand went up. And then I had some of them describe what it means and then I said, all right, I'll give you an example of sarcasm here in just a moment. Then I went on to tell them so I have found out that they are delivering some wood out in the courtyard, out here in a couple hours and we get to build a life-size dollhouse together. Some of them knew right away I was being sarcastic and some of you listening are hating me right now for doing that to them. But then I told them that's an example of sarcasm because that's really not going to happen. And some of them were fussing about it but they laughed really not going to happen. And so they were fussing about it but they laughed. And then it was funny. I did that on Monday and as the days progressed they knew when I was being sarcastic and I always made sure if I was being truthful about something. I said all right, guys, this is not sarcasm. I wouldn't do them that. I wouldn't say this is not sarcasm when it was, but that's what led to what they were writing the last day.
Speaker 1:But I really think I like these medium-term substitute teaching best Now. I like having that four-day assignment. It was someone I had knew for several years because he used to work with my wife when she was still teaching before she retired. He was very highly organized. It was kind of helpful to know that the routine was the same every day and they knew where to turn papers in and they knew, you know, they had the related arts stuff in the same hour every day. But of course some days it was library, some days it was the gymnasium or I guess they still call it PE, some days it was music, some days it was art. So they got to do all that and I really enjoyed that class guys and if I do have students out there listening to this, you all were a great class. They wanted me to say. I had subbed the class across the hallway, which is another third grade. I had the students they weren't changing classes, by the way, so I had the same students all day long. And if that last sentence sounded funny, it's because I guess I'm talking too fast and I just bit my tongue, so I hope I can get through the rest of this. So I loved the four-day stuff.
Speaker 1:So If you're trying to think about what's going to work best for your wheelhouse, I think you could consider longer assignments, like I'll call medium term one or two weeks, I hope this. Yesterday I'm recording this on the day of You're hearing it the same day I'm recording it. Yesterday I subbed for a fourth grade class at a different school and it was great too, but there was just something about being with those same kids the four days. I don't walk up to kids and hug them, of course, but you know some of those kids wanted to hug me when they left the last day and you know that was special to me. There might have been two or three kids that I had to discipline, just verbally discipline, more so than others. Even those kids were coming up to me on the last day and say oh, mr Collins, can you come back and substitute teach? And I felt like saying you want me to come back as much as I have Fussed at you this week for doing various different things. And they really did. So we got along great and I am here to tell you that my favorite is now this medium term substitute teaching.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to read these two stories. I'll read some more. I know some of them are listening, so I'll read some more. This first one was very clever. I think the student was trying to teach me a lesson about being sarcastic, so they titled it Mr Sarcastic. And here it goes. Mr Sarcastic loves to be sarcastic, so one day he was so sarcastic nobody believed him anymore. One day, the window was open and a fox came in and Mr Sarcastic yelled. There's a fox in my classroom, but nobody believed him. Now I like that a lot. Maybe that's trying to teach me a lesson, like the little boy who cried wolf.
Speaker 1:Now, this last one's the last one I'll do. It's a little bit longer and of course, it was written by a third grader, so I'll try to read it so that it flows fairly quickly. This kid worked on it throughout the day and it ended up being three pages written in big letters, so that's not as long as it sounds, but here's the way it goes. All right, he titles this Collins Rescue and it starts out get out of here. And then he says oh, he was just dreaming. I get out of bed and go outside for the last day of teaching class, best class in the world. Anyway, it's the last day Mr Collins being here. Everyone was yelling Just super duper.
Speaker 1:Cool looking ninja broke through the glass. He stole Mr Collins and locked him in the prison because it was made of plastic steel. How will all of this work out, and will he call me buddy? They started playing Minecraft and they got into the diamond phase, but I told them get out of here and they broke and didn't go through. Now what are we going to do? Meanwhile, it still can't break through the plastic by jail. I hit the wall. He's escaping him too late. Now he gets away. Anyway, back in the classroom here these plastic breaks, or maybe the ninja are made of plastic. Yeah, then the ninja broke, but they have a plastic bleaker made of plastic. Yeah, then the Ninja broke, but they have a plastic bleaker. So no, we're made of plastic. And the bleak, no one helped. And then they ran away and Mr Collins came back. Well, a little run on there, but that was pretty creative. We got Ninjas in there, we got prisons, we got breaking through plastic. So bless your all's hearts.
Speaker 1:If you're listening to this, I really enjoyed everything you wrote. I enjoyed those four days with you. I saw some of them on TV here recently because they were at a ball game that was being televised, so it's always cool to see them again. I hope I get to go back to this school a lot. It's the closest one to where I live and I like substitute teaching there, so I know the short-term teaching has its highlights. The long-term teaching has its highlights. I believe I'm a medium-term guy now and I bet if you try it, you will be too.
