Substitute Teachers Lounge
Substitute Teachers Lounge
Medium Term Substitute Teaching Is the New Long Term
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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 1Substitute 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 1There'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 1If 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 1In 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 1All 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 1By 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 1This 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 1Obviously , 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 1But 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 1Now , 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 1So 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 1But 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 1So 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 1Now 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 1Now , 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 1Cool 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 1If 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 .
