The WorkGroup

When I was a substitute teacher I hustled. My goal was to impress as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. I’d heard being a substitute was an excellent way to get your foot in the door of a district. That may be true, but substitute teaching might also be a way to get your foot CAUGHT in the door.

Let’s face it, unless you’re a career sub, substitute teaching sucks. You get mindless lesson plans that usually involve nothing more than glorified babysitting. I’m just as guilty as everyone else of supplying these types of plans. The kids will most often treat you like crap, and you’re seldom taken seriously by administrators.

Given these circumstances, it’s very difficult to put your best foot forward and impress the right people. In a situation in which even the best kids will be worst behaved, all you need to do is to have one bad day and that will damn your chances forever in the district.

When I was hustling for a job, I also felt like a vulture. My opportunity would only come with someone’s illness, retirement or worse. This dawned on me when someone in a district I worked in got sick, and I was actually hoping for them not to come back any time soon. Sick, but true.

Ultimately, I didn’t get hired in any of the schools I substitute taught in, but it wasn’t because of having any bad days or bad performance as a sub. Quite simply, no jobs opened in the districts I subbed in.

All that being said, we recently hired one of our regular substitutes. His performance wasn’t the sole reason for being hired, but he did a great job as a sub. He did his best to follow the lesson plans we left, had a fairly good rapport with the students, and left detailed notes about how his day went. He had a lot of other great qualifications for the job, but having proven himself as a substitute helped us make our decision to hire him.

Another regular substitute interviewed and didn’t get hired. He got the job done, and kept the kids quiet, but had over time gained a reputation as being somewhat lacksadaisical. While none of the people he’d subbed for were on the interview committee, the word had spread to the teachers who were.

The bottom line is that if you want to be a substitute teacher to have something educationally related to include on your resume, and to get your face around to a school you may want to work in, go ahead. However, it’s NOT a guaranteed stepping stone to a teaching job, and ultimately can hurt your chances.

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