Just thought I'd ask and see what y'all say.
Pros:
- i can pick and choose what days/classes i want to work online
- i hear it can be easy af, like literally just read a book the whole time
Cons:
- kids can be crazy
- the pay is basically the lowest amount I'd possibly accept for a day's work, varies slightly but around 130$ for 7 hours
- gotta get up earlyish in the morning
I thought it was great, personally, but I'm an experienced teacher with very good classroom management practice, so I'm very good at taking control of the room and bringing students on my side. (I have a new things working in my favour as I fulfil a sexist/homophobic archetype most students have coded as the type of person you're supposed to give respect to.) I also know a wide variety of subject matter within my domain and can teach a lot of things clearly and effectively, so students often like that I'm there.
If you can control a room and convince students early you can give them what they need (structure, respect, kindness, effective and engaging instruction), subbing is a breeze, it's fun, engaging and you don't take any work home with you.
I should add where I live a substitute teacher is paid slightly more than they would be with their level of experience, but you don't have the health coverage. If I was making $130 a day, which really is like nothing, I'm not sure that would be worth it, or at least I'd have to think carefully about it.
Most of the horror stories I've seen always seem to come from someone who didn't have good classroom management. So i can totally see how good classroom management can make subbing a lot easier.
I have quite a bit of classroom experience but nothing as an actual teacher. My current gig has me in different school's after school programs and so I'm use to being in front of a class but i wouldn't call my classroom management anything better than average. I imagine i could improve those over time tho with more experience?
The pay is possibly the thing that's keeping me from just going for it. Cost of living is low relative to the rest of the nation but still 130$ is pretty shit. They say they'll go higher with more experience but ofc there is absolutely no promise to that.
Yeah, it's interesting I never did any subbing as a beginner teacher, but it wasn't until I started subbing after several years that I learned I'd been developing these soft skills the whole time of running a class smoothly, commanding attention, correcting student behaviour in a way that makes them feel cared for and not chided. All these little skills made subbing really easy and fun.
Yeah i feel like if I could develop those skill subbing would be nice. The pay tho is a sticking point. I have to wonder if I should just keep looking for something else
Yeah when I was subbing I could basically pay my rent with 2 day's labour. $130 is a pittance
I know right!
Had been bouncing the idea of doing this around my head for a while and the $130 a day really caught me off guard. Like wtf. I do live in a state with a lowish cost of living but still.
They do say that pay can increase with experience and performance so maybe, if i try it and like it, i could just straight up ask for more