The story of my long-term substitute teaching experience and what it taught me
Some background: I was recently fortunate enough to not only intern at an incredible public school through my University of Michigan Education program, but then go on to assume the role of long-term substitute teacher for the same classroom as my mentor teacher was going on maternity leave for the final six and a half weeks of the school year. It is also worth noting, because it’ll come up later, that during two of those six and a half weeks I was both getting married and then going on a honeymoon. It was a second grade classroom of twenty-eight students and the most challenging position I have ever held. I want to share with you many of the realizations that I had during and after this period to help you to understand what it actually means to be a teacher.
Let’s jump right in.
As it turns out, when they say that teaching is a noble profession they don’t mean that you are treated like royalty. One of the first things that I learned when I became a “real teacher” (a term that my students coined after I made the transition from their student teacher to the long-term sub) was...
1. Teachers are responsible for answering to a ton of people. Parents, administration, and even the other teachers in the building will have questions for you and you need to be able to answer them, or find answers to them, which leads me to my next lesson…
2. Teaching is a round-the-clock kind of deal. This revelation was especially shocking, because heading toward graduation at the end of my student teaching, I thought that I was pretty much as responsible for the ins and outs of the classroom as any teacher. Boy, was I wrong! As soon as I became the lead teacher, my time spent teaching and thinking about teaching doubled. Between all of the work and parents emails and the planning/grading, I was spending an average of 11 hours a day working during the week, and another 6 - 8 during the weekend. Even when I was on my honeymoon, I was getting texts and emails about school.
3. It’s true that teachers take work home. This one needs little clarification. I took work home almost every day, even though I was only a substitute, and the same is true of almost every teacher in my building. They either stayed late to work, took work home, or both.
4. Taking a day off is nearly impossible. Unfortunately for my students, I got laryngitis from a bad cold during my first week of teaching. For the second and third day, I literally couldn’t speak. I pleaded with the principal to, I’m so sorry, let me have the day off and he was able to make it happen for the first day, but after that there was no one to cover for me and I croaked and gestured my way through the rest of the week.
5. Grading is brutal. Standardized testing is brutal. Report cards are brutal. Good teachers work tirelessly to help students succeed and feel capable in a system that makes things so difficult for them in creatively-awful ways.
6. Teaching can and should be collaborative. During an especially tedious round of science lessons we were supposed to teach, the other two second grade teachers and I got together a couple of times to discuss strategies and materials to ensure overall success and efficiency, and let me tell you, it was amazing having experienced, intelligent women on my team.
7. Teaching is hard. I came home exhausted and disheartened many (most) days starting out when things didn’t go as planned. Students were rude to each other, my teaching persona wasn’t who I wanted it to be, and we fell behind on our plans. No one ever told me teaching would be that hard! Okay, maybe they did...
8. Teaching is so hard. I started to understand that things almost never go as planned for teachers, and realizing that is the first step in adopting a better mindset for teaching. I changed my point of view, and the students stopped fighting me and started working with me. Still, though, there were 12+ hour work days (I only got paid for 6 hours) and moments of desperation where the curriculum felt more like a death sentence than a guide (not to be overly-dramatic).
9. Teaching is so, so hard. Even once you accept that things are always going to change on you, you learn how to lean on support systems within your school, and you get into a groove of routines, teaching was more difficult than I ever realized it could be. Rewarding, yes, but mentally, physically, and emotionally draining on an almost-daily basis.
10. Teachers are amazing. During my four-and-a-half weeks of bumbling and improvising, it became truly clear to me that every single teacher in my building was remarkable. Teachers in general are remarkable. It’s true what they say, that teachers are “wired differently”. They are the archetype of heart, wired with diligence, compassion, and strength found in few.
I am not oblivious to the fact that parts of my experience are specific to substitutes and new teachers, I know. But to say that my subbing was eye-opening would be an understatement. Looking back, I am filled with appreciation for the lessons that I was allowed to learn and relief that I am on the other side. You’re not treated like royalty, no. Teaching is a noble aspiration for the most generous, most self-sacrificing, and bravest people.
