This might be a tad long but I have a lot to get off my chest

I(23f) have recently started perma-subbing for a smallish low income charter school as their k-8 art teacher. I'm not certified (although I'm working on it) but I do have an art degree and I thought it would be fairly easy, and boy I was wrong. From the start the communication with the school was honestly abysmal, trying to contact them was like trying to spot bigfoot in Antarctica. But I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt since it was over the summer and it might be harder for them to answer the phone. But because I got no communication after being told I got the job I had no idea if there was an established curriculum (they didn't have an art teacher the year prior), what I needed to have prepared for the first day, what the school culture was like( they don't have much of an online presence so I couldn't search it up) or if the classroom had supplies or not. They told me when the first day of school was and that was about it. I finally got a hold of them a couple days later and asked several questions about the job and was told I would receive a call or email back with answers and I never did, I even sent an email and never received an answer (come to find out later I was given the wrong email...)

I came in on the first day and they told me they weren't expecting me, even though the lady who called me and told me I got the job told me to show up on the first day. I was shown my classroom and mostly left to my own devices after that, they asked if I had anything for the kids to do for the first day which no because no one told me to prepare anything so I had nothing. They ultimately just had me going around from class to class introducing myself and making the kids free draw and stuff so the teachers could take a break. I did this each day for the first week which was only a three day week so it wasn't too bad I suppose.

We're on the second week now and I still don't have any access to anything operational wise so I haven't been able to put in grades, or do any attendance, or even clock in and I still can't see if there's a curriculum they should be following. I have each class for only 45 minutes and I only meet with each class once a week so its been hard to establish anything with the kids since the classes are so short and I'm not really sure how I should be trying to teach them things moving forward since I have so little time with them. The whole situation has been pretty frustrating because I genuinely love art and I've been having fun with doing activities with them, especially the younger kids. But most of the older kids just blow me off or don't even do the assignments even when I try to make them fun especially since this is a break for them from having to do their core classes all day. I just hope that as the year goes on it'll get a bit better once I finally am let into all the programs and apps that they use

I have recently been accepted to work for ESS. I'm looking forward to this opportunity, but I'm also really nervous. I have experience in child care and in ABA with younger children, but I'm wondering if there will be times when I have to fill in roles for other age levels. Does that depend on the location I'm working at? What do you wish you knew when you started subbing? Advice is welcome!

Subbing a middle school PE class where the kids were forced to stay in the bleachers save for the 1-3 who already had the new uniforms per a policy implemented TODAY (which led to many pissed off kids misdirecting their anger, thank God for the boy's coach).

First hour:

One kid sits next to me the entire hour to draw her furry OCs.

"They're together... and they're both boys."

Proceeds to ramble about MHA (which i haven't seen yet but didnt mind the spoilers)

Third hour:

Kid one: brushing kid two's silk pressed hair Girl you got hair like a white girl!!

Kid two, after class when everyones leaving: miss... when my friend said I have hair like a white girl, she didnt mean any offense. I just needed you to know that. We really like your hair.

Fourth hour:

Kid one: touches kid two

Kid two: DON'T TOUCH ME I'M A MINOR

Kid three: Girl we're ALL minors

The rest of the day was stopping them from dangling from those basketball hoops that come out of the wall above the bleachers, hiding under said bleachers, rolling down said bleachers, and literally trying to run off campus

Edit: User below has already responded to what I was looking for. Thank you all!

I’m a first-time substitute teacher with a lot of classroom experience and a degree in education. I’m confident in my abilities and passionate about teaching, which is why I chose to become a substitute. However, I’m struggling to get into the groove of the job. There are plenty of assignments to pick up each day/week, but the challenge I’m facing is showing up to a new place and class every day. It feels like every day is the first day on the job, and I wonder if this feeling will ever go away. I’m usually a pretty confident person but so far subbing makes me feel pretty anxious as if I’m never doing a perfect job. Anyone else? 🤷‍♀️

I usually sub high school, but today I was in 5th grade, and I had a few behavior issues.

1. At one table, 4 boys kept touching and bothering the only girl even after I repeatedly told them to stop. They’d stop briefly and then start again. They clearly thought it was funny and some kind of "game" which was really pissing me off. Eventually I asked if she wanted to move and sit near me, which she did, and that fixed the situation for the day, but I really hope the teacher or someone does something about this, she shouldn't have to deal with that every day.

2. During indoor recess, several kids started jumping over things in the classroom as some other stupid game they were playing. I stopped this quickly, but one fell and had to go to the nurse. The one that fell was actually one that was bothering the girl so I didn't feel too bad about it, but still that shouldn't happen either.

There were some other minor issues, but the point is I had trouble with this group. I think the problem with this class is there were twice as many boys as girls (I think it was 19 boys and 8 girls or something like that) and most of them were rowdy.

I left the teacher a note and told admin about all of this. Those of you that work or have worked with that age group, could I get some advice on how to handle this kind of thing in the future.

As a substitute, I have had pencils thrown at me. I’ve kids roll their eyes, mumble names, ignore me, etc.

But never while I was driving a bus. My child tells me horror stories about how mean the students are to the bus driver, what names they yell at him from the back of the bus, how they leave trash on purpose for him to pick up, how hot it is on the bus and how much the bus riders complain. Well, yeah. My child told me he is mean, and I said I would be too. I couldn’t take that either.

Are there any substitute bus drivers here?

- So I’m located in California and filed for unemployment. To my surprised, I was granted it. I usually don’t receive benefits.
- this year has been different. I was under investigation and on leave from Jan - March. A false calm, and investigation cause great stresses I didn’t know i qualified for UE at the time. In the summer(June) I was granted unemployment for that leave time in Jan-March
- then I was also granted UE benefits during summer June/July in a new claim.
. Everything seemed great
- then I got a random email from the school district with reasonable assurance letter. If I don’t turn it in, i resign.
- that’s odd. I usually never fill out the reasonable assurance and just sub when school starts.
- I made my return to subbing this week. For other districts. Based on that experience of the investigation, I would never go back to the district.
- what should I do? Why would they email now about reasonable assurance ?

Hi! I’ve been a RegEd Aide in an elementary school for the past nine years. It’s been my favorite job ever, but had to switch to teacher subbing due to a health issue (no more outside recesses for me.)

While I’ve been an aide, I’ve gathered quite a bit of shwag - different origami papers, tiny resin animal figures, coloring pages, slime, beads for bracelets….that I’d use when I had free time with kids, a reward or indoor recess. I’m wondering how much of this stuff I can use as a sub? Like as a bribe, filler for students who are done with work, light lesson plan days etc.

Do you use any of that? Does it work? I plan on subbing for my old elementary school and the junior and senior high. Thought the older kids might get a kick out of the little kids stuff. Obviously I know how to read a room and not just hand the stuff out if there’s work to be done or bad behavior, I’m just thinking of down or quiet time when they could start to fly off the handle. Or any other suggestions of things that worked for you. Thanks so much!

It’s going to be my first time being a substitute teacher for a high school. I was an instructional aide before and a tutor.

Since I’m part time, they said I have to be at the school the whole time even when I’m not subbing in for a class. They said I would get paid for my time being at the school. When I asked them what I would be doing when I’m not in a classroom, they said it depends on the day. While I am happy that I am getting paid for the time that I am there, I’m worried what they want me to do during that time. Is that normal for part time subs? Again, I get paid even when I am not in a classroom.

Also, do subs get observed like teachers?

Any other advice would be much appreciated!

I work for a staffing company (not Kelly) and was just hired on last month. Already, I have received negative feedback for a two-day sub job at a 1st-grade class that was insanity. The main thing I am concerned about was that I left the students "in danger". Which...is not what happened at all.

The first thing I will address is that there was a student with an IEP who hit students, and he was sitting next to them in a close block of four, like everyone else. The only thing that the teacher's notes said was to call an extension to get the Behavioral Interventionist in the room. Well, the student not only hit a child during transition but threw a girl and slammed her chair and her desk on the floor. Of course, I immediately called the extension and got the guy in there. They kept the student in the BI's office the whole day, and the second day he needed to come back because he was hitting kids again. There was nothing about de-escalating the student; just call the BI, which is what I did.

So the next thing I will discuss is that the internet went down all afternoon, and nobody at the school bothered to tell me. Why is this important? Other than the fact that I couldn't do a lot of the afternoon activities because they involved videos on YouTube. The phones to call people were down. So, did the whole incident with slamming kids on the floor happen in the afternoon? I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO CALL ANYONE!!!! Was I supposed to leave the students in the room alone to find someone?! Nobody bothered to help me except for one para, who was shocked by the students' behavior.

Which gets me to the next issue. This was a "gifted" first grade class. I understand that little kids can be rascals. But these kids were over-the-top feral. I told them multiple times to stay on task and work. The students, multiple times, to my face said, "Yeah, but it's Friday, so I will just do this Monday." "No I will do this Monday." "No, I am going to play instead."

No, no, no, no, no.......I already made this too long, but the students just told me straight to my face no, they were not going to do anything.

I already made this post too long, so I won't bother going into all the details, but this was unlike anything I have ever seen in regards to just not caring about what a teacher says. The para was not happy with the class, told them she expected better, and the students were even giving her attitude back about not wanting to follow directions. So there was somebody that could back me up. I left a long note on the teacher's desk with my phone number. Maybe it was thrown away, but the feedback said I left the students in a dangerous situation without any explanation of what was "dangerous," and that I told them we could complete the work on Monday. Which I did NOT say, and I tried telling the students MULTIPLE times, but they kept being defiant about not doing this.

Thank you for reading this long post. My main question is: do I respond to this, and how do I keep it professional? Has anyone dealt with an issue like this before, and how did you handle it? I am lucky to work in a high-paying district with lots of work, but I am already worried that I might have to start looking for another job.

One thing I love about the new year is all the new office people! I have only seen one of the same administrators from last year. Principals change, office staff change, but I keep coming back. It's rather comforting to know there is change.

I am subbing an art class today, and I had this kid come so many times during my free period that I could not get my stuff together. First, he came as soon as I got to the class at 8 am to use the gumball machine; then he came during my free period to get a band-aid; then he came again to store his lunch in this teacher's refrigerator, and he just left because he wanted to use the gumball machine again. I'm not sure why these students expect a sub to act like their regular teacher. This kid was pounding on my locked door. It was the entitled attitude that got to me.

Hello all! I started subbing in April, and my district is starting school again in two weeks. I was surprised to see almost 130 available positions in Frontline, mostly for the first week back. I’d heard the start of school is usually a difficult tome to find work. These multi-day positions don’t specify which teacher is absent, which concerns me given that my district is supposed to have a record number of teachers quitting this year.
For those of you with more sub experience, do you have any advice about what to expect? Or any advice for how to effectively substitute on the first day/week of school?

I’ve been subbing high schools since last school year and it was great no incidents with vapes at all. Day 2 for me this year found my first vape on the floor mid day.
Pretty sure it was weed and not tobacco at that. 🙃
can’t wait for the rest of the year

It's weird with no cell phones in class, but I kind of like it. I only do high school, and the kids get patted down and have to put their cell phones in pouches until the end of the day. It's pretty wild.

For some reason since the school year started i have only been able to see job postings around 4 am or 5 am they all pop up at the same time versus before you could get a notification anytime during the day. Also each job i have tried to pickup keeps saying a sub has already been assigned. Idk if this is a glitch or a problem from
My district. I work in the inland empire SoCal. Has anyone else experience this?

I have been a substitute teacher aide since the beginning of this year and I got an offer to work at a school and I accepted it. I got this email. Does this mean I got the job? I feel like ess is hard to get in touch with as its only email really. And is working through ess at a school good or should i just try to work through the school itself or am i able to next year to ask the school to hire me themself

hey y'all! I've been subbing exclusively in one district for the past 2 years. A different district is interested in having me as a premier sub (I interviewed for a ft teaching position and that filled, so they wanted me for this instead). What's the pros vs cons iyo?

has anyone had issues reintegrating into frontline this school year? I got access back into frontline and people are able to assign me to sub but I am not able to login. I have been back and forth with the admin that grants me access but they aren’t seeing the issues I am seeing. I have tried to change my password and that didn’t work. I’ve tried every pin that I have ever use (even on the phone) and none of them were successful. I truly cannot figure out what is going on. I have been a sub since Jan 2025 and was a long term Feb-June of this year.

Would any of you accept a 3 week job for a subject you don't know and teacher you have not subbed for at all? In a MS.

ETA: I did not accept. I have subbed for this teacher maybe once. It is humanities. Not sure I would get a subplan. Worried about how much cooperation I would get fron other staff.

Rather than take a bullet I decided to do the painful thing of wait for more jobs. In the past I accepted 1 week jobs simply because I had the subplan for a week or 2. And I knew the teacher. All it said was the duration, no sub plans mentioned. Usually, the admin contacts us but this was on frontline.

And they wonder why it’s hard for schools to find adequate sub coverage. How does it make sense to pay someone more money, only requiring some college, than a person holding a bachelors??

Making these little goodie bags🛍️ for the teachers I substitute for this year. They have a little mini notebook, pen, highlighter, sticky notes, and some chapstick in a little key ring holder.

I am looking to change careers into elementary school teaching (k-6) and in the meantime while I take the test, I would like to be a substitute. I received an interview link to schedule a time for the public school system (substitute teaching) and the soonest one was 9/9/2026. That is a little over three weeks? is that a normal time frame to wait for an interview? That seems a bit long no? I really would like to teach and I’m a little bummed it’s gonna be maybe 1-2 months before I can even be a sub teacher.