I just finished day two of my long-term sub job. So far it's been a bit more eventful than I had anticipated. This week (and maybe even next week) was supposed to be a time for me to observe the regular teacher so I can get an idea of how things are normally done in the classroom. This is a pretty common occurrence, although one typically has less than two weeks to shadow. As I've been teaching for a little while, I thought it sounded a bit excessive, but it's not something I would really argue about.
Things ended up being a bit different from what was planned. Yesterday, the sixth and eighth graders went on a field trip in the morning. I was at the school without the LA teacher for a few hours and just observed a couple of other classes. It gave me some time to get to know the students, so that was nice. Then, the LA teacher had an appointment in the afternoon, so I had to cover one of her classes. It was a little rough since I didn't know the students and wasn't used to the routine, but I got through it fine.
Today, I found out when I arrived at the school that the LA teacher found out yesterday that she was in breach and needed to try to get the baby turned around. So she wasn't able to come in. I had some pretty detailed sub plans and managed to do a decent job of teaching. I also got to know students' names better than if I had just been observing.
All in all, it was a good start to the job. I also have a student who looked a ton like a girl I taught at another school. I asked her her last name and she turned out to be the other girl's sister! They moved recently and that's why she's now at this school. Thankfully, they are both hard-working and polite students. There are plenty of students that I would be really upset to know I was going to teach a sibling.
Oh, and I had to send a student out of my classroom today! I had been warned about him and was told not to take any off behavior from him. So when he didn't follow multiple directions, I sent him out. I usually wouldn't do that to start with, but I didn't want him to think he could walk all over me.
So far, I think I like the school. It is super small. Actually, I can't get over how small it is. Nowhere I've taught before even compares to the size. On the plus side of that, the classes are really small. My biggest is 19 or 20 and the others are closer to 15. The class size makes a huge difference in ones ability to effectively teach.
On the down side, I had another issue with with supervisory union today. I happened to come across a master contract today. I had been surprised at how low my per diem pay was so I decided to look up the salary scale. It turned out that they were paying me based on the rate for someone with only a bachelor's degree. I thought it was a mistake and emailed the woman who had given me my paperwork. She wrote back that it was their policy to pay long-term subs at the base rate. Needless to say, I was pretty irate. There is a bit more to this and I am going to look into my options. Most likely, there will be nothing I can do about it, but there is a section for pro-rated employees in the contract. Surprisingly, it does not mention anything about paying them at the base salary.
It's a little sad that I actually have to challenge them, but I wasn't raised by a lawyer so I would just sit around and do nothing when my rights are being infringed upon. I have worked for a number of different schools in the state and know how things are normally done. Substitutes don't have a lot of rights, but that doesn't mean they should be bullied into something. I've been working too hard for too long to stay quiet when things are not right.
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