I understand we are teaching in a pandemic. But.... This PE assistance had it out for me. She comes in, with no mask, demands that I switch desks. I was like ok, just get your mask on, and I can clean the other desk.
Then she could not wear her mask properly (ex: nose sticking out, has to pull it down to yell at students, and just let it hang off her ear at times too.) She berates me for standing 6 feet away from students. Also she did not introduce me to students. I am like gesturing "Put on your mask" "stand at a distance from each other" "good job" all day because I don't know any of the students names. But because I want to stay safe....
In the end, lets block me from the entire school.
Not my favorite school, even though the Art and Music teacher were nice. Some of the students showed very little respect.
It has always shocked me when we are blocked, and we don't even get to tell our side of the story. I actually didn't believe that subs were treated that poorly, until I lived it, myself.
You could just make it known that next time they desperately need a sub, you can't do it, because you were fired.
One is this kind of blocking with no one give us a chance to explain our side nor we know what happened or who really planned it behind us .
Another is never never they give a pay raise .
In many many years .
Price of living go up but pay stay same.
Even in pandemic times ,when subs are working in real risks .
I've never been blocked at a school, but have been block by a teacher that proceeded to block me from her whole grade level. I'd subbed for all of them for many years with no problems. But she is the queen bee and they all follow. Funny thing is I sub at the school for other grade levels and specials with no problems. Earlier this year one of her teammates texted me desperate for a sub, um I don't think so. The whole system is unfair and unprofessional.
The job is hard. The pay does not commensurate. I think we could join the union, but costly.
We are expected to realize we are a LOW person on the totem pole, make no waves, etc.
I enjoy my freedom, have had contracted positions and really don't do well with the demands of being a staff teacher. I am happy visiting campuses. I am assertive, but never speak up much at these different schools.
Words i use are words like, "Sorry, oops i made a mistake! I didn't know that." I have found it is just fine to take my time, be human. I enjoy putting on great clothes and being kind to the students. Other adults, I avoid.
People can be very territorial, i try to respect and understand that i have no clue about their behaviours.
It sounds like you dodged a bullet. If you got sick working there due to staff negligence, they wouldn't want you back until you tested positive for X days straight anyway. And they wouldn't cover the costs of your treatment, either.
It was better back in the day. Not amazing by any means, but much better than now.
At this moment, substitute teaching is essentially babysitting students using their laptops, while we pray we won't get banned for them sneaking video games and inappropriate videos.
I also don't appreciate how students have the power to tape us with cameras on their phones. I certainly don't want to appear on a middle schooler's Tik Tok video.
Throw in a pandemic and it's a recipe for a nightmare.
Honestly, our country as a whole is in trouble. Many have given up on civility and fairness. And many downplay the severity of the virus.
Apathy, disrespect, and vindictive behavior are considered a part of normal everyday life at this point.
It saddens me to see the current state of things, and makes me wonder what happened.
Last edited by subasaurus; 11-01-2020 at 10:05 PM..
There is so much self-righteous arrogance in our school systems and I don't always get why. If ever there was a place for humility and understanding, it should be in our school system but I have posted before, it's a 400 year old model and it's incredibly flawed, needs to go. (The Prison Model). You have to shore yourself up for literally anything including doing a great job with the kids (which they never seem to care about versus sucking up to the right people and be careful if the kids DO like you=getting banned as well, prof. jealously, pettiness). Just move on. As a sub, you do your best and you are in a rats nest anyway. If it doesn't work out, shrug your shoulders and move on and also, give it time. There was a school that stopped calling me two years ago. That secretary is now gone, and they are calling me again.
Happy gal - I'm glad you posted about the territory issue because I think that explains a lot of the problems that are discussed here.
I have been thinking about that very thing and it has explained some of the issues I've had, though didn't realize they all fell under the "territory" issue, especially, well totally, with aides.
I am going to start using that term when dealing with aides because it explains a lot, and if told, I think they'll realize that it is true. With good judgement, of course.
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10-28-2020, 04:51 PM
