The administration and secretaries are always so appreciative of my subbing efforts. They always thank me. They always acknowledge my flexibility. Sometimes they tell me they hope to see me again soon. I wonder how schools would feel if teachers were treated half as well as their subs are treated?

Given the amount of time that teachers are out of the classroom for professional development, special education and data meetings nowadays, subbing should receive more attention. Students in advantaged areas will have subs. Students in tough, urban or academically-challenged areas may not be as lucky. I left my kids with no subs on too many days to remember, One year, as part of the Building Leadership Team, I was out for eighteen days, if memory serves me, courtesy of the Incredibly Well-Run State of Illinois. On lots of those days, my students were redeployed when no sub could be found, handed to my next-door-neighbor from Spain — who might not have been the best choice for emergency language arts — or scattered among colleagues, only some of whom taught language arts and most of whom spoke no foreign languages, not understandably anyway, “One-tenth of the school year shot to hell” would be a quick way to sum up that year, although I personally learned a great deal about myself and team-work. I suppose it could have been worse. Nobody made me fall backwards while trusting a colleague to catch me at least.

Eduhonesty: Trying to write a book out here. Toward that end, I may post some older efforts with commentary in the near future. I am intrigued by the idea. I have changed a great deal over time, and one reason this book has never come to fruition has been shifts in point of view. My first year teaching, for example, I was sure the answer was money. My students needed books, supplies, fruit bars, and technology, I thought. Within another year or two, I would realize that fruit bars and technology might be useful, but supplies were only a start.

To be continued…

P.S. I keep hoping that ideas like No Child Left Behind and the Common Core will help us, and then I end up looking around in horror at my poor students, again victims of half-baked ideas and good intentions.