There is No Substitute For Knowing People

Here's what I did last year to get work, and what I will be doing at the same school this year. I didn't feel like driving all over town to a different school every morning or so, so I picked the school near home where I wanted to work. I managed through the School District administration to get assigned for 20 days to a particular special education class at this school. In the course of going in every morning, I got to know a nice lady whose job it is to deal with substitutes and their paperwork.

When my 20-day assignment ended, I came to work. I walked in and announced, "Do you need me today ?" More often it was a "yes" rather than a "no."

After a few weeks, we arranged that I would call her at a certain time early each morning right after she arrived at work. She would tell me whether there was work for me that day, and if there was, I would throw myself together and come to school to fill the vacancy. If there wasn't, I would stay home and write.

By staying at the same school -- I never subbed at any other during the entire school year -- and by writing detailed reports for each teacher, and by trying to visit each teacher for a few minutes the next day to turn in my report to him or her, I developed a good enough relationship with many so that they now ask specifically for me ahead of time. I will be back at that school again this year, doing the same thing.

I encountered only two teachers for whom I will not substitute ever again because of the way they train their students and normally allow them to misbehave.

An advantage of this sytem is that you get to know who is a good student and who is a little trouble-causing bastard. When you know them on sight by name and let them know you know by verbally greeting them by name, you have a lot more power over them. Also, one or two of the little trouble-causing bastards actually became reasonable and friendly.