The Sub Life, episode 3

           This is my absolute most important item that I take to every job.  It is my Holy Bible of Substitute Teaching. In it, I keep all the essential paper-work required for each district that I work in. I keep all the important phone numbers (including one for every school in every district) for each district. It also is home to THE master calendar. Without this book, I can't work because I don't know every date for every job that I have accepted for the future. Trust me, I've tried and I end up accepting jobs that over-lap because one of them was booked waaaaaaaaay in advance. Wanna see what's inside? Good. I thought you would.

 1) THE Master Calendar: It's color coded by district and shows me six months at a time. I write the name of the school and the teacher for whom I'm subbing in each little date box.
2) Elementary Classroom Report: Elementary and secondary classes actually need different reports. This one has a place to note behavior, lessons taught, students that were helpful/harmful, and extra notes for the permanent teacher. It also has cutesy graphics. :)
3) Middle/High School Report: This report has blocks to write notes for each period. Usually the lesson plan is the same for each period or for two period in a row, so you only need space to indicate students of note. I've been told that secondary teachers do not appreciate cutesy graphics...but I think it's bologna.
4) Pocket Dividers: These are a great way to divide up your school districts if you are subbing for more than one. You can place your time cards and other important forms in each pocket so you don't have to dig around for them when you get to the office.
5) Clear Page Protectors: These are a great alternatives to divider pockets, but I use both because I like the dry-erase quality of the page protectors {another post on that later}.
6) Teaching Journal: This is a good way to record the jobs that you have. You can use this to tack your own marketability or you can use this at an interview to show other school districts how often you work in a classroom.
7) Individual District Calendars: I use these to track how much work I get in each individual district in the event that I need to drop a district.
8) Contact Labels: I use personalized sub reports that already have my contact info on them. However, there are sometimes when I run out of forms and so I use these on a regular sheet of lined paper so that teachers can get a hold of me.
9) Personal Time Card: This is for keeping track of the hours I keep at each district to double check that I'm being paid the right amount. Most pay stubs will simply say "Sub Job" and then indicate the number of days and multiply your daily rate by that. Trust me, if you ever find yourself questioning a pay check, you're going to wish you had this!

          This book keeps me organized and on top of my sub jobs and my finances. It's also impressive when an administrator catches a glimpse of it because it tells them that I'm serious about my job.

Happy Subbing!