So I Took A Sub Assignment Today

[ProfessorGAC]

8th grade math in a town that is 16 miles away. All highway so a bit over 20 minutes. Pretty convenient & I like the people there.
I get there about 20 minutes before the kids come in, sign in, grab my ID (I have my own badge there), and head to the room.
When I get there, 6 other math teachers are listening to someone speak. Do I waited outside the door.
Finally one woman says "Who are you here for today?" and I pointed into the room.
She says "Joe is here. He's right there." I hear him say "Oh geez, I forgot to cancel that."
So, I go back to the office and the sub coordinator says "Well, you were on the roster, you signed in, and we don't need any other help today. Not your fault, so you should head to the golf course & we'll pay you for the day anyway."
So, I got paid to play golf & clean up leaves in my yard.
I expected to be angry because of wasting my time, but hard to be mad when they're paying me for nothing!
An extra $90 to give to the food pantry, to boot.

[3catwoman3]

1. Sounds like a win-win.

And kudos to you for your food pantry donation.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Yeah, I Give A Large Majority Of It...

...to 2 food pantries. One in the small town where I live, the other for the county.
I kept $10 for gas and lunch, if I eat one.
The rest I give away. I don't ming doing it for nothing, but I don't want it to cost me money out of pocket.

[sheshe2]

2. When you said you got a sub assignment today....

My first thought was

[Niagara]

11. lol!!

I laughed out loud at this, Sheshe.


I snorted during my laugh out loud as well!

[sheshe2]

13. LOL.

These days, we need a laugh once in a while, Niagra.

It helps, it helps a lot.

[Niagara]

15. Indeed!

Thank you for making me laugh!

It is appreciated.

[electric_blue68]

23. Me, too! 😄

[debm55]

3. Thank you so much for sharing with us, ProfessorGAC. Eighth grade math--General Math or Pre-Algebra? Thanks for donating

the money to the food bank.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Probably A Combination

The guy next door, who I subbed for the day my car got hit in the parking lot, does the accelerated 8th grade math.
So, I'm guessing this is closer to general math with some exposure to algebra.
I know the kids in that other class were working on solving paired linear equations, and that day, two young ladies git moved into the accelerated class. While they were a little behind, they didn't act like I was speaking Klingon while I was explaining how to do these types of problems. So, they had to have seen algebra before.
In fact, when I was across the commons doing 7th grade, there was a touch of algebra in some of their problems, too.

[debm55]

6. Thank you and good luck subbing.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. 7 Years Now

I enjoy it. If I didn't, I'd quit doing it.

[stopdiggin]

8. No, no, no! I must INSIST that I be allowed to teach a class ... ANY class!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Yeah, Any Class!

And by any, I mean Science, Math, Or Music!
I've also done HS business classes, since I have an MBA & I worked in big business.
If they would have said language arts, I would have said no then not get paid.

[kimbutgar]

9. Wow I'm a sub also and I've never been that lucky getting paid for not doing work

Last edited Sat Nov 15, 2025, 05:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Todayi subbed for a pre K sped class and I started at 9:30 am and got off at 1:30 pm. It was pretty easy only 5 kids on the spectrum and all of them were sweet and no meltdowns!

But the coolest thing it was Ruby Bridges day and all the other classes walked around the block to remember the bravery of Ruby Bridges!

[KS Toronado]

12. Lead a weekend project at Boeing that was scheduled for Sat. & Sun.

we finished and sold it to inspection Sat. , our Supervisor who didn't have to come in to work on Sunday
then paid me for Sun. which was double time. sure liked that guy.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Cool!

On my real job, I was always salaried so never got overtime.
But, I took comp time whether it was official policy or not.
They were paying me well, so the time was as valuable as more money.
Work 12 hours on Thursday & Friday, I left at lunch the next couple Fridays. I didn't ask for permission & nobody ever Saud anything.

[KS Toronado]

17. At Cessna one time we had 8 inches of snow overnight

and only 10% of us showed up, they said go home and paid us for all eight for showing up.

Coworker wanted to see how good my old Toronado got around in snow so I started doing circles and
figure 8's in the empty parking lot with my gas pedal on the floor watching the snow fly off the front tires.

When I drove by the guard shack leaving the guard flagged me down not knowing what to expect, and he
said WOW what kind of car is that you're driving, we've been watching you on camera for a half hour,
it sure gets around in the snow, your rooster-tails were 20 feet in the air.

We wound up talking about 15 minutes, one of my fun days in that car.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Great Story

Early front wheel drive, right?
I had an 8th grade history teacher that had a Toranado. Fit well because he was the "cool" teacher.

[KS Toronado]

22. Guess why my DU handle is KS Toronado?

Mine's a 1970 Toronado, last year of the early body style.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. That's The One

That's a beauty, there.
The teacher's car would have been late 60s. It was the copper or bronze color with a black vinyl roof.

[KS Toronado]

29. '68 & '69 had these huge front bumpers

[ProfessorGAC]

30. Sure Looks Familiar!

The other "cool" teacher had the Monte Carlo with the really long front end.
This were young guys who used college & teaching to avoid Vietnam. We benefitted as they were good teachers.

[10 Turtle Day]

25. That is a beautiful car!

[KS Toronado]

27. Thank you

[LastDemocratInSC]

26. You could land a helicopter on the hood.

I remember those days we'll.

[KS Toronado]

28. They sure did have long hoods being FWD

Oldsmobile advertised them as a "Luxury Sports Car" because they were all 2 door vehicles with long hoods.

[BradBo]

16. 8th grade teacher? You people are amazing! You deserve it.

[markodochartaigh]

18. Enjoy it! You only have your benefits because someone stood up and demanded them.

When I was working as a nurse the hospital would sometimes send people home after we arrived at work, or if the acuity of the patients decreased. Technically if we got to work and they didn't need us we were supposed to get one hour's pay. But in practice they didn't pay us and there was no way to do anything about it.

[True Dough]

19. You've been in the teaching game for quite a long time, right?

I'm interested in the changes you've seen in student behavior from decades ago compared to now.

There's always a tendency for older generations to believe the kids today are going to hell in a handbasket. But these youngsters are so plugged in to technology that it's hard for them to separate.

What is the policy at schools where you teach in regards to cellphones? They cannot be brought to class? If a student is found with a phone in hand while in class, is it confiscated?

And what is the general attention span now compared to 20 or 30 years ago? Some of that is due to tech, IMO, but there's also a wider recognition of autism than in the past.

It's a complex picture.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Don't Have That Long A Perspective Actually

I've been subbing for the 7 years since I retired from my real job.
The only thing I taught before that was a few terms of advanced organic chemistry back in the 90s. Those were, obviously, adult grad students. I also did one or two terms of econometric analysis at a different school, in the late 90s.
Other than the addiction to the cellphone which is worse at the HS level, I think kids behave the way we did back in the 60s & 70s.
I'm more than a little disappointed in the pedagogy of math at the junior high level. The decision to eliminate things like memorizing multiplication tables & competitive things like T races have made math harder because the simple arithmetic stuff isn't a reflex action. What number times 6 is equals 24? You probably came up with 4 without thinking about it. I don't see that. Some kids can do it in their heads, but not reflexively.
But, on the behavior side, I see the same cross section of behavior & degrees of it since I was in school 50 to 60 years ago.
I don't consider myself a teacher, though. I'm just a helper that is good at explaining math to kids & I bring a unique perspective to the science classes since I spent so much time working in that field.
The good thing is, the helping is what I find satisfying.

[GAtomboy]

31. Wait... did nothing??

You got paid for doing nothing?? You must be a federal worker! /s

[Wifes husband]

32. I am a retired federal worker

I do not appreciate your comment

[ProfessorGAC]

33. Well, It Seems Appropriate

We have a president that does nothing all day and we're paying him!