Welcome to the fabulous life...

...of a substitute teacher. Here are some of the benefits you can look forward to:

• Never knowing if you'll get a job
• Groggily typing your passcode after being woken up by your cell phone
• Watching the same movie five or more times in one day
• Kids who equate substitute with day off
• Teachers & administrators treating you as a sub-par educator and human being in general
• Wondering if taking out all of those college loans were really worth this
• Constant prayer that you will get a full time job over the summer

This blog will be the chronicle of my substitute teaching experience. There are hundreds like me who, every day, participate in this glorified babysitting. Some are retired teachers who must be running low on their social security benefits or are insane enough to enjoy subbing. Most, however, are recent graduates in the field of education, hoping and praying that they can weasel their way into a decent school district and begin the thankless, exhausting task of teaching.

I began subbing in January 2009 in a suburban district in Ohio after leaving the urban charter school I had taught at for four months. Believe me, this suburban kids are cake compared to what I put up with at the urban charter school. I was naive enough to believe that the administration would support me and run the school consistently. Now I'm stuck in the limbo of substitute teaching. My husband is getting his master's, so I'm stuck in this area. He keeps me going, along with the goal of getting 30 sub day so I'll get a pay raise.

So welcome to the jungle.