“I agreed to bring it back only if it could be something different and make an immediate impact for our local schools,” the associate professor says.
In addition to that classroom time, student-subs participate in coaching conversations with university faculty
To stay attuned to the needs of those schools, Hines tries to build and maintain strong relationships with local school leaders. A district leader recently told Hines that one of her biggest problems lately is finding substitute teachers. It’s a challenge for schools across the country payday loans Maryland that the pandemic has intensified. District and state leaders have come up with temporary solutions like calling on parents and members of the National Guard to volunteer, or moving classes online.
So Hines thought up a solution. What if her college students got some of their required classroom experience by working as paid substitute teachers?
For school districts, the benefit of such an arrangement would be “getting a really motivated, educated, substitute teacher,” Hines says. For students, one benefit would be the pay.
“It breaks my heart when I have students who are trying to get in their field work, but they are working at Disney or waiting tables,” Hines says. “This lets them focus their efforts on education.”
“This problem of attrition in our field, I firmly believe it’s in part because people don’t understand the job before they get out there,” Hines says. “As someone who worked as a substitute teacher before I was a teacher, I learned more subbing than doing anything else, ever, to prepare for teaching. I saw a variety of classrooms, a variety of age groups, and I could make a really informed decision about what I wanted to do career-wise as a teacher.”