I know this has been brought up before, but be nice to the secretaries (and the other teachers). They will help you out! There's a maternity leave position coming up at the school I sub at the most. The secretary and a couple teachers have kept me in the loop about the position and let me know when the principal was going to contact me and the best "method" for me to get in touch with the principal. It's also good to hear when the secretary tells you that many of the teachers at the school have said wonderful things about you and all of them have recommended you for the position. After 2 ½ years of nothing I'm finally up for a LTS. At this point, I'm thankful for the temporarily consistent schedule. And to think, I was considering walking away from teaching altogether.....
Good luck! I know the feeling. I subbed all last year and have my first LTS assignment in December. It's wonderful to move up a step. And yes! Always be polite to secretaries and janitors. Even as fulltime teacher, these are people who you want on your side. I try to be kind to everyone who crosses my path.
I definitely agree that the secretary/office administrative assistant can be your best friend or worst enemy... depending on you. One day I was having a really rough morning, was ALMOST late (for someone who's 15 minutes early every subbing job, that's stressful in itself), and then had a hard time figuring out where to park at the school. When I went into the office to sign in, I was rather snippy with the secretary (which I also NEVER do... this was totally not my personality that day). Since then, EVERY TIME I have picked up a subbing job online for that school, it has been cancelled on me, only to show up back in the system a few minutes later. I could be paranoid, but I believe the secretary is booting me. However, at every other school where I've subbed, I've always gone out of my way to be cordial to the secretary, ask her how she's doing, THANK HER for telling me where the classroom is, etc. And now I am almost always having to turn down job requests because multiple schools call me for the same day before posting the job in Aesop. I definitely don't blame the one secretary who doesn't like me... I didn't like me that day either, and now I don't even notice because I've got 12 of the next 20 school days already booked, and have been spoken to about 2 more that are still up in the air. I've been looking around for something low-cost and thoughtful I can do for the secretaries where I've subbed, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make the rounds the week before Christmas with some home-baked goods to the 4 schools with secretaries who frequently call me (and maybe to the one I was rude to, as an apology).
Good luck to you. My experience has been totally different. I left subbing in 2008 for many reasons but mainly because I got tired of the favoritism game.
I think it would be nice for you to bring them some home baked goodies. It would probably be better if you did while you were there, and not go out of your way on the last day. for example you're at school 1 on Monday, bring the it then. At school 2 on Tuesday, do it then. This way it'll seem like just a nice gesture, and no one can say you're trying too hard. Maybe I'm over analyzing it though, and it doesn't matter.
In this job market, there is no 'trying too hard'. Showing your thanks and appreciation is always welcome and goes a long way in building rapport and relationships.
I agree completely. As a teacher I know that I appreciate it when the substitute teachers are friendly and eat in the lunch room with us. I also think highly of the substitutes who seek help when they need it and are not afraid to go to the "experts" (teachers) for advice. We have had substitutes in the past who have not been friendly and remained aloof of the teachers and it seems rude. I think you can't go wrong to say "Hi" with some baked goods or small cards. I think the best thing is to just let them know how much you appreciate them and all the work they do. Whatever you do (baked goods, cards, notes, etc.) just make sure it is genuine.
Best wishes to you! But I have always hated this advice. It goes all over me. Be nice to people because being nice is awesome. That's reason enough.
