It depends…I was in a very large urban area (13 mill pop), and we had to indicate the geographic area of preference. Then, every morning at set times, we had to sit and wait for a call if something was available in our area. You got the info about the sub assignment over the phone and had to decide to go or not go…and usually had 1/2 hour to get to the school! Well, traffic and transportation gods need to shine on you…and when you finished, paper work to the school…and go through this up and down, busy not busy unknown stuff…and got paid at the end of the month. If I remember correctly (this was a while ago), I was making about $100 per day….but only got an average of 12 days per month….tough to get by.

If you have little ones at home, a key constraint is the child care issue (depending on their ages). I don’t know how the system works in your area, but in my case, I wouldn’t have know which days I need to make arrangements for child care or not. That would make it almost impossible to take a sub assignment on short notice.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

The Maryland set-up sounds wonderful. It’s not like that around here (Central Illinois). I have subbed in the past and I was called early in the morning and asked if I was available. Every once in awhile, I would get lucky and find out about a job a few days prior to the day. Also, to sub here, you have to have at least a Bachelor’s degree. Our sub pay is $75 a day but that depends on the district. If you get a long term sub position, it’s more. I’m not sure how much but I think it’s about $100/day.

If you are near a district that needs subs constantly and don’t mind a short notice most times, it would be a neat job. I know most districts need subs. Also, sometimes, the larger schools who have a constant need for subs hire a permanent sub for the building. That seems like it would be easier too.

Good luck to you.

My friend Mel is a substitute teacher in Maryland. She had to have at least an associate’s degree to get the position. Then, every evening she goes on the Internet and looks in the data base to see when, where and what schools need a substitute for a particular day.

The data base also tells you what school and grade level as well as how many children are in the class. She then enters in her code and clicks to accept the job.

She likes substituting because it gives her the freedom to work on her acting gigs. It’s also a steady paycheck and she gets to work when she wants. Right now she makes about $80 a day. If she gets her bachelor’s degree, she will get about $100.

If you need full-time job pay, then this job is not for you. It is great as a part-time job. The thing is, you are not guarenteed to have an assignment everyday. Also, you won’t get paid when school is out so if you are counting on working a certain number of hours per week, this job is unreliable.

I subbed a long time before I taught. You can get a job every day from October through June. But if you want a particular job or school in a district, you may get calls once a month or less. Some schools have their favorite subs. If you want to sub for special education or pe or any elective classes, you may get pulled to any other classroom in the school. Plus, if you sub for any teacher who has a planning period, you may get pulled to sub for another teacher who didn’t call in for a sub or got sick during the day during your free time.