Thinking about becoming a substitute teacher? Discover 15 reasons why subbing is a great way to gain teaching experience and make an impact on students.

<p>Are you thinking about becoming a substitute teacher? It&rsquo;s a wonderful way to gain experience while you&rsquo;re on the path to becoming a certified teacher. <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/all-about-education-jobs">Substitute teaching</a> is also perfect for those who want a flexible schedule that suits their lifestyle. Subbing can give you exposure to various schools, grade levels, subjects, and locations. Best of all, being a sub allows you to spend your day around kids!</p>

<p>Here are our top 15 reasons for becoming a substitute teacher.</p>

<h2>1. Improve the Lives of Children and Teens</h2>

<p>As a <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/educator-spotlight-pinar-u-substitute-teacher?">substitute teacher</a>, you&rsquo;ll have the unique opportunity to impact the lives of the young people you encounter. Most of us can recall from our own school days a special member of the school community who served as an advocate, mentor, safe harbor, or stronghold &ndash; an adult we admired, could talk with, and felt safe around. Children and teens need to be around adult role models who create a caring, accepting, structured, and secure environment. Often these adults are art, music, PE or elective teachers, cafeteria servers, custodians, or front office receptionists. Other times they&rsquo;re substitute teachers!</p>

<h2>2. Provide a Critical Service for Schools, Teachers, Students and Families</h2>

<p>Substitute teachers fill a vital role. Imagine the difference you&rsquo;ll make when a teacher knows their classroom is in good hands, when a principal is confident they&rsquo;ve hired a professional they can trust, when kids feel the school day will still run smoothly even though their teacher is out, and when parents can rest assured their kid is safe! By coming into a classroom and confidently taking the reins, you help keep the school machine running as smoothly as possible.</p>

<h2>3. Get a Taste of What It&rsquo;s Like to Teach</h2>

<p><a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/educator-spotlight-francisco-a-substitute-teacher?">Substitute teaching</a> is an ideal job for those who are considering teaching as a career. It gives you a chance to step into the classroom environment and see if it&rsquo;s right for you. Instead of envisioning what it would be like to drive to and from a school campus, gather your teaching supplies, stand in front of the class, and teach, lead kids to and from the lunchroom, migrate around desks providing individual assistance, and navigate behavior management, you&rsquo;ll actually be doing it! There aren&rsquo;t many careers that offer this opportunity. It&rsquo;s a unique chance to see what it&rsquo;s like.</p>

<h2>4. Gain Practical Experience While Pursuing Your Permanent Teaching Certification</h2>

<p>The experience you&rsquo;ll gain as a substitute teacher will inform your education and coursework while you pursue your teaching certification. It will allow you to put what you&rsquo;re learning in the college classroom into practice, even beyond your student teaching experience. Plus, it will look great on your resume and make you an outstanding candidate.</p>

<h2>5. Choose a Schedule That Works Best for You </h2>

<p>One of the benefits substitute teachers love most is the great schedule. You get to work school hours and follow the school calendar. But best of all you can choose the days you want to work. If you&rsquo;re substitute teaching as a full-time job, you can find long-term sub positions. If you&rsquo;re just working part-time, you can set your schedule around your other job or your family. And if you&rsquo;re trying to navigate pursuing a college degree, you can arrange your schedule to take assignments when you don&rsquo;t have classes.</p>

<h2>6. Try Out Different Schools to See if They Are a Future Fit</h2>

<p>When you take a job as a permanent teacher, you&rsquo;re committing to at least a year of teaching at the school where you&rsquo;re hired. So, you can&rsquo;t make any changes until your contract is up. But as a sub, you can rotate around and try out different schools. You can even work for different districts. This is a wonderful way to decide where you&rsquo;d like to apply permanently once you&rsquo;ve earned your teaching credential. You&rsquo;ll have a sound idea of how you fit in with the school culture and whether it&rsquo;s a decent commute from your home.</p>

<h2>7. See How Various Schools Operate and Pick Up Diverse Teaching Strategies</h2>

<p>Teaching as a sub at different schools gives you a glimpse into various school environments that most teachers don&rsquo;t have. This means you can see how each school runs the show and choose what makes sense to you. If you aspire to become a school leader one day, you can get a feel for different strategic approaches to school administration. If you intend to teach, you can observe various teachers and how they conduct their classrooms.</p>

<h2>8. Become a Pro at Classroom Management</h2>

<p>Each new class you have as a substitute teacher will strengthen your classroom management skills. Different developmental behaviors show up in each grade, so you&rsquo;ll get experience learning what you should focus on for success. What strategies work best for managing a second-grade class? What would you do differently for sixth grade? How about 11<sup>th</sup> grade? You&rsquo;ll quickly learn what works and what doesn&rsquo;t and develop skills to adapt.</p>

<h2>9. Gain Confidence in Teaching</h2>

<p>In addition to managing your classroom, you&rsquo;ll also be able to sharpen your academic teaching skills when you&rsquo;re a sub. Teachers will leave you lesson plans, and it will be your job to deliver them. You will be able to grow in your confidence and ability to lecture, provide individual support, and lead groupwork. You can demonstrate math problems or handwriting on the board, create firsthand science activities, organize social studies debates. Before you know it, you&rsquo;ll feel confident teaching any group of students.</p>

<h2>10. Get Great at Problem-Solving and Thinking on Your Feet</h2>

<p>As a substitute teacher, you&rsquo;ll have a great deal of independence and responsibility and will need to solve problems all day. This will require quick reflexes and creative thinking, but it&rsquo;s part of what makes teaching rewarding. What will you do if a child falls and scrapes his knee? What if you catch a student copying off a neighbor&rsquo;s paper? What if a teen comes to you crying about the pressures of testing? You will soon become the ultimate problem-solver, able to manage anything that comes your way with success!</p>

<h2>11. See What Subjects and Grade Levels Interest You Most</h2>

<p>Being a sub means you can figure out what subjects and grade levels you want to teach. Are you into science? Math? Language Arts? Do you want to teach an elective like band or drama? Are you destined to become a PE teacher? Do you see yourself in the PreK, elementary, middle school or high school classroom? You can test it all out as a sub!</p>

<h2>12. Leave Work Stress Behind</h2>

<p>With a substitute teaching job, you won&rsquo;t have to take the day home with you. No ongoing lesson plans, grading, or projects to worry about. And as a sub, you won&rsquo;t have to stay after school for faculty and staff meetings or attend IEP or parent conference meetings. It&rsquo;s a much less stressful job than teaching. And bonus &ndash; if you get plenty of experience as a sub, your permanent teaching career will be less stressful too &ndash; because you&rsquo;ll know the ropes!</p>

<h2>13. Build Your Network with Other Teachers, Subs, Staff and Administrators</h2>

<p>The best thing about educators is they are big-hearted people. You&rsquo;ll love building your network with them as your circle grows. You can find mentors in the crowd, make new friends, forge relationships with administrators. You&rsquo;ll be setting yourself up for success when it comes time to look for your full-time teaching job. And in the meantime, you&rsquo;ll be making connections you can rely on for your whole career.</p>

<h2>14. Earn Decent Income While Pursuing Your Degree</h2>

<p>While substitute teaching doesn&rsquo;t pay what permanent teaching does, it provides a decent income, especially if you are in school to earn your teaching certificate. Daily pay for subs ranges widely across different states, anywhere from just over $100 to $315 dollars per day.</p>

<h2>15. Take Advantage of Professional Development Opportunities</h2>

<p>Subs have many opportunities for professional development. Your school and district will offer some level of training and orientation. Here at Cross Country, we have extensive resources for our substitute teachers to ensure they feel prepared, confident, and supported along the way!</p>

<p>Becoming a substitute teacher can open doors for you! From improving the lives of children and teens and playing a critical role in covering classrooms to learning behavior management strategies and building a professional network, substitute teaching is a great fit for many professionals. Whether you&rsquo;re on the path to becoming a teacher or looking for a flexible career that fits your lifestyle, becoming a substitute teacher could be the perfect step forward in your career journey.</p>

<p><strong>Explore Cross Country </strong><a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/education"><strong>substitute teaching jobs</strong></a>.</p>



Considering a Substitute Teaching Job? Here’s Why You Should Become a Substitute Teacher!