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August 12, 2025 16 mins

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Reaching the milestone 300th episode, I'm tackling a universal substitute teaching challenge that surprisingly hasn't been the central focus of any previous episode: getting reassigned after you've arrived at school.

The moment when administrators approach with that apologetic look, asking if you'd mind switching to a different classroom than the one you accepted, triggers a range of emotions. Drawing from my nearly eight years in substitute teaching, I share two contrasting library reassignment stories—one where I felt valued for handling a challenging class another substitute abandoned, and another where I was disappointed to leave a carefully planned library assignment.nts? I'd love to hear your experiences!

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Episode Transcript

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Greg (00:00):
Greg Collins.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
It is August 12, 2025.
Whoa, nellie, it's episode 300.
All those episodes and I stillthink today's topic is a new one
I've never had an episode justabout this subject.

(00:23):
I've mentioned it in otherepisodes about other things, but
today we're going to talk aboutthat.
You know, as a substituteteacher, how to handle when you
get moved.
Should you react in a negativeway, a positive way, a
frustrated way, or no way?

(00:45):
Substitute Teacher's Loud.
All right, now go ahead andformulate in your mind how you
feel when you get moved, or inother words, when you get to

(01:08):
your class or to your school asyou're just the way it works,
and they move you somewhere elsebecause you're needed more in a
different location.
Now there's different ways wecan react to this.
I will tell you now that how Ifeel about it now is much

(01:29):
different than how I approachedit six, seven years ago.
I'm going to give you twolibrary stories.
Now, you've heard me say beforethat I am not a big fan of
substituting the related arts.
I definitely don't like to dogym because I don't know.

(01:51):
It just seems like that's alittle bit too haphazard for me.
Even if you're just throwingballs out.
I mean you can say that it's aneasy day.
I don't necessarily like a daythat easy.
I want some structure.
I want to know that thesestudents are supposed to be
doing this at this time, whereasthere's a little pressure when

(02:13):
you're teaching gym because youdon't want injuries, all that
kind of thing.
But that's not what we'retalking about today.
We're talking about gettingmoved.
Let me tell you my two librarystories.
One of them happened oh man,I'm betting it's about I can't
believe.
I'm starting my eighth year ofsubstitute teaching, but it was

(02:35):
about six, seven years ago at amiddle school and probably the
most bizarre story of gettingmoved that I ever had.
By the way, we will get intogetting moved just for one
period and then move back toWe'll talk about that too.
All right, so I'm in thelibrary.
I'm kind of proud of myselfbecause I've taught myself the

(02:59):
library gun.
I know how to check books inand check out.
It's kind of cool to see allthe grades throughout the day in
obviously a more relaxedenvironment than if I was in gym
.
Yeah, there's some cool stuffto do in the library.
A lot of libraries have thoseelectronic kits where you build

(03:23):
things that have little smallmotors with them and that kind
of thing.
I enjoyed that.
But five minutes before theclass was over first period I
went ahead and went to thelibrary.
They called me and said Greg,we need you to go up on the
fourth floor, this room, andfinish your day there.

(03:45):
I didn't know why, but thesepeople had treated me pretty
nice.
I am of the opinion.
I still feel this way, eventhough my mindset's kind of
changed.
I still feel like if theschool's got enough confidence
in you, especially for thereason I found out they wanted
me to go up there, then you gotto feel kind of good about that.

(04:07):
Right, the school wants you togo somewhere else because
perhaps you might be one of thefew substitute teachers that
were in the building that theyfelt like they could handle this
.
And sure enough, what they did?
They closed the library therest of the day, locked it,

(04:27):
locked it up, so no library time.
The rest of the day Sent me upto the fourth floor and I found
out later it was because thesubstitute teacher that was up
there was such a nervous wreckor hated it so much after one
period that substitute teacherjust left, didn't tell anybody

(04:48):
just left.
They did find out quick enoughto call me.
I got to feel good about that,right, mr Collins, this might be
a tough class to handle it, butwe know you can handle it.
So I didn't feel too bad aboutbeing moved.
I didn't feel too bad aboutbeing moved.
Plus, I was early enough in mysubstitute teacher quote career

(05:09):
that I didn't want to say no tothem.
I mean, didn't have the rightto say no to them, didn't have
really have the right to say I'mnot going to do it, they're
paying me.
I go where they say.
I felt good about it and that'sthe way that went.
My other library was actuallylast year.

(05:29):
I was out of middle school andthis is a sort of a different
situation because I had becomeclose to the librarian and she
wanted me in there every timeshe's gone because she knew she
could depend on me.
Now, how complicated could alibrary be, right?
Well, you got to learn the gunsystem where you shoot the

(05:51):
little library gun at the book,scan a code and the book is
checked out or checked in.
I learned all that, but sheknew that, even though there
would probably be 50 to 100books both checked in and
checked out every day.
Yes, believe it or not, that'strue.
She knew that I knew the systemand she knew that I knew how to

(06:15):
reshelf all those books.
I knew from the codes, I knewfrom the sections and I can do
it.
And not only did she likehaving me in there, I liked
being there because of that.
Well, the principal walks in Meand the principal get along
pretty well.
And the principal walked in andsays you know, we're going to

(06:37):
need you to go to the seventhgrade.
And I said well, let me atleast tell you I was trying to
talk my way out of it.
I said let me at least tell youthat the librarian actually
sent me several texts last nightabout what she wanted to get
accomplished and how.
You know, would I mind doingthis for her?
And I gladly accept it.
And he said I understand.

(06:57):
He said, but she doesn't haveany students.
We need you to go somewherewhere they have students.
And they did in fact close thatlibrary.
That day.
I got moved and I was much moredisappointed that day because of
the situation than I was before.
How should we feel about beingmoved?
There's all different ways forit to happen.

(07:18):
We have a it's called anacademy in our area.
It's like specialty things,like one of the classes has to
do with learning nursing, to thepoint that you can actually
study and get your CNA based onwhat you've learned in that
class.
It's that kind of school.

(07:38):
It also has guitar classes,welding classes, automobile
classes, that kind of thing.
Well, one of the teacherscontacted me could you take my
class?
I think it was the guitar class, I can't remember.
But when I got there they said,mr Collins, just as friendly as
they can be, mr Collins, canyou go to this class?
And I said well, I will do that, of course, if that's where you

(08:02):
need me.
I do want you to know that Idid discuss with the teacher of
the class I was originallyscheduled for and he wanted me
to go over these things today.
So we did do a little prep workfor the class and they said
okay, we're going to findsomebody else to take the new
class.
You take the class of theteacher that you had planned on

(08:25):
taking.
And that was just a diplomaticway of not saying no, but being
nice and being honest.
I mean, I'm not going to makeup an excuse so that I don't
have to move to another class.
But that's the way thatsituation went.
Are there ever situations whereI would just flat say, no, I

(08:47):
really can't move to that classclass yes, if I had been to a
class before and I just toldmyself for my own sanity that I
can't do that class anymore, Iwould just I would be honest
with the administration and say,listen, I've had that group
before.
It didn't work out that well,I'm doing this.

(09:09):
You know, I'm not even doingthis for the money, I'm doing
this for fun and that class isnot fun to me.
I would rather not do that.
I don't want to leave you in abad situation, but my preference
is no.
Let me know if there'ssomething else that can be done.
And you know, you just go fromthere.

(09:30):
Sometimes you'll walk in in themorning.
And especially the high schoolsin the area.
They are in most need ofsubstitute teachers than anybody
and they got to where they knewthat.
You know, sometimes I would bea little bit frustrated if they
knew I was at a class full ofhonor students but they needed

(09:52):
me to fill in one period, asthey did every other substitute
teacher fill in one period forthis missing class.
We couldn't get filled and itwas just a behavior issue.
So here I'd signed up for awhole day of honor students and
I've got this one hour I've gotto spend with the quote
troublemakers.

(10:12):
They don't do that to meanymore and you know, I didn't
tell.
They could tell I didn't reallylike it, but I'm not special.
But yet because they could seemy frustration, they never put
me in that situation again.
Maybe it was a coincidence,maybe not, but we're going to

(10:33):
get moved from time to time.
You can handle it two ways.
You can handle it the negativeway.
You can say I just can't do it.
Well, even if you try to be asdiplomatic and as nice as you
can, that's going to hurt yourstock a little bit.
That school may be morereluctant to call you to

(10:55):
substitute teach in the future.
So if you really feel thatstrong about it and it's worth
that to you, in my case I wouldnever get to that point.
But in my case, if it was worththat much to me and I knew I
had seven other schools to go to, I might consider it.
But I really don't think Iwould ever do that to a school.

(11:17):
Those schools need you.
Here's what you do, from apositive standpoint, if you get
moved to a class that you hadn'tplanned on taking.
I like to do prep work, I liketo be prepared for every class
and I will always mention thatto them.
I like to be prepared for everyclass and I will always mention
that to them, and it usuallydoesn't matter.
They still need you where theyneed you and you need to be

(11:40):
willing to help them out.
But at least if you drop thatsubtle hint, you can say oh sure
, I said now I did.
I knew what subject I wasteaching.
I did prepare a little bit, butI understand that if you need
me somewhere else, you need mesomewhere else.
Be happy to do it.
You stay at the top of theirpreferred list and you at least

(12:06):
plant a seed.
You're telling them that, yes,I will do this for you.
I'm not crazy about it, youknow, say it that way.
I'm not crazy about it, butI'll do this for you because I
realize that's where you need meand I'm glad that you thought

(12:26):
that I was capable of prettymuch going anywhere you needed
me.
And go from there On ourFacebook, you know, substitute
Teachers Lounge Facebook page,which is now over 5,000 people.
Man, I can't believe that.
But anyway, this comes up fromtime to time and to the point of
some people think that theschools don't have the right to

(12:49):
move you somewhere else that yousigned up for.
It's like a contract.
They're not supposed to do that.
I would never take it that far.
But the negative thing ifyou're negative to them, they
will be negative to you.
That goes for students too.
So just keep that in mind.
Be a positive job taker.

(13:13):
Realize that.
One thing that I didn't mentionI'll get back to the realize
that here in just a moment.
I have accepted jobs that justsay teacher, and usually when
that happens it's one of twosituations.
It's a situation where theyknow if they really post what

(13:34):
the job is, they won't get manytakers, so they'd rather just
put down teacher and when youget there, tell you where you're
going.
I've done that a few times.
And then it might be an eventwhere they just know they need
some extra teachers.
Some of them might be gone andthey'll move the you might.
There might be a pool of likefour or five substitute teachers

(13:57):
that come in and then theydecide who goes where.
After that You're going to runinto all kinds of things I would
.
I wouldn't even say I wouldrecommend you do this.
What I do, what has worked wellwith me, is always say yes If
you really don't want to and youprepared for your first choice.

(14:18):
Just tell them that.
Tell them that you know youalways like to prepare ahead.
I did prepare for the class Iwas scheduled to go to.
I would have been morecomfortable there, but I
understand you need me somewhereelse and that usually goes over
pretty good.
They like to hear that youprepared, but yet they like to
hear that you're willing to gosomewhere else if needed.

(14:40):
So that's it.
Let's get the school yearstarted off right.
We start in our district.
Tomorrow, wednesday, is ourfirst day of school here.
I have seen some openingsalready on Wednesday.
It's not a situation that Iwanted to accept, so I didn't
pick it up.
My first day is actually goingto be on the 22nd, at least so

(15:03):
far, but I hope I do get somejobs between now and then.
Especially to the schools thatare close.
By man, I'm getting to be an oldman.
My favorite school to go toused to be a 25-minute drive and
they asked me again this year.
They said, mr Collins, can weput you on our preferred list?
And I said yes, here's the wayI said it, and I was diplomatic.

(15:24):
I didn't know how to replybecause I really wanted to stick
with elementary school.
This was a high school and Isaid yes, but I want you to know
that I am doing mainlyelementary school now, so my
availability may not be asstrong as it used to be, but

(15:45):
there are about half a dozenteachers there that will text me
directly before they even posttheir absence.
I'll definitely come back tothem.
And then I left it that way andthey liked the answer and we
kept everything going.
There are diplomatic ways to sayno.
Don't just say no.

(16:06):
Give them a reason yourpreparation, your
uncomfortableness, perhaps witha couple of areas, maybe you've
got some anxiety that you don'twant to flare up.
Who knows?
But be honest with them.
You're going to get moved.
You might as well get ready forit.
Keep your name at the top ofthat substitute teacher list by

(16:30):
saying yes when that situationcomes up.
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