teacher

elementary school teacher

high school teacher

substitute teacher

special education teacher

Killeen Independent School District

I was going to college at the time (as some other subs I talked to were also), and wanted to make some money during the times I didn't have classes. You choose which school on which day to work at, and you don't need to even work every week. This worked super well for me as I would need more time with some college courses and would not need to worry about calling out of work. Of course, you only get paid for the days you work (so you don't have work/pay during summers), but the flexibility and ease of scheduling around your outside work life is such a great benefit.

Sometimes when the teacher you're subbing for doesn't have a class for a certain class period, the school's coordinator sends you to cover for another teacher during that time. But frequently there were no other teachers to cover for. That just turns into another break for you, and the best days were the ones where I had breaks totaling hours in one 8-9 workday to study for college.

The pay varies depending on type of sub job you sign up for and your education, but it isn't a lot nonetheless. Because of the sub shortage, it's really easy to get this job. Had no problems with either the sub center or school coordinators. They've all been super kind and helpful. Very low stress on the managerial side.

The benefits were so little that I can't even remember what they are. Because it's not full-time and considered variable hours, the benefits reflect that. 

There's not a lot you can do for super rowdy kids besides calling appropriate staff for assistance and making reports.

For the actual job, I did work with all the age groups and I found high school kids to be the best. They're all older and, for the most part, know what to do and don't cause major problems. Usually just instructions left by the teacher such as a worksheet or a quiz for the kids to do. If you want to be a teacher, elementary is probably the best for experience. You teach the lesson plans, really engage with the kids, and guide them through the day. And middle school, well, if you love a challenge......

Greets visitors and assesses nature of business, orders and maintains supplies, materials, and equipment needed. Maintains regular filing systems and searches files for specific information. Prepares correspondence and reports as instructed. Prepares outgoing mail. Types and/or routes memorandum forms, reports and correspondence. Maintains a schedule of appointments. Makes necessary arrangements for meetings including date, location, and time; contacting those who need to attend; and sees that all materials are prepared on matters to be discussed. Utilizes office technology and automation to complete tasks and operates office machines such as computers and software programs, 10-key calculator, copy machines, telephones, calculator, and other machines appropriate to the campus. Answers questions which require a detailed knowledge of school procedures. Prepares instructional materials, meeting agendas, honor rolls, graduation lists, and campus communications. Keeps all club/ organization paperwork filed, in order, for audit reports. Prepares various reports for club sponsors. Maintains proper records of accounts and prepares reports of transactions on each account in the absence of the school cashier. Processes all incoming volunteer paperwork and send off to the proper department. Receives and verifies students, faculty, clubs, and organizations paperwork for fund raisers, field trips, dues, entry fees, tests, registrations, etc. Receipts monies received when the school cashier is not available. Ensures monies are secure and locked in the vault in the absence of the school cashier. Answers telephones and callers' questions, or directs callers to appropriate individual or department. Acts as the POC for the Home Access Accounts where parents check their student’s grades for over 2,400 students.

I worked contract for the special education department and was paid very well. However, the special education department is extremely disorganized and does not have the proper programs for specific student disabilities, mainly autism. Students with low-functioning, non-verbal autism have a very specific intervention need, mainly ABA intervention strategies requiring very specific communication intervention along with targeted behavior intervention (maladaptive behavior is very common with autism because of the communication deficits). I worked in a self-contained room with a majority of students who were non-verbal autism mixed with life-skills students and students who required functional care. The staff-student ratio was inadequate. The entire day was spent managing behavior, yet as a teacher I was required to provide the lessons for para-professional staff, take data, run the classroom, prepare ARD paperwork, take attendance twice daily, provide “general education” grades every 4 weeks, update IEP progress every 9 weeks. All of this with a 45 minute planning period, which I rarely received because getting someone to cover my role (2 paraprofessionals could not handle the group of students alone) was close to impossible. And, it was a different staff member daily or an administrator sent to cover. The training provided for the general education grades was zero—I had to seek it out myself) and took hours to complete. No training on taking attendance. Teachers filling this position are only lasting a month. The student placement is the main problem—but because KISD lacks an autism-based, targeted intervention program, they should at least provide the proper staff.

Teaching children in a self-contained class is challenging and yet very rewarding. Consistency is the key to achieving tangible success. Commitment to work ethics and team-building also play a very important role in the over-all success. I believe in the saying that, "it takes a village to raise a child."
I have learned that my main goal is to always help facilitate or execute what's in the best interest of the student/s. 
The hardest part of the job is maintaining the level of your energy and your expectations. And that you don't lose your ground even when challenges arise. You don't want the children to gravitate on your emotions or have  any other negative inklings other than we're there to make them feel safe, secure and become better learners.
When you see each one of the children progressing even in different levels, that alone is a testament of collaboration and teamwork.
For me, the most enjoyable part of the job is witnessing the in-between moments of children when they can unleash their emotions and their ability not to stay there.Their sense of resilience is staggering and infectious. And I try to catch and not miss a glimpse of that endearing moment and truth about them.

The substitute teacher is extremely overworked and undercompensated, on a level bordering abuse. The employee relations "specialist" is rude, off-putting, and clearly comfortable in her position, abusing her "manager" and "boss" position over employees. I strongly believe because I was of a specific gender and ethnic origin, I was treated unfairly. Employees cannot raise concerns, that is viewed as "arguing". Employees do not have an recourse other than the substitute "specialist", who is the final authority on human resource relations and issues encountered. Also, the "specialist" is a person who is hardly in office or available, yet has approval authority in critical application processing areas prior to employment, and also for pay matters during employment. The two "assistants" in the office may as well be statues, at least one can be removed without damaging any functionality or affecting workload. In all, for a thankless job such as teaching, KISD should at the very least ensure the administrative staff are not deterrents to the areas of application, employment, payroll, employee relations, and retention, they may see a rise in QUALIFIED applicants. 
Typical day at work? Stressful, yet the life of an educator. Workplace culture? Fail. Management? Fail.

A typical day has you coming in early (around 4:30-6:00 am) getting on a bus to pick up students and drop them off at their respective schools before heading back to the bus park (usually around 8:00-9:30). Some drivers will immediately go back out again for a noon route while others go home till about 1;00-2:30pm when they are needed back at the facility in order to take the kids back home after school hours end after which you head home between 4:30-6:30pm. While there you learn how to work with students, their parents, and school faculty members. The hardest part of the job is generally dealing with children who don't like authority and having to control them to keep the bus a safe environment. The most enjoyable part of the job is being about to get paid even though you don't have work such at the holidays but it also means you don't get what you expect as pay each month because the pay is prorated meaning the take what you get paid each hour, multiply it by your base hours per day (about 6 hours), multiply that by how many days a year you are required to work (185), then that is divided by 12 months so you have a base pay check coming in every month. Any hours you have that go over that go to that specific months pay check, which only comes once a month.

Substitute teaching is one of the most difficult jobs I have ever done.  Every day was different and I had to adapt immediately to each situation.  There was rarely detailed instruction from regular teachers and instead lesson plans they had planned to use themselves.  I had to ensure that I was competent in all subjects enough to aide students with their work and keep their behavior in control.  I would substitute every grade level from kindergarten to seniors in high school.  I also worked in special education classes for a middle school for an extended time.  

From this experience I learned how to adapt and how to stay calm in chaos.  Students don't often lean towards respecting substitute teachers and accepting that was what made me stay with the job for three years.  I once had a professor who told me that if you could substitute teach you could handle doing any job in front of you and I believe that to be true.

I never had much interaction with coworkers or management as my jobs were assigned to me over the phone by a recording. I had to be constantly on the ready to be called into work at any time.

The best part of the job, in my opinion, was having the younger kids appreciate and accept you as a leader and their joy with their day.

A comfortable working environment with lots of time off. My supervisor was a leader. I say 'was' because I am now retired although she is still in place at KISD. All school holidays off plus standard holidays, about two weeks for Christmas. A week for Spring Break. A week for the 4th. A week for Thanksgiving. The pay can't compete with for-profit companies but for-profit companies can't compete with time off. You choose what your priorities are. The entire organization and every job are dedicated to one noble purpose: educating children.

What can I say. I really enjoyed my 15 years working at KISD. It was the longest job I ever had, and the best. There is very low personnel turnover at kisd. My particular position was technician for customer service. In that capacity I assisted teachers and administrative staff with negotiating the complexities of the digital world: computers hardware , software troubleshooting, Password changes, printer troubleshooting using remote access tools provided by KISD.'KISD is KIDS' is the organization motto.

What is the best part of working at the company?
KISD was a salaried job with benefits. It included a computer with regular classes to keep abreast of advances in ones subject area. One could advance and teach Talented and Gifted students along with Honor students with earned certification. Killeen Independent School District provided the necessary training for all areas of specializations which I appreciated.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The paper work needed for the special students was required weekly. Sometimes it would takes hours to complete this.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It is a learning and helpful environment. Since it is located near an army base the culture is multi-culture and varied-making the most of the faculty and the student body.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It began with getting the students into their seats and beginning their day with an engaging activity leading into today's lesson and ending with question to help students decide how they learn what they learn and how it can improve... Then, the next class...

I liked working for the school district, it was good money and fairly easy to get a job. It took a lot of energy to substitute for for classes because the children did not know me and there was a lot of confrontations between students and their different personalities. The work was fairly easy telling them what needed to happen next on the schedule and getting them to where they needed to be. The hardest part of the job would be getting a class full of students to listen to a new adult who more than likely wouldn't be there again. It was difficult because there was no time to get any repore with the children. My favorite part of the day was when I would get to help the children with work or solve a problem. I liked to see their smiling faces and watch how much they learn from their activities.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 4 salaries reported	$64,040 per year
Elementary school teacher 14 salaries reported	$51,312 per year
High school teacher 3 salaries reported	$90,667 per year
Substitute teacher 3 salaries reported	$11.67 per hour
Special education teacher 2 salaries reported	$69,500 per year

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