A School Without Substitutes?

A School Without Substitutes?

This post was inspired by a tweet I came across a little while back. Here it is:

The caption reads "Today is beta test of substitute-free teacher absences. Students are using @Schoology & common areas/labs to report to class and do work." (For those that don't know, Schoology is a Learning Management System similar to Powerschool Learning). This is happening at the high school in Austin, Minnesota. Their mascot is the...Packers! (Marquis knew that already).

I think we can all relate to some situation that caused frustration regarding quality substitute teacher availability:
- Many of us have had to cover other classes during our prep hours. 
- Others of us maybe have been absent with the hopes of our prepared lesson being executed while we were gone to find out that there was no sub so our students were sent to the library for a study hall. 
- Maybe you are that librarian or other staff member that gets kids 'dumped' on you with nothing to do.
- Perhaps you did get a sub, but don't trust that they will be able to deliver the lesson to make it worthwhile so you instead get a lesson-plan-in-a-can (movie) or find some busy work for your kids to do knowing it will be a wasted day.

Disclaimer: I am not at all trying to degrade/diminish/minimize/criticize what substitute teachers do or have done for schools and specifically my classroom. It is a thankless, difficult job that I have some experience with and no desire to ever do again, and I have great appreciation for those that do it. The point is there are many good ones, some bad ones, and overall not enough.

Anyway, I think what this school is doing creates great conversation. Here are some questions (and my answers) to how this might work:

- Who is watching the kids? They are in a semi-monitored area according to the follow up posts. Library, Commons, etc. Areas that an adult may be present but doing other things, or areas that have cameras that can be watched by other school personnel. 
- How is attendance taken? Maybe a staff member stops in, or like in this situation, the class activity was only accessible during that class period. Students had to log on, complete a task showing their presence during that time, or marked absent.
- What are the kids doing? Whatever the teacher assigned on the LMS. Maybe it was a reading with some discussion questions. Perhaps they were working on a project. Maybe they are watching a video of their teacher giving a lecture, and filling out a study guide along the way. Lots of possibilities.
- How would this even work? A teacher would prepare directions and class activities on their LMS (Powerschool Learning for us). Students would go to the designated area, log on, and complete the work. 
- So if this model works, why do we even have teachers? Why not just go all online, all the time? First, nobody is trying to replace teachers or make them robots by using technology. This model uses technology to embrace the role of the teacher by making their presence felt even when they are not there. Research shows the enormous impact an effective teacher and the relationship students have with that teacher has on student learning. It takes an effective teacher to create a lesson that will keep students engaged and learning, with minimal supervision, for an entire class period. Think of it as a 'flipped-classroom' for a day. Also, compare what you and your students could accomplish versus a 'wasted' day watching a movie or having a study hall.

No question, going totally 'sub-less' is far-out thinking. However, we can at least take away that there are some possibilities to enhance the experience for students, substitutes, and teachers when teachers have to be gone by effectively using Powerschool Learning. 

In my position, I often miss classes for meetings, trainings, etc. I have relied heavily on Powerschool Learning to execute my lessons when I am gone. I have done video directions directly to a class of students like this:

I have found that my class is much more productive when I am delivering the content (even if not in person) than when I ask someone else to relay the information via sub plans. 

I have worked with a few teachers who really beefed up their PSL because they were going to be gone on maternity leave or other extended absences. They too can comment on the value and ease of using PSL when you are gone.

What are your thoughts? Can a school work without subs? What issues do you see? What have your experiences been? Share out in the comments section!