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Substitute Teaching in Minnesota

No, you don’t need a teaching license!

Among the many hats I wear, in addition to writing this blog, is that of substitute teacher. Depending on how busy my schedule is with other business, I teach in one of the Twin Cities area districts a few days a week.  For many people, this is an excellent part-time job opportunity to make a few extra dollars, make a difference in the lives of students, and possibly find yourself energized by exposure to their youthful exuberance.  The information on this page explains how to become a substitute teacher in Minnesota, although much of the information will be relevant in other states as well.

The rate of pay for this work varies from district to district, but in Minnesota, typically it is about $130 per day. Depending on the school, the substitute is expected to arrive about a half hour before the students arrive, and typically leaves about the same time as the students. This means that the substitute typically works about seven hours a day, and the afternoon is usually free.  The mathematically astute will realize that this is almost $20 per hour, which isn’t too bad on days when I didn’t have anything else scheduled.  There are also frequently half-day assignments available. During the day, the substitute usually has at least one “prep hour” available. During the prep hour, the normal teacher catches up on other work such as preparing lesson plans or grading papers. Since the substitute usually isn’t expected to do such things, this usually results in another hour during the day to catch up on other work. Since there is almost always a telephone and computer with internet access available, this can usually prove to be a productive time.  Thus, even with the relatively low salary and lack of benefits, substitute teaching can be a reasonably lucrative proposition for many.

A person would certainly struggle to pay the bills if substitute teaching were their only source of income. But the schedule is so flexible that subbing can provide a great source of extra income for those who are self-employed or work another job in which they are free during the day.

For me, the main advantages of substitute teaching are:

  • A source of income on days when I’m not working elsewhere.
  • An opportunity to be an “insider” at my children’s own schools.
  • The opportunity to make a real, albeit brief, positive impact on students.

For those who do need the income, it would be possible to work almost every day as a substitute. Jobs are available on an almost daily basis. For those who do not need to work every day, this allows you to be very selective on which jobs you take.

Minnesota Requirements

In Minnesota, anyone with a four-year college degree in any subject can become a substitute teacher. You do not need to have a degree in education. This is because many school districts have a shortage of substitute teachers. In Minnesota, a person with a four-year degree, but without an education degree, and receive a “Two Year, Short-Call Substitute” license.

This certificate is issued by the Minnesota Department of Education. There is a fee of about $93, and you will need to be fingerprinted as part of the application process. As the name implies, this permit is valid for two school years.

Even though you will need to obtain this state license, the starting point is the individual school district where you plan to work. This is because the two-year license is available only to persons teaching in districts where the superintendent has verified that the district is experiencing a hardship in locating fully licensed teachers. As far as I can tell, the license, once issued, is valid statewide. But to get the license in the first place, you will need the signature of a district superintendent verifying that district’s hardship.

Fortunately for you, many districts in Minnesota are experiencing such hardships, and they will be overjoyed to sign off on your license application. In fact, they routinely do this as part of the hiring process.

I have noticed that these “hardships” seem to come and go. For example, the district where I am currently teaching does not currently have this hardship. Therefore, I would not be able to be hired there as a new substitute. However, once I’m in the system, I can keep teaching there. And since they frequently have substitute jobs that go unfilled, I wouldn’t be surprised if they once again declare a hardship and hire new substitutes such as me.

A quick Google search reveals that the following Minnesota school districts are currently hiring subsitutes and are willing to sign the certification so that you can get your license.  So if you live in or near one of these districts, they would be the ideal starting point.

Please note that this is just a partial list of districts that currently publicize on their website that they’re willing to sign your application, and they are the ones I found with a quick Google search. There are undoubtedly many others.  (Some districts might not want to publicize on their website that they’re experiencing a shortage, so a phone call might be productive.)  To find these opportunities, check the district’s website, ask at your children’s school, or call the district. Many other Minnesota districts work with a firm called Teachers On Call, which handles the application process. Many of these districts will probably be willing to hire persons with a limited license as well.

Update:  Since I originally wrote this post, my school district has switched to Teachers On Call, which now supplies subs for many districts in Minnesota and Wisconsin, including St. Paul, Roseville, and North Saint Paul.  This means that I get a small bonus if they hire someone that I refer with the following link:

The Hiring Process

When you inquire, you will probably be asked to apply in person. And it’s quite likely that you will be hired on the spot, subject to obtaining your license. You’ll probably walk out with the required form signed by the superintendent, who is happy to learn that his or her chronic substitute shortage is one step closer to being solved. Chances are, the staff at the district will be able to assist you with the process of applying for your license. When you visit the district office, you should plan on being hired that day. Therefore, it’s a good idea to bring along your college transcript, as well as the ID documents (driver’s license and passport or social security card) to complete all of the required forms that day.  (And don’t forget to bring your checkbook, since they’ll probably want a voided check to set you up for direct deposit.)  There’s generally no need to provide a resume, although if you have one prepared, it’s probably a good idea to bring a copy along.  When the license is approved, you’ll start getting jobs.

You will get little if any training. Most substitute teachers seem to be hired on a “sink or swim” basis. On your first day on the job, you will simply walk in, announce to the class that you’re their substitute for the day, and then make the best of the situation.  You’ll probably be given some kind of handbook or guide explaining some district policies, but you will be given little if any advice on actually teaching.

You will be told the mechanics of how you get jobs. Before the internet came into existence, school districts employed a person often known as the “gatekeeper.” This person would report to work at 5:00 AM and wait for teachers to call in sick. When they did, he or she would start calling substitutes to fill the vacancy.

The job function of the “gatekeeper” has now been largely automated. Instead of a human calling you, you will go to a website and/or receive an automated telephone call.  You will see all available positions and be able to select one.  My district, and most others, use a system called AESOP.  If you want to limit yourself to particular schools or grades, you have this option.  But your license allows you to teach any grade level from preschool through adult, and you’ll be given the opportunity to take any available assignment.  Since you don’t have to deal with a human being on the other end of the phone, it is very easy to be selective and take only the “good” jobs.

I currently have the telephone option turned off, and I get jobs strictly by logging in to the website.  I usually have these jobs lined up in advance.  If I were in need of daily work, I would set the alarm clock for 5:00 and wait for the phone to ring, safe in the knowledge that I would be working almost every day.

What the Work is Like

As a substitute teacher, there will be good days and bad days.  Fortunately, however, the good days far outnumber the bad.  And because you can pick your assignments, you never have to worry about going back to the bad classes!  After a while of taking jobs, you will recognize which are the good schools, which are the good teachers, and which are the good classes.  Armed with that knowledge, you can pick and choose and go back only to the good jobs.

Surprisingly, at first, it can be hard to predict which will be the good assignments and which will be the bad ones.  I’ve taught at schools with extremely bad reputations, and often found those assignments to be the most rewarding experiences.  On the other hand, I’ve also taken a few jobs at “good” schools where I don’t plan to go back.  For this reason, the early days of your substitute experience will teach you a few lessons.  But after you’ve figured out where the good jobs are, you’ll have days when you feel guilty about collecting a paycheck for such a fun assignment.

Because of my particular temperament, I  prefer taking jobs in high school, junior high, and occasionally the upper elementary grades.  I know that I wouldn’t be a particularly good kindergarten teacher, so I don’t take those jobs.  Other substitutes are more suited to younger kids and would be horrified at the prospect of teaching high school students.  The nice thing about subbing is that you can pick and choose.

One reason why I prefer high school and middle school is the fact that if I get a bad group of students, I know they’ll be gone in less than an hour.  I can put up with just about anything for an hour.  I rarely have miserable assignments, but it’s nice knowing that if I do, it’s of very short duration.

I have found that the principals, teachers, and all of the staff of the schools where I teach are genuinely happy to see me.  There is indeed a shortage of substitute teachers, and there are times when they need one but don’t get one.  When that happens, the other staff need to work harder.  The regular teachers often need to use their prep hour to cover another class, or the principal or another administrator needs to step in.  So when they see me, they’re happy to know that they don’t have to worry about the class that day.

Most times, the regular teacher leaves lesson plans.  This is often an activity where I need to do little more than hand out the assignment and sit back as the students do the work.  Many substitute teachers are happiest when they discover a lesson plan sitting on the desk.  On the other hand, I tend to enjoy the situations where there is no lesson plan and I’m left to fend for myself.  I consider myself a renaissance man, and I can always come up with something that ties in to what they’ve been studying, whether it’s math, English, social studies, science, or just about any other subject.  It’s my chance to pontificate, and yes, I enjoy showing off to the students that I can do the algebra problem and that, in fact, yes, we do algebra in the “real world” on a regular basis.

The most common question I’m asked about substitute teaching is how well the students behave.  Many adults recall their days as a student, and remember that when a substitute appeared in the room, the class erupted in chaos.

Thankfully, few days end like this. FEMA photo.

Thankfully, few days end like this. FEMA photo.

You will, indeed, experience chaotic situations from time to time as a substitute.  Some students will believe that they can get away with anything with the regular teacher gone, and they will try to do so.  However, by using a bit of common sense and displaying an aura of calm authority, most of these problems can be overcome quite easily.  Occasionally, it’s necessary to kick some student out of the room and refer him to the assistant principal or whoever deals with behavioral issues.  But this is actually quite rare, especially after students realize that you are willing to go to such extreme measures.  Typically, students will do their job with a minimum of prodding.

I’m also frequently asked whether substitutes need to understand the subject matter that they’re supposedly teaching.  The answer to this question is a resounding no.  The expectation is that the substitute will have absolutely no understanding of the subject matter.  If you maintain order for the day, you will be lauded for doing a great job.  You’re not actually expected to impart any knowledge to the students.

Having said that, my favorite part of the job is actually imparting knowledge, or at the very least showing off to the students that I actually understand the material.  So I take pride in explaining the causes of the Civil War on one day, and then applying the quadratic formula the next day.  The students are duly impressed, the teacher is pleasantly surprised to discover that the students actually learned something, and I’m probably requested the next time that teacher is absent.  But this is not the norm.  Normally, if the classroom is still standing at the end of the day, then you have done your job as a substitute, and everyone is happy.  So no, you do not need any particular knowledge of the subject matter in order to substitute teach.  Even if you have no idea what the quadratic formula is, you’ll still do fine teaching math classes.

Even in the worst classes (which are, thankfully, rare), it is clear that most of the students want to learn something.  It’s actually quite gratifying when a student thanks you at the end of class.  The rewards can come at unexpected times.  It’s not unusual to be teaching a history class and have a student ask if you can help with their math.  Occasionally, you’ll see that the student finally “gets it” after struggling with something for quite a while.  I’m not a better teacher than the regular teacher.  But I might bring a different approach that works better for one particular student.

If I haven’t scared you off so far, then I encourage you to become a substitute teacher.  The rules I’ve discussed here apply to Minnesota.  Most other states allow substitute teachers without an education degree, although the qualifications will vary considerably from state to state.  In fact, some require only a high school diploma.  (Pay in such states, however, seems to be considerably lower than states requiring a four-year degree.  One interesting possibility in such states is that college students can substitute while in college, although this is generally not possible in Minnesota.)  Each state will have a different set of hoops to jump through.  But most seem to have enough of a shortage of subs that they will assist you in every way possible as you jump through them.

You might get a small amount of training before your first job, but I’ve discovered that experience actually doing the job is much more valuable.  If you want to do some reading before undertaking the job, you might find some of the following books and websites helpful:

BOOKS

WEBSITES



End of Wartime Civilian Radio Production

1942Mar8ChiTribWPBOn this day 75 years ago, March 7, 1942, the War Production Board (WPB) ordered that civilian radio production would cease on April 22, as reported in this clipping from the March 8 Chicago Tribune.

As of that date, the entire industry would be on a wartime footing, and the entire industry, with the exception of replacement parts production, would be converted to war production.

A billion dollars worth of war orders were already in the pipeline, and half of that business was to companies making home radio sets. The WPB acknowledged that some unemployment would result as companies switched over to war production, but it was estimated that 95 percent of the conversion would be complete by the end of June.

The board estimated that when the last civilian set rolled off the assembly lines, there would be 60 million sets in operation, with a set in 87% of American homes.

More details of the order can be found at our earlier post.

 



Homemade Wartime Radio Parts, 1942

1942FebRadioNewsSeventy-five years ago this month, the February 1942 issue of Radio News contained one in a series of articles on the subject of homemade parts for radio construction. While the article appears to have been written before Pearl Harbor, it acknowledged that the present emergency could sharpen its teeth still further, in which case radio men might need to make their own parts. This article focused on variable capacitors, and offered a number of ideas, as well as specific details and even formulas for computing capacity.

The first idea given is shown here, a variable capacitor consisting of two cans. The inner can would be about 1/8 to 1/2 inch smaller than the outer one. A vertical support made of wood would allow the inner can to move up and down, varying the capacitance. Since adjustment was not particularly convenient, this scheme was recommended for things such as neutralization, where the adjustment only needed to be made once.

For tuning, two ideas were offered. The sliding plate condenser shown below allowed tuning by pulling one set of plates in and out.

1942FebRadioNews2

1942FebRadioNews3The “book” or “barn-door” capacitor is shown at left. It consists of two hinged plates. The article notes that this idea was used commercially until about 1927. In fact, it allowed adjustment with a rotary knob, by using the scheme with a cam shown below. According to the article, this system was used by Crosley in 1926.

1942FebRadioNews4

In most cases, the insulated portions of these condensers were made of wood, and the author offers pointers on selecting wood. Other insulators are also discussed, for use in capacitors and other applications. Cardboard was offered as a good base for coils, and the article explains how to treat the cardboard with beeswax, parafin, or other substances. For coil bases, the article recommends burnt out tubes, which it notes are discarded by most shops by the bushel.



How to Clean Your Typewriter

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Sixty years ago this month, the February 1957 issue of Popular Science showed the best way to clean a typewriter. Yes, as the picture shows, ultimately, it’s just a matter of dunking it in the kitchen sink with some detergent and letting it soak.

Before you do this, however, you should read the article.  It’s important to first strip down the machine of some components, to dry it thoroughly (which might involve placing it in the sun, or even in the warm oven, since you’re in the kitchen anyway), and then properly lubricating as soon as you’re done.  The magazine tells you exactly how to do it.



1917 Life Buoy

1917janpm3A hundred years ago this month, the cover of the January 1917 issue of Popular Mechanics showed this life buoy design for sheltering 40 passengers. According to the manufacturer, the design, made entirely of steel, was unsinkable, noncollapsible, and would ride upright in the roughest sea. The buoy was designed to be kept on deck, and if there were no time to launch it, passengers could simply get inside and wait for it to float free when the ship sunk.

An observer could sit in the conning tower and display lights or other distress signals through the window. A storage battery provided current for lights and fan, and there was space for storing water and provisions for ten days.

The bottom of the buoy was filled with cement for ballast, and the buoy weighed 2000 pounds.



Alien Surrender of Shortwave Radios, Cameras, Guns, 1942

1942janradioretailing

 

Shown here, in the January 1942 issue of Radio Retailing magazine, are resident aliens in Los Angeles lining up at a police station to turn in their cameras, guns, and radios capable of receiving short wave.

The magazine noted that Attorney General Francis Biddle had issued an order that enemy aliens, that is, citizens of Japan, Germany, and Italy, turn these items in to the nearest police station.  An alternative would be to have receiver rendered incapable of receiving signals other than those in the standard broadcast band.  Therefore, the order “seems to open the way for radio servicemen to render a useful service of eliminating shortwave reception from aliens’ sets–and get paid for it.  In this way, the alien may keep his set for regular broadcast listening to U.S. stations, while the police authorities are spared the storage of hundereds of radio sets which they are poorly equipped to handle.  And the radio man collects $1 to $2 per radio set altered.

Typically, the modification consisted of removing the shortwave coils, and providing the set’s owner with an affidavit documenting the modification.

75 years ago today, the Chicago Tribune, January 6, 1942, carried an article regarding the status of the order.  It reported that local officials found the response so far to be unsatisfactory, since fewer than 2550 cameras, guns, and radios had been surrendered as of the previous night, despite an alien enemy population of more than 50,000 (28,000 Germans, 21,000 Italians, and 250 Japanese).

The Chicago police reported that the items surrendered included several antiques, including an 1878 breach loader. One man was reported to have “embarrassedly handing over a sawed off shotgun, possession of which had been taboo in Chicago ever since the prohibition gang war era. He said that he inherited the weapon from his father.”

One man, not bothering to wait for a receipt, simply drove up to the police station, hurried a radio from his car, and drove away. Another motorist tossed a $100 radio from his car and drove off.

The paper also reported a supplemental order from the Attorney General listing the following prohibited items:

Weapons or implements of war or component parts thereof; ammunition of all kinds; bombs; explosives or material used in the manufacture of explosives; signal devices; codes or ciphers: papers, documents, or books In which there may be invisible writing; photographs, sketches, pictures, drawings, maps, or graphical representation of any military or naval installations or equipment of any army, ammunitions, implements of. device or thing used or intended to be used in the combat equipment of the land or naval forces of the United States or of any military or naval post, camp, or station.

 



1941 Popular Science “Summer-Winter” Radio

1941JanPS1

1941JanPS2In January 1941, Popular Science carried the plans for this “summer-winter” receiver. During the summer months, it went in a cabinet “finished in striped airplane-luggage canvas” and was powered by batteries. But in the summer month, the chasis could be slipped into a smaller walnut cabinet powered by household current.

The superhet employed four tubes, two 1A5GT’s, 1H5GT, and 1N5GT. For use in the “winter” mode, it also included a 117Z6GT rectifier. When run on AC power, the filaments were in series with a 2500 ohm, 10 watt, resistor as well as a pilot light. In addition to dropping some of the voltage, the pilot light served as a fuse to protect the filaments.

The article’s author was long time Popular Science radio writer Arthur C. Miller.

1941JanPS3

Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon



Making Your Own Hardware, 1941

1941decpmSeventy five years ago, if you couldn’t find a nut to fit a bolt, you could just make your own! The Radio department of the December 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics showed how to do it, with this self-explanatory drawing.

You would use the nut to serve as the mold, and cast one yourself using solder. A small container such as a bottle cap served as the other half of the mold. Before pouring the molten solder into the mold, you would coat the container and threads with a layer of shellac.

The magazine noted that this was a temporary solution for use when the mechanical load was light. But in many cases, it would provide a suitable piece of hardware without a trip to the store.



Peace Light and NPOTA: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

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I was recently in Iowa to present some Continuing Legal Education programs in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.  Whenever possible, I like to combine trips, and I used this opportunity to take part in two other events.

Cedar Rapids is close to the birthplace of Herbert Hoover in West Branch, Iowa.  It is the location of the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, as well as the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.  I’ve been looking forward to putting this National Park Service (NPS) unit on the air during the NPS Centenial year as part of the  ARRL National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) event.  During this event,  Amateur Radio operators are setting up their equipment in NPS units  to make contact with other Amateurs around the world.  Since the beginning of the year, the event has been extremely popular.  There have been over 900,000 individual two-way contacts made from the parks, and it appears almost certain that this number will top a million before the end of the year.  As I’ve reported in other posts, I’ve made contact with over 300 different parks and operated multiple times from parks in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

I was especially eager to operate from President Hoover’s birthplace, since he played such an important role in the history of radio.  Indeed, his son was an avid amateur radio operator, and served in the 1960’s as president of the American Radio Relay League, the national organization sponsoring the event.

img_20161201_164804I didn’t have time for a long operation, but I was able to spend about an hour operating from the parking lot of the historic site’s visitor center, as shown in the photo above.  President Hoover’s birthplace home is barely visible in the photo (just to the left of the larger building in front of the car.  Despite the short time available, I managed to make contact with about 30 stations, all CW (Morse Code), ranging from Alaska to Florida.  After operating, at dusk, I paid my respects at the gravesite of President and Mrs. Hoover, shown here.

img_20161203_145243The next day, I used my drive home to the Twin Cities to transport the Peace Light of Bethlehem from Des Moines to the Twin Cities.

For at least the past several hundred years, and possibly more than a thousand, a lamp has continuously burned at the grotto of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the traditionally accepted location of Christ’s birth.  Since 1989, the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides of Austria have annually sent a child to Bethlehem, who lights a lamp from the light and returns it to Austria.  From there, it is passed on around Europe during the Advent season.  Since 2000, the Peace Light has been delivered to North America where volunteers, most of whom are connected with Scouting, deliver it around the country.

This year, there was a gap in the distribution, and it wasn’t making it to the northern tier of states.  I coordinated with members of the Peace Light North America Facebook group, and made arrangements to meet with an Iowa Scouter in the parking lot of a Des Moines coffee shop.  From his kerosene lantern, we lit my lanterns, shown here, and I took the burning lanterns home.

From there, others have come to light their candles and lanterns, and the same ancient flame is burning in lamps in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Another volunteer from North Dakota is on the way here, and within a few days, the Peace Light will be burning in North Dakota, Manitoba, Montana, Washington, and probably other places along the way.

Many are curious as to how the Peace Light crosses the Atlantic.  It is transported by Austrian Airlines in the passenger cabin of an aircraft.  The ailine transports the flame from Israel to Austria, and then to New York and Toronto.  The flame is held within a blastproof miner’s lamp, which allows the open flame to be transported safely by air.  At Kennedy Airport, it’s walked through customs by an airline employee to the airport chapel, where a ceremony is held attended by those who fan out around the country to transport it.  Among those were one or more volunteers who transported it to Chicago.  From there, it went to Davenport, Iowa, where it was picked up by the person who gave it to me.

B



WWV Moves to Colorado: 1966

1966wwv

Today marks the 50th anniversary of WWV’s move to its current location in Fort Collins, Colorado. At 0000 hours GMT on December 1, 1966 (5:00 Mountain Standard Time on November 30), the station began its transmissions from the new location on the familiar internationally allocated standard carrier frequencies of 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 megacycles.

The move was announced in the November 1966 issue of Electronics Illustrated, which contained the photograph shown above. At the center of the photo is the station’s 10 MHz dipole antenna. The 3-1/8 inch diameter transmission line can be seen snaking off to the right. In the background to the left is the WWVB transmitter building (WWVB and WWVL had previously been located at Ft. Collins). The antennas in the background are, at the left, a backup 88 foot monopole, and at the right, the 400 foot WWVL tower.

To celebrate the move, the station issued a special first-day QSL card for reception reports on the first day. To ensure that SWL’s had really picked up the station, the voice identifcation used a special message on the first day, which had to be copied exactly to receive the special QSL, which is shown here.

According to the accompanying note on the card, WWV had apparently planned to award a photograph of the new station to the first three reception reports. However, it proved impossible to determine which were the first three, and three were selected from the batch. One of those went to long time ARRL staffer Lewis “Mac” McCoy, W1ICP.

The station had previously been located at Greenbelt, Maryland. The move was designed to give better coverage and to move the station closer to the National Bureau of Standards’ frequency standard lab in Boulder, Colorado.