Our Book

Our Book

Redesigning the Substitute Teaching Experience

 

Let us know here when you order your copy and we will send you a digital workbook to use to reflect on your own project, either on your own or with your team.

 

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The book features 6 opportunities & the innovators working on them

 

 

We hope to inspire you to start working on substitute teaching in your context. When you do, we recommend that you start small, think hack.

Full-Time Fellowship

Substitute teaching is the original gig job—flexible, at-will, day-to-day, and full of uncertainty. What if you turned this on its head and reimagined substitute teaching as a full-time job? Many people come to substitute teaching during times of transition, trying to figure out what to do next. What if you leaned into this and designed a year-long fellowship meant to be a stepping stone to whatever’s next?

Resources:

Innovator Profiled in the Book

Jay Midwood

Central Falls School District

Part-Time Jobs for College Students

College students need jobs and schools need subs. What if we connected the dots and recruited for substitute teachers on college campuses? Today’s college students need to work and are looking for jobs that are part time, flexible, and fit with their academic schedule. That means that they usually end up working in retail, customer service, or restaurant jobs. What if instead we had them working in our classrooms, giving K-12 students a living, breathing example of what it looks like to go to college?

Resources:

Innovator Profiled in the Book

Celeste Huizar

Alumna, UC Berkeley

Community Talent

Substitute teachers are usually asked to continue the regular curriculum, but teachers are quick to tell you they don’t expect learning to happen while they are away. What if you embraced this reality and used this time to bring new experiences to your students? Your community is full of creative, compelling people, many of whom have woven together nontraditional careers that give them the flexibility to pursue their passions. What if we reimagined substitute teaching as an opportunity for community members to share their expertise with students?

Innovator Profiled in the Book

Dr. Sarah Cherry Rice

Parachute

Teacher Pre-Service

Substitute teaching has long been a stepping stone for new teachers, where they gain experience and network to find their first job. What if we designed the experience with this in mind? In our interviews we heard over and over that teacher candidates need to work while they are in school. What if that work was something akin to paid field work— a chance to do applied learning in the real world while you got paid?

Resources:

Innovator Profiled in the Book

Dr John Henning

Dean, School of Education, Monmouth University

District Teacher Pipeline

Substitute teaching has long been a pathway to teaching, where people figure out if teaching is for them and gain early experience. As a sector, we are increasingly focused on the teacher shortage. In our surveys, around 50% of substitute teachers identify as aspiring teachers. What if we reimagined our substitute teaching pool as an intentional new teacher pipeline?

Resources:

Innovators Profiled in the Book

Traci Taylor & Jeanna Perry

Fresno Unified School District

After School Staff

What if the answer to having more stability in substitute teaching is already on campus? This idea is all about taking a fresh look at existing resources. The key to a positive sub experience for students is relationships and familiarity. This should come as no surprise as the research and best advice about classroom management center on building relationships with students, along with consistency in rules and routines. Current after-school staff have relationships with students, and are often familiar with the school rules and the personalities of different teachers. Most also work second or third jobs during the school day (or evening) to make ends meet. What if we reimagine substitute teaching as a way to meet this need and help after-school staff continue their professional journey?

Innovator Profiled in the Book

Marquis Taylor

Central Falls School District, Coaching4Change

What people are saying…

Social Innovators

“The Substantial story is exactly the kind we hope for when we select d.school fellows. By effectively applying design thinking to the broad-spectrum educational challenges that surround substitute teaching, Substantial is opening new pathways to collaboration, innovation, and truly significant change.”

David Kelley, Founder, IDEO and Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design

“The Substantial idea turns the often-ignored arena of substitute teaching into a powerful multigenerational, systems-level force for change. Jill and Amanda provide a masterclass in how to approach society’s most pressing problems through the lens of possibility, human-centered design, and yes, love.A must-read book for educators, innovators and anybody in need of a serious shot of hope in our education system!”

Eunice Lin Nichols
Vice President, Innovation, Encore.org

“As someone dedicated to effective preparation, selection, onboarding, and sustained professional support for educators, it’s gratifying to read a book that addresses a chronic, yet under-discussed challenge. Substantial Classrooms provides clear, powerful processes for better understanding and overcoming that challenge. It is an appealing, quick and strategic read for dedicated administrators and others committed to educational equity and quality.”

Geoff Baker

“Substantial Classrooms is a powerful overview of one of the critical challenges facing our schools — effectively managing the role that substitute teachers have in our K-12 education system. Jill Vialet and Amanda Von Moos provide a clear, thoughtful, and balanced assessment of the difficulties inherent in the current substitute teaching system, what steps can be taken to improve the training and work with substitute teachers, and how these efforts will yield important benefits to students, teachers, and educational staff. I learned a great deal from their work and highly recommend it.

Joe DiNunzio, UC Davis Graduate School of Management & President, Davis School Board

Education Leaders

“After a career of leading work to develop and support teachers, Substantial is the first book I’ve seen that takes an optimistic and practical look at how substitute teaching can be a positive, and integral, part of teaching our next generation. I can imagine that a lot of people will initially hesitate before cracking a book on subbing, but I can assure you – if you’re looking for encouragement – and answers! – Substantial is the place to start.”

Ellen Moir, Founder, New Teacher Center

“Substantial is an engaging and inspiring look at an aspect of the educational system – substitute teaching – that has gone unexamined for too long. What if…? How might we…? These simple questions become decisive turning points in a book sparked by inspiration, fueled by empathy, and fortified by years of on-the-ground (in-the-schools) research. Amanda and Jill have not only done the work to prove you can jump in and turn small hacks into surprising, systemic change – they’ll radically alter how you see substitute teaching.”

Arne Duncan, Former US Secretary of Education

“This is an important book for any district leader.  Attracting and supporting substitute teachers is essential in order to main high quality teaching and learning when a teacher is out.  This book highlights the current landscape of substitute teaching and gives a set of practical solutions so that schools and districts can more robustly support their substitute workforce.” 

Matt Duffy, Superintendent

“This book is about far more than substitutes. It’s about innovation or, more deliberately, “design.” The book and its lessons seem particularly resonant at this point of inflection in education. As we emerge from the COVID crisis, we ought to be reinventing education, right? But where to start? Substantial provides a case study in attacking the significant, largely untackled problem of substitute teaching and learning through a deliberate design process, and shows us how to make easy connections to other challenges within our school systems..”

Michael Gallagher, Ed.D., Superintendent

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Substantial is a fiscally sponsored project of Playworks Education Energized (“Playworks”), a California based nonprofit public benefit corporation. Playworks is tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code and our Federal Tax ID number (FEIN) is 94-3251867.