Subbing

I have now been subbing for three full months of school now. Teaching seems to come in waves. Some weeks I work almost the whole week, while others I may not work at all. I have learned that it is all about connections. I am signed up to sub through Willamette ESD,which serves many of the small towns/ districts in the Willamette Valley such as Yamhill, Carlton, Dallas, Stayton, Central etc. I did my student teaching in the Yamhill-Carlton school district and I have mainly been subbing there. I am also signed up to sub in the Salem-Keizer school district which has 45 elementary schools. I assumed I would be doing most of my teaching in Salem because of how large the district is. However, I have not received a single phone call from their sub finder. Either my account is broken, or they have way too many subs. Luckily one of my friends is a fifth grade teacher there and I have subbed in her classroom once and will be subbing there again in another week. I am so grateful for my friends and connections in the Yamhill-Carlton school district for allowing me to get experience. I can't imagine what it would be like to move somewhere where you have no connections. I was talking to a sub today at lunch, it was his first time teaching in Yamhill. He moved here from Wyoming two years ago to take a job in Dallas. He taught fifth grade last year and then was laid off because of budget cuts. He owns a house, has horses, as well as two kids in college and now no steady income. He said that he checks AESOP (Willamette ESD's sub finder) every hour from the time school gets out till nine o'clock at night and then wakes up at four thirty to check some more. He said he has worked for a month straight now, but in order to get the work it has been exhausting. I am so lucky I have Erik and that the economy has not hurt his company so that I do not have to be as concerned and stressed if I work or not. But I sure appreciate all the teachers who have called me directly to have me work for them! Next school year we will most likely be living in Newport, Oregon where I know no one and have no connections or experience. I am hoping to get a teaching position there or at least work my way into subbing. Right now I am trying to get as much experience as I can. So far I have only taught first, second, fifth, and sixth grades. I would really like to try out third and fourth so I can be well rounded.