It Takes Too Much Work to Be Out

For the last couple of weeks, I've been fighting a cold.  Nothing major, just a little sore throat and coughing.  On the second morning, a friend of mine asked me why I had come to school.   I answered that I would have to feel a lot worse to do all the work it takes to be out.

There may be other jobs like this, but if there are, I don't know them.  In other jobs that I have had in offices, if I were sick, I would have called in sick.  The day of my return, I would have had a lot of catching up to do, but the work just sat there while I was gone.  When my parents and I go on a vacation together, my dad checks in with ongoing projects at the office, but he doesn't have to prepare before he leaves so that someone else can do that work while he is gone.

Teaching is weird in this way.  I would actually have to do more work to prepare to be out than I would to just keep working.
Step one: Obtain a substitute.  We have a computer system that will call subs, but I would have to get into the program and think really hard to complete the instructions.  If I am sick, this thought process is actually kind of a pain.
Step two:  Figure out what the kids can do instead of what you were going to do with them.  With the exception of test days or video days, if they are going to do the same thing with a sub that they were going to do with me, then I didn't need to go to college for a science education degree.  (And, if they are going to take a test or watch a video, I can come in sick and do that.)  Therefore, I need something that isn't just busy work and does allow them to get some of what they would have gotten from me, but can be done without me.  Have I mentioned that I am sick in this scenario?  That's a lot of thinking for a sick person.
Step three:  Write up what you have decided in step 2 in a form that can be understood by someone who has no idea where anything is in your classroom.  Everything you unconsciously do and locate is completely unknown to the sub.  The sub plans have to have far more detail then your lesson plans ever would.  If there is something special or tricky about a particular student or class, you need to let the sub know that too, so that knowledge you just have as a regular part of your day has to be raised into your consciousness and put on paper tactfully for someone else to read.  Keep in mind, I'm sick while this is happening.
Step four:  Get this information to the school.  Some things can be e-mailed.  You can ask a friend to print out your plan and get it to the sub.  Some things cannot.  If the students are doing an activity that requires a resource, you may have to go in and physically set it up so that it is all in one place and clearly labeled.  That means putting on clothes because you can't really show up in pajamas even if it is just to set up an activity.  The last thing I want to do when I am sick is put on clothes.  It's right up there with driving a car, which I guess I would have to do too.

I haven't even mentioned that when I return to school, I would have to read through the sub's feedback, follow up with discipline if needed, record attendance from when I was out, and grade what the kids did.  If all I have is a minor cold that could use a day of rest, I'll wait for the weekend and rest then.  It is way too much work to be out.