Megan Swanberg, an associate teacher at Le Mars High School, has seen first-hand the impact the shortage of substitutes has had on teachers and staff.

In February, she decided to take AEA North West’s replacement licensing course to help alleviate the shortage of substitute teachers. She sees being able to substitute as a way to work with children and make an impact, without needing a teaching degree.

Prior to the pandemic, the AEA’s replacement credential course was limited to 21-year-olds with a bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree, or 60 college credit hours.

Sue Chartier and Carla Lee led the classes in Sioux City. During a five-day course, participants learn about ethics, diversity, learning strategies and behavior management.

“We want to make sure they get all of that,” she told the Sioux City Journal.

The last few months of classes have been at full capacity with 32 classes per month and people aged 21-70 with a variety of different career backgrounds.

Chartier said area school districts have helped interested candidates enroll in the course, especially smaller districts with severe shortages of substitutes.

Even though everyone has gone to school before, people who take the course learn how much surrogacy has changed, Chartier said.

“(People think) all the kids are sitting in the very quiet offices and the sub is coming in and babysitting, and that’s not it at all,” Chartier said. “By going through these four modules and really arming them with different strategies that they can use…they can continue to learn in the future.”

Lee said people cannot be experts in all areas of education. So when they walk into a classroom where they don’t know what to do, the course offers strategies to move education forward. Chartier said children can no longer lose a day of learning.

After five three-hour classes — and some homework — participants can continue with the substitution process.

Sioux City School Board member Perla Alarcon-Flory took the course in January. She said it was an exciting and informative class. She added that the homework was useful and allowed for personal reflection to determine if one is suitable to be a substitute.

The course is an eye-opener to the needs and diversity of students, Alarcon-Flory said.

There was an aerospace engineer, nurses, a psychologist, students, educators and a retired lawyer in his section of the course.

“The variety of life experiences was so priceless,” she said. “The conversations were really enriching.”

For students, Alarcon-Flory said all of these different people who become locums provide unique opportunities for students to learn from a variety of professionals — for example, having a nurse teach a science class or an aerospace engineer. talk about physics.

Swanberg said the class was informative and not too difficult.

She said the course teaches lessons on how to solve behavior problems, keep the class on task, read lesson plans and, if necessary, create their own.

She plans to replace all around the region in different districts.

Since the course is $125, Alarcon-Flory is offering to sponsor two people to take the course. One person must be a teacher or prospective teacher, Sioux City Schools alumnus, or Sioux City Schools employee, the other is for a person of color. Interested persons can email [email protected]

The next course offered is April 3-11 through the Mississippi Bend AEA.