OTT 266: What Saved Me When I Had to Call Out in November

The quiet snap of November hits hard: the adrenaline fades, the sinuses throb, and suddenly “powering through” isn’t noble—it’s costly. We open up about the annual crash so many teachers face and lay out a calm, practical path to protect your peace without sacrificing your students’ progress. No fluff. Just a clear system for calling out with confidence, and a reminder that rest is part of the job, not a privilege you have to earn.

We walk through how to build reliable emergency sub plans that actually match your pacing in November—seasonal but standards-aligned, low-prep yet high-clarity. You’ll hear simple structures that help a guest teacher keep your room steady: time-stamped agendas, predictable routines, and tasks that reinforce learning rather than introduce fragile new content right before a break. We also cover how to reduce behavior friction with transparent student roles, quick-reference norms, and a single flow a sub can run across multiple sections. Think five days of coverage that preserve momentum, manage materials, and keep expectations consistent.

Along the way, we challenge the guilt narrative around sick days. A reactive, exhausted teacher isn’t a superhero; they’re a human running on empty. Preparation is the professional move: a sub binder with ready-to-go lessons, clear objectives, and built-in checks for understanding. We share free resources to help you start today and explain how to tailor plans for uneven attendance, end-of-term fatigue, and seasonal engagement. If your throat feels like sandpaper or your energy’s tanking, you deserve a plan that lets you step back and heal while your classroom keeps learning.

If this helped you breathe a little easier, follow the show, share it with a teacher friend, and leave a quick review so more educators can find practical support when they need it most. Your rest matters—let’s plan for it together.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Free Sub Plan Guide

November Sub Plans

Chapters

• 0:00 The November Crash
• 1:09 Strep, Sinus, and School Schedules
• 2:48 The Guilt Spiral of Calling Out
• 4:27 Why Emergency Plans Matter
• 6:38 Free Resources and Monthly Bundles
• 8:50 Permission to Rest & Final Reminder
• 10:56 We Do Not Care Club Sign-off

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to One Tired Teacher episode 266. What saved me when I had to call out in November? Oh my goodness. Hi. Today we're talking about the thing that no one really wants to talk about. And that is the moment that your body just quits on you in November. And you're like, what am I gonna do? I mean, I've gotta get through. Like, we're almost to Thanksgiving. But what happens when you're flat out sick with nothing but guilt and no subplans in sight? Let's talk about it. Hope you stick around.

SPEAKER_00: 0:44

Welcome to One Tired Teacher. And even though she may need a nap, this teacher is ready to wake up and speak her truth about the trials and treasures of teaching. Here she is, wide awake. Wait, she's not asleep right now, is she? She she is awake, right? Okay. From Trina Debori Teaching and Learning, your host, Trina Debori.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08

Hey. Oh my goodness. Okay. So every year in October, not October, every year in November, it was like clockwork, clockwork. I would get strep throat. Like strep throat, I had strep throat every single year from the moment I started teaching in 1997, all the way until well into a little bit past my 40s, even. And I also had chronic sinus infections and it was just, it was just miserable. And strep throat, it would took me down. Like it took me down hard. So one year I got it the Friday before the dreaded three-week teaching. You know, the three, the schools that make you go to school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Thanksgiving when you're like, come on, at least give me a day of preparation. That's how it kind of started in my district. And then we did finally get Wednesday off. So it was like we had to work Monday and Tuesday, which were crazy because half the kids didn't even come. So it was like kind of an easy week, to be honest with you. Um, it was a little harder when everyone showed up and you're like, oh, I gotta really focus, even though I I've got so much to do in my own house and my own family. But then my district finally got wiser and realized that the absentee list just wasn't worth it. And let's just have the whole entire week off and thank goodness. However, when there's a hurricane, those are often the days that they're like, oh, nope, we're gonna work. So some schools still do that. Some schools you're still working at least Monday and Tuesday. So this was a year that we still had three days Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And I got sick on Friday, always, always on the weekend. But I couldn't move. I had a fever, I had chills, my tonsils. I feel like I was swallowing glass. And I was panicking about subplants because I knew the moment I got sick, it wasn't like over and done in 24 hours or even 48 hours. We're talking, it often took me a week to recover. And then I would be left weak and completely depleted and exhausted, and it was just not fun. Sometimes it took me longer than a week. It was really crazy. Anyway, I was so thankful that I did have my emergency subplans ready. I always had my go-to five-day subplans. They were good, but I so badly wished at that time of the year that I had something more specific, something that we were actually working on in November, something that matched where we were in the year, which activities tied to seasons, like the pacing that actually aligned to where we were. And that that was rough. And I usually I spent Thanksgiving sick alone. One year that same year, I my then husband at the time took my our children to his dad's, and I got left at home eating a chicken pot pie. So, which was actually hard because my throat hurt. But on the other side, or the other hand, the house was blissfully quiet, no family drama, but it was lonely and painful. And honestly, it doesn't have to be that way, even when we get really sick. The reality is when you need to call out sick, that's the way it is. Like that's what we have to do. And you know those days, you wake up, your throat feels like sandpaper, your sinuses, you just want to drill a hole in them to release the pressure. That was my most hated feeling. And you're deciding to decide, you're trying to decide. Am I going to throw up or am I going to like gather my work bag and just hope that I, you know, and the teacher who isn't calling out, I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna show up sick. And you ask yourself, am I sick or am I sick sick or am I just tired sick? And spoiler, you're sick sick. Because what normally happens at this time of year is like we're go, go, go, going on adrenaline from the back from back to school, and then we like do a final push over the line for you know Halloween. And then we our body is like, that's enough. Like it's time to take a break. And what ends up happening is we get sick, sick, and and it either happens then or it happens like right before Christmas, which was the other time that it used to happen to me. And it's the worst timing, not not that being sick is ever a good timing, but it was the worst timing. And we have been unfortunately conditioned to feel guilty about getting sick, but the reality is our job requires us to be well, and when we're not, our kids don't get our best. We are unable to, you know, be proactive. We are just constantly reacting, everything feels harder, and you know, kids sometimes they're they can be great and they can be sympathetic, and and then sometimes they can totally take advantage of you, and it feels even harder. Our classroom community, it doesn't thrive like that, and we fall apart. Okay, so what saved me and what can save you? Having emergency subplans is what saved me, but having November specific subplans would have made everything so much better. Now, I always tell teachers and my friends that are teachers, and I used to tell myself, like, build in that safety net before you need it. That was actually an expectation in my school. And that is not a weakness. That is like wisdom, that is like veteran teaching, is having those emergency subplans ready to go and not being thrown off guard. I had no choice but to do that because I was constantly sick. I was chronically sick. And if you and you know, often we're thinking, well, I haven't got around to it yet, but if you haven't, this is your sign. This is your sign. You deserve to rest without scrambling because there's nothing worse than showing up to school still sick. There's nothing worse than feeling guilty because you don't have anything together when you're not able to move. Like there's literally no way. So if you need a starting place, I do have a free day of subplans that you can grab right now. It's Trina Deborah teachingandlearning.com forward slash subplans. I think that's it. Subplans. Let me make double sure because sometimes I say that and then it's like that's not it. And actually, I'm gonna give you a sub guide. This has like free sub tickets in it, and it has a free binder cover, and it has a couple of little freebies, and then it has some links to some really great resources. So it is Trina Deborah teaching and learning.com forward slash sub guide, all one word, sub guide, and that will get you, you know, started on what you you know may need. So that'll hopefully help you. But if you really want to protect your piece and you need November subplans, I got it for you. You know, I think it was last year or maybe the year before that, I created a growing bundle and I was doing subplans by the month, and it's five days of plans for each month, and there are seasonal options, there are no prep options, or standards aligned. It covers five different subjects. I've got you covered. So if you need that, grab that. And if not, that's okay too. Like you, you then keep carrying on. That's what's the most important thing is that you do what you need to do for yourself. All right, I'm gonna give you a little bit of words of encouragement, hopefully. But you don't have to earn rest. You don't need to prove that you're worth, you know, prove your worth by pushing through the illness. And you certainly don't need to be shamed for stepping back when your body says it's enough, or even when your mind says it's enough. I need a mental health day, I need a break. But what saved me that year was actually being prepared, was actually feeling like I have something that I can go to that isn't going to completely derail me. It's gonna keep me on track and I can actually focus and I can, you know, I can let myself be sick because that's that's the way it goes. And that is what matters. Now, obviously, antibiotics saved me. It definitely wasn't the pot pie that saved me, but although I am a fan of pot pies, chicken pot pies. Um, and I am even guilty of like liking the stofers chicken pot pies. But I have a friend that is a teacher best bestie, and also just a longtime friend now. She makes the best chicken pot pie in the whole entire world. And I would rather have that any day of the week. But having a plan is pretty close to being right up there with our chicken pot pie. It was knowing that I had something ready that that respected my time, honored my energy, and gave me space to heal. And you deserve that too. All right, so um, that's it for today. But if I do want to say, if you're a part of the We Do Not Care Club, the teacher chapter on TikTok, then go check that out because we're gonna use this as a gentle reminder. We do not care about perfect attendance awards, we do care about showing up well, and that means sometimes not showing up at all. Until next time, sweet dreams and sleep tight.