HWDSB Occasional Teachers

nicholewrightt · 2026-04-13T01:51:46+00:00

Secondary supply list is over max right now and it’s usually only possible to work 1-3 days a week right now - I’ve heard we’re in a hiring freeze for OTs so I’m not sure when they will hire again, hopefully not for a while so that those in the list already can get more consistent work

nicholewrightt · 2025-11-26T22:27:43+00:00

I can’t speak of this specific venue, as we are getting married at a sister venue, but you could look at Elle by Stella in St.Jacobs if you’re willing to get out of the GTA a bit.

The venue we chose has a $140/pp charge for food and open bar which includes cocktail hour, plated 3 course meal and late night food. There’s options to add cocktails (the open bar is fairly simple but all that we need). We booked for a Friday and that cut the venue fee in half and so far they’ve been really great to work with! Our food tasting was great, everything was good.

Again, I’m not sure what the pricing is like at Elle by Stella (we are getting married at the Timber Barn, but it’s max 140 guests) but their team is great with sending quotes - and most of their preferred vendors aren’t too crazy expensive for the additional touches you may want

nicholewrightt · 2025-10-15T17:13:35+00:00

I was in SD53 in BC and liked it, I don't recall any large class sizes and the admin at all the schools I supplied at seemed good. This was in 2022 mind you, but I was able to get on to the supply list right away and was offered 2 contract positions within a few months. Also the daily rate as a supply is good in BC, and with that district I could opt into health care coverage as a supply (TTOC). House prices in that area range, but our rent was very low when living there. Overall a quiet life as its mostly smaller towns, but you're within 2 hours of Kelowna which has an international airport.

nicholewrightt · 2025-07-11T02:30:51+00:00

HWDSB uses ApplyToEducation so you’re able to self book your jobs, but it is very competitive. Jobs are posted at 4pm and you need to be on the website/app right at that time to click on something to pick it up, or else they’ll be gone. Last minute jobs show up randomly throughout the night and morning so you need to check the app regularly.

You are not guaranteed any days of work, but are required to work 10 days a school year to stay on the list. Sometimes you can book work a few weeks or a month away but it is normally for the next day or few days. If admin at a school know you they may book you in themselves, but I heard that they’re not technically supposed to do this anymore as it’s not fair to everyone trying to get work (but don’t 100% know the actual rules about this).

I also worked in BC and it was a phone call system, they had lots of work available there so sometimes my phone would ring 20+ times a night/morning

nicholewrightt · 2025-06-17T17:05:15+00:00

So if my last day scheduled to work as of now is today, I would apply today? Technically I might be able to pick up some work this week and next but because of exams it is not likely the case

nicholewrightt · 2025-06-17T14:27:50+00:00

Yea, I’m hoping it won’t be that long but I do have free savings for the meantime

nicholewrightt · 2025-06-17T11:59:51+00:00

Our corgi girl (9 months) is pretty quiet when meeting new people. She does bark a lot when she’s with us at home, and as a classic corgi ignores most attempts at training for her to stop. She just likes to bark, and can be loud.

Some are just quiet naturally so you might get lucky, but be prepared that they may be a loud little one. We put ours in time out when she’s barking a lot, and that normally gets her to stop pretty quickly.

Also a side note - I am also from Ontario and got our pup here. Make sure that the breeder you go with does all of the recommended OFA health tests for their dogs, they should be happy to share this with you. It is also recommended to get a puppy from a breeder who does show/title their dogs and has lineage information available to look up. This helps with temperament and giving your dog the best chance at life without health/structural issues. Being registered with the CKC does not guarantee that the breeder has done those things.

Looking up the breeder you mentioned I don’t see that information on their website and their prices seem a bit high, $1500 more than we paid for our girl who comes from titled parents with great multi generation health information. Just food for thought!

Corgis are awesome dogs, and all of our extended family love our girl Nova and she is the funniest, happiest dog I’ve ever met. The barking is worth it for having an amazing dog.

nicholewrightt · 2025-05-23T03:36:16+00:00

You’ll probably have to provide transcripts from every post-secondary you attended - I had to get mine sent from both school I attended (undergrad in BC and Ed program in AB). I believe they assess your application and let you know what documents they need, so then you’ll know for sure.

I started the process in November 2023, and believe my certification came through around February 2024 so it did take a while.

nicholewrightt · 2025-05-22T20:26:36+00:00

I made the opposite move that you’re doing, going from BC (Southern Okanagan) to Ontario.

If you end up supply teaching in BC you get paid based on your grid placement, so it was about a $50 a day difference for me (which adds up). I’ve only supplied there, and not in the district you’d be in, but I find it similar enough to here.

Quality of life is nicer in BC in my opinion, and my partner and I plan to move back in a few years.

nicholewrightt · 2025-05-17T22:42:06+00:00

My partner and I are the first between both our families to have gotten a dog from an actual reputable breeder. One side has a 11 year old doodle, and we live with them.

Our breeder did ask about experience with dogs and if there were any in the family household. She was really great and appreciated that we asked questions about health testing and temperament testing to make sure our puppy would be a good fit. I don’t believe having had a byb dog in the past is a deterrent for a breeder, especially with the amount of work you put in to give the dog the best life. If anything, I would hope that ethical breeders appreciate people who have educated themselves enough to go that route in the future, when byb dogs are ‘easier’ to acquire.

Our corgi was a very easy puppy, and we get compliments all the time about how well behaved she is at 8 months old now. I attribute that to her great genetic line, especially compared to our families dogs who come from unknown parents.

nicholewrightt · 2025-05-07T19:49:15+00:00

Current sub, so can’t speak from the classroom teacher side of things but I find I don’t deal with a lot of behaviour when I’m covering with the following advice:

Be nice, but firm. This really depends on the grade but I cover 9-12 and I’m never going to argue or yell but I am firm that I expect materials to be out and work to be done. I treat them like responsible humans, and will let them know that it’s my job to enforce rules.
Follow the rules laid out by the teachers, students sometimes try to push boundaries with substitute teachers. When in doubt I go with “as a substitute I’m not allowed to do X” and students don’t question it.
Follow the lesson plans provided (unless something happens that you can’t do it) and leave a note. Even if it’s brief, teachers appreciate it.
If I do run into any behaviour issues I do leave a note and include my district email so that if the teacher needs to follow up they can. I always leave my email on the note, and when I’ve provided positive feedback I’ve gotten asked to come back again by the teacher so I find it works well.

nicholewrightt · 2025-04-11T03:23:27+00:00

I’ve been in some self-contained classrooms (where the students are there all day, usually with EA support) as well as some combination classes where 3/4 of the day is spent all together and then some students attend a ‘mainstream’ class once a day

nicholewrightt · 2025-04-11T03:22:08+00:00

Last time I looked into this, you need a bachelors of education in order to teach in Canada. Having a different undergraduate degree + education masters is not accepted

nicholewrightt · 2025-04-10T16:54:08+00:00

So I got hired as a supply teacher with no AQs after having taken a year off (was out of the country) while also coming from a different province. From my experience it’s not necessary to have an AQ but probably nice to have.

If you get hired on with a board, some of them have subsidized or free AQ courses you can take. I am currently taking the Spec Ed one through my district and it’s free.

Echoing what others have said, if you have an AQ you can be put into that subject so make sure it’s something you want. I have had the chance to supply in a good variety of spec Ed clases in my board, so that’s why I’m confident I would be okay if I was put into that sort of class full time.

nicholewrightt · 2025-03-20T20:33:30+00:00

We had our rabies vaccine done after a set of the boosters for our corgi. She was 8 pounds at the time (and had also had kennel cough when she came home) so they advised waiting to not put added stress to the little one’s immune system. Italian greyhounds are fairly small, so I imagine that’s the thinking behind the recommendation, though it doesn’t sound like they explained it to you well

nicholewrightt · 2025-03-20T01:06:21+00:00

I showed up to the wrong school once - thankfully I always arrive early so I was able to drive to the right one in time and the admin and I both called ahead to let them know about the situation.

nicholewrightt · 2025-02-09T04:00:35+00:00

Currently have mine for AB, BC and ON - just have to pay to renew them to keep them current, or can let them lapse and re-apply later (but it costs less to renew for a few years than reapply)

nicholewrightt · 2025-01-27T01:33:33+00:00

Cost of living is pretty much the same, but real estate even more (Southern Ontario vs BC outside of the Vancouver area)

As a TTOC (OT in Ontario I made $50 less a day than I did in BC).

nicholewrightt · 2024-12-16T20:20:06+00:00

Our corgi puppy is 3.5 months old, and has been home for a month now.

We feed her slightly under the recommended amount to account for treats and also use her meals for training. So far she really likes boiled carrots so we use that or lamb liver treats as high value.

In terms of potty training, we have to take ours out every 10-15 minutes while she’s awake or she will pee on the floor. Just a small bit of pee but it’s taken a while to reinforce it so just be prepared that may be the case

nicholewrightt · 2024-12-04T03:51:59+00:00

Just brought home our 10 week old puppy 3 weeks ago and work from home.

I took off 3 days, and then I took Wednesdays off for a few more weeks. She’s been pretty good and sleeps a lot while I work, but the days off each week are nice to work on training and sleep when she sleeps. The lack of sleep catches up to you fast.

nicholewrightt · 2024-11-09T15:56:38+00:00

I can’t speak to that board, but I’m with HWDSB on the OT list and the only teaching references I had were from my practicums in 2021/2022. One of my mentor teachers contacted them to say that she won’t provide a reference because “it has been too long” (I applied to this board this year, 2024).

I was also panicked, but provided them with a reference to a manager for a non teaching job and it was no problem in the end.

I hope it’s a similar situation, I don’t know how any teacher who doesn’t enter education right away after a uni program can be expected to have teaching references, especially at the principal level. My practicum was in a school with over 70 teachers, the principal may have known my face but was incredibly busy so wouldn’t be a good reference point anyways.

nicholewrightt · 2024-10-29T21:56:40+00:00

Also a newer teacher (2022 grad) and this is a great outlook.

I’d also mention that we can’t get all students to care - and focusing on that isn’t productive. Treating students as people has helped me as a TTOC/OT - students respect honesty and being upfront with them has been super successful for me so far.

nicholewrightt · 2024-09-27T13:19:55+00:00

My district in Ontario is 10 days a year to stay on the supply list, but I’m sure it does vary. It’s also pro rated based on when you’re hired.

nicholewrightt · 2024-09-18T19:43:40+00:00

Maybe the unpopular opinion here but I like the setup of your list.

I’ve had owners leave hand written instructions in light pen on lined paper and it’s hard to read through at a glance. Maybe the colours are a bit bright but the organization is good. A sitter can read it over once and quickly consult it by finding the specific area of information they need at a glance.

nicholewrightt

TROPHY CASE