Moments Like This

Sometimes teachers or staff at schools treat me like I'm a stupid person. Sometimes students treat me with no respect. This post is about the times students have reminded me why I went to college to become a teacher.

Two students at a middle school once told me I was the first teacher they knew who fully understood children. There are students I've subbed in their class only once who yell out, "Hi Mrs. J!" as they walk down the hall to their class. Some students will stop me in the hall to chat. Once I walked into a classroom and a student ran up and hugged me.

Yesterday I was sent to cover a class during my "planning" period. The class was assigned to work on a study guide and most worked together to complete it. I was talking to the students closest to the teacher's desk. The students wanted to know what I thought of the area since I moved here. I told the students I believe there is a lot of racial tension in the area. One of the students gave me a high-five when I said this and told me she was happy she was not the only one who thought the same thing. I told the students it really surprised me the first time I sent a student out of the room for being disruptive and off-task, the student exclaimed, "It's because I'm black!" (I did talk to the student when he returned to class to explain why I sent him out of the room. I've subbed for his teachers several times since the incident and his behavior was excellent every time). I also told the students about the time a student called me a racist when I asked for him to hand me his Bop-it toy and ear buds. I explained to the students who were listening I knew the student was only seeking attention and was trying to get a reaction from me. My only reaction was to tell the student to sit down and do his work. After my two short stories the students shared with me times when a teacher has written them up.

One student explained he was at his locker and there were other students at their lockers as well. While he was getting his stuff out of his locker a teacher came up to him and told him it was not locker time and he needed to put his stuff back into his locker. The student tried to explain to the teacher he needed his notebook and book for class. The teacher took the student's explanation as back-talking and wrote a referral.

After listening to the student's story I told him in situations like that one it is better to keep your mouth shut. I know you were only trying to tell your side of the story, but when a teacher or adult is giving you instructions to do something, it's best to follow the instructions and keep quiet. If you try to explain your side of the story it will only be interpreted at being disrespectful and back-talking. It's ok if the person doesn't know your side of the story, you know your story, let them keep their side of the story. I know it's frustrating, but it's better than receiving a referral and spending days in ISS. Sometimes adults don't understand children and their actions, thoughts, and motives. Sometimes you just have to deal with misunderstandings.

The student just stared at me and said, "You're amazing." The girl who gave me a high-five said, "You should be principal."

In those moments when students feel like an adult took the time to listen to them, took the time to understand them, those are the moments I love. I may only work as a substitute teacher, but I can make a difference in a child's life.

~Jonnie

The Evils of the Call Button Part 1

One of Jonnie’s posts  shows the good side of the call button. When you’re only going to be in a classroom for a day, the call button can be a life saver, but, in long-term situations, the call button is a black hole of trouble from which there is no return.I learned that through a series of very bad experiences.

I went into my second long-term sub position knowing it was temporary but indefinite. The high school English teacher had had a medical emergency at the very beginning of the year and was recovering from surgery. Most of the students had never met her. I was the only teacher they could associate that class with but, at the same time, not the real teacher. I knew it. They knew it. Their parents knew it. I did the best I could do, but I admit, it was a disaster.

I did try though, and part of trying was reading all the rules and procedures I could. I had learned that lesson from my first long-term job.  One of the procedures I found was the school-wide policy on teachers responding to cell phone usage in class. I was impressed that there was a school-wide plan  posted on the wall for everyone to see. Hallelujah!

The instructions were easy:

1.       When a teacher sees a student using an electronic device such as a phone, MP3 Player , or electronic tablet of any kind, he/she will collect the device from the student.

2.       The teacher will then label the device with the student’s name and place it in a secure place.

3.       The teacher will then call the front office using the call button and an available adminstrator will come to the class and collect the device.

The first time a student’s device is collected, he/she may reclaim it at the front office upon dismissal. For all subsequent offenses, his/her parent/guardian will need to claim it at the front office and further disciplinary actions will be taken.

Sounds good.

So, shortly after I found this, I caught a student blatantly using his iPhone during class in the last class of the day. I walked over and demanded he give me the phone. He gave it to me but he protested loudly, attracting the whole class’s attention.

I hit the call button.

I heard the clerk in the front office answer.

“Yes, how may I help you?”

“I’m in Mrs. Schulemann’s class and  I need an administrator to collect a phone.”

There was a suspicious pause on the other end of the intercom. I tried to save face.

Please tell me she knows what I’m talking about. The employees of a school don’t always know  or follow the published policies, but those policies are usually my only chance at appearing as knowledgeable as the other teachers.

“Um, ok. I’ll let them know.”

“Ok, thank you.”

The boy I took the phone from still looked shocked, but the other students started arguing. Some laughed and said teachers never did that anymore. Others swore vehemently that it happened to them all the time.

Oh Lord, help me.

Surely enough, a few minutes later, there was a beep from the intercom. This time I recognized the assistant principal’s voice.

“Ms. Gregory?”

“Yes?”

“ You can give the phone back to the student. I’ll come talk to you about it right after the bell rings.”

NO! Come get the stupid phone! Don’t you realize what you’re doing?

“Ok. Thank you.”

I gave the phone back to chants of “Yeah! That’s right!” from the rest of the class. Face lost.

The bell rang shortly after that, dismissing the students for the end of the day. I sat there  ten minutes waiting for the assistant principal to come talk to me about the phone incident, but she never came. She wasn’t in her office when I checked there either.

I figured it was a case of an over-zealous substitute trying to follow antiquated rules that the rest of the school had long ago forgotten but had never officially taken off the books. It happens.

However, the next morning in the hall I passed a non-teaching faculty member, (I call her that because I don’t know what the heck her job is) and she asked me how things were going with the class. I gave her as generic an answer as I could; it’s a hard situation but I’m hanging in there, blah blah, blah.

(Side note: My fiance and I went to the same elementary school, and this woman worked there at the time. Neither of us liked her then either. She doesn’t remember us.)

Then she asked, “ And you had a cell phone or something at the end of the day yesterday?” as if she was confused and concerned.

“Yeah, I did. I took it up and called the office for them to come get it.”

Her voice grew very cheery, but she suddenly became very interested in the wall. “Yep! That’s what you do!”

Could’ve fooled me! Heehee!

Later on in this little adventure I passed an administrator coming out of a classroom carrying a plastic baggy with a labelled cell phone in it.

Now on my Christmas list

You see, the problem with the call button is that when you use it, you transfer classroom leadership from yourself to the school administrators. This can sometimes work, but you take a lot of risk doing it. In this case, I ran the risk of being directly contradicted in front of students who already had little motivation to follow me. 

~Kelli 

P.S. I believe smart phones and other similar technology could be used productively in class for several reasons, but I was following school policy and another teacher's lesson plans. 

Substitute WIN!

The other day I was subbing in a middle school ISS (In-School Suspension). For most of the day, it was quiet. I occasionally had to wake up one of the inmates
students, but it was pretty uneventful until the very end of the day.

 The teacher had left me a list of bus numbers with the seating chart so that I could make sure they all left at the right time. All of them had bus numbers; none were designated to walk home or get picked up.

 It's also important to note that because the ISS teacher can't send students out of the room on errands, she has a phone for calling other offices. There were about 20 minutes left in the day when the phone rang. It was one of the administrators.

 "Hi, this is Rhonda. Did she leave you a list of bus numbers?"

 "Yeah, it's right here."

"Oh good. They will tell you all kinds of things. You wouldn't believe how much they try to sucker you into letting them out of that room early. Oh, they will try and try and try. It's exhausting."

"I bet," I'm ready to get out of here too. "I'll make sure they leave on the right bus load."

"Ok. I was just checking on you.

"Ok. Thank you."

"Let me know if you need anything."

No sooner had I hung up than the boy seated directly to my right turned around and whined, "I'm a waaallkkeerrr."

"It says you ride bus 26 on second load."

"I'm a waaaallllkkkkeerrr."

"Do you have a pass?"

"Yes, but they don't need to see it."

"I need to see it."

By then he had gotten the attention of the other four boys (I only had boys that day) and they were all giggling at him. He dumped out his incredibly messy bookbag, dug through all his belongings, and produced no walking pass.

"Seriously though, I waaallllkkkk hooommmmee. You can call anybody and ask. I waaaaallllkkkk hooommmmeee."

"She wrote down that you ride the bus. If you walked home, it would be in the computer and she would have put it in her instructions."

"I used to have a paaaasssss."

"When did you get it?"

"Half-way through the year.'

"Just after Christmas?"

"Yeah."

I flipped through the previous seating charts. Normally, I wouldn't argue with a student like this, but as a sub who isn't really sure, I try to prove it before I make a final decision. The last time this young man had been in ISS, he had ridden the bus. That had been at the beginning of April. I told him, "The last time you were in here, she said you rode the bus."

"Yeah, I got my pass after that."

"When was the last time you were in here?" I already knew.

"About a month ago."

"So you got your pass right after Christmas about a month ago?" He babbled something inaudible and the other boys could no longer hold back their laughter. "Sit down and leave on second load."

He sat down and whined for another ten minutes before bus call started. When they called for walkers to leave he stood up and informed me he was leaving to walk home.

"Go ahead. I'll leave her a note that you left with the walkers and if you're a really a walker, it'll be fine. If you're not, you'll get written up for being AWOL."

He got two steps out the door, stopped, turned around and went back to his seat.


I thought so.

~Kelli

Appreciating Teachers- The Bad Apple Doesn't Spoil the Barrel

If you didn't know, this is National Teacher Appreciation Week. I have to say, I'm glad this week exists, and it's always nice to be reminded that not everyone hates you just because you're a teacher. I was lucky enough to go through a long-term subbing assignment during this week last year and some of my students and their parents did show their appreciation very graciously.

 It is a nice change. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like students and parents alike often walk into a situation on the defense or offense against the teacher rather than on the same team as the teacher. I have wondered for a while what makes them feel this way. I think it comes in part from certain teachers and in part from the media.

I saw this story on the Today show this morning and thought it was relevant enough to include here.

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What a great teacher. I want to go back to middle school just so I can be in his class. Maybe I would've liked math more back then and saved myself a lot of heartache in high school. And having, worked with middle school students, he deserves much more than a four-minute segment on a morning show for doing it without pay. 

But how many people will remember his story a year from now?

I have to say, it took me a while  to find this video on the Today website. I kept checking their website and didn't see it, so I thought it was just me being unfamiliar with their navigation and Googled the topic. Interestingly enough, I typed in "Today show teacher"--granted, a very generic search term-- for my first search and what did I find? 

This was the first hit on Google. 

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This is from months ago, and I bet many more people remember this or a story like this one because it is so enraging and because there are so many similar ones in the media these days. It's horrible that these kinds of teachers even exist, and it's even more so that there's more than one of them to put in the news. But it begs the question: how many more Bruce Kravitz (spelling?) are there in the world? We don't know. The news only talks about them during Teacher Appreciation Week,

Now, I know sensationalism sells-- that can't be helped--but is it too much to hope that people would realize sensationalism doesn't tell the whole story? It's a shame that people like those "teachers" in the second video were even given jobs, but it's an even bigger shame that they are made to represent teachers in general, in the eyes of the media and of the public. 

Because we're not all evil/stupid/ bent on making your child's life miserable, 

Kelli 

Oooh...I guess....

I wanted to start this blog in part to vent about misconceptions people have about subbing. This is a relatively minor one, but it is one I get a lot.

A lot of times I get calls from weary substitute coordinators and/or teachers asking me if I’d be “willing” to sub in an unconventional class. I don’t understand their worries, because I either a) don’t mind the change of pace or b) happen to know their class is the easiest to manage. This is a list of classes that are easiest to sub for, in no particular order.

1)      Video Broadcast Production/ High School Journalism- These kids are on autopilot and rarely notice I’m even there.

2)      Architecture and Engineering- As long as I am not put in charge of running the power tools, it’s all cool. It’s amazing how easy it is to work with a class that wants to be there and isn’t forced to sit quietly and listen to me.

3)      The Media Center- Why do you even need a sub in there? It’s boring as heck, but really easy.

4)      Resource/ Special Ed Classes- As is probably the case with education in general, the kids in these classes get an unfairly bad rap. The stereotypes and judgments have gotten a little better, but they still hold on. You do get some troublesome classes, but having fewer students makes troublesome so much easier to deal with. In my experience, though, resource classes  have been some of the easiest going and agreeable. Yes, there are students who give me trouble, and I’m sure they’re hard to teach but no more so than kids in other classes.

5)      Band- Most band classes I have seen in middle and high school have two conductors which means having a sub fill in for one is just a technicality, and if they don’t have another conductor to run the class, there’s always a video.

6)      ISS (In-School Suspension)- I hesitate to put this one on the list, but in the school I have subbed in most, it is the only class in which I get a real break. When I am subbing in other classes, I receive notes saying I am required to go help in ISS on my breaks. Funnily enough, when I sub in ISS, only one of the multiple subs in the building comes to help me on his breaks.  Huh…

So, yes I’d be willing to sub for you in any of these positions, but I will still pretend to be worried about it if you call.

;)

Kelli

The Ones I'll Never Forget

I have wanted to write this post for a while now, but I wasn’t sure what to say. Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and there have been plenty of times when I have wondered if I was even cut out for this line of work. That thought discourages me because I have put a lot of work and time and money (thanks to my parents and the HOPE scholarship) into getting my degree and preparing myself to teach. Sometimes I feel like if I gave up, it would all be a waste.

But then, God does take us through everything for a reason. I don’t know what it would be, but I like to think that if I have done any good for at least one student, at least it wasn’t all a waste. And, if the experiences have taught me anything, then it would be even less of a waste.

They taught me to be patient, to look for other paths in life, to try to change what I can (including myself), and to accept what I cannot change.

This last one has always been the hardest for me, even before I started pursuing teaching. Between my volunteering, student teaching, tutoring and subbing experiences, I have met a few students I remember particularly well.  For a while now, I have kept an informal list of them in my head, but now 

I realize that what they all have in common is that were forced to accept that last lesson much earlier than I was. Maybe I remember them so well because their lives were so alien to me.

I originally wanted to tell each of their stories anonymously so that all of you could understand what I meant by that, but they aren’t my stories to tell. As a teacher, or a semi-teacher, I was only an uninvited spectator to these stories. They’re only kids, and while right now they have to accept what they cannot change, eventually they will be in a position to decide whether to change what they can. If 

I was to tell you what little of their lives I observed, I would be reading a book before it has been written. They’ll tell their stories through their choices.

And so will I.  Right now, I have decided to tone down my search for a full-time teaching job. I am not giving up. In fact, I had a job interview yesterday, but I have narrowed my efforts and am playing with the idea of other career paths on the side. If the opportunity for a teaching job comes up, I will take it, but I am accepting that I can’t change the job market or the working conditions for substitute teachers and choosing to change my approach to the situation.

Thank you for being a spectator to my story,

Kelli 

"She's a psychic!"

For my major, FACS, I took a lot of Child and Family Development courses. I took so many I gained a minor in CHFD. If I had planned accordingly, I could possibly have double majored. You need to know this because it will help with my story. I studied birth order and how it plays a role in a person's personality and behavior.

One day I was subbing in a freshmen math class. The students were instructed to remain in their assigned seats and work quietly on their packet. There was a student who could not stop talking. He kept the focus of the class, and my attention on him. With my back to him as I was taking a sip of water from my water bottle, I asked him if he was the youngest child in his family. When I turned around his mouth was wide open and the other students were watching him for his response.

"How did you know?"

"I studied birth order in college. I have a minor in Child and Family Development. Your personality and behavior in class were my clues."

Suddenly, other students in the classroom wanted me to guess their birth order. I'm not perfect at profiling, because it takes practice and experience. I was accurate for most, but not all.

I think it was a week later when one of those students was in my fourth block class. He turned to the student next to him and said, "Dude, this lady, she's a psychic! She can tell you your age, your birth order, your personality traits." The student went a little overboard.

"You're telling the story wrong! I'm not a psychic. I studied birth order and personality traits in college."

A student sitting on the other side of this student retelling the events of that math class asked me to guess his birth order. I knew the student fairly well and I glanced him over before I decided.

"You're a middle child."

"Dang it. You're right."

At least I can say I'm taking what I learned in college and applying it to life. Also, I'm entertaining students while they try to solve exponents.

~Jonnie