Do You Mind?

This was testing week, and as teachers can tell you, during testing week, the rules change.

I should start out by saying this story isn’t so much about subbing as it is about teaching. This past week was testing week around here, and during testing week, something has to give. The team of sixth grade teachers I worked with this week took their students outside to the school’s basketball courts after lunch.

As a substitute, when there is a plan for the group of teachers I’m working with, I stick with it, and really, sitting outside watching kids run around and release all the energy they build up during testing is one of the easier parts of the job. Teachers trained for secondary school

We were outside for about an hour, and as we coming back in, the intercom buzzer went off.

“Excuse me, Mrs. McNair, can I have Colin Cartwright for check-out?” said the voice over the intercom. The secretaries rarely know there is a substitute; she thought I was actually Mrs. McNair.

“Ok. He’s on his way,” I answered. It didn’t really matter whether I was actually Mrs. McNair or not: this response usually ended the conversation anyway.  The students knew this too because afterwards, the din of noise that had subsided in response to the buzzer started back. The lady behind the voice had other ideas, though.

“Um, do you mind telling me where you were?” I heard over the kids. “We couldn’t find you!”

I heard her perfectly, but because it caught me off guard, all I could say was, “Excuse me?!”

“Oh, nevermind,” was all I heard. I just looked down and shrugged. The kids apparently bought my act and decided to tell me what she said, exactly how she said it.

Judging from their tone in mimicking her, I was correct in my interpretation of her tone.

I can understand the frustration of having to communicate like that and not being able to find who you’re trying to communicate with. What I don’t understand is the tone behind these kinds of requests. It isn’t the first time I have heard a snippy accusation from the otherwise polite secretaries in the main office.  

So, are teachers supposed to spend all day in their window-less classroom with 30+ adolescents who have been forced to sit still for hours? Are they supposed to file a flight-plan for the day in case they need to be found? And, if this woman’s tone of voice was meant to appease an impatient and irritated parent, should it have been automatically accusatory?

I ask because I don’t know. I’m always glad to see parents involved in their children’s education, but sometimes parents come into a situation with hostility, fighting the teacher instead of working with the teacher. I saw a news story recently in which a local news channel asked parents whether they would believe their child or their child’s teacher first.

Most of the parents responding said they’d always believe their child over the teacher. Now, there are bad apples in every bunch, and the bad apples in teaching should not be trusted. But, always?  

How am I ever supposed to do this job?

Tell me what you think,

Kelli

God bless America, My home sweet home

I was subbing in a seventh grade social studies class. The students were to label all 8 continents of the world and oceans on a blank map of the world. A student walked up to all frustrated because she didn't know any of the continents. I thought it would be easy to start with the continent she lives in, North America. I pointed to North America, told her this is the continent she lives on and it has part of our country's name.

"America?"

"There's a word missing in front. The continent is what direction of this continent (pointing to South America)?"

"North."

"Ok. Now write North America."

"I don't know how to spell America."

Silence.

"You're an American, and you don't know how to spell America?"

The student didn't reply. She patiently stood there waiting for me to spell America for her. After all the continents were labeled, she needed help with the oceans.

"What is the capitol of Georgia?"

"I don't know." (Do I need to remind you, the reader, I live in Georgia?)

"The capitol is Atlanta. What ocean touches the coast of Georgia?"

"I don't know."

"The Atlantic Ocean. Remember the capitol of Georgia is ATLANTa, and the ocean touching the coast of Georgia is the ATLANTic."

"How do you spell Atlantic?"

Finally the student had her map filled out with correct spellings and everything was labeled correctly. Later in the same week I was subbing in a sixth grade class at a different middle school. After first bus load was called, then parent pick-up and walkers, there was only one student remaining in the classroom. He was picking up trash off the floor and straightening desks. He told me he recently moved from Florida and was new to the school. I asked him, "Do you know how to spell America?"

"No, I really couldn't spell America for you."

"Are you taught how to spell America in class?"

"Not really. The teachers have notes on the board and we write down the words but we don't know how to spell the words."

"Ok. Thanks, I was curious."

I won't say every student can't spell America, I only met two. However, why can't two Americans spell America? This is the country they live in, and they don't know how to spell it. I don't know anything about the new curriculum for elementary and middle grades, because I studied secondary education, but I want to know are students not being taught the capitols of the states and how to spell countries? If yes, when?

On a side note, education starts at home. Parents needs to teach their children basic knowledge so when the child goes to school the teacher will be able to expand on their knowledge.

~Jonnie

The Ant and the Plague of Locusts

Today I subbed in a seventh grade Language Arts classroom. The teacher intentionally left simple lesson plans because of standardized testing, so each class read two versions of the old fable, “The Ant and the Grasshopper.”

If, by some chance, you’ve never heard the story, here’s a brief synopsis:

The grasshopper plays all summer, and the ant works hard putting away food. When winter comes along, the grasshopper has no food, but the ant has a lot of food. The grasshopper asks the ant for food, but the ant tells the grasshopper he would’ve had food if he’d worked all summer and refuses to share.

Now, we all know, or at least I hope we all know, that the wayward grasshopper learns he should work to put away for bad times instead of wasting ALL of his time playing.

I learned today that today’s seventh graders don’t see it that way. Their reactions at the end of the story:

“Oh my gosh! The ant is so selfish and greedy!”

Huh?

I didn’t even know what to say to that. The moral of the story “In good times, prepare for when the bad times come,” was written plainly under the main text of the story. Being the conscientious substitute teacher that I try to be, I asked them how they expected to “play” if they didn’t work.

Their response:

“If you get really good at playing, you can get paid for it!”

Uh-huh.

I told them once you get paid to play a sport, it becomes your job and you have to work hard to be good enough to get paid. Then I asked them what the world would be like if everyone was like the grasshopper.

Their response:

“Oh my gosh, that would be so cool!”

I asked them what was more important in life; play or work?

Their response:

“Play, because in order for a kid to be happy they have to play and have fun.”

I told them we were talking about a happy life, not a happy childhood. That’s when they stopped listening. When I collected the discussion questions, the sentiments were definitely in the grasshopper’s favor; the ant was “rude,” “mean,” and “maybe right still really selfish.”

Well, I guess in ten years none of them will be trying to take my job. 

I worry about them, though. Why have they only just read this story in seventh grade? And why do they think the grasshopper deserves anything? What are we teaching them? Play all you want because someone will feed you? 

It’s not all of them, though. No, I wanted to hug the young man who wrote, “I think the ant was right to teach the grasshopper a lesson. If the world was full of people like the grasshopper, there would be no future.”

But for all our sake, I hope he’s wrong.

Kelli

A Lesson in Gravity-ROFL

Today I subbed in an eighth grade math class. They were doing review work in their workbooks. Nothing too exciting.

At this particular school there is a study hall type of class surrounding lunch, and the class I subbed for just happened to be the last class in the entire school to eat lunch. So, during the study hall class, there was a lot of waiting to do.

About half-way through I hear a really loud THUD from the back of the room. I turn around to look and there is a young man lying face down on the floor, everyone around him laughing and making that obnoxious "OOOOH!" sound.

When he looked up I asked him what had happened. He quietly explained that he had tried to do a push-up and clap his hands behind his back at the same time.

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Our future, folks,
Kelli

P.S. To his credit, he seemed like a halfway decent kid. I worry about his science grades though.

A Lesson in Pay Scale

I once spent four days-not consecutive-with the same seventh grade students. The students became accustomed to me and I grew fond of most of them. When I was subbing for their social studies teacher, a student asked me if I got paid to be a substitute teacher. I said yes. The next questions was how much. I thought this was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate to the students how education plays a role in a person's salary. I told the class I get paid X amount for one day. They were blown away. They started talking about how much candy they could buy with my one day salary. I went on to explain I get paid based on my education and teacher certificate. I told the class if I only had a high school diploma I would only be paid X amount per day. I'm not sure how many heard my explanation of the substitute pay scale based on education. I think most were dreaming about how much candy they could buy from the Dollar Tree.

Seize every teachable moment, you never know who it will affect and how it will shape their life.

~Jonnie

Name Badge

In the county I sub in the students are required to wear a picture ID at all times. This allows me to quickly glance at the ID, read the student's name and call him/her by name if their behavior is not appropriate. Once, when I called a student by name he stopped his bad behavior and sat there trying to figure out how I knew his name. At least he stopped his bad behavior.

I have a name badge for one of the high schools. It has my first initial, full last name, my picture, the word substitute and under substitute, certified teacher is written. I do not know why the county did not make a substitute badge for all the subs at the four hour long training session. It takes less than three minutes to take a picture and print the badge. I have seen the gentleman at the high school do it twice. The county issued badge would have the county name, the person's picture, name, the word substitute and if they are certified that would be printed on the badge as well. I personally think a county badge would be better for everyone because when I'm at a school and I'm forced to wear a bright neon colored sticker with the word, "substitute" on it, I feel I lose my credentials as an authority figure. When I'm at those schools I always introduce myself to the students as a certified teacher who will be their sub for the day. Once the students know I am familiar with the operations of a classroom they know I am not playing around when it comes to classroom management and enforcing school rules.

To every county who employs substitute teachers, think twice about the substitute sticker or badge. If the person worked hard enough to earn their teacher certification, please credit that person and stamp the words, "certified teacher" on his/her name badge. It will make a difference in the classroom. Thank you.

~Jonnie

Lost in Sub Land

In Why Sub? I explained that I started subbing because everyone said it would get my foot in the door for a teaching job, and in Just a Sub Part 3  I explained that being a certified teacher-substitute buys you the privilege of being put into difficult situations.

Sometimes I wonder if these difficult situations are sabotaging my chances of getting a full-time job.

In each of these situations, I was given the responsibilities of a teacher. I was supposed to be the teacher in the students’ eyes, but I had none of the resources or knowledge of the school available to teachers. The kids know this and they take advantage of it to the fullest extent.

The first time, when I long-term subbed as a Health teacher (yeah I don’t know how that happened), I started a new grading period with a new group of kids who did not know the other teacher. I had a teacher’s laptop with full grading and punishing capabilities, and I could’ve gone on with the kids never knowing that Health wasn’t my area of expertise or that my job was temporary.

Buuut.....thanks to No Child Left Behind, the school had to send home a letter letting all the parents and their kids know that I was, in fact, not a Health teacher. And did they give me a warning beforehand? Heck no, I found out from the kids. To top it all off, the school was kind enough to buy me a nametag with “Substitute” written across it.

The other long term subbing jobs just started out badly and got worse.

But I digress. I get put into these difficult situations that no one else wanted to tackle and try to hold it together as best I can with what little I have (usually just copy paper, the white board and the call button). Then, when the kids realize what little I have and start pushing my limits, I have little support and things get out of hand.

So what does that brand me? A bad classroom manager? Okay. I guess so. And who wants to hire somebody who can’t manage a classroom? It should be so easy, right? I mean, every other teacher does it perfectly.

But hey, I’m a really good sub right? And why get rid of a really good sub by giving her a full time job?

I have to wonder what I could do if I could actually be a teacher. Not a student teacher, not a substitute teacher. A teacher.

Maybe it would be no better. I don’t know, but I would like to try.

Love and thanks,

Kelli