Substitute Teaching

I received my first assignment substitute teaching in Madison. I had my choice of placements, but I chose a middle school for my first. When I first got into teaching, I thought I wanted to teach in a middle school environment, so I thought I would try it out again. After spending my day there, I have changed my mind. I really think high school is then environment for me. I need a more challenging curriculum and I need students who are a little less worried about themselves and more concerned with learning.

So I arrived at the middle school in plenty of time. I was filling in for a lady who taught English & Math. Once I received her schedule, I realized I had two preps in the morning. ARGH! What a waste! Instead of spending two hours of being bored, I asked the secretary, if I could observe a teacher for the first two hours. She gave me the names of several teachers to check with.

I love observing! Different teachers have so many great ideas. You learn so much from your colleagues! Plus if you are lucky, you can see your own students and how they work in a different environment.

I only got to obsevere one teacher. Ironically, I had actually observed his class before. He plays the Freeze game with his kids. He yells freeze and then he times them. The first kid to move ends the game. --and yeah--he harasses them a little to get them to move. Anyway, he keeps the class with the longest freeze time on the board. Then at the end of the year, the winning class receives giant candy bars. This is a great game! And I really need to use this. Just think if you have a class that is typically rowdy (especially at the end of the day) you can use this to gain control or just have a moment of peace.

Anyway, nothing too exciting happened in this class. I have to say, he is very lenient in comparison to myself. I have very high expectations. For example, I do not accept late work. Well, he accepts late work. I also do not let kids go to their lockers to get forgotten work--he does. In some ways, it is nice that he lets these kids have a break. However, I want my kids to be the best--I want them to be responsible and always thinking ahead. I think that is why I am so strict. I hope for Madison schools my strictness is not looked down on. In Milwaukee, I was often applauded for my sterness (not necessarily by parents--but by colleagues.) I think I need more time in Madison to see if things are really different.

So I went back to my classroom a good 1/2 hour before my first class. It was then that I noticed I did not even have a class roster. The teacher had left very little for me and said "Ask the students for help with attendance." YIPPEE! I never did this for my subs. If anything I probably over prepared them for my classes (extra worksheets if there was extra time, etc..).

I called the teacher at home. She then informed me that she had just rearranged her classes with another teacher (who was also out sick) yesterday, so she did not have rosters nor did she have seating charts.

Well this may be a horror story for most, but I knew that this could not be as bad as some of the MPS classrooms I had been in.

My first two classes were all girls and the same students. I showed them "Pay It Forward" and then they were given Math worksheets for homework. Pay It Forward is a PG13 movie. I think it has a great story, but I would not have shown this movie to my students. There was excessive cursing--which of course the kids loved, laughed at, and repeated. (Couldn't they make a version where the words are bleeped out?) I had no problem with this class.

My next class was combined with another sub's class. Once again we had no roster, so we had no idea who was supposed to be there. In fact a teacher came into our room and told us we were missing a bunch of students. I went to the office to tell someone, but another teacher came to the room and told us we were fine. So who knows if we really were missing students or not. This class was really a study hall, so there was very little to do and the kids were well behaved.

My last two classes were all boys. And they were riled up! It took me time to get them quiet enough to talk. I had to kick two boys out of the classroom. I then started the movie. After a one on one with one boy, I let him back in the class. The second boy, I had to send to the office because he still was not cooperating. Some schools have been very angry with me for sending kids out into the hall. But I feel that sometimes a moment of separation will often get these kids back on track. Plus it gives me a chance to regain control of the rest of the students and talk privately with the student I am having problems with. This is one method I refuse to give up.

The movie went over okay. However, many of the boys were watching me closely to see if they could get away with stuff. That meant I had to be the overbearing teacher and stand during the whole movie. Argh! I hate having to feel like a babysitter.

When it was time for the homework portion many of the boys did not want to work. I had to move several of the students and "babysit." THey begged me to turn on the radio--but I told they had to show me they could work without music and then I would turn it on (of course that did not happen--but I tried to give them incentive.)

Now their teacher is very very lenient. She lets these kids eat in class and listen to music. So I was put into a postion where i could not fight the snacking and drinking. However, I did stand my ground on the music.

It turns out (after talking with other teachers) that she also has a serious behavior problem with these students--that is why she recently reorganized her classes separating the girls and the boys. I don't know the history of her kids nor do I know her teaching style, but it makes me think that the problem is her. In my background I did have problem kids, however I was very strict from the beginning and there were some rules I did not back down on--such as eating in class. These kids were not bad--they just know how to push limits.

So in my next blog entries I am going to be taking a look at a lot of my past teaching experiences and reflecting on them and what I could do to be better.

As as sub, I know that I should have looked over my materials before I went to observe another class. That was bad of me. I also know that I should never turn my back to the class. I made this mistake when I went to help a boy with a problem. My back was to several students and so they started misbehaving.

Oh yeah--a few last thoughts.

I always find the demographics of public schools interesting. I have taught in primarily African American classrooms. At this school, the population appeared to be primarily Hmong, followed by white, black, and then Hispanic. I also noticed that despite all our efforts to desegregate, my students would segregate themselves. The Hmong students would sit together, the black students, the white, and oddly enough the special ed students sat together. --This makes me realize that assigned seating is a must in the beginning of the school year. My classroom must have a sense of community where my students don't naturally sit with only people that look like them.

Alright--that's all for now