Substitute Teachers: How to Treat A Classroom

Yesterday, I left some suggestions for classroom teachers in what substitutes need. I’m sure there is more to the list, as each classroom and school differs from another.

As I mentioned, Substitutes also have a responsibility, and I’ve heard from teachers and students alike on things that need to be done:

Substitute Teachers

1. Be on time.
   1. This means, to me, being at least fifteen minutes early to where you are supposed to report (usually the main office).
   2. Dress appropriately.
   3. Ask for a security badge if not given one automatically.
   4. Ask for the Substitute Folder if it is kept in the main office.
      1. Make sure you have CURRENT attendance sheets.
2. Come prepared with at least one pen: don’t assume any will be left for you.
3. Get to the room you need to report to and read the lesson plans from start to finish.
   1. Hopefully, the teacher will have left you all material you need with the lesson plan.
   2. If not, round it up/locate it before the students come in.
4. If the teacher assigns a Study Hall or Individual Reading for that time period:
   1. Do not:
      1. Read the newspaper; text; be on the computer; discuss your personal life; comment on other classes/schools; listen to your own music with ear plugs; etc.
   2. Do:
      1. State you are in charge
         1. They have work to do: do it
      2. Take names if they are disrespectful to you
      3. Keep your calm
5. Leave the classroom, especially the teacher’s desk/work area, as you found it.
6. Leave the teacher notes on how the day was: good and not so good behavior.
   1. Don’t leave a novel: just highlights/bullets
   2. Some schools use some sort of feedback system, whether online or paper: follow through on it.
7. If you are working with any classroom aides or paras: thank them for their help at the end of the class/day.
8. When students say “..the teacher always lets us…” well, that is up to you and the feel of the kids, but more times than not the teacher does not  let them do whatever they’ve just told you.
   1. Apologize, tell them you have no notes to that effect, and they’ll have to do it your way for today.  Tell them you’ll leave a note for the teacher that you said no. They’ll usually stop at that.

How To Treat A Substitute Teacher

I am sure there are many jokes that can be made out of the title/subject line of this post. That is not this posting.

Today, this is for the normal classroom teacher.

The next post will be for the subs! Teachers, do not fret. Not picking on you, but there are things that are forgotten in the rush with all you have to do.

TEACHERS

1. Do not assume that the sub knows ANY of your procedures, unless you know them/they’ve been in your room before.
   1. From A to Z: lay it out. No confusion for the kids, no confusion for the sub.
   2. If you write up daily procedures ONE TIME, you have that ready to go.
   3. This is  true with Picking Up Students in the am (where they are; what row; etc)  and especially Dismissal: these procedures vary from school to school, and if a sub works more than one district, it can be confusing, and the safety of your students should not be left up to chance.
   4. If you have “special” names for something, please explain it (i.e. “Switch-a-Roo”: I had NO idea what that was, and it was only between two teachers who used it in the same grade).
2. Don’t treat a sub like they are stupid, though.
   1. All they want are detailed lesson plans, things lined up for them to use (they don’t’ know your room, know where the copy room is, break room, etc.), and what your signals are for classroom management.
3. Do NOT say “Just make it a Study Hall” or “Have them do independent reading” unless that IS what YOU would do during that time period.
   1. Study Hall or Independent Reading instead of actual work is futility for a substitute, and the kids normally take advantage of that fact.
4. Have the sub collect the work you assign so the students DO SOMETHING and are held accountable for it.
   1. Telling them to do work and then allowing them the choice to finish for homework? Another disaster for the sub.
   2. Homework is homework. Classwork should not be interchangeable.
5. Lay out your plans carefully, step by step, so that when you return, your classroom was run the way it would be if you were there.
6. Do not expect the sub to be proficient in all core subject matter.
   1. If there is an answer sheet, please provide it for them.
7. Please provide times for all subjects (when the change is, bell is supposed to ring, etc.). Simple, yes, but not everyone does it.
8. If the students need to be brought to another room, please provide that room number, not just Art or Music, or that teacher’s name.
9. If your school allows you to give a heads up on who has an IEP, please provide that. I know this is a tricky one, as things should not be left out that a student could read. There should be a way to let the sub know, not for judgment sake but for a heads up, to be aware who needs modifications for, who might do something that appears disrespectful to the sub but is normal for that child, etc.
10. If you have an Aide/One-on-One in the room normally, please give them a copy of your plans as well to help the sub out (as well as make it easy on themselves}.
11. Please make sure your Sub Folder is current with students attendance sheets, allergies, dismissals, etc.
    1. When you have a change in the classroom, please update your Sub Folder.
12. Please find out, if not automatically given by the office, which usually does NOT have the info, a Substitute log-in so they can use your Smart Board, etc. This will save time and frustration all the way around.
13. Please indicate who can help the sub out if needed by teachers you are surrounded by/work with on a regular basis.
14. If you encounter a substitute in the school, at lunch, etc, please be welcoming. It goes a long way to be made to feel welcome as opposed to being dismissed as “just a sub”
    1. Some of your students will do that already; don’t do the same, please.

     

    Again, I will write out something for Subs, as I’ve heard enough stories about what subs shouldn’t do in classrooms, but do anyway.
    Thanks.

Zero Tolerance & Broken Rules

Zero Tolerance and School Safety

The Time is Right to End ‘Zero Tolerance’ in Schools

Zero Tolerance Schools Discipline Without Wiggle Room

Zero Tolerance and Alternative Suggestions

 

The above links will lead you to sites on both sides of the debate over  Zero Tolerance in schools. I leave it to you to read them, make your own conclusions.

I won’t summarize them, but give you some observations:

A school with a strongly worded rules on dress code and school behavior online, with the consequences for infractions clearly stated. Syllabi/Lesson Plans, posted online as well, readdressing the same concerns. The conduct rules are posted in the main office as well.

What was seen: two students being taken out of the school in hand cuffs by police officers; not one student dressed in the very well laid out dress code (hoodies and hats were worn; scarves as head wear; tee shirts with graphics; etc); students walking around the hallways by the front door guard, near the main office, sitting on the floor; a school official hugging a student (one “rule” was “no contact between students of any type, hugging mentioned); a student walking into the office, talking to a secretary, her trying to send him on his way to class but he cut his class, as he came back in less than fifteen minutes later to “hang out”; and during the classroom change, uncountable number of cell phones and electronics being used in a school they are supposedly banned.

This was one school, but I’ve seen variations played out in many.

I made a mention of this, at times. to various teachers or staff, and the answer is almost always the same: a shrug of the shoulders, or the complaint that no one enforces it, or they can’t enforce them. They don’t get support from any number of sources (parents, the principal, whoever).

I’ve also seen schools where the parents are very involved and supportive, where the rules of conduct and dress are enforced. Are there still problems? Of course. You are dealing with a wide variable of situations. Yet, when rules don’t matter, consequences are basically non-existent…

I haven’t written here in quite awhile. Observing what I have in the last half a year (really, last four years) has sometimes left me dumbstruck. This experience just left me shaking my head.

What do you see that will work?

“Don’t Worry About Spelling”

“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.”
A. A. Milne

“I don’t see any use in having a uniform and arbitrary way of spelling words. We might as well make all clothes alike and cook all dishes alike. Sameness is tiresome; variety is pleasing.”
― Mark Twain

“God, don’t they teach you how to spell these days?”

“No,” I answer. “They teach us to use spell-check.”
― Jodi Picoult

It goes like this: I’m at a school and giving the class a handout. I’m reading it along with them so I can answer (hopefully) any question that arises. The first page is a list of vocabulary words (the day’s “Do Now” is: “Why do you need to increase your vocabulary?”); the following pages (parts A & B) are fill-in-the-blanks based solely on those words. The kids are struggling already. The answers are on the first page given: they just have to read, go back to the list, circle the correct letter or fill in the blank.

Part C is different: it’s a journal entry that asks them to think. All well and good, but then it says (and I’m only slightly paraphrasing here):

“Don’t Worry About Spelling.”

That in itself boggles my mind, but it’s not the first time I have been mentally gobsmacked (hmmm..is that possible, since a gob is a mouth? Don’t care: I’ll follow Mark Twain from his above quote. So yes, I am dumbfounded).

I wrote about a previous experience with third graders before: in assisting a student with a written assignment, in my trying to help them correct all their spelling errors, which were many, I was informed that the school administration did not want that. If the word read like it sounded, then that was good enough. I informed the teacher that I’d rather be fired for trying to help the student spell correctly then to dumb down. Nothing more was ever said to me on that subject.

In the case of the above hand out, this was High School. Six and seven grades higher, and “don’t worry about spelling” is emblazoned on the paper.  Scary. Just plain old scary.

On a recent interview, I was told by the interviewer that they had to discard so many resumes and cover letters due to the amount of grammatical and spelling (many homonym) errors that a normal spell check system does not catch. I’ve heard this before, and I’ve kicked myself in the head the few times I did not proof read a cover letter as well as possible, catching that stupid mistake that makes me sound like a dolt.

So…the schools say “don’t worry about spelling.” The job force, which is getting stricter and harder to break through, IS looking at these things.

Scary…just plain old scary; and very, very sad.

Public schools need to raise their standards and return to a more traditional, classical educational learning method.

What we are churning out is not working.

What do you think?

Would You Like Fries With That?

Reblogged from bornstoryteller:

One of the most disturbing things that I have heard  from a student was:

"Why should I try? I'll only be working at McDonald's."

I was an Artist-in-Residence for a year for a large school district in Westchester County, NY. Still early in my profession, that statement was both a shock and a revelation of a point of view I had never considered before: low expectations given, and projected; leading this student to live  that that is all they can do.

Read more… 424 more words

While I have been slumbering, figuring out what to say/do with this blog, someone "liked it' this morning: rereading it, it gave me a renewed sense of purpose. I am job hunting, and that has taken over most of my concentration. Today I have two interviews, both for Director/Manager of Education position in arts administration. This post already has helped clear some of the cobwebs I've laid in my own way. Thanks for the like, Isurrett2.

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 3)

National Guild for Community Arts Education

Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Awarded Creative Aging Grant

Arts for the Aging, Inc.

Lifetime Arts: Creative Aging Online

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part One)

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part Two)

Teaching Artist Tool Kit

Respect your elders.

I’ve heard that since I was a child, and a statement that was reinforced not only by my parents, but grandparents, teachers and mass media (although, in the early 60′s, mass media was nothing like it is today).  Elders used to be those we looked to to run the family, supply support and leadership, hear the history of the family, and to pass along traditions, both familial and often religious ones.

Now, we need to fight for respect for any elder, more times than not.

Vitality, purpose, health (both physical and mental), self worth, connections with others. These are only a smattering of things that can be accomplished when our older citizens are not talked down to or dismissed.

In Part Two, I wrote about the other group that presented during the Open Opera Conference: Creative Resurgence. Today, I’d like to present the work that I was honored to be part of:

Presentation: OPERA America: Music and Memories (pilot project)

Zach Redler (composer/pianist) and I (creative drama/creative writing) were brought onto a grant funded project by Laura Day Giarolo, Director of Learning and Community Engagement  for OPERA America. Working in conjunction with Project Find in NYC, Zach and I were brought together  on creating an ensemble  musical experience, stemming from the life stories of our participants.

We discussed our program: at a senior center in the upper west side of NYC,  for sixteen (16) weeks, we were allotted an hour and a half, once a week, to meet with our group. In May, we had a culminating “work-in-progress” performance of songs and short personal story bites as performed by the elder group we had worked with.

What was lovely were the connections the group made with each other. In sharing their stories, both in small groups and large, they found commonalities: this was not a homogenous group in regards to nationalities, only in age group. New friendships grew out of the process. Many, if not all, were asking when we would be coming back, doing this again, continuing the work we started. That, to me, is the success. They were energetic, bright eyed and happy…and in the end, that should account for a lot.

The beginning sessions were split in half between music and storytelling/writing.

Zach introduced musical concepts and structure that served our performers well: he gave them not only rehearsal material, but strove to deepen the understanding of what was being created, how it all fit together, and how it can evolve. As the process continued, many of the participants continued to contribute, offering key or tempo changes that only strengthened the songs. Zach was gracious throughout, adding what worked and then building on it. During the rehearsals, Zach modified his conducting style for the comfort of the group, finding new ways to bring them all together when they were getting nervous as the performance date got closer.

Starting off with a story game the first week, we dove into writing personal stories the following week. From there, I introduced a Japanese poetry form, a Tanka, that I felt would help them self edit their stories to the story beats. A Tanka is where Haiku’s came from: a longer piece, it has five lines instead of three. In American English syllables, a Tanka form is 5-7-5-7-7. This was a challenge for some of the elders, but the majority worked well with it. By this point, we had them working in small groups; Zach would then take these works and, with the whole group, start creating the songs for our performance.

Zach’s musical safe environment to work was continued in what I did. Seeing that some judgements were being made of others in our first session, I introduced the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process, which I’ve used with just about every age group I’ve worked with. If you click on the link above, you’ll find the full details: you start off with positive affirmations (“I liked…”; “I appreciated…”), and the only thing the presenter/performer can say is “Thank you.” Other sharing critique is asked for or garnered, creating a very different form of peer level support and notes.  Critique is to help each other grow, not to tear someone down, and for the most part the members of the group were diligent in following these rules.

Time was our enemy in that we didn’t always get the full allotted time scheduled (due to other programs going on in the center) and in the way Zach and I planned out the program. We needed more rehearsal time then we thought we would, and I know I should have better time management in getting the stories to poetry. Hopefully we will get the chance to do this again and learn from it.

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In Part Four of Creative Aging and the Arts, I’ll be discussing the responses/reactions of the attendees from the full day seminar,  reactions from these posts that I have received, and ideas of where to go from here.

**************************************

ATTENTION:

I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development

as well as Project Management/Facilitation

Please contact me at:

stuart.nager at gmail dot com

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 2)

“There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents,
the creativity you bring to your life and the lives
of the people you love.  When you will learn to tap
this source, you will have truly defeated age.”

~Sophia Loren~

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part One)

 

The creative arts should be, to me, flexible and adaptable. Embracing new concepts, moving along with the social/economic/political spectrum, can allow new discoveries as well as keep things afloat. What good is it if you master your art, stick to that one idea, but the times have left you behind?

Arts administrations need to do the same, as the economic landscape has changed so drastically in the last five+ years. A new, or renewed, interest in Life Long Learners can be key in keeping organizations going well past the base of the school ages that many focus on.

What was inspiring to me was participating, through OPERA America, a section of the Open Opera Conference: Creative Resurgence. Opera companies are looking at involving the older adult population in more ways than just filling seats. A number of opera companies from across the US and Canada attended this day long workshop/program on Creative Aging, with many of them already utilizing interactive, participatory programs.

Storytelling is one of the primary arts disciplines that seems to  be in wide use: delving into true life testimonials, musical works have been formed, from revues to full mini-operas. Being part of the creative process, the participatory input ranged from storytelling and writing to either performing the work or having professional singers enact their life stories. The librettos ranged from true life to fictionalized non-fiction.

In Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 1), I spoke about our morning session with Ms. Susan Perlstein, an advocate for the creative aging movement, and is the Founder Emeritus for the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA).  In the afternoon two groups shared with the assemblage two recent projects that had just been completed: the pilot project I did with my musical collaborator Zach Redler for OPERA America, and Opera North’s latest operatic collaboration with an elder population.

Presentation: Transitions: Sung Stories

Opera North, Inc. worked with NewCourtland (a service for older adults) to produce Transitions: Sung Stories. Gathering oral history from Philadelphia, PA elders, Jules Tasca (Librettist) and Leslie Savoy Burrs (Composer and Executive Director of Opera North, Inc.) created a moving story that stemmed from the real life interviews.

Relating the details of the process to the group, both Mr. Burrs and Mr. Tasca laid out a professional program that produces positive results. In a video that showcases Mr. Burrs, we got to obverse how he interacted with a group of physically challenged elders. Working with a variety of percussive instruments, the participants helped lead Mr. Burrs, wielding a flute, to compose one of the pieces that became part of their opera.

What was apparent, watching the video, was how involved and engaged everyone was. No one just sat on the side, a spectator. This was a vibrant community coming together for a project that celebrates their lives, and also celebrates the worth they still have in the greater society.

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In Part Three of Creative Aging and the Arts, I’ll be discussing the work that I had the pleasure to experience with our group as well as responses/reactions of the attendees from the full day seminar.

**************************************

ATTENTION:

I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development

as well as Project Management/Facilitation

I am willing to travel or work over Skype with your organization

Please contact me at:

stuart.nager at gmail dot com

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 1)

National Center for Creative Aging

Lifetime Arts

OPERA America

Project FIND

Arts For Humanity

What is your first thought when someone mentions a Senior/Elder Center or Nursing Home?

Did you envision the elderly sitting around, doing little, just passing time until…? Did you see them as audience members at a performance, or just sitting around large round tables eating? Were they napping, or just gazing off into the distance,  seemingly not connected to their surroundings?

Hopefully those days will be behind us as a new awareness is sinking in. Actively engaging the growing elder community is key to the growing number of organizations that work with this population. Inter-generational programming (from the 50′s and up, as the baby boomers join the elder sector) is being spoken of across the United States in all areas of the arts.

I was invited to be a Guest Speaker for OPERA America‘s Creative Resurgence conference, speaking to those opera companies (from Canada and the US) whose education departments reach out now to the centers, nursing homes, group homes and special organizations that cater to the older adult. A number of them make partnerships with libraries as well, helping build connections in their communities.

I was asked to attend this conference due to my recently completed pilot project with a senior center in NYC. We had worked on creating a musical experience crafted from the personal stories of our participants. I will talk more about this in the next part of this series.

Ms. Susan Perlstein, an advocate for the creative aging movement, led the day with the credo “Embrace This Moment!” Ms. Perlstein is the Founder Emeritus for the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA). By the year 2030, it is anticipated that there will be over 70 million people over the age of 65, and that the number of those over 85 will double. There is also the chance that many will have to work, if possible, past what we normally determine as retirement age due to the economic realities we face.

There is evidence based research, as first conducted by The Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC) that has shown that interactive, participatory arts programs with the older person promotes a vitality in the aging process, helps to build vibrant communities, and has positive results in both the  physical and emotional states of the participants. Dr. Gene D. Cohen, the primary investigator of the research, stated that “Art is like chocolate to the brain.”

Entering into fairly new territory in the arts is exciting in the different challenges it gives to professional teaching artists and arts organizations. The methodology we’ve used for youth programs has to be modified, and in many cases whole new approaches have to be discovered for successful programs for those participating.  Understanding the various cognitive and physical changes that go on, and embracing the life history and stories that the elders bring with them are only the tip of what needs to be explored.

In Part 2, I will discuss more of my work in the field, and some observations from the conference attendees.

**************************************

ATTENTION:

I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development

as well as Project Management/Facilitation

I am willing to travel or work over Skype with your organization

Please contact me at:

stuart.nager at gmail dot com

Budget Cuts: No Kindergarten!!!

Harrisburg school budget to cut Kindergarten, Art, Sports

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania schools eliminate Kindergarten

The Danger of Cutting After-School Programs

School Budget Cuts: How Students Say Slashes Are Affecting Them

 

Please read the links above first. I’ll wait.

Now…

I’m completely blown away. Schools are probably the last place we should be cutting budgets, since the future of our world depends on the children. We propagate the species to continue, and I would hope we’d like to leave a better world, and give our kids the chance to advance.

Doesn’t seem like it.

These types of cuts will not happen in private schools. These schools have the means to make sure all the educational hurdles we are facing does not happen to their academics. They’ll continue to have Kindergarten, Art programs, Sports programs, and have a more well rounded student in the long run. They’ll take working models and stick with them, instead of futzing around like the public sector does.

As part of the public, we should allow all children the best education possible, no matter the social/economic happenstance of the family/community.

What Is A Drama Teacher?

A Fourth Grade Classroom:

I was asked the question: “What is a Drama Teacher?” when I had announced that I am one.

According to a young lady , who I had the pleasure to work with that day, a Drama Teacher is:

 

“Someone who teaches others to exaggerate emotions so they can be Drama Queens.”

 

I think that pretty much says it all.