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
Be on time.
This means, to me, being at least fifteen minutes early to where you are supposed to report (usually the main office).
Dress appropriately.
Ask for a security badge if not given one automatically.
Ask for the Substitute Folder if it is kept in the main office.
Make sure you have CURRENT attendance sheets.
Come prepared with at least one pen: don’t assume any will be left for you.
Get to the room you need to report to and read the lesson plans from start to finish.
Hopefully, the teacher will have left you all material you need with the lesson plan.
If not, round it up/locate it before the students come in.
If the teacher assigns a Study Hall or Individual Reading for that time period:
Do not:
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.
Do:
State you are in charge
They have work to do: do it
Take names if they are disrespectful to you
Keep your calm
Leave the classroom, especially the teacher’s desk/work area, as you found it.
Leave the teacher notes on how the day was: good and not so good behavior.
Don’t leave a novel: just highlights/bullets
Some schools use some sort of feedback system, whether online or paper: follow through on it.
If you are working with any classroom aides or paras: thank them for their help at the end of the class/day.
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.
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.
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
Do not assume that the sub knows ANY of your procedures, unless you know them/they’ve been in your room before.
From A to Z: lay it out. No confusion for the kids, no confusion for the sub.
If you write up daily procedures ONE TIME, you have that ready to go.
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.
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).
Don’t treat a sub like they are stupid, though.
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.
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.
Study Hall or Independent Reading instead of actual work is futility for a substitute, and the kids normally take advantage of that fact.
Have the sub collect the work you assign so the students DO SOMETHING and are held accountable for it.
Telling them to do work and then allowing them the choice to finish for homework? Another disaster for the sub.
Homework is homework. Classwork should not be interchangeable.
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.
Do not expect the sub to be proficient in all core subject matter.
If there is an answer sheet, please provide it for them.
Please provide times for all subjects (when the change is, bell is supposed to ring, etc.). Simple, yes, but not everyone does it.
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.
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.
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}.
Please make sure your Sub Folder is current with students attendance sheets, allergies, dismissals, etc.
When you have a change in the classroom, please update your Sub Folder.
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.
Please indicate who can help the sub out if needed by teachers you are surrounded by/work with on a regular basis.
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”
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.
“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.
I am not a novice with Social Media, dipping my fingers in various pots; even so, there are still many, many more pots waiting to be stirred. I’m also not a novice in regards to the arts and arts education.
I received the following from a FB acquaintance (thank you Susan Shatz), and knew I had to pass this on:
There are many people who live, breathe, eat, sleep, etc. The Arts (capital letters on purpose) but don’t have the exposure or professional gravitas which would give them the recognition that they deserve. They may be young in age, or “still new” in their respective turn at this part of their career. In Barry’s words:
Regular followers of this blog know that late every August I publish a list of the Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts. Most people understand that the list isn’t meritocracy based; it isn’t based on specific achievement or accomplishment per se; it doesn’t purport to necessarily identify the “best and brightest”, rather it merely identifies who has power and influence.
There has been some past comment that unfortunately the list excludes a whole cohort of serious thinkers – a group of younger (not necessarily chronologically younger) leaders omitted because their careers have not been long enough for them to develop the requisite power and influence the Most Powerful list embodies, and that there ought to be some mechanism that gives this cohort of leaders a voice and some recognition. They are, after all, our future.
If you are interested/concerned about the state of the arts and nonprofit arts, I strongly suggest that you click HERE for the full blog entry. I know I’ll be giving this some serious thought.
Opening up dialogue with new thinkers, the ones who are doing the work, who resist hearing & living “we’ve always done it this way”…this is one way to acknowledge those who might seem behind the scenes but need to have a more national, if not international voice.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks.
About Barry: Former Director of the California Arts Council; President of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies; Executive Director LINES Ballet. Author (Hardball Lobbying for Nonprofits – MacMillan & Co.; Youth Involvement in the Arts – 2 phase study for the Hewlett Foundation; Local Arts Agency Funding Study for the Aspen Institute; City Arts Toolkit), consultant, public speaker. Barry’s Blog is a service of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of WESTAF.
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.
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.
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.
As of May 5th, 2012, over $419,000,000 (that is 419 MILLION US dollars) has been contributed to all candidates to run for the position of the President of the USA. Combined, not just one party, so I am not playing favorites here.
$419,000,000
Instead of bombarding us with ads and campaigning, wouldn’t it be lovely if that amount of money went somewhere else…oh, like say create or keep 8,038 teaching jobs (at $50,000 for the school year) for one year, or over 11,000 jobs paying as low as $35,000 a year?
Yeah, drop in the bucket, one may say…but to those 8,000 to 11,000? No, it would be a big deal.
Hard to judge who should get it, where it should go, etc etc etc…yes, it is, especially with so many out of work: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Household Survey Data
Both the number of unemployed persons (12.5 million) and the unemployment rate (8.1 percent) changed little in April
Splitting all that money amongst all unemployed would only garner a check for $35.52. Not much of a help for anyone (well, for someone starving…).
I would rather see that money at least go to something good, something that would be helping others.
I would rather the President’s $191,000.000 fund education, or the Arts (yes, my personal bias: those in the arts need to live too), medical/health care, anti-violence/hate crime programs, the elderly, or something that would help other people. Better that then take up advertising time, spin negative ads against Romney, and such.
THAT would be the person I want running this country. Raise money from those who are fighting being taxed fairly and use that money for the common good.
No religious, political or personal agenda: just helping others.
You can believe in what you want. As long as it’s not hateful or harmful to others, I’ll even listen to your POV if you promise not to try to ram it down my throat, or try to convince me that your belief is the only right way.
Democrats and Republicans do many wrong things, for the wrong reasons: there are lobbies/big money that have no concerns for the people of this country, only profits.
The blame game is what is hurting this country. I read a series of posts on FB, an anti-President Obama thread, that were volatile and negative spewing. The main thrust was, from the person who started the thread, that he feels all Republicans should say NO to anything coming from an opposing POV.
No listening and judge on individual merits; no attempt to compromise; no attempt to work for the betterment of all the people in the country. Just Say NO was his mantra…and then he and others complained that “the liberals” only spout and don’t listen and run away from a fight.
[Side Bar: As to arguments about Bush Bashing...one thing to disagree with the man, which I do. I have my reasons: my two biggest complaints are: his getting the news of the 9/11 attacks and just sitting dumbfounded in a Kindergarten classroom, not making a move, not directing the country, not showing any action; the second is, when asked about his greatest achievement in office, he talks about a fish he caught. Joke or not, to me, it's not funny. I'm not even going to go into the economic state of the union he left for whoever won the election to pick up after him. Nope. Not going there.]
Before any civil rights acts, inter-racial marriages were forbidden, as were inter-religious ones. They were, for those days, their own “war on marriage” which, yes, I have seen slogans for.
The President spoke his mind and made a stand: he believes in same sex marriage. He did not say any other state of marriage should be nullified, nor did he exclude anyone. He did not say, in any way, that this was a war on marriage. He did not say we all must believe as he did. Many won’t, and that is their prerogative. He is, if anything, advocating the civil rights of the “rest” of the country for consenting adults in love to get married.
If you don’t want to be married to someone of the same sex, or a different religion, or a different skin color, or a different nationality, then: JUST DON’T. But, don’t impose your own POV on someone else.
Why then, as a straight man, am I so behind repealing an amendment based on hatred and bigotry?
I’m also a JEWISH male, and if anyone wants to talk about history of abuse and hatred against a people, then let’s talk. We got ya beat by thousands of years.
It’s time to let things that are NOT important to the running of a country go, and focus on what we can do POSITIVELY and for the GOOD OF THE PEOPLE. The civil rights of American Citizens are being crushed under foot by those who say they love this country.
You love this country, then show it. Stop forcing your negative religious beliefs on others and do something positive with all that energy.
Fight poverty
Fight human trafficking
Fight hunger
Fight injustice (and you better believe this is injustice)
Fight for a stronger economy
Fight to bring our schools back to a place of prominence
Fight for a way to bring this country together, instead of continuously tearing it apart
A very good friend of mine is a minister. I have known her since High School, so, yes, a few years. She is one of the many that I had asked for guest posts while my hands were not working properly (still not 100%, but that’s a whole nuther thing). We talked a bit on FB, and she voiced her concern: she didn’t feel that what she does is creative.
the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.
3.
the process by which one utilizes creative ability: Extensive reading stimulated his creativity.
I see that everyone, in someway, does something creative in their lives. Creativity is not just producing art, or music, or theater, or writing, or crafty little things. We think in creative ways, problem solving our way out of troubles or blockades.
As a minister, she has to be creative in writing 52 sermons a year that will engage her congregation (well, 52 minus vacations); writing the newsletter; hearing and helping to solve problems from her flock; she has to think on her feet when illnesses and deaths happen, when roadblocks are presented to her that need bypassing. That’s just what she does on the job. What about her life outside of the church? Family, friends, budgets, etc… all take at times a creative touch.
We all do creative thinking and things, even if we are not in The Arts. Einstein was creative: yes, a big example, but, think about how you’ve dealt with an interruption in your daily life, how you’ve had to improvise something on the spot, how you’ve had to brainstorm something new because what you were doing just wasn’t enough…
Unless you’ve life is so scripted that you have no chance to alter anything, then you’ve had creative moments.
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.
