Ever been caught in the crossfire of a noisy classroom, wondering whether to intervene or let the kids chatter away while they work? Would you ignore quiet students who might not be contributing or noisy students who are indeed productive? And, is substitute teaching merely babysitting in disguise, or must we actively monitor our students?
Ever been caught in the crossfire of a noisy classroom, wondering whether to intervene or let the kids chatter away while they work? Would you ignore quiet students who might not be contributing or noisy students who are indeed productive? And, is substitute teaching merely babysitting in disguise, or must we actively monitor our students?
Greg Collins. Substitute teacher's lounge, 1212, 2023. I'm gonna give you a poll right now. I'm gonna give you two questions. You have to pick only one. As a substitute teacher, would you think you would fall into this category? If students are quiet, I don't say anything to them, even if I'm not sure they're getting their work done? Or would you fall into the second category? If students are noisy, I don't say anything to them if I can see they're getting their work done. Now, some of you might wanna pick both. I'm not gonna allow you to do that. Be thinking of what you would choose, because I posted that same poll on our substitute teacher's lounge Facebook group this week and I wanna share those results with you. I want you to make up your mind first, though, and some of the discussion led to other things we're gonna talk about today.
Speaker 1:All right, we are full into the holiday swing of things. I have a very busy week. I guess this is Tuesday when this comes out, so I'm substituting every day this week. I am also referring volleyball for middle school every night this week, and it's gonna be a busy week for me. Those long days this week I have to drive a little bit to get to my games too. So I guess I can take a few weeks off after this week. Now feel guilty about it. I'm assuming most of you are in the same boat, where you're getting ready to take your holiday break at your school. You know, with me, especially these days, I'm up to episode 238 of this podcast. Those are all weekly episodes, but after COVID I had a couple of weeks where I was bored, maybe four weeks where I did two episodes a week, but of course that was three years ago now. So today, these days, I always look for things that happen in the classroom for the ideas.
Speaker 1:This weekend, I guess, going back the last couple of weeks, there was a couple of situations. I was in just observations. I was noticing I had a really quiet class. Maybe I said quiet like it's the wrong word, quiet class that I got to thank you while I was sitting there. You know, I'm not even sure they're doing their work, they're just quiet. They might be a substitute teacher's dream to have a class that quiet. But how do I really know they're getting their work done? Does it matter whether or not I know that they're getting their work done?
Speaker 1:Then I had a class that was noisy but I knew most of the kids and I knew this was the quote. I hate to keep saying this, but the higher grade kids, the ones that really come in and love to work, but again, it's like they need to keep their brain filled up constantly. So they yacked quite a bit during class, but you could see they were yacking while they were getting their work done. So I thought about that being too extreme. So, as I mentioned, I posted that on the Facebook group. Are you one of those types of subs that if the students are quiet, you ain't saying nothing to them, or are you more the type that if the students are noisy but they're getting their work done, you ain't saying nothing to them? Now, I don't know. I shouldn't say I was surprised at the results on the Facebook group.
Speaker 1:I more want to talk about discussion that went on, because we had a couple of different comments that were made, and I'm gonna guess that they're same comments that are in your head. One comment was exactly the opposite of the way. I think Didn't make it worse. In fact, it might even be better than the way. I think. I don't know. You can. You know from this podcast and if you've listened all along.
Speaker 1:You know that I am the kind of person that can't stop talking, and for me it's more difficult if I have a totally quiet glass, because I want to interact with them. I love being called, whether I would admit it or not. I love knowing that the kids, like me, just substitute teach their class. I love it, especially when, if I see their parents in a environment, maybe a sports environment, where they feel comfortable coming up and talking to me, I love it when I hear them say my kid talks about your class all the time and I'm just a substitute teacher, I love that. It's affirming for me. It's as if I'm touching that student's life Now. So then, if you can imagine I answered personally.
Speaker 1:I would choose the second option. If kids are noisy but I can see they're doing their work, I don't bother them. I'm not talking about yelling and screaming and jumping up and down, or you know you get some kids that they have a loud voice. So even when they're talking, normally it's loud and you know the standard I usually give them is it's table talk, man, if I can hear you in the front of the room. It's too loud. You're only talking to the people at your table. I'll even joke with them. I'll walk up right next to them and I'll say can you hear what I'm saying right now? And of course they say yes, and so that's the volume you need at your table. You don't have to be louder than that. Most of the time when they're louder, they're just like adults. They get louder because they want to be heard over everybody else and they want to interrupt when they think it's proper for them to interrupt. So that's where all that comes from. But I would choose the second, and I am a walker arounder.
Speaker 1:I will tell you this by far, in the poll on the substitute teachers lounge Facebook group, the answers were more towards the front. In fact it was more towards. It was 80%, 80% of the people in the poll on the Facebook group page, and we probably had we're getting close to 3,000 members there now and I think we reached maybe 500 votes. I can't remember exactly and I'll tell you why. I can't go back and confirm it either because I did something dumb and I just wonder those that participated in that poll if they realized what I did or what thoughts popped into their mind. I'll tell you what I did here in just a moment.
Speaker 1:By far 80% of the people said I would rather have a quiet group of kids, whether they were getting their work done or not. So if that's who you are, that's fine. I like to walk around, I like to glance at their computer screens, make sure they stay on task. I think that's what they expect substitute teachers to do. That's more of a teacher's job, yes, but when I go in I don't want to be just a babysitter and sit in a chair and not do anything. I want to be interactive. I'm convinced that one of the reason the kids talk well of me and the teachers talk well of me and the parents for that matter is because of that interaction. If I just sit there and did nothing, it would kill me. Now, not everybody's like that, I understand that, and not one type of subs any better than the other, unless I've been given tasks by some teachers that they say, mr Collins, the kids love having you in here.
Speaker 1:If you would like to be an active participant in the teaching component, even if you want to change, as long as you teach the same subject, I've had teachers say you can change the method through which you teach it. That's fine. If you want to put it in a cahoot or a blanket or whatever your thing is, that's fine. I love that kind of stuff. I like being that substitute teacher. And again, the babysitting part to me is sitting in a chair and just making sure those kids don't get up, don't go out, whatever. That's a babysitter to me. If you hire a babysitter for your house, that's a babysitter. They just sit there, make sure the kids are safe. That's it. That's a babysitter. Well, you know it's funny. It's a babysitter to me, but maybe it isn't to all of you.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you one of the comments and I'm not sure if this person listens to the podcast every week. I hope they do Because I want them to know, after I share some of their comments, that I respect their belief, even though it's completely opposite. They made the comment of I Do not walk around and make sure their kids, the kids are getting their work done. That's not my role as a substitute teacher. Now, not only did that person say that, but they actually said it this way it is my job to babysit the students by Walking around to see if they're getting their work done, and I'm thinking, man, that's just the opposite of what I call a babysitter. To me, the babysitters are one that comes in and sits down and does nothing. So we we I Shouldn't say we I started a conversation with this person. I and they should know this, if they don't I was able to find out what school they were talking about, and they were bragging about their school, and rightfully so.
Speaker 1:Why wouldn't you brag about the school that you're associated with? And I asked them for some statistics, even though I had already looked up statistics about the school, because they were making comments like I don't need to interact with our students, they know what they're supposed to do. It's on the Google classroom, I don't need to look over their shoulder. That was the kind of comments I was getting, and that's fine. If that's who you are. Opposite of who I am, I like to look over the show. In fact, you know this. I've interrupted them before when I really shouldn't have at times, because that's who I am. I can't help it.
Speaker 1:I had another student this week Tell me that a mr Commons, the eighth grade, wants to know when you're gonna be back in their classes again. This was a seventh grade student I was subbing for and he had a brother in the eighth grade and said get there as soon as I can't. Man, I love things like that. I can't imagine Walking in and just sitting in a chair would make you a Favorite substitute teacher. Maybe it will, because you're not bugging the students, but it really surprised me to hear somebody say just the opposite of what I've considered babysitting students. I think it's when you sit in the chair and do quote, air, quotes, nothing, whereas this person felt just the opposite. It's when you walk around and look over their shoulders. Their point was I'm a substitute teacher, I'm not a teacher, I don't have to do that. I even asked them how do you communicate with them? And I guess they don't. They. They really didn't answer that question, but I have to communicate with others and I thought that was an interesting perspective.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what I did now. I went back in last night actually the night I'm recording this, on a Saturday Last night you're absolutely not Bandit, because best pitched I went back into the poll to get the least results, wrote them down and then I was curious what were the names and maybe the locations of the people that voted? I clicked, instead of clicking the right arrow that would give me the details of the results. I clicked the X button, which completely removed one of the choices and zeroed out all the answers. I said why can't you just add the answer back now? Because the votes those votes that had been counted for that are going to be wiped clean now. So I decided at the moment that it was just best to go ahead and delete the whole question.
Speaker 1:So if you're on my Facebook substitute teachers around Facebook group and you wonder what happened to that question, was it because I got mad at anybody? In fact, I want you know I haven't had people send me all the time. Hey, you better look at this post, greg, should this be here? And I'm thinking you know, as long as we're not directing mean comments to each other, I kind of like the group, the Facebook group, to be as controversial as possible. We've got you know, if there's 3,000 people in the Facebook group, there's 3,000 different opinions. There's nobody that is going to agree with someone else exactly. There's no way. We are humans, we don't do that. So that's where I like the controversial stuff. I like controversial stuff on here too.
Speaker 1:I tried to get you a little bit fired up last week, thinking that I was recommending that you show up late to meetings and you make yourself use artificial things to make yourself look important than everybody else. But I think you knew that when you went through that, that that wasn't me. But it amazes me how just going to different areas so maybe the you know gives you different opinions. Maybe the thought is the majority of the substitute teachers do they want to just go in and occupy a chair or do they want to interact with those students so they want to be a part of that's those students' lives, if they will allow them. I don't want to know anything personal.
Speaker 1:I had one student share with me this week that they had ADHD and I said well, you know, that's none of my business, I don't need to know that. Interestingly enough, I think the student told me that because I had to get them to settle down a bit. In fact, it almost came across that they wanted me to understand why they were acting in a certain way, I guess, and I was sympathetic to that. And this same student will come up and shake my hand, give me a fist bump, maybe even a hug from time to time. So it's a great kid, but that's more information that I need to know. That's not what I'm talking about. When I'm talking about interacting with those kids, I just like to learn about them. Obviously, I learn more about the volleyball players than I do anybody else, because I see them several times a week and they come up and talk to me all the time and I love that part of it. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:Moving away from that poll, instead of saying do you like it quiet even if they're not working, versus noisy if they are working, maybe I should have said is babysitting to you sitting in a chair in the classroom doing nothing, or is babysitting to you walking around and looking over their shoulders? Maybe that's the question I should have asked. But I thought that was an interesting way to look at things because and it helps me know that, just because I love substitute teaching and I love doing it a certain way everybody does it differently. Now I think we haven't talked about yelling at the kids. That's not part of this conversation. I'm not sure yelling at the kids is acceptable at all.
Speaker 1:I had to sit in on the class I'll just say within the last four weeks so that I don't identify it specifically I noticed they asked me to cover for a class as I got up to the hallway. It was the middle of the day and as I got up and it was, they didn't ask me until five minutes into the class period. And I walked up to the door and I'm thinking, man, they are so noisy, is there really not a teacher in there? And they were waiting for me to get there. But when I went in, the teacher was in there. They just had to leave for the rest of the day.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking, man, that's how loud the regular teacher lets them get. And then I could see it while I was sitting in there, there was no settling those kids down. They were who they were. The teacher had let them be that way and I just moved on from there. And when I left I noticed the next person came in and just started yelling at them. So I don't know. I think you can influence kids in the wrong way if you're not careful.