When a retired teacher dubbed me "the cancel sub" at a high school basketball game, it hit me—our choices as substitute teachers echo louder than we sometimes realize. This playful yet piercing nickname sparked a cascade of thoughts about the intricate dance between personal and professional life. You're about to join me on a candid journey where I'll share my story of blending coaching with substitute teaching, and the nuances of cultivating strong connections in a school setting.
When a retired teacher dubbed me "the cancel sub" at a high school basketball game, it hit me—our choices as substitute teachers echo louder than we sometimes realize. This playful yet piercing nickname sparked a cascade of thoughts about the intricate dance between personal and professional life. You're about to join me on a candid journey where I'll share my story of blending coaching with substitute teaching, and the nuances of cultivating strong connections in a school setting.
Greg Collins substitute teachers lounge. You know it never ceases to amaze me. I'll go into a week and I'm thinking I wonder what I'm going to record the podcast about on this episode. And sure enough, something happens every week that's puts a thought into my head that makes me think I need to record it. About this I thought about naming the episode when substitute teachers find out what teachers really think. I thought about naming it things I've heard teachers say that bother me. Either one of those will work or maybe the AI is going to pick out something different for me. You've already seen what it's picked out and that's what we're talking about today. Welcome to teachers. All right, all right.
Speaker 1:I'm watching lots of college basketball here in the next few weeks. Spring training has already started. I'm a Reds fan. I'm also a Cardinals fan, which is kind of unusual since they're both in the same division. But you should live in St Louis, still have best friends in St Louis. That explains that. But one thing that was said to me at a district that is a high school level basketball game. I was sitting on the front row of the second section with a sidewalk in between that in the bottom section. It was a perfect place to shake hands with people, say hello to people, because they walked right in front of us. I was sitting with the head volleyball coach that I will be working with next year. It was kind of my idea for them to see us together. That's another thing that I'm excited about. We're already starting initial meetings for that. I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 1:But something somebody said to me made me want to record this episode. Let me take you back a little bit. In fact it was I hate to use the phrase almost exactly, because I guess that's an oxymoron, maybe but almost exactly two years ago today this happened to me. I had I was long terming at a high school, the high school that I'm assistant coaching this year. Granted, sorry guys, it's probably my favorite high school to go to, because of its size, because of its quote personality, anyway. So I had been subbing for them since August. As you know, it is now March. I was subbing for them that long. It was three different teachers, but nevertheless I was subbing for them that long.
Speaker 1:To be honest, they know this there was one class that was really getting on my nerves and you've heard me talk before about how, if I'm not having fun, I really don't want anymore. And then I found out that my brother, who lives in South Carolina and who still has season tickets to Texas A&M that always gets him good seats, no matter where the tournament was going to be In two years ago it was in Tampa, nice place to go right. So he asked me about it and I said you know, I want to do that. I want to start doing more things on my own and not substitute teaching as much. My wife is retired. We're going to start doing more things together and I guess the long term is tying me down too much and I'll go on it.
Speaker 1:I felt bad about it. I really did. In fact, that's one of the things I mentioned in the regrets episode not too long ago. I felt bad about it. I told administration they couldn't have been nicer Probably nicer than I would have been had I been in administration. There are some of them.
Speaker 1:Well, let me just get to the crux of what this lady said to me. So this lady's now retired. I ran into her at the ball game. She smiled at me, we waved and she said hey, it's the cancel sub and I'm thinking all right, they were as nice to me as they could be about it. But now she's telling me, obviously, that she remembers me as the sub that canceled out all them. She was saying it jokingly, but yet a truthful joke. I mean, I'm the same way. I'm retired. I would much more now say something than I would not have said before I retired. She's retired. She didn't care, she told me that and it made me feel a little bit strange and I said so. It did bother them. Now this is the lady that had to schedule the sub, so that was part of it. I'm sure it put them in a difficult situation.
Speaker 1:I wanted to do something on myself, for myself, beginning then I wanted to do more things that I wanted to do, which is selfish, but it's what I wanted to do. So what I want you to do first now, having said that, and then I'm going to give you a little project here. Having said that, there are some teachers that I still I it's probably not true, but I just feel like the way they interact with me, they're still thinking about, even though they want me in the building. Now I'm there almost every day now, purposely because I want to be at the schools that have the volleyball players that I will be working with next year. So same thing I did last semester. It was a different school and I sub mainly there. So, but I see the look in their eyes. Sometimes they want me there, but maybe they still remember what I did to them.
Speaker 1:Now here's your project. What would you have done in my situation? It bothered me, but yet you might do the same thing and it wouldn't bother you because you're doing what's best with number one, right, and I'm not going to say anything about that. Everybody's got to make their own decisions. But it just surprised me. That is something that I never thought one of them would have said to me, even if they felt that way and you know, I guess I knew deep down that they couldn't help but feel that way I bailed out on them. I had a similar situation the following semester where I had to leave at the same school. So so wonder they took, took me back right, but I am still subbing there more than any other time. And the lady that now schedules the substitution, when she asked me to do something special, maybe cover for something I wasn't expecting her to ask me to cover. She is so nice about it. The other lady was nice too, but she is so nice about it She'll give me a pretty please on the text when she texts me. I know they like to have me in the building, so we'll leave that at that level, but that was in fact something that bothered me.
Speaker 1:One other thing that I came across, I'll just say, in the last month at a different school, was how do I want to word this? I was kind of bragging about a student. I guess this one falls into the category Not so much what teachers thought of me, but when maybe substitute teachers find out what teachers really think, because I was just having a conversation with her. I forget what she teaches, but I do know that she knew more than just the English language Because we talked about it and I mentioned to a student that I thought was a great student and how they knew multiple languages. And I was really surprised when the teacher told me oh, they don't let them fool you, they don't really know it as well as they think they do. And I'm thinking, you know, was that a very nice thing to say? Was that just? Is that one of those things you know you've heard me say before?
Speaker 1:I think we misuse the term realist now, because anytime we use it it's so that we can say something negative and then say I'm a realist. That's how I feel. So that bothered me a little bit, the fact that I was complimenting a student and they were trying to reverse my compliment. They were trying to say well, you know, maybe they don't know it as fluently as they're leading you to believe. Well, I don't know, man, if I learned six months worth of Spanish on Babel, I think I would still say I could speak Spanish, that I knew two languages. And I don't have to be fluent. I just I jokingly say this I just have to know how to order chicken and say Pollo and still Apollo. But that kind of caught me by surprise too.
Speaker 1:One thing that I tell the volleyball players you know I'm not the type of coach that will instantly take them out if they make a mistake, but what I do tell them I've gotten pretty good at looking at players' faces and seeing how they're feeling, and if I see them overcome with either don't wanna call it embarrassment, that's too strong a word but feeling bad that they just cost the team a point. Volleyball is such a mental game. When I see that I tell them that's the time that I feel like I need to take you out because I don't care that you made a mistake. I care how I can see it affecting your face. I can see the emotions in your face. Maybe it's time just to set out for a rotation. I tell them that I also know this.
Speaker 1:There are teachers to this day when I go to certain schools, if I walk down the hallway and I glance up and I see that they're looking at me and immediately turn their head. Well, you know, that makes me feel a little bit strange. That's the minority. I don't know why that teacher feels that way about me. Most of the time, every teacher, most every student that I run into while I'm substitute teaching, they'll say hi, greg, they're as happy for me to be there as I am to be there. But it always makes me feel funny.
Speaker 1:Another reason why I'm not sure why a certain teacher or two feel that way about me, but obviously some do. Some would never look at me and speak unless they would look up if I spoke to them first, but they would never really look up and speak. There's something about the situation. Now, who knows, maybe I have done something. If I've done something, it was inadvertently and I just have to go from there. But sometimes I would really know, I would really just like to sit down and maybe be in a situation where then we're running a concession stand together and I just talk to them more and we open up more than maybe whatever it is gets put out on the table and it happens. To that regard, there are some things that I have said on the podcast. Even the one incident that I'm thinking of that I think bothered some teachers was four years ago. In fact it was just before COVID, and to this day there is a teacher or two that I feel like doesn't speak to me much because of that.
Speaker 1:I was, you know, I've always been a student advocate. I always take up for the students. I jokingly said it One of the tournaments I was referring and one of the coaches was given her players a hard time. That was jokingly. That was working the table. It was their turn to work the score table and they looked up at me and said you see how she treats us? And she looks up at me and smiles to see which way I'm going to go and I say I'm sorry, coach, I always take up for the players and she just laughed. She knew she was just picking on them anyway. But that's the kind of camaraderie I like.
Speaker 1:Now, where are we going with all this? I am not the type of person and I encourage you to not be the type of person that, when you're encountered with those situations, teachers look away from you, teachers don't seem friendly with you. It's your move. It's your move, you've got the ball. Speak to them. Speak to them every time you see them. Make sure, if they have students in the school, that you go out of your way to speak to them. Build student-teacher type relationship with them. Bridge that gap. That's always important. When you see them out in public, make sure you say hello, shoot, go and sit down next to them. I've done that before Somebody that I don't talk to.
Speaker 1:Very often I just went up and sit down and killed some time by talking to that between volleyball matches that I was referring. It behooves you that's a good old fashioned word. It behooves you to do that. Who knows, that person may be a principal someday. It may be your boss in another environment someday, may work for you someday, who knows? You need to build friendly relationships. I used to be in a I won't bring it up, say too much about it, I guess, but you know the career I used to be in Not a whole lot of friendly people in that career. When I went through out placement they told me I was in the wrong career because I was friendly. So that just sums it all up. Be the friendly person, be the one that goes out of their way to bridge those gaps.
Speaker 1:Now I want you to think about specifically. I mean, I ran into several specific things this week. In fact I didn't mention a couple of them. One guy, jokingly, but I think he got tired of seeing me leave when he still had to work and he said I think it's time for a substitute teacher to stand out here and watch these cars, you know, after hours, of course. Or sometimes I heard one of them say oh, you're sneaking out, probably because my students were empty. Or I should say my classroom was empty of students. So I left like two minutes earlier, or maybe the last period that's what it was in this case the last period of the day was planning. They said it jokingly, but at the same time that wasn't really meant to mean you shouldn't do that, it was more meant to me.
Speaker 1:Dog gone. If I have to stay, you should have to stay. But you know, should I feel bad about that, I got there probably 30 minutes before they did. I feel bad about that. But there's always situations out there that come up that make me feel like I can do something to make this relationship stronger. I know that happens with you.
Speaker 1:So when it does, just make sure that you're I don't want to use the oakless say make sure you're the better person, because that person's not a bad person. They're just remembering. It's hard to forget stuff like that. If somebody inconvenienced you, it's hard to forget that I have inconvenienced others. I have to live with that. In fact, I probably won't do that again, just because I probably won't accept a whole lot of full time positions, especially if it's the time of the year when I know I'm going to be doing some traveling, that type of thing. But make up your own mind You're going to run into people teachers, students that, for whatever reason, come across as if they don't particularly care for you. Well, again, be the better person, if in fact that's what you are, and tell them you know, start a conversation with them and let's see if we can't build relationships that will help us in our substitute teaching in the long run, or maybe even in the short run.