Secrets That Only Substitute Teachers Know

Let's face it, substitute teachers often see things that regular teachers don't see on a daily basis, since we are not there as often.  How can we use that to our advantage?

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Transcript

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This Greg Collin Substitute Teachers Lounge. What's this? You say their secrets that only substitute teachers know? What do you think we're going to talk about today about what substitute teachers see that maybe others don't, you may be surprised. Let's kick off our first episode of The Year 2021. Alright guys, it is January 3 2021, our first episode of a new season, it's been a it's kind of something I've been wanting to talk about for a while, as much as I've learned from the teachers I work with when I substitute teach. There's some things that substitute teachers see that I want to share today, because I don't think they get said often enough. Let's start with this I substitute taught for the first time back in November of 2018, after being a retired accountant, and I loved every minute of it from that day forward. In fact, one of the teachers that I see on a daily basis right now is the is the teacher that taught that for that very first day. So shout out to her really helping me along the way. I'm not about to sit here and tell you that substitute teachers can teach teachers as much as they've taught us, there's no way. But substitute teachers do have some observations as we go along and teach. First of all, let's just talk about the, I guess the industry itself, it's just like any others, in that you have a minority out there that are just into it, to get it as quick as over with get their paycheck and go home. I will say this though the teachers profession, it's probably got the fewest on a percentage basis of that regard than any industry that's out there. Because teachers go into the job wanting to be helpful. So that's helpful for me. That's how I like learn so much from teachers. One advantage, however, that substitute teachers sometimes have is our scarcity. There are most of the time, you know, most of the time, we're not teaching students day after day after day, we're teaching them today. We're teaching them maybe in a few weeks, or at minimum, few days, it's just not the same as being there day in and day out. Now, any job, if you're there day in and day out and you and you don't get caught up in just the routine of doing a job, then you're fine. You're going to give it a fresh start every morning. You're going to be special for those kids every morning. But here's what I'll say as a substitute teachers, sometimes we have an advantage of only getting to see the kids every so often. So it's kind of like a little mini reunion. I remember it's been over a year. And it's a teacher who's a very good friend of mine that made this comment because I was substitute teaching. I guess in the hallway before the day was getting ready to start. And when the kids saw me, we hadn't seen each other for a while. And there was a lot of volleyball kids there too in my class. So that was part of it, too. They know me from volleyball, and they came up and this was, you know, back in a situation where we could do these things. They came up and smack me on the back and told me how glad they were to have me here that day. It was kind of funny. It's several of them did it at one time and it almost sounded like cheering. But and I'm out my teacher friend who was actually this day in the classroom next door. She said that Wait a minute, How come my kids don't cheer every time I'd come to the door. Now, a lot of you teachers out there most of you teachers out there, they might not be cheering but they are happy to see you every morning but I was glad that they were there to see me. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed. But the reason that they were happy to see me to the point of being excited is because I'm not there as often as the regular teachers. They see their regular teacher every day. And I've noticed the same thing when I've sought several days in a row there. They might be happy, excited. Say glad you're here today. When I walk in for the first day. They just show up in the second day doesn't mean they're learning Happy to see them or, or to me or that I'm less happy to see them. It's just that the newness has worn off. He's back another day. We're glad he's here again today, but we don't cheer as loud today. Now, sometimes that's I think that's some of the staying power that substitute teachers have, guys, you make your own breaks, believe me, the kids talk to me enough now that I know there is a lot of substitute teachers that they don't enjoy, see coming in the building. Because they do a lot of yelling. They do a lot of disciplinary actions. Now, when I say some of that's necessary, but I've heard stories about teachers, substitute teachers only coming in reading a book, tell them what their assignment is, never get involved at all, and even reprimand them when they start talking because they're disturbing the book they're reading. Well, that's never the type of substitute teachers I have. I'm sure that's the minority. I know. That's the minority. So the first thing that substitute teachers are a little bit different than regular teachers, as we don't show up as often we're not with the same kids, as often they're going to see some excitement when we come in, as long as we have treated them fairly. So substitute teachers, the majority of them come in with a great attitude. They show that they respect the student as much as the students respect them. And we get along great. And that's our first reason maybe we're different than teachers, we don't show up as often. And therefore, maybe there's a little more vocal excitement when we show up. If we've done our job. Well, one of the teachers I've substituted for several times, maybe the second or third time that I had sub she was getting ready to go to a meeting. So she was actually in the classroom when I first showed up that morning. And she said, Mr. Collins, she said, Those kids really liked it. She said, sometimes that makes me nervous. Because I'm afraid that a substitute is not making them get their work done. But she said, That's not true. They got all their work done. I'm glad that the kids feel that way about you. And that should always be the goal for a substitute teacher walk in friendly, walk in, being willing, willing to listen, if you walk in, you're gonna have to discipline on occasion. But if you walk in with a chip on your shoulder saying that, you know, if those kids think they can push me over, they've got another thing coming? Well, that's probably going to result in you not having a very good day. If instead, you walk in and you start building relationship with those kids right away, let them know, I always you know, if I see your kids for the first time, I always tell them my expectations. And the first thing I said is you, I want to for you to consider me a friendly guy that will let you talk really about anything as long as we get our lessons done. But I respect you as much as you respect me. So until you give me a reason to lose that respect, or to be forced into disciplinary action of some time, you're going to get all the respect out of me You deserve and that's a promise. So I'll start with a little speech like that. Sometimes I'll tell them they can call me Mr. Collins, depending on what age level like if entire high school or something, some of them that already know me. Another way, I'll let them call me by my first name that doesn't get me offended. But that's a whole different story. That's that's something for each teacher substitute teacher to decide on their own. So let those kids know that you respect what they have to say that you know, they're going to be leading our country somewhat someday. So I want to develop a great relationship with them. Let's Let's be a little bit more specific. I know for a fact that once I have taught students several times, and if I make it onto the teachers preferred list, I see a lot of students for additional meetings. Obviously, once I start doing that, they're going to be more and more comfortable talking to me. And therefore, teachers, they may share things. They may think the teacher is the best teacher in the world. But they might share things with us like you know, I love this teacher but I wish they would do something different or not use this program or not use this tactic and it's interesting how they will open up to As substitute teachers, it's not difficult, I usually already know because, generally speaking, the days of sticking a paper in a folder, a generic paper in a folder when a teacher has to suddenly be gone. Usually, you know, for the most part, those days are over, I would say the vast majority of teachers, especially now are more into the automated type of situation in which they will leave an assignment in Google Classroom. Even if they're home sick, they might put it in their Google Classroom just so all the substitute teacher has to do is show up that day. assign them the Google Classroom assignment, tell them where it is, and go from there. Now, I will be I will tell you this. I'm surprised as much google classroom is used these days that I've still gone in on occasion, and students will say, I don't see the assignment. Well, usually it's just a case of paging. You know, in Google Classroom, there's a stream and there's a classwork, among other things. classwork is where all the assignments go. Stream is where announcements go. But at the same time classwork shows up on stream, but it just gets bumped further and further down the page, the more announcements that are posted. So a lot of students may not even realize, believe it or not, it's something that teachers and subs could teach the kids, they may not even realize that the stream is the place to just go for announcements. If you're looking for assignments, always go to classwork. And those assignments or they're not even there, if the teacher posts a topic of some type, some type. And then future assignments fall under that same topic, and they choose it. Well, that can move it up and down and around what I like to do if I'm involved with Google classroom, and often you're not as a substitute teacher, but at least I will tell you this, so you know what I'm talking about. My topics are usually date specific. So the most recent date shows up at the top. Now, the drawback for that, of course, is that you don't have topics. So I also try to put a like if we're doing decimals this week, I'll try to put decimals in the topic itself so that you have both a date, you know how recent it is. And you have a topic so you know, what the subject is for that day, and they've got both of those right there. And you've got the most recent at the top, I'll also tell you this, if there's something you want to remain at the top of Google Classroom, well, don't give it a topic and it will stay at the top of your section. Now, if you do that a whole bunch of times. It's just like not creating folders for your work on your computer, you're going to eventually get lost. But a lot of times substitute teachers will come in, and all they have to do is show the kids their Google Classroom assignment, be prepared for them not knowing that I think some teachers don't know that. And then substitutes come in. And if they're not familiar with Google Classroom, they're lost in how to get the student to the proper place. Although the times that's happened to me, and it's happened often. Usually the other students that are around and know how to get there, we'll show them how to get there. So that's a good thing. That's, you know, that might be better anyway, have the students help other students. One thing I do want to mention to you teachers, all of you have your own special products that you like to use. A lot of them are used by your schools, subscribed to by your school's paid for by your schools. Some of them you like so much that even if it cost you something, you're going to pay that. Now, keep in mind, it's good to have your favorite tools. But on occasion, ask your students what they think about the tools. And here's where I'm going with this. I know I've run into enough teachers that just swear by a certain brand of something they're using. And if it's effectively you see that it's effective for the student and it's keeping the grade grades up, by all means, use it. But I would encourage you to ask the students on occasion what they think about it, and here's why I say this. I have been in several classes as a substitute teacher. And sometimes they will have an assignment on subtype a program that I'm not familiar With, I won't mention anything in specific because I'm hurting anybody's feelings if I see it come up more often with one product than the other. But basically what I'm talking about is, when I'm in that situation where the notes from the teacher says their assignment is on their computer, and they know where to go, that's one of the last things I'm going to see because I haven't run into a class yet where all the students know where to go. Or even where all the students enjoy the software that the teacher is using as much as the teacher, that's never going to happen. I would encourage you, maybe it even save you some money. Ask your students on occasion, substitute teachers see it, it's our secret, but ask your students on occasion. Do you like this? I like this program. Do you like it? Do you think it's helpful for you? What do you not like about it? Maybe that's the best question to ask. Ask them what they don't like about it, and then improve it from there. But we've all got our favorite programs to use. I'll always have Kahoot at the top of my list. And I'll be honest, I can see sneers on teachers faces when I say that, because they think that's just fun and games. Teachers, I am telling you, it is not this is my plug for Kahoot. Now, I haven't run into a student that doesn't like Kahoot, because it's competitive. But it is a teaching tool that I am so done, I give test with it. I teach with it. If I'm in a virtual teaching environment, we might go through a nice Kahoot quiz that I've found. And after they answer it, I write the answer up there with an annotator. And you know, there might be some that I see, man, only four of you got this correct. So let's walk through it together. So I really think it's a great teaching tool. And as soon as I say that somebody is some student is going to say, Mr. Collins, I listened to your podcast, and I don't like it near as much as you do. So now I will say the only negative I did have one student say that when I use it for tests, it just makes her nervous. Even though I give them four minutes, it makes them nervous that they're going to run out of time. And this is a really good student. So that's one drawback. But that's one of my secrets. Ask your students how they feel about what you're using, maybe they'll have some suggestions to make it even better. But don't just assume all of them love it because you love it. I will also tell you a secret guys that substitute teachers have that the majority vast majority of substitute teachers, let's face it, they want to be liked. Most of them don't walk in and say I could care less whether those students or those teachers like me at all, I'm just here to do a job. I don't think the majority of substitute teachers feel that way. We want to be liked and not artificially we want to be liked so that we come back we want to be liked, so that it just makes the workplace environment better. And I'll tell you one secret that substitute teachers have is that when we go to a school for the first time, or maybe the grade level for the first time, or maybe just refreshing ourselves, for whatever reason, at least what I like to do is walk slowly down the hallway to the classroom, not make a beeline down to it. I want to walk slowly down the hallway, and soak up what's on the walls that from the temporary posters to the permanent plaques that are hanging on the hallway pick up on the history of the school, pick up on trophies that they've won picked up on academics pick up maybe student pictures and teacher pictures that are hanging in the hallway for various reasons. I want to be able to carry conversations with the students. Now, what I'm concerned about possibly is that teachers that go there every day, might not pay attention to that as much as they used to, they might have looked at the walls and their surroundings at the school when they first got their job and maybe they don't look at them as much. So in that regard, his secret that a substitute teacher has is we like to soak everything up. We like to look in the hallways for interesting things. We've had an episode in the past where I saw a poster that would actually ended up being a student project to show how couples in high school should not display themselves in the hallway. It was hanging on the hall. And I was kind of surprised when I first saw it. But when I heard it was something that students designed, it was even more meaningful because it was students telling fellow students don't act this way in the halls, it's just not proper, then there are certain things, you know, even from the standpoint of noticing maybe sports schedules that might be hanging up, I'll make a note of those, I'll say if I see some guys talking about basketball girls talking about their basketball, or sports games, whatever they are academic projects, too. I might mention it if I hear them talking about it, oh, I saw you see you have a game come up. So substitute teachers, I think make a habit of soaking up their surroundings, if for no other reason, getting ideas. I know a lot of you are substitute teaching. unusual for me in that year, maybe it's the most usual thing. It's just not my situation. It's a situation where you're going to be a teacher, soon, you're young. And you're substitute teaching to get some experience. And you're going to be a teacher soon, and you want to soak everything up. So that's another of our secrets, we try to soak up everything around us, we try to nod to the students that we see. We try to build relationships. I'm thankful. I didn't know it was a parent as it was. But I'm thankful that I want her to teach her say about me. One of Mr. Collins's strong points is that he knows how to build relationships with these kids and I have worked with youth all my life. He knows how to build relationships, they typically think of him as friendly and someone that they can talk to. So that is something that we substitute teachers strive to do, that maybe people that are in the building may take for granted from time to time, because they're there so often. The last secret that I'll have is, if I'm friendly with the students, I've noticed as I teach them more often, they want to share personal stories with me. Now I know the teachers get that too. But if you're there just on occasion, they may share stories with you that will catch you by surprise. I've had conversations with students, I think about everything, I show concern, when I can see that they're not having a typical Good day, some students, you know, where their emotions more on their sleeves than others. And I'll just ask them anything wrong, you don't have your normal smile, and then it will make easily make them smile just a little bit. And maybe they won't say something at the time. But I do know students that will later come up to me and say, I'm glad you said that. That made me feel better. Here's what I was feeling bad about. And some students will tell me I've heard stories all along about things that are happening with their family, things that might be going through their head, things, you know, even if they're talking about their orientation, and what I I never, I you know, I'm never judgmental with those students, I don't think it's that my place, I will probably refer them to someone they should talk to, but they know I'm not going to judge them about what they're wearing, what they did to their hair, or maybe something even more personal. They tell me tell me about themselves. I just want to be there to listen, a secret that substitute teachers may have is we may have an advantage in that regard is we're like a fresh person coming in. And if we've been friendly with them before, you know, the kids that I have taught several times, it is literally an all day thing of students coming up to me and sharing me that with me with their new stories, their new concerns, their new, Mr. Collins, what do you think topics, of course, if it's topics that I'm really not in the best position to give them an opinion of, I'm not going to give the opinion but they know I will be a listener and be willing to share my thoughts in a non judgmental way. So we kind of have that advantage over others as well, that we're not there as often. So we may be a fresh face that students feel like they can come up and talk to and share their thoughts with maybe they had shared them with somebody else that was just too busy at the time. And if you tell a student to come back later, they're probably not that that was probably the only chance they had to talk. with you. So that's it. I enjoy being a substitute teacher so much. We do have things we can offer. We're not going to ever have as much teaching ability as regular teachers, but we can be the eyes, the ears, the shoulders that students need when we go in there. And that's our secrets for today. All right, guys, we're entering into 2021. It's going to be a great year of substitute teaching, and we will see you next week. Uses provided by