Substitute Teachers Lounge

Substitute Teachers Overhear Teachers!

January 31, 2021 Greg Collins Episode 88
Substitute Teachers Lounge
Substitute Teachers Overhear Teachers!
Show Notes Transcript

What happens when substitute teachers overhear teachers?  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

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substitute teachers overhearing teachers. Are we going to gossip today? Are we going to get some good ideas today? Are we going to do both stick around? Alright guys, I don't do this very often I just wanted to cross promote an episode of a YouTube video real quick. It's dedicated to my mother my mother passed away about two weeks ago. Me and my preacher create videos on the YouTube channel church debater and preacher Mike, this particular episode of that was called discussing death, how to be an example to others, supernatural events and the afterlife. So if you'd like listening to topics such as those I would love for you go look at that episode on YouTube, on the church debater and preacher, Mike channel. And that's it for that. It's just something I want to do real quickly to dedicate to my mother, it was actually our most popular episode on YouTube yet. All right now, you know, with substitute teachers, I've told you before that I have been to eight different schools substitute teaching, all you have to do is walk down the hallway. Over here, teachers over here, students. And first of all, you get ideas. And then second of all, you sometimes hear things that you wonder, I wonder if that's true. And you start researching and in a way substitute teachers hear that all the time. It's most of my experiences have been before this year, because you know, I'm in a little bit different situation, since this is January 2021. And we're winding down, hopefully, the COVID situation, maybe we're trending in the right direction. We are actually scheduled to get our vaccinations this week, and then go back to in person students in the school the following week. But substitute teachers are kind of a peculiar breed, we go around to different schools, we hear things at different schools, we try to make ourselves better based on different schools. Now, will this episode be about gossip? No, not really, you know, that was just kind of a promotion type thing. But at the same time, maybe we'll hear some things that some people would put in the category of gossip, but that we can actually learn from, let's face it. It doesn't matter where you work, what kind of job you're in, there's gossip there. And I'll be honest, I think you remember, I came from a corporate environment. And there's all kinds of gossip in a corporate environment. So anything I hear these days are pretty mild compared to that. But that's what we're going to look at today. And I would encourage you to think about the times when you've been a substitute teacher, and you've overheard some things, you know, you could react one of two ways. If it's something somebody said about something, whether it's a teacher, another substitute teacher, any type of employee, any type of student, you've got two choices, you can either participate in the negative side of that, or turn it around and do some positive things. So obviously, that's going to be our go. And we do have a couple of thoughts today that are kind of philosophical, I'll throw out one, briefly mentioned it in a couple of previous episodes of the podcast, but I would really like to hear your thoughts what you think about it. So those are the type of ideas that we will start with. First of all, let's get these students out of the way. And I said it that way on purpose. If I walk down the hallway and said, I need to get my students out of the way real quick. Well, that doesn't sound like that. I'm very invested in their future. What I intended when I said that for the podcast is let's get out of the way first of all students and let you know some of the things I have overheard for students. Now. I will say this, if you're not the type of substitute teachers that is are really interactive with the students. I might not be talking to you because just generally speaking students don't typically open up to you. If you don't open up to them, the more you open up to them. The better your payouts going to be, I guarantee you, and they will tell you stories that sometimes are rather unbelievable. But they will also tell you stories that will help you improve. They'll tell you stories about other students, you know that you're going to hear some things from them that may at times be derogatory of another student. And the best thing for a substitute teacher to do in that regard, of course, is to try to flip it around and say, Well, what what do you see positive about that student? Is there anything in them and it's positive at all? Or is it just all negative? And you might be surprised, most students that I've run into will find something positive. And I'll be honest, I know sometimes talking gets carried away in the classroom, you know that I love to talk. And I love students who love to talk. I love all the students, but I really can't lean on the ones that I know I can get to talk in the class, I made a joke with a student. This Week in our zoom class, we just kind of had a private little conversation in chat. I mentioned that he had sent me a funny comment. And he commented back well, that's who I am. And I like stuff like that. It keeps the students open up when they know that you're willing to joke around with them. They're going to open up about their classwork as well. And I think that's the first thing. So when you overhear students, they're going to be talking about other students. They're going to be very honest about what they think about the material, whether they're high an understanding of what you're going over or not. I have here lately, when I've been zooming is actually create a zoom poll in which I asked them about the subject. I'll give them three possible answers. The first one being, I understand it. Well, the second one, I understand it a little. And the third one is I'm lost. Now, very rarely do I see I'm lost. Most of the ones as you might expect, will put the second option down. So it's important to hear, we don't want to eavesdrop. But we want to be open to hearing anything the students want to share with us. Sometimes you're going to overhear students that didn't realize you were standing around and then see you. It will be interesting to see how they react if they leave and walk away. Well, I'm not sure what that's accomplished. But if they realize you're there, and then try to either cover it up, or to be honest with you and say, Mr. Collins, that this is why I feel this way, well, then you've opened up a door, it might actually be advantageous, not that you were eavesdropping, but that you overheard them having a conversation, anything we overhear, we've got the two choices, either negative or positive. Let's shoot for the positive. So that's the first thing I'll say, we'll get the students out of the way in that what we overhear from them. Let's try to either get them to turn it around to positive. If it's already positive, let's build on it and see if we can't go on from there. When we get into overhearing teachers, let me start with this one. I don't, I don't know if I've ever really heard teachers I work with criticizing other teachers. But I'm going to address that because I know from hearing from some of you that you guys have, and you know, how do we react to that? I would just use my corporate experience as well. It's again, one of those things where you hear it and then you're, you're trying to turn it around, make it something positive. I'll be honest, most of the people that I met in the corporate world when I heard them talking negatively about someone else, I realized that most likely when I'm not around, they're talking negative about me. And there's not much you can do with that. Certainly one thing you don't want to do is believe what they're saying. I am thankful. I cannot say that. I've never heard another teacher talk negative about their cohort, their co teacher, but it's been a long time. And I'm thankful for that. I actually want to think that it's because that they know I'm a positive person, and maybe they just don't do it in front of me because they No, I wouldn't do it. So, but I will say this, if you do hear negative things from one teacher about another, I would go to the second teacher First and try to get to know them, obviously don't share what was said about them. But I am a big believer in hearing things, and then making up my own mind myself, I might seek that teacher out and find the good in them, maybe you'll find it's all good. Then maybe top to the first teacher, just casually, maybe share some thoughts that what you think you would like to do to improve yourself, teachers love to hear that. Ask them for their advice, when you hear them some say something negative. Maybe you hear it, but maybe you just change the subject and say, by the way, I want to get better in this area, what can I do to do that, that's how I would turn that around. And again, it is really been a long time. But if you're hearing stuff like that a lot, shoot for the positive, try to both. Get on the good side of the first teacher in letting that teacher help you get better, and get on the good side of the second teacher by meeting them, making up your own mind. And even if you're not crazy about their personality, or the way they handle things, learn from it. Ask them the same question, what do you suggest to me that will make me be a better substitute teacher. And you can always turn a negative process into a positive process. The next thing, I would pretty much guarantee you you will be a part of it one time because teachers and rightfully so think that you want to know about the students, you will be substitute teaching, I'm all for that. I think that's important. Now, I'm not sure we need to know all their background, but I will leave that up to you if you're the type of person that wants to know every possible thing about every student before you teach them. God bless you. I think that is great. I'm on the opposite side of the argument, in that I would rather learn very little about the student. Now maybe, of course, I need to know medical considerations. When you substitute teach in a school, they're going to give you a folder that shows you the medical situation on every student so that you know how to deal with something if it comes up. So obviously, that is a necessity. What I am talking about is their trouble. maker status, trouble makers status, there will be in fact, probably most teachers will want to share that with you. I'm just the opposite. I would actually prefer not to know the students they've had trouble with. If I am told you that probably will be I like to make up my own mind. But if I am told what I will do is try to see if I can get something positive out of that kid. I won't just walk in and in with the thoughts in my mind that man, I'm going to keep an eye on this kid. He's going to give me trouble today because very rarely have I ever seen that to be the case. Have I ever had students give me trouble? Absolutely. Have there been any students who gave me trouble? Who will not say hello to me in the hallway? Nope. In fact, if I looked at thought in my head about maybe the five students that give me trouble. If I walk down the hallway and see them one on one, they will come up to me and say Good morning, Mr. Collins, how you doing today and then maybe they'll give me trouble in the next class. But it keeps that door open of not being negative back to them. Now if you have to discipline them, discipline them that has to take place, but still see if you can go in and find just the least little positive thing about that student build on it. Who knows you might, you know, help that kid with his future even in some kind of small way in that he or she realizes that they can discuss anything with you. So my goal is when I hear something, what to expect about students. I try to turn it into positive if I hear overly negative thoughts about Students, I definitely want to turn it into positive. In that regard, you'll actually hear things from other substitute teachers, boy, I really had trouble with them in class, we'll see if you can't change that the next day you go in there, see if the whole class especially gave them trouble. See what you can do to help make them the best class the next day, try to motivate them to do that. Try to set maybe a goal for them to do that. But you're going to hear over here from teachers, you're going to overhear from substitute teachers about other students. So in everything, rather than overreacting and say, Man, I dread going into that class today, see how you can change it into a positive situation. And I think that student will communicate with you from that point forward, and maybe turn into one of your best students. Eventually, I've had one case of that happening, I've shared it so many times, I won't share it again now. But troublemaker at first, and then the next year willing to help me in class because they got finished early. So we'll leave it at that. The next two things are purely about learning. I'll start with one that is super positive, they're both positive, it's just that the second one that I'm going to tell you, you might disagree with, I'm even going to go out on a limb and say maybe most people disagree with this. But we'll talk about that second. First of all, always as a substitute teacher, the reason I don't want to call it eavesdropping, but the reason I like to listen and overhear other teachers, as much as I can, is because I want to be like them. I want to learn the tools that work well in their class, I'll be honest, some of the tools that have been shared with me, I've tried, I'm not really crazy about them. Most of them I am. Some of the tools that some people use are very similar to some of the other teachers. And I'll pick and choose the one I want. But I say all that to say this, make sure you listen to the teachers all the time, because the tools they will use in their classroom are going to help you as a substitute teacher. There's all kinds of stuff, game kit, quizzes, Quizlet, delta math, I XL, Khan Academy, you're not going to like all of those, you're going to like a lot of those. And as a substitute teacher, if you you know, if you listen to our back pocket episode last week, you need to have those in your back pocket, I told you last week that less than 10% of the classes I substitute teach in to actually plan for the entire period, or at least at minimum, some of your students will get finished faster than others. So you need to have some of these things to share with the other students. I would shoot for sharing them if not only in a positive way. But in a fun way, the most more fun that you have with it, the more they're going to learn. And the more they're going to remember you you might get to come back again because of that. So always be listening and overhearing other teachers talk about what went well with them. And for that matter, what they'd like to see in a substitute teacher, there's no better feeling as a substitute teacher, to have a teacher contact you the next time they need a substitute. It doesn't get any better than that. That means not only did you do your job and educate those kids, with those kids told the teacher that they'd like you have him back. So that's why you should listen to teachers all the time, listen to their tools, listen to their thoughts about you listen to what they think will make you a good substitute teacher. All right. Now, the next thing I want to do, and this is probably more of a philosophy. I have come across a teaching philosophy here recently. And I won't tell you if I support it 100% you can probably figure that out from previous episodes, but I will tell you that I think it's very intriguing. And that is the concept of how to test and how best to teach the kids when you're testing or when you're quizzing or when you're giving homework because There's really two ways you can do it. You can give them one try and you're done. Or you can give them multiple tries to see if they improve. Is there a philosophy now that I'm going to let you take a test a second time? Is that just forbidden? Or can you look at that situation and say, here's a philosophy that I've overheard recently, through, it's actually at multiple schools, because I come in contact with teachers all the time, from different schools being an official, you know, going out to the grocery or to church or to wherever you go in the public, you hear from teachers all the time, whether you're teaching with them currently or not. But the thought is this, you've given a quiz, or you're a substitute teacher, in which the teacher left a quiz. And by the way, that happens often I see that a lot as a substitute teacher, they save the quiz day, for a time when the substitute teacher is there, and that will kind of give the substitute teacher a break, really, because it's not as much interacting they feel. And a lot of a lot of teachers do that. But let's say a student misses Question number seven. Let's say a lot of students mentioned Question number seven. To me, the old fashioned way, perhaps, is to say, well, they should have known it. Let's move on. Now, let's think about that just for a moment. Because if they miss Question number seven, and the philosophy is to move on, they should have known it, how much have they learned? Will they ever pick up on why they missed that question? Or will that be a deficit in their learning from this point forward? Now, let's flip that around a little bit. Let's talk about another philosophy. Let's say in that same situation, you decide, well, maybe I didn't explain Question number seven best, or, you know, maybe not just give them credit for it, because you feel like you didn't explain it as well as you thought. But give them that question over. give them another chance. The more times they do it, perhaps the better their learning will be. Let's face it, when we make mistakes. We learn more from that, than if we'd gotten it right the first time, I'll be honest with you, I resumed class in one day, this past year, I had everything written down perfectly on my paper. I did this again yesterday, now that I think about it. had it written down perfectly on my paper, wrote it down when I was annotating on zoom. This particular one happened to be when the principal was watching the class. The principal caught it for me, and thank goodness they did. And I could have been embarrassed about it. All you can do is learn from it. And to be honest, that's exactly what the principal said. And I support them for saying that they even said Mr. Collins is not ashamed to tell you all about that mistake. He had it in his notes correctly wrote it down wrong, you're going to learn more from your mistakes. So let's go back to the test where they learn more, from giving them a second chance than they would if you just dropped them the first time I'll let you decide that there are things I'll use Khan Academy as an example. I think Delta math is one of those two, and I apologize for being so math heavy on my discussions. But this applies regardless of what you're using. You can set a lot of tools up to give the students multiple chances to get a problem, right? Or at least if they get one wrong, they get a second chance and get a similar question to get that problem right. Now, when you do that, if they have to take a question four or five times, well, they might be getting tired of it. But I can guarantee you they learn more by the time they get to try number four, than they did when they were at try. Number one. The repetitive nature of education creates that situation the more chances we give them, the more they're going to learn. So the philosophy discussion is you're going to hear some teachers that will allow students to retake tests retake questions, because they think you learn from mistakes and if you give them three or four shots at it, it'll finally become ingrained in your head. The other philosophy is you should have known it and you Missed the question, or you didn't read as thoroughly as you did. And you missed the question and that part of the arguments true too. So I'll let you decide which part of the argument that you stand on in that regard. So that's it guys. Things that we will overhear from teachers will help improve us. Even if they're giving us the negative aspect of something. They're trying to improve us as much as we can. And I would encourage you to flip every negative situation around, make it positive, take every positive situation and take it to heart to do your best to do better. We'll see you next week on Substitute Teachers Lounge uses provided by