What happens when you have to substitute teach a more challenging class?
What happens when you have to substitute teach a more challenging class?
Sometimes you're teaching and your day's going well, you're teaching all good classes. And then the bad class comes in could be flat scary alright guys, welcome back to another week of substitute teachers lounge. We're going to talk about good classes, bad classes. Now right away, you're gonna say, Greg, I can't believe that you would ever call any class, a bad class as much as you preach to us. How can you call it class? A bad class? Well, stay tuned, and you'll find out what happens. First of all, I had a dilemma this week, unrelated to the topic today, but we're discussing it on our substitute teachers lounge group page on Facebook, I would love to hear your opinion, I would challenge you don't just give me an answer. Tell me why that is your answer. I would be interested in hearing from different parts of the country, I would be interested in hearing if it varies at all between male and female teachers, substitute teachers, you know, whatever. So I want you to discuss this topic. This happened to me this week. If you've been listening, you know that I've been teaching at the same school since the beginning of the school year, that will wind down here soon. And then I made a commitment to teach at another school in November and December, basically six weeks for a teacher that's going to be absent. Now. The previous school the one that I'm finishing up right now, I had already told me several weeks ago, Greg, we want you back in January, we have a teacher that's leaving, and we need you back for several weeks. You know what the assumption being, of course, until they get that position filled with a a full time teacher in that area? And of course, I'd told them yes, well, here's what happened this week. They told me one morning when I walked in, Greg, that position that we told you about in January, it's now going to start on November 17. They said, I know you've got a commitment. But I just want to throw that out there. It's your decision, obviously. But if you should decide we'd love to have you November 17. Now, that was also a way of saying if you don't start in this position, November 17, we're gonna have to find someone else. And of course, then, the multi month job I would have had in January will no longer be there because you can't very well hire one person to take the job in November 17. And then let them go and bring me in there. That's not going to work. So I had a decision to make. Should I present the situation to the school I'm supposed to go in in November, that's only for six weeks? And tell them would you consider hiring someone else so that I can take this other job? That will be for several months? When you answer on substitute teachers lounge group page, talk about the ethical part. Talk about the integrity part, talking about talking about the lookout for number one part, all that enters into the decision. So I would encourage you to go to substitute teachers lounge group page, lots of good stuff there. We're growing literally every day. And I want to have you there too. Okay, right now I'm teaching in high school, you know, as well as I do, that a lot of those high school kids, boys and girls are bigger than you taller than you. more intimidating than you and he cases smarter than you. I keep saying you and I really mean me. I'm talking about me in that situation. So we get faced with different things. Most of the classes I've had have just been beautiful, well behaved, good classes. Everybody likes to talk. I do too. That's not what I'm talking about. But you can depend on them to get their work done. Now, you might go through a full day with good classes and then another class comes in. That is much more challenging. Students are taller. Maybe they dress in such a way. I'll go ahead and say it because I did this in high school. Maybe they wear their hair in a certain way. Maybe there's just things about them that not only make you feel uncomfortable, but make them just a little bit intimidating. Now I'm not talking about you don't think they're going to be aggressive with you. But it's just a difficult time you're trying to figure out their their personality. What happens when you get a hold of a class like that? Now, I'm going to go ahead and tell you, our fourth most popular episode was way back episode 10. We're on episode 127. Now, but episode 10 was, oh, no, there's a troublemaker in my class today. You all need like to hear advice on that you'd like to hear what I did, you'd like to hear what others did you'd like to hear my suggestions. That was episode 10, I would encourage you to go back and look at that one. And listen to it. We've also discussed the time that I went into classroom. And it was the day after I saw another sub was in there and lift just nasty notes about everybody, especially one particular class and even one particular student. So I kind of looked at that and said, I'm gonna look at this Class II what I can do. And by you know, the first of all, the individual student to me was just a six foot five, lineman size guy that was a big teddy bear, he was friendly to me the whole time he was in class. So that kind of sets a base. I told them, I wanted them to be my best class of the day, because I always leave notes about my best class of the day. And before the class was over, they did well enough that I actually had one of the students write the notes for the teacher and I signed them. And I read through them first. And sure enough, that student had actually put down some things they could have done better. But the things that they thought they did well, so that worked out well with me. So that some of the background and all this sometimes we just run across students, maybe they make us uncomfortable, maybe they just look a little bit differently than I don't know, for lack of a better phrase the way our kids did. Maybe they looked exactly like you did. When you were a troublemaker back in high school. I don't know what the case is. But a lot of times you'll get a class that has a lot of those students in it. Now I'll go ahead and say no, I will never refer to a class as a bad class. You know, in three years of substitute teaching now, I will say that I have never had a bad class. Have I had classes that were more challenging than others? Yes. And I want to tell you my observation on some things that have happened over the weeks, you know, this year that I started out teaching a long term role for six weeks, then the school had me stick around again through the end of October for now. And I'm teaching in a different classroom every day, sometimes, you know, the traditional style of substitute teaching, sometimes I'll have several days in a row with one teacher. But most of the time, it has been challenging classes. I've taught all types of disciplines of classes, classes that are smaller in terms of number of students, just because you might have a class of students that need a little extra attention. I've taught that I've taught classes where we set down, you know, at round tables and give a lot of individual attention to different students. I've taught those classes. But to me, the classes that sometimes are the most challenging are when you have students with strong personalities. And then and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with strong personality I have, I have my own opinions. And the way I like to think about things too, I don't always spout off about them as I used to I did in my younger days. But I've kind of temper that in this regard. I will be willing to listen to any student now. I'll go back a few weeks. I was teaching a class substitute teaching a class and it went great. And then there they were the last class of the day, very rambunctious. Probably all the guys were taller than me. All of them were kind of looking at me like the ones that didn't know me. Some of them already knew me. But the ones that didn't know me, they're trying to you know, they're trying to case you They're trying to figure you out. What's this guy gonna do? What's he going to make us do? Is he going to challenge me? You know, one of the guys, I guess the first time I met one of them, I was actually co teaching with another teacher. And I really I tell you what made me the most uncomfortable there is a student in there, you know, would get carried away with himself was one of those that likes a lot of attention. And he would challenge the teacher, and even juvenile things like she would reach down for him to hand her his assignment, he would hold it out, and then pull it back from her fingers, do it again, and then pull it back and just aggravating things like that. And finally, she walked away. And she said, you know, then he took it to her. And he said, I was just joking. And he would do a few things that the teacher would fuss at him about. And I finally walked up to him. And I said, I said it in front of everybody, because I know he wouldn't mind. I'd had him before. And I said, Man, you've never acted that way in my class. And he said, That's because I like you. And I'm thinking, Oh, no, he said that right there in front of everybody, and in front of that teacher. And I could see the teachers reaction. And he's, he then said Ole Miss, so and so, you know, I was just joking. And he was joking, he was joking. And it's interesting. I've known him for three years now, I started teaching him in middle school. But the approach I take with him his let him let you know, let him say, his spiel. And then all the say, encouraging phrases, he knows I'm getting ready to say it to him. I say to him all the time. You could be as smart as you want to be. And he says, I know. And then I said, you know, that teacher's class, she was handing out things for extra points. And he was just looking at it, he was still doing things to try to get attention from everyone. And I said, Man, that's an easy, 10 points. And he found out without too much asking that he was at the top part of one particular letter grade. And that 10 points could push him to another one. So I just emphasize that with him. And he said, Greg, you know, he said, You're, you're right, I'm going to do that. So just adding a few encouraging words like that helped him out. But then a lot of the students in that same class were like that, in fact, for the most part, these students seem to be scheduled in such a way that a lot of them end up together in every class all day long. You know, I have my opinion about that. Do you spread out students like that? Do you not? I don't know. But there, they were all together. And you know, I can see some of the students would were kind of checking me out. And I noticed the teacher I was with, she had to continually tell them to put their mask up over their nose, which is a state mandate. Right now in Kentucky, again, this is October 24 2021. We're still under a state mask mandate in the schools for right now. So I got to know them a little bit. And then the next time I saw that bunch, I was so low. So I knew the class was going to be challenging. I didn't expect anything to get physical if anybody got mad. But nevertheless, they were challenging in the way that they carried themselves. Were they a bad class? No, I don't see any bad classes. Were they one of the classes that perhaps I would put in my top 10 most difficult classes? Well, if you made me give a knee jerk answer, I would say yes, but I really didn't know them well enough yet. So I taught the class tried to do it in a way to get them to know me a little bit better. Next thing happened to be the AC t. And this class was one of the first classes that they gave the AC to so they got finished. So we took them to the auditorium to set for probably a half an hour until their lunch period came along. And me and another, you know, I was the only substitute teacher in the auditorium. And there was one more teacher there. And before I know it, the same students were saying, Greg, what do you think about this? They were asking me questions. They were asking me well, they were raising their hand in the annual one of them said all the way from Mr. Collins. I just wanted to know his opinion on something. Here's the same students. I didn't feel like I had done anything the first time I had them. But because I didn't yell at them when they were talking Because I didn't challenge them. I didn't say put your mask up, said, Okay, guys, let's try our best not to, you know, if somebody gets sick and we had our mask down, you know, there's going to be a lot more of us that have to quarantine than if we didn't. So you know, rationalization like that. Encourage them them to get their work done, but not saying things like, young lady, I can see that you're not doing your work. But instead saying, Alright, yeah, you can listen to a little music. That's okay. I like to listen to music when I work too. But make sure you're showing me that you're getting your work done. And they did. They appreciate it that that big class that some teachers, some student teachers say, make them uncomfortable, they come across as intimidating. And we're starting to get a little rapport with them, I was starting to communicate with them. And then that day in the AC T auditorium, they were asking me questions, not only that they were asking me instead of another teacher to help them with some questions. So something happened, I'm not even sure why. But again, regardless of where I whether I have a good class, or a challenging class, I really approach them in the same way in this regard. I make sure that they know that I respect their opinion. And I make sure that I realize that they're going to treat me the way that I treat them. I actually have that conversation with students a lot. Do you ever run into substitute teachers that you can tell are going to treat you disrespectfully? The minute you they walk in the door? And a lot of them say yes, you know, I have a sheet I sometimes have students fill out if I'm going to have them as guest on the show, you know, it's a parental permission sheet, but it also gives an idea of what kind of questions I'm going to ask. And they answer questions like, you know, if you had to create the perfect substitute teacher, what would they be, you know, just general stuff like that. And I asked them some of those questions. And they told me that they appreciated me for at least letting them share in the way they wanted to share. I didn't make them talk to me. Like I was a 63 year old man. I made I let them talk to me like they were adult. And I was an adult. And in this case, most of them were of adult age, we're talking probably talking about 17 and 18 year old students here. So there is a way to smooth over and help with those challenging classes, here's how you do it. Don't go walking in. Like you're the big bad boss, and they have to do whatever you tell them to do. Now, they do have to do that. But there's a way to approach that, make sure that they know that you're going to joke around with them a little bit, but you're still going to make them get their work done. You're going to let them spout off a little bit about things that are going on, but you still let them get their work done. I had a class the other day where the guys were complaining about the men's locker room after a football game and how they all had to shower together. And of course, it didn't get out of hand. But it did get rather comical. But you know, the whole time they were doing that they were doing their assignment, which just happened to be on Google Classroom that day. So I tempered the conversation, I made sure that they knew that I didn't want them to go too far with it. But it actually ended up being a very hilarious conversation. And I think it added to everybody being able to get along with each other better, because they were all laughing and things. And I made the comment that my dormitory and my college back in the 70s was the same way it was like an open shower area. So it was just kind of comical. And again, it was a way for me to get closer to that class. So when you have a challenging class, first of all, you should always regardless of the type of class, always show those students some respect. Show them that you trust them. When they give you a reason not to trust them, then you have to react to that then you have to discipline in some type of way given the situation. But in most cases, if you walk in like you're again, the big bad boss, they're going to treat you as somebody that they don't respect that they think they're better than you. They're not going to listen to what you say they're not going to do their work. On the other hand if you go in and maybe laugh with them a little bit, maybe joke and this is the honest truth some of the guys We're long hair, I joke about how my hair was that long in the 70s when I was in high school, because I want it to look like the Beatles. And you know, that kind of loosen things up. They got closer to me that way. And then this is the honest truth, those same guys, those same classes, the guys and girls both, I've had them several times since then. And they are always coming up to the door and say, yeah, we've got Greg as a substitute teacher again. Does that mean they think I'm not going to make them do their work? No, not at all. But we'll I'll let them talk to each other. Yes. Well, I'll let them listen to music. Yes, I like to listen to music when I'm working. I think it helps me. Well, I emphasize at times that you guys are getting too loud. And people that like it, the students that like it just a little bit quieter, can't work as well. I'll say that every so often. I've had those students now the same students that I thought may be more challenging, they will now run errands for me, I actually had one situation where I did have to tell a student to correct some things that they were doing that they shouldn't be doing nothing terrible. And then one of the other students who at one time I thought was maybe one of the intimidating ones. He said, Do what Mr. Collins says, he picked me up, he was like my co teacher in that situation. And every time that I walked around that I thought that they were getting too loud, or doing things like maybe falling out of a chair, because they were setting if they shouldn't have been doing, you know, in a certain way that they shouldn't have been doing. You know, I would correct that quickly. First of all, I didn't want them to get hurt, because obviously, if they get hurt, it ends up being partially my fault. So all those kinds of things wrapped up together, those challenging classes, they are not bad classes, you will not ever have a bad class. If you just try to show those students and respect. Show them that you think their opinion is important that their life is important and that you're interested, what they're going to do after school, you ask them questions that you can get some information on, you know that I referee volleyball a lot. And sometimes it's in the same area or general area where I don't have time to go home. So I ask them, here's a good place to eat. They enjoy giving me answers or places that maybe I didn't realize were out there. Give them some personal questions, have them answer those for you. It's going to be amazing how much they start volunteering information, one of those same students. I was in my planning period with the door open. He was walking by with a hallway pass, I guess on his way to the restroom. He saw me in there, smiled, waved and made a point of coming in and talking to me for just a few seconds and say Hey, Mr. Collins, I know that you're going to be teaching us tomorrow. Looking forward to it. These are those big strapping guys that maybe some teachers were intimidated by just because, you know, we have to get over being intimidated by students and parents or by the behavior, we can easily correct that if we give them the respect they deserve. So no more bad classes. When you have a challenging class. Try these methods of making sure that they know that you're there for them. And you want your class to be enjoyable.