Are you really busier than everybody else, or do you just want them to think you are?
Are you really busier than everybody else, or do you just want them to think you are?
So which kind of teacher Are you the one that shows up five minutes early for a meeting and thinks they're late, or the one that shows up five minutes late for a meeting and thinks they're early? Alright, guys, it is December 26 2021. I'm excited, I always get everything I want for Christmas. Today we're going to a Bengals game to see it. Live in Kentucky, there's not many professional sports to go to. So Cincinnati is our closest area. And they actually have a decent quarterback now. So we're going to watch them play the Ravens today. So I will forgive all of you in Baltimore. But the rest of you wish me good luck with that game. I want to run something by you. Before we get started. I know you might be a little in suspense about what we're talking about today. But I'll tell you in just a moment, as we enter into 2022 I want to start adding some edgier episodes. I don't want the podcast to go edgy all the time. But I want to try to invoke a little controversy. So I know you've got some topics out there that you would like to have discussed. I know because I have seen it on the substitute teachers lounge Facebook page. So you guys unite get together send me some topics we can you know, talk about that might just be a little cutting edge a little controversial and see if we can get some our you know, viewership up even higher. We've been doing real well. 2021 was a great year for both the podcast. And for substitute teaching. It's a little bit crazy, me and my wife have decided to vacation the entire month of January. So I think I got all the schools mad at me. I had another one contact me yesterday, but about a teacher that had a fall and is had some serious damage to their ankle. And it's a math teacher in middle school. So one of my favorite subjects to teach favorite levels to teach it at. But yet we're going to be in Florida most of that time. So I hope I'm not making those people to May I didn't know we you got to. We retired from accounting three years ago, as most of you all know, in fact, that's kind of how we're going to start our podcast today when we get into it. But we're going to talk about are you a good teacher? Because you walk fast. Let me give you a little background about that. By the way, hats off to my one of my favorite rock bands from the 70s Aerosmith, they were in the opening that was the addition of Walk this way that they redid with Run DMC that I thought was great. I've actually had some of the volleyball players that know me will ask me What music do you want to hear tonight, and I'll always have them put on that song. So I think it's a good rock and roll song. And the words are just garbled enough that you can't understand them. So that's the sign of a good rock and roll song. Here's the deal. I was an accountant for 38 years, retired in 2018. Now I knew I never was really crazy about accounting, probably because I just wasn't that good at it. I don't know. But there was a lot of cutthroat people in that business. And I didn't realize that I disliked it as much as I did until I went into teaching into substitute teaching. And then I realized I wish I had been an educator my whole life, you just run into some people in the corporate world. That rubbed me the wrong way. Now I'll go ahead and say that was the minority. I know there was some people that looked down on me, maybe about my abilities, but more about my attitude, because I just wouldn't snap off at people like they would sometimes. So all that behind. I never liked auditing. I'll go ahead and say that because I didn't want my job to be finding things wrong with people that just wasn't who I am. So as we get in a little bit into teaching, I'm going to share some stories about some things that kind of strike me funny. And probably because I know the people in the corporate world did this. And it was kind of superficial. Now I haven't run into too many teachers like this, but there's a few out there. So let's see how you measure up. I will say that, even though most of the things I'm going to talk about today, I'm not really a fan of have probably at one time or another, did them just to kind of put on a show for everybody. So let's start with the title. The title of today's episode is, are you a good teacher? Just because you walk fast. There was an old episode of Seinfeld, I guess they're all old. Now. It's from the 90s. And it was when George was working for the Yankees. And he said, he found out the key to make everybody thinking he was busy, was to act frustrated all the time, bang the desk, shake your head, like you're so overworked. And just that appearance made people think that he was busy. That's quite kind of what we're talking about today. It amazes me some of the teachers that I have met that I absolutely love your lady, really do any of the any of this, the others that I think are really trying too hard to make themselves feel better, or maybe make themselves feel like look how much harder I work than you do some of these things. The first one is walking fast. Think of the teachers right now. That is just absolutely always tearing it up walking fast every everywhere they go. Usually, they're doing that to make you think they're busier than everyone else. And again, I'm a little bit gilded in that area, because I saw it in the corporate environment all the time. If I walk faster than you, I have to be busier than you. That's just the way it works out. Well. That's not always the case. In fact, the teachers I respect most, I don't see that out of any of them. And there's only a handful of teachers. But I asked you today, evaluate yourself. Do you try to put on airs in front of the other teachers? Do you think walking fast is one of the things that makes you look busier or makes you look like you want to be busier than everyone else. That's the first thing I'll mention walking fast just to kind of show off to others. The other one is what I mentioned in the opening comments just after the musical intro. I joke with my preacher all the time, we do that church debater and preacher, mic podcast, and I joke with him that we are a complete opposite personalities in the way we schedule things. I'm one of those that if I'm not five minutes early for a meeting, I think I'm too late. He's one of those if he's five minutes late for a meeting, he thinks he's still early. So it sometimes becomes impossible to try to schedule around our different time parameters. Now think of the teacher environment. You've been involved with meetings, whether you're a teacher or a substitute teacher, there are always teachers coming in late. Now. My theory is, and again, I got this from the corporate world that I worked in, the ones that come in late habitually come in late. They think they're giving the impression that there have they had so much work to do that they couldn't possibly have made that meeting on time. So their show is to come to the meeting light, make themselves look busy. Then the next thing they do when they come in, they are just pounding that cell phone. Back in the day. It used to be they were constantly looking at the beeper, which they'd silence to save, everybody was beeping them. They're constantly shuffling papers around rather than listening to the speaker. And they think that makes them look busier. Not really more important, but just it's like they want everybody to realize how busy they are that they just possibly can't lay down their phone their papers and listen to what the speaker has to say. They might even say, you know, I know how to multitask, I can do it all. Well, there's a theory about that. Perhaps the reason they're like that is they haven't gotten themselves organized to the point that they can make their time better. You know, you you've heard me talk about a lot I like to mention to teachers all the time that I like to automate everything I have, it saves time. It helps me get to meetings on time. It helps me schedule meetings with students with parents, whatever, in a way that it just flows better. And I'll tell you this right now, if you're one of those people that shows up late for meetings, at least don't do that with a student though that with that with a parent. That is the one thing that will turn them away from you quicker than anybody else. You give the impression that you think They're not important enough for you to show up on time for a meeting. So get over all that. So stop walking fast, stop showing up late to meetings. That's the first two things. Now this next one, this seems weird coming from an accountant. It's it's funny the hospital that I used to work at, we had a couple of different leaders, one of which was an CFO by background, he became the hospital administrator. And I thought it was funny. Their office has a lot of glass pretty office as a hospital administrators off it should be because you're going to have meetings in there, it needs to be a nice place, it needs to be kind of a show place for the hospital. But I noticed that the minute that a, an accountant got that job, he closed all the shades in his window, he didn't want anybody to see in, and he kept his door closed all the time. Whereas those that are more came from the patient care background. Not only did they always keep those windows open, so people could see them and kind of have an open policy, they kept their door open to now that's one thing I would like to encourage teachers to do. We have planning periods, keep your door open, have teachers come by and talk to you let students maybe just when they're on their way to the bathroom with a hall pass, and they love seeing you in that classroom, that means so much to them. So I would encourage you right here in our teachers, leave those doors open, have an open door policy, make people know that you're always welcome. One thing as a substitute teacher that I like to do, I like to pick the other teachers brains. You know, sometimes I feel guilty about it, and even say I feel guilty about bothering them so much, but I'm not going to knock on their door. If they had their door open. If they look busy. I might just say, let me know when I can talk with you about five minutes and I'll come back. And they're satisfied with that they usually waive me in any way. Shoot for that open door policy, it's so pleasing. It's like, you know, they teach you to have meetings at a round table and not at a square table. Because a square table just seems more confrontational because you're split into sides, all that kind of thing. But strive to be the type of teacher that has an open door policy. Maybe a little bit more specifically for substitute teachers now, don't overcompensate, don't try to make the school feel like they are the more most important school to you, and do some things that are a little strange. Now, I don't want to get too specific, but there was an incident at one school. And one substitute teacher went out of their way to make the rest of the show, you know, tell the rest of the teachers how much they felt for them. And it kind of came along the wrong way only because of this, it's alright to have feelings. For others, it's alright to try to share when somebody needs to pick me up. But that substitute teacher really didn't know them that well. And it became obvious to them, that they were just kind of doing it to try to get them to ask them to come back because they really weren't that close to any of them. So the fact that they tried to comfort them almost as a stranger kind of rubbed them the wrong way. And I'm not even sure exactly what I'm saying here. But everything that you do, make sure you're sincere. Don't do it to try to show off. Don't do it to artificially let everybody know how caring you are, believe me, they're going to know from the stories they hear from other teachers and from other students. How caring you are in the classroom. And that's what you need to strive for. I'll close with this thought and I don't even know where I got this. I think I pulled it out of a Christmas movie that I've watched in the last couple of weeks. But basically it's it's a phrase that goes something like this. And I'm paraphrasing because I wrote it down when I when I saw it, are you the type of teacher that makes things happen? Or that things happen to you. And basically all that says is go out of your way to help others. Don't wait for others to come to you to ask for help. make things happen. make students feel better, make teachers feel better. Don't be setting in the classroom on your phone and put the teacher or the student in the center. situation where they have to say, Mr. Collins, I really need your help with something. One of the things I like to do is always stand outside of my door between every class, whether it's on my list of things that I'm supposed to do as a substitute or not because you get a feel for so many of those students. Okay, so, bottom line here is today, guys, don't do things artificially. If you're busy, you're busy. If you're not, don't act like you are. Make sure you have an open door policy. Make sure you don't just do things to try to make people feel like that you're working as hard as you can. when really you're just trying to put up a front