If you had a substitute teacher suggestion box, what would be inside?
If you had a substitute teacher suggestion box, what would be inside?
You want to be the best substitute teacher? You can be right? Well, if you put a suggestion box outside your door, what suggestions would you get? So about now you're thinking, Greg, have you really put a suggestion box outside your door? Well, sort of. I constantly will hand out sheets, if I have time in certain classes, if been with a class maybe several days or a bit with a class off and on for several days, I've got a standard sheet that I hand out, you know, what do you like to see when you have a substitute teacher involved? What do you like about their personality? Are you brave enough to do that? I mean, have you ever put a suggestion box or gathered facts that would make you a better substitute teacher? Well, the concept is, if you put a suggestion box outside your door, called its substitute teachers suggestion box, you're going to get some answers, you're gonna get some takers, I guarantee you, you're going to get some jokes, probably. But I'll bet by the time it's over, you'll get responses from both students and regular teachers. Now let's save the students for last, I'm going to start with administrators, and then teachers, and then students. And I'll let you decide whether I'm leaving the best for last. So if you had an administrator come by and put a suggestion in your box, and I've had administrators give me suggestions all the time, here's what I think it would say, you're very important to us. You cannot believe how important substitute teachers are at this goal. With that in mind, we want you to feel comfortable here. We want you to carry on for the teacher, we don't want you to be easy on our students. But yet, we want you to be friendly to our students. We want you to carry out the teachers lesson plan in your own way. We want you to be funny, if you think that's necessary. We want you to be serious if you think that's necessary. And we're just glad to have you here. And one of the suggestions may be after a while, can you keep coming back and joining us, we want you to be here as much as you possibly can. That's one of the suggestions you would get from an administrator. So how does that fit into your profile, we had an episode several weeks back about having leverage as a substitute teacher after you get popular. After you get to be a preferred sub at several different schools, you have some leverage, you can pick and choose more than you ever did before. And administrators know that they will eventually at least mentally put you on a list that's preferred. Or as need be, for lack of a better phrase. And to stay on that preferred list. What you're going to do every day is to come in, be on time, be a sounding board for their students. You know, try to hold down trouble and maybe handle as much of that trouble as you can. I remember hearing stories for it was actually a long term role I was in, but I had to be gone one day and they had to get a substitute for me. And I remember the next day I came in, and boy, the students were just telling me that the the teacher wrote them up all day long. And I talked to an administrator actually they came and talked to me. And they said, man, we're not going to ask that substitute teacher back because she wouldn't handle anything on her own. She actually called the office we've because one student got up to sharpen their pencil when she had told them to stay seated. So while that substitute teacher felt like she couldn't handle that and she had to turn them into an off into the office, I do not know. But keep that in mind administration wants you to be on time, be dependable, and be a substitute teacher that those students learn from and like to see Come back in the room. Now, what would teachers put in the suggestion box? And I've done this too. I've actually especially early on, once the teachers got to know me, they didn't have to ask me a lot of questions. But I told them right from the beginning, I said, Listen, I want to improve as a substitute teacher, tell me what I can improve in. I don't really want to know the things that you like, you're welcome to tell me that if you want to, I'm going to continue doing them. But tell me where I can improve. Open up the door. And the great thing about a suggestion box is it's anonymous if the suggester wants it to be so they can put anything in the box that they want to teachers are going to put these things in your suggestion box, the first one is going to be please get to the classroom on time so that you can go through the lesson plans now. You will occasionally run across a teacher that wants you to take the lesson plan and not change it one iota dot all the i's, cross all the t's do everything exactly correct. But that's what they're going to suggest to you, then they're going to say, make sure that you keep them engaged, keep them focused, whatever you think you need to do to do that, they will tell you do not come in my room and just babysit my kids, I want you to become involved with them. I want you to help them learn, I want you to be knowledgeable enough on the tools of the trade, whether that be how to run the projector on the screen to how to use Google Classroom. Maybe you can't log into google classroom because of your ID situation. But you need to at least be familiar with it enough that you can help a student if they need your help. So please be prepared. Follow the lesson plans, interject as need be be a sounding board for their students, if they need you be as friendly as you possibly can. Some of these students, you never know what's going on in their life, or maybe just if they just happen to be having a bad day. So be sympathetic to them. Try not to yell at them discipline as need be, but tried to do it in a constructive way. And I think you will teach my class fine. That's the type of suggestions you get from a teacher. All right now, that leaves us with the students. And we're going to spend the majority of the time about, you know, suggestions from the students. The last time I did this was probably two months ago, we had a little extra time in class. So I handed out the sheet and I'll let them fill them out as appropriate. And I have myself pretty organized in that regard. Because of this podcast, I actually have sheets that I hand out because occasionally I will interview an administrator, a teacher, a substitute teacher or a student. And I send them out some advanced questions just so they can get a feel for what's going on. But then I tell them, you know, if we get on a topic and you start sharing stories, then we'll get off of this script a little bit and we'll go with the more interesting stories. So the questions I asked students are this. What makes your favorite substitute teachers, your favorites? Have substitute teachers ever made you feel disrespected? Have traits of substitute teachers ever helped you to learn better? What traits of substitute teachers help you to consider them a friend? Not just a teacher? Do you ever talk to your regular teachers about substitute teachers? And what kind of conversations do you have? A couple of fill in the blanks. I wish substitute teachers were more what? My favorite regular teachers are my favorite regular teachers, because it's interesting, get a little perspective there. And then the final two are the best ways I think teachers and subs should discipline students are and what are the best ways I think teachers and subs should reward students what the best methods there are. So you can see that myriad of questions there kind of gives me a feel. Now I know I've asked these questions to them enough now that I know what they're going to say for the most part. Let's start with the first one. What makes your favorite substance to teachers, your favorite substitute teachers, believe it or not, it's not just I've had students tell me that they like it, because I'm funny that I'll joke around with them and things like that. But really, what I hear most often is that they enjoy it when I share personal stories. And they will tell me they wish, more substitute teachers would share personal stories. And it's not that my personal stories are in any better than anybody else's. But I think that's just a way of getting students to better engage with you. If you just walked in, sat down in the chair and read a book, there's no engagement going on there. It's just basically you come across as a substitute teacher that comes in to get their money and to leave, doing as little work as possible. Think about it, you've been in other jobs before. And you know, the type of worker that does just the minimum amount they can do to get by or maybe that they can't do without getting caught. Maybe that's the better way to say it. But you'll hear that from students all the time. I like it when our substitute teacher or teacher tells us personal stories, things that were going on, you know, I'm in my 60s now. So I've got a lot more personal stories than some of the rest of you, one of the teachers I was working next to recently, she was telling her about her parents, and I realized that her parents were about my age. And I'm thinking, Oh, you brought that up just to point out the fact that you're I'm closer to your parents age than your age. And we had a good laugh about that. But that's what the students want with with you, they want you to at least come out of your shell enough. You don't necessarily have to be an extrovert, to share a personal story. Anybody can, I would even this sound kind of geeky to suggest this. And I don't want you carrying this around with you. But if you're not used to sharing those stories, start out doing this, sit down with a piece of paper, or, you know, the notes I make for this podcast, I do it on my phone, because most of my notes, pop into my head randomly and I type it into the notes on my phone. So that's where I get most of my notes. But sit down with whatever note taking tool you like to use, whether it's paper or electronic, and look back in your life. Think back to some of the funny stories, you know, I can still think of things that happened to me. Seems like I can go back as far as about the second grade. I remember a lot of stories second grade pretty vividly. And sometimes I'll share stories I'll share stories about when I was in the same grade as the grade I'm teaching that particular day, just to give them a feel for how things were back in the day. I remember bringing in one time, and most of you are younger than me. So I hope a lot of you know what I mean, there's little 45 singles, I didn't bring in a single, but I brought him one of those little yellow disc that you pop inside of a 45 RPM music single so that they would set on the spindle and rotate around the spindle. And I just asked them if they knew what that was. And it was hilarious to have them guess what it was. I don't think I you know, very rarely go to a class where they know what that is. But be prepared to have some side stories like that, especially if you know the day before or even in the morning after you see the teachers notes. Hopefully that will trigger some of your stories and you can be ready to share that. I remember reading about it was a history class. It was actually a history story. I guess it was an English class and I was supposed to read to the students that day. And it was about a fire that had happened back in the early 1900s. And while I wasn't alive, then obviously I could remember some that was the triangle factory. Now remember that? I do remember some fires that happened in my childhood and how I grew up in a small enough town that when there was a big fire downtown, just about everybody in that city knew about it, they could hear the sirens sometimes you could see the flames off in the distance because we were in a small town and when somebody or something was in trouble we would most likely know about it. And but then there's the positive stories to maybe you can if you see a student struggling with something, maybe you can add I would prefer not making one up but you know sometimes you Have two that you can say you've heard a story before, if it's not about yourself, but maybe you will be able to share a story about when you were struggling with the same thing that that student is. And here's how you got through it. Here's how you got yourself into a better study pattern. Here's how you kept yourself from being distracted. It works with all kinds of students, I told you a couple of weeks ago about a student who got a high bay on his final exam that shame on me, I would have never expected because he chose not to concentrate very often in class, but he knew he needed that grade, he buckled down and got that good grade on that test. So share stories with your students, not necessarily you can throw some random stories in there, but try to relate it to the class. They love that kind of stuff that shows up every time that I hand out this handout. And it has been said every time in which I interview students for the podcast. Now one of those questions had to do with asking the students as a substitute teacher ever made you feel disrespected. Now, it doesn't take a Sherlock to know, as a substitute teacher, you know this, it's happened to me, it has happened to you. Occasionally, we slip up, and we make a student feel disrespected when we shouldn't have, we never should do that. But especially maybe we were just handling something incorrectly. It's not so much. They don't want you to yell at them. I mean, that's one of the things at the top of the list. But really, the thing I hear most often about disrespect is maybe they get accused of something by you. And maybe they weren't the one at fault. Even if they were the one at fault. You could still handle it in a way that they're not being disrespected. Don't yell at them in front of all the other students have I done that? Yes. And I felt bad about it. I'm using an apologize or so. They they know I will do that. I try I tell you what, I've worked for some great bosses, I've worked for some lousy bosses, even some of the great ones, on occasion, have accused me of something just because somebody else said I did it. And then they found out later that I hadn't done it. And they apologized to me. Don't be that substitute teacher. Don't be you know, I joke sometimes with students, it's just like in a football game. The penalties are usually given to the second offender, if somebody one player punches another player, where the referees usually don't see that it's the retaliation that they see. So a lot of times in the classroom, if there's something that needs to be discipline, sometimes we'll see the second person involved, maybe even the victim, and all of a sudden it looks like they're in trouble. And we don't get the whole story. So never accused the students before finding out the whole story. And even if you hear a story from a teacher or a student, don't automatically believe it, try it, try to get the whole picture, try to find out what really happened in that situation. Students love to be respected. I open my conversation in classrooms now, especially when I have a new class that I will respect them. I will trust them until they give me a reason not to. Now is that to say that I'll never trust and respect them, even if they give me that reason. No, I'm a believer in second chances. Everybody deserves a second chance. But emphasize with the students that not only do you want them to respect you, you want to make sure that they realize you respect them, and that they respect each other. I told you before I like to have debates in class, but you have to do it in a respectful way. And when the students see that you're doing that and see that you want to be involved in helping them out. They will love you as a substitute teacher much more. So in your suggestion box students would put down that they love substitute teachers who respect them, and they love substitute teachers that share personal stories. Now, one of the other things that was on that sheet, you know what makes your favorite substitute teacher your favorite. That's what we've been talking about all those things. And we touched a little bit on discipline just a few seconds ago, because, you know, you might accuse the wrong student, but you will have a situation where you will eventually have to discipline a student. And what students would put in your suggestion box is this, Mr. Substitute Teacher, I know that I got in trouble in your class, I'd like a second chance. I'm not perfect, I might get in trouble again. But I want to do the best I can for you let me know when I'm not pleased, don't single me out in front of my friends, I don't react well, when that happens. Those are the kind of notes that you would get in a suggestion box, discipline me when you have to. But do it in such a way that I can recover and move on from that. And then finally, reward systems. If you ask students, how they like to be rewarded, if you told them to put their suggestions in a suggestion box, I've done this, I don't often hang a box outside the door. But I've done this by handing them index cards, I've gotten suggestions back from them from having them just write it down at the bottom of another assignment that they've turned in, it's a little bit different, you know, substitute teachers, you're only there two days at a time sometimes. So the index card method might work a little bit better for you. But just ask them how they like to be rewarded, or what they like to see in a substitute teacher. Now you will occasionally get a student in there that says we'd like substitutes that don't make us work. Well, duh, doesn't everyone. But most of the constructive comments that you'll get in this regard is way like substitute teachers that make us get our work done. But do it in such a way that we can enjoy the class while we're in there together. That's the kind of suggestion you'll get. And the reward system. You know, it doesn't cost much at all to get a big box of candy. And I've said before, it's amazing how much harder a student will work, just if they know they'll get a Jolly Rancher at the end? Is it a bribe? We don't call it what you want to. But it's an incentive. We have incentives in our life. I've gotten paid school as incentives for various different things I've done. So whether you're a child or an adult, we love incentives, we love to get reward. So why should a student's situation be any different than that? So there you have it, guys, if you hung a suggestion box outside of your door, every time you substitute taught, your suggestion box would be filled. Some with goof balls, it sound with constructive comments. And a lot of them will say, I like you as a substitute teacher, because, okay, that's when you really feel good about it. Now, if all of them said, I like you, because you don't make us do any work. Well, that's not really what you're going for. But make sure that you listen to suggestions that you're open to suggestions. Don't think take things personally. That's how you improve. Ask for ways to improve. Ask the teachers. Here's what I did yesterday. Were you okay with that? Would you like me to do it differently? Paying out that suggestion box, that virtual suggestion box, be willing to listen to the students occasionally just ask the students. All right, guys, what makes your favorite substitute teachers, your favorites, and you're going to get a lot of good ideas. And if you ask what makes your least favorite substitutes, your least favorite. You'll get a lot of constructive things that you can use in that regard to and I guarantee you, there's a lot of teachers that are talking to students about substitute teachers. So if you want to rise to the top of that list, then work on all the suggestions that you get in your suggestion box.