Substitute Teachers Lounge
Substitute Teachers Lounge
What Kids Tell You When You're a Favorite Substitute Teacher
The episode focuses on the dynamics of becoming a favorite substitute teacher through friendly interactions and storytelling. It discusses strategies for connecting with students, addressing their concerns, and managing the balance between being friendly and maintaining professional boundaries.
• Importance of friendliness in establishing rapport
• Sharing personal stories to connect with students
• Navigating student comparisons with regular teachers
• Handling complaints and student motivations
• Addressing serious family situations with care
• Balancing humor and educational responsibilities
• Final insights on fostering a positive classroom environment
Greg Collins, episode 276. It is January 14th 2025. I tell you what? I'm going a little bit crazy because I haven't. I'm going to go through almost, I guess, five weeks without substitute teaching because we had the two-week holiday break. Then here in Kentucky, along with a lot of you, that is, in the horizontal center of the United States, we had another week off because of weather, and then me and my wife were involved with a two-week vacation in Florida, thank goodness, but that's a long time over that substitute teaching.
Greg:So I'm recording this on the Saturday prior and then when this comes out, we're actually on the beach and today's topic is going to be you know, maybe you have aspirations of being the favorite and I'm not going to tell you how to do that. You got to do it yourself. But today I'm going to tell you here's what students are going to say. Here's what students are going to tell you share with you when you become a favorite substitute teacher. Substitute Teachers Loud. All right now, to tell you the truth, I got the idea for today's episode on a post that I read recently on our Substitute Teachers Lounge Facebook group Somebody, basically, in my opinion, teachers Lounge Facebook group. Somebody. Basically, in my opinion. This is the way I read it. They were bragging about how stern they were in the classroom and how they never let anybody go out and just different things. And I couldn't help but think well, that's their prerogative. It's not fair to me to say that that is the wrong way to substitute teach. It's not the way I choose to go. I usually choose instead for the friendliest and, to be honest, leaving the classroom, somebody says they got to go to the bathroom. I ain't going to stop them from doing that because I've seen the result when that happens sometimes, but it made me think all right, let's flip it from the stern side and go over it. We'll just call it the friendliest side. And I think you know the reason you become one of the substitute teachers that kids love to have in the classroom is not because you're that great of a teacher, but it's because you're that friendly of a teacher I hear over and over. You know we love it when you share the personal stories with us and it's so funny. I'll blame this. I am taking Nereva now for my brain health over the counter and I tell you it makes me think of more stories from my past, unless I remember stories that haven't even happened. But I come up with more and more stories here lately and they like to hear those, and once you reach a level where you're one of their favorite substitute teachers to have in the classroom, it's just naturally they're going to be more comfortable about sharing things with you. Now that's what we're going to talk about today, and I'm trying to think of as many possibilities as I can. I'm going to go with the obvious one first, because sometimes they will imply either that they like a substitute teacher better than maybe a regular teacher, which isn't fair, because a regular teacher has to deal with them every day, but they're still going to say things like that. So you got to be prepared for what you're going to say as a comeback. Don't agree with them, even though you hold yourself in high regard as a substitute teacher. Don't tell them that you understand what they're talking about. Sometimes it's just.
Greg:Let me back up a little bit. I have been in classrooms where I became a co-teacher because the math teacher that I was substituting for had told another math teacher hey, during your planning, would you mind to drop in on my class that Greg substitute teaching for today and just walk them through some of these problems. Not fair to ask Greg to try to address that. Well, she did. She came in and she was doing a problem on the board and it wasn't working out. A problem on the board and it wasn't working out. And I saw what the issue was and I felt guilty, for the kid's sake, of not correcting her. So I just said, hey, up there on step two, wouldn't it be? And then I went into it and she said you're exactly right, and she's very nice. She was very nice about it. She didn't feel like I had showed her up or anything about it. She didn't feel like I had showed her up or anything.
Greg:But quite often students will share with you how they'd rather have you in a classroom than someone else. Now here's the way I approach that. I usually say I know your teacher, your teacher's great. Is it at all possible that the reason you're not crazy about that teacher is because you're not enjoying the subject or you're not paying attention? Or keep in mind that when I'm in here I'm just carrying out for one hour what the teacher has left behind. I don't have to be as concerned if I don't want to about your education. Your regular teacher has to be assured of that. So that might be why they push you harder, why they insist you do it this way, because maybe that's the only way they know that you will be able to learn. So I don't want to be someone that you think is better than your own teacher. I want to be someone who you enjoy having in the classroom when your teacher's not around, and then I will encourage them to do this. I'll say listen, I'm always here for you. If you're struggling in a class, you can always let me know. I'll give you what help I can, but most likely I'll have to end up directing you to someone else. This teacher wants you to learn. To someone else this teacher wants you to learn.
Greg:Now, occasionally I'll get a student where they're saying they might just be making some of this up, but they'll say stuff like oh, our teacher never has things graded on time. They always pick on me in class. That's why I don't open up anymore and share my thoughts. I'm so demotivated in here that I really don't have any interest in being successful in this class. I'm just not a math person. They can make up any types of excuses and the bottom line is, when you're faced with a situation as a substitute teacher where they're making comments like that about a teacher, don't agree with them. You'll have to figure out ways to motivate that student and to motivate that student's opinion of their regular teachers. That's going to come up the freer they feel like they've become to talk to you. That's going to come up. You might as well be prepared for it now.
Greg:Now, on a more serious note, if the students become more and more comfortable talking to you, they may occasionally share a family situation, share a family situation, and you've got to decide now how you're going to deal with that. I've heard comments like my father slapped me last night, found out that that wasn't true and the student was really just doing that for attention. He said it loud enough for the other kids to hear and some of them laughed because some of them knew his father and they knew better than that. But what are you going to do when you're faced with that? You know, here's what I tell the student. I said listen, you realize that right now I'm supposed to have the school contact social services to address this situation. And then they always back down and said oh no, I was just joking, I didn't really mean that. I love my dad. That kind of thing. You're going to be faced with that sometime, maybe even more More seriously, you might be someone that a student feels comfortable telling you specific family situations and are very serious about it, and then you're going to have to realize that you're now in a situation where you have to tell the student.
Greg:Well, the way I usually word it is, I am not authorized to give you advice about your family. I would like to recommend that you instead talk to this counselor, this person. Do you have someone you trust, like a preacher you could go to, or just someone from your church or someone that's always been special to you that would help you with things like this? That's what I encourage them to do. Do not tell your opinion. It don't even say now, son, I'm not sure that this really happened, even though you told me that, but if it did and then go into a big, long explanation about what they should do, don't ever do that. That is not your job as a substitute teacher.
Greg:Students will naturally become friendlier with you. If you're friendly with them and then you're faced with a situation where you may have to address that sometime, I would encourage you to address it like I do, tell them I'm not authorized to say anything. You can be heartfelt for the student, but you can't say, well, here's what I would do if I was in that situation, because it is not your place, and then move on from there. All right, since that was a serious one, let's close with one that's a little bit more lighthearted, and then I'll get on with my vacation. You will constantly if you're that friendly person that has a lot of good.
Greg:Now, part of it's my age. I have a lot of good stories because I lived 66 years, but the stories I'm sharing for the most part are from high school. So there's many. All of us that are substitute teaching has made it through high school and has our own stories Because of my age. Some of mine are funnier because of what was allowed. Like you didn't have to lock the doors. Back in my day, we had designated smoke areas in our high school, which just seems unfathomable now today. But you've got a lot of stories to share. Well, this is the one that I'm the most guilty of. They want to hear those stories, those friendly stories, the stories where they feel like they are closer to you. There are some stories that I will only share juniors and seniors, nothing that bad. It might be like when I had a girlfriend in high school or something like that, but I don't feel it's proper to share that with the younger age groups. Or it might be about some disciplinary action you were witnessed of or, to be honest, I had my few ways that I like to aggravate not students in general, but my best friends. Best friends pick at each other, you knock their books out of their hands, all that kind of stuff. You don't have as many books being carried around the hallway now. But here's my point. I share a lot of those stories.
Greg:There was one time in a class where I know it was middle school, in fact I think several years ago, because I remember two of the students that were in the class that said the front room, they're now juniors in high school. But I got on a roll. They were laughing, I was cutting jokes. They were real, it really happened to me. So that makes them any funnier. You know, things that actually happen to you that are funny are much funnier than stuff that you're just cracking jokes about. So I was sharing all these stories and then all of a sudden I'm thinking oh, my goodness, what time is it? And we were halfway through the class and I haven't given them the assignment yet. Now that will get you in trouble. Now I've had teachers tell me that I could do whatever I wanted to and they know the students like my stories and some teachers will leave busy work and they don't mind you sharing extra stories. I used to say that I almost like the days where there's only about 50 minutes worth of class material and then I got 10 minutes just to kind of goof off and to share stories and to be funny. That's my kind of thing.
Greg:But whatever you do, don't become so comfortable teaching those kids. You know, and I'm getting into elementary school now, so it's kind of worse because they giggle at everything. Don't be so carried away with your quote. I'm doing air quotes right now, popularity that you forget. This is a class you got to teach and make sure that you stay on top of things. Maybe lay out the assignment first and sometimes, if I can look at an assignment and tell, well, this isn't going to take the whole class period, I will tell them this All right, do your class work first and if you do a good job, if you don't rush through it.
Greg:If you do a good job, take the proper amount of time to do it properly, then we'll do some fun stuff at the end. Sometimes it's just letting them get on their phones for a few minutes if the teacher's all right with that. Sometimes it's just letting them get on their phones for a few minutes if the teacher's all right with that. Sometimes it's playing some games. Sometimes I'll just start sharing things, and then, especially again with the elementary school students.
Greg:If you share some things at the end of class, you better believe that they're going to share some stories back with you. It's amazing. It doesn't matter what story you tell them. There's students in that classroom that have similar stories. They don't want to just tell a story. They've got a story as well that's probably just as funny or funnier as the one that I've just told. So I don't think it's wrong to want to be a favorite substitute teacher. Obviously you want to with the school and the teachers, because that's why they call you back With the students. You want them to feel comfortable when you come in each day, and that's good. That's a good thing. It's all right to be that way. I'm not going to insist that you're that way. But as you become more and more comfortable in talking with those students, they become more and more comfortable with talking to you. Just be prepared for some of the things they're getting ready to share.
