Elementary, My Dear- The Substitute Teacher's Best Gig

After six years as a substitute teacher primarily in middle and high schools, I've discovered that elementary school—specifically third grade—has become my preferred teaching environment.

• Elementary students are more engaged without smartphones and more enthusiastic about learning
• The COVID break significantly impacted middle schoolers, making them noticeably less mature
• Teaching the same class of students all day with scheduled breaks creates a better teaching rhythm
• Third grade is my "sweet spot" with kids eager to help and not yet developing attitude problems
• I still maintain special connections with former students, including my first long-term class now graduating
• Elementary students are genuinely excited to see me in the hallways and respond enthusiastically
• Try teaching all grade levels before deciding which one suits you best

Transcript

Unexpected Career Direction

Greg 0:00

You know I'm not a big gambler . Sometimes I'll dabble with DraftKings , but I'm too scared to bet more than $5 at a time . But I say all that to say this If I had bet this time last year that I would be recording a podcast episode like this one a year later , I would have said you're crazy , there's no way . But in fact we're going to talk about elementary school once again , and our most popular episode in 2024 was back in September about elementary school . We had another one in November for elementary school , and I tell you what I've got to talk about it again because , after subbing elementary school for 10 days in a row and then doing two days of high school , when I walked up to that high school door , the first thoughts that popped into my mind were man , what am I doing here ? Substitute teachers loud , all right , before I make my high schoolers mad , because I know they're listening to me . Walking up to the high school door and thinking what am I doing here has nothing to do with the conclusion I've come to . Not only that , the high school class the first day was a group of honor students . All day long they were in honors classes . The second day was a very a class for a teacher who's also a friend of mine and it's always a good class . It has to do with , you know , going through life , the first years of life , that kind of thing , and they were both extremely enjoyable . When I got in there In fact the second one , the life thing for about two hours that day , they brought in two and three-year-olds for the students to teach . That was so cool and I couldn't help . But every time I heard those high-pitched voices from the other room I had to stick my head in , see what was going on and as they were leaving I walked out with them . They hadn't really met me , in fact . One little girl said who are you ? And I thought that was funny . So as they were leaving , the main teacher was saying all right , hug , miss , and all this kind of stuff , and then finally she looked at me and said hug , mr Collins , you know , and I thought they might've been thinking stranger danger , but they , sure enough , they came up and hugged me and I love those little kids like that .

Greg 2:50

I have gotten to the point now where I'd prefer elementary school . I even talked about this to some of the high school students one-on-one when we were just casually talking and they seem to understand because at that age they're still impressionable . More impressionable

Post-COVID Impact on Student Behavior

Greg 3:10

they still and I don't mean this , in fact I said something similar to this last week but I love the way that they jump up in the morning and do whatever the principal tells them to do while they're on the announcements . I don't care about smartphones in the classroom , but obviously when you're in elementary school you don't have them . It does add a different dimension to those young kids , because even the most behaved high school students they've still got their smartphone . I noticed even in the classes last week , the honor students . You can't keep their attention more than about 20 seconds until they're pounding their phone for some reason , or at least glancing at it would be probably a better way of saying it , and it's just kind of refreshing to see the younger kids do that .

Greg 4:06

Now I'll tell you the only reason . I even tried elementary school . I keep blaming things on the COVID break , but sure enough , that time , when we were all off and then had a year of virtual learning that affected a lot of kids , I could trail right away at middle school , which was my favorite school to teach for a long time . You could just tell the batch of new middle schoolers coming in were so immature , bless their hearts . There wasn't a whole lot they could do about it . They just missed a year of socializing , interacting with the other students , and you could really tell sometimes . You know , that same attitude wouldn't get on my nerves in elementary school . It did in middle school , because we got to go on and do more important things and they still had old middle school or I should say elementary school habits and it was impossible to get them to break that . So I finally said , all right , I'm going to try some elementary school . My wife did it for 30 years . Of course I would hear all the stories . You still got to deal with parents . You still got to deal with that occasional kid that doesn't behave himself in school . Sometimes perhaps it's the fault

My First Substitute Teaching Experience

Greg 5:30

of the parents , maybe they needed a little bit more discipline at home , and then you get to flip side . Maybe the only discipline kids ever have is at school . And you know I've been told this by teachers before that you know . I think the kids like you because you're friendly and I think some of them look to you as a father figure and man , that's heavy , that's heavy stuff right there . So all of that Now . I'm going to back up now and go back to six years ago and tell you . I'm going to start with how middle school became my favorite and then we'll go from there on how I think and , you know , I'm not even sure any of these reasons will be a reason for you to like elementary school , but I certainly would encourage you to try it .

Greg 6:17

Way back 2018 , november , first time I ever substitute taught . I loved it . I couldn't . You know . I walked in that day thinking , man , what are these students going to think of me ? Are they going to just think I'm some idiot up here trying to teach them ? Are the teachers going to think I'm some idiot that's inferior to them ? By the time the end of the day was over , the students were telling me oh , mr Collins , can you please come back to our class again ? The teacher the teacher I was subbing for was actually in the building in a meeting all day . She said oh , I'm going to keep you on my list and have you sub for me again . And you know it went great from that point forward .

Greg 7:02

One of the schools that I subbed at several days and already got close to the sixth graders there well , they decided that they wanted me to teach that class , a math class in sixth grade , from a week before spring break until the end of school , and I did just that . I feel like I got so close to those kids . They I'm not sure much how much I taught them , but I think they look back at that year as fondly as I do and doggone it . If those guys aren't seniors this year , I still tell them .

My Favorite Teaching Group

Greg 7:45

Aren't seniors this year , I still tell them , you know , I'm honest with them . I say now , part of it's because you're my first long-term class ever I still look to them as my favorite group of kids that I ever taught .

Greg 7:56

They have a couple of them have already invited me to their graduation . Of course it's a ticketed event . One of the students has told me she's going to give me one of her tickets because they want me to be there . I'll be there . They know that I'll probably cry when I see them for that last time and you know it's so . It's so sad's not the right word . I guess melancholy . I'll get melancholy because I realize that the vast majority of those kids I won't see again ever . They're going to go on with their lives . Maybe I'll run into them at the grocery store or the pharmacy , shoot .

Greg 8:37

Some of them are going into the medical field . It was a standing joke when I subbed a medical pathway one time because they were complaining about how much they had to memorize . I told them I said well , when I get older and older and one of you ends up being my doctor , I want you to know every word on this sheet . So I really got close to them . I'm going to miss them a lot . I think that's . I think I feel like that when they're gone , maybe high school won't be as much fun .

Greg 9:08

Middle school is just not like the way it used to be . Because of that break and the things that you have to settle them

Why Third Grade is My Wheelhouse

Greg 9:20

down from now , it just is no longer my favorite . Elementary school is my favorite . Now I even catch myself classes for middle school and high school that I would have taken in years past . Sometimes I'll let them go for a while to see if anything from elementary school is going to come up Now .

Greg 9:44

I've already noticed difference in grades . I'm going to have to say my wheelhouse is third grade , because every third grade I've done , I loved it . Fourth graders , just one year later , are already starting to develop their attitudes . Some of them are already setting during Pledge of Allegiance and I'm sure that's something their parents told them to do . I don't think they came up with it on their own . But third grade is definitely my wheelhouse . Here's what makes elementary school fun . Now , in our area the break between the grades is the same in that for the grades up through third grade the teacher has the same students for the entire day , other than when they go to activities and lunch and that kind of thing .

Greg 10:43

Once you get to fourth grade and fifth grade , well , they start changing classes . I remember we changed classes when I was in school . We did it in the fifth grade , but it was only because two teachers that were kind of off by themselves . They wanted to do it . We flipped back and forth between those two classes . The rest of the fifth grade students didn't do it . They kind of envious of us . I thought it was kind of fun to do that , but they changed classes .

What Makes Elementary School Special

Greg 11:11

Here's what makes I was going to say recess . Here's what makes elementary school fun . In third grade they have two 15-minute recess classes . Teachers go out with them . They have their fun . I love seeing them experiment with . We used to call them monkey bars . I don't know what they call them now , but they're still out there . They no longer have the 15-foot-tall metal slides that we used to have or all those other things on the playground that would hurt you . In fact , you have as many team sports at recess now , like soccer or shooting some basketball , as a lot more than we had back in the day .

Greg 11:55

But that's two things . That kind of breaks up your day a little bit . You also have an hour each day of activity . So the third grade I did last . They actually had their recess , their first recess . It's 15 in the morning and 15 in the afternoon . Their first recess and then their activity and then there was like 15 minutes of reading before lunch . So you really had like a two-hour period there where the students weren't in the classroom for most of it , and that's kind of a break . I mean the planning period for teachers just about at every school level is during related arts . They call it activity in middle school or I should say in elementary school most of the time art , music , pe , library , those kind of things , and that's really refreshing .

Greg 12:52

So you have the same kids all day long , but there are breaks in there and those kids as the weeks went on I shouldn't say the weeks as those days went on . They would have done anything for me . Every time I told them I needed some help with something , even if it's just passing out papers , they were really falling over themselves to try to help me out before somebody else did . Now there might be some of that in high school . I don't see it very often and I don't fault them for it . It's just older kids don't volunteer as quickly or as enthusiastically . Just to hear them shout out they do a morning class motto and to hear them shout it out so enthusiastic with those little high-pitched voices was so cool .

Greg 13:46

I've gotten to where I really like it a lot the third grade class that I had recently taught for four days in a row , the principal . I knew him before he was a principal . I actually worked with his father at one time but he came in that fourth day like he always does . He always drops by all the classrooms as he makes his rounds and he came in and said how's everybody doing today ? And they enthusiastically answer him and he said are you guys going to miss Mr Collins after today ? And you know they answered right away and that really made me feel good and I'm so glad when I can have an effect . You almost feel . I told this to some high

Try Teaching All Grade Levels

Greg 14:30

school students . At the high school class I said you feel like you can affect their lives in a good way and you know when they're that young . And the high school student told me he said you affected my life too . So you know all these heartstring things that are going on .

Greg 14:48

But I'm here to tell you now that I seek out elementary school . I like to do third grade and higher , but I am going to do it all . If I see a kindergarten or first grade or second grade come up , I'm going to take it . I'm going to experiment with it , see if I like it just as well . You got to make up your own mind . But do all three , do elementary , middle and high school . And even there's an Ignite Academy in our area that does I don't know how I would describe it . You know you learn welding or you learn car repair or you learn how to play the guitar . So all of those classes are out there , along with some business-specific classes , nursing-specific classes , even to the point of getting your CNA so that you can become a nurse's assistant .

Greg 15:34

But anyway , that's my story . That's why elementary school is kind of my gig now . I like to do it best . I like to see those kids I like when I go back and whenever I go in , take the kids to the cafeteria . There's always students from another grade when I first get there and a different grade when I leave and and most of them know me now and they all wave and it's so cool . I don't get as many high schoolers waving at me Some of them do , but some they're too cool for that man . What am I doing waving at an adult ? Anyway , I like elementary school . Now . Give it a try if you haven't already . If you're mainly elementary school , give middle school and high school a try . I surprised myself how much I liked elementary school . No-transcript .