Substitute Teachers Lounge
Substitute Teachers Lounge
Things Substitute Teachers Have to Change for Elementary School
What happens when a teacher accustomed to older students suddenly faces a classroom of elementary schoolers? Everything changes. From the surprising power dynamics to the unexpected emotional responses, teaching younger children demands an entirely different approach.
It is July 18, 2025. This is Substitute Teacher's Lounge. Your host, greg Collins. Today it's still summer Summer's always hard enough to pick topics to talk about, but I watched a movie this week. It was called Blackboard Jungle. It was made in the 60s. It was about a very out-of-control classroom. It stars Glenn Ford as the teacher and, to show you how old this movie is, it's actually got Sidney Poitier as a student and Jamie Farr from MASH as a student, and he didn't even go by that name back then. So it made me think.
Greg:One of the comments was between teachers at the end of the movie. So you know, if you've had a successful school year, the teachers learn as much as the students. So I got to thinking about that. If there was every year, I should learn some things. It was this year because it was my first year of elementary school and we're going to talk about that right now. Substitute Teacher's Loud. All right, all right. I hope you're going to enjoy this today as much as I am. I know I'm going to have fun recording it. It's really not going to be a whole lot of new stuff. It's going to be more an accumulation of things that I've mentioned for the last eight months that I wanted to have right here, concise in one area and you could really subtitle it things I learned last year in elementary school that made me change the way I do things. So that's what we're going to be talking about today.
Greg:We talked about that movie. Blackboard Jungle was a wild bunch of high school students you could say that about Grease, but there's nothing like Blackboard Jungle. Watch it sometime. I mean, it was the kind of classroom atmosphere that I probably would have quit. I would have said I'm not coming back to that school anymore. There was some physical violence going on, but, as always, there was a lesson to be learned from the movie. It was really good.
Greg:I'm an old man. In the summer I get bored sometimes and I start throwing in or turning on I should say, turner Classic movies, and oh, there's some good movies on there that I don't necessarily enjoy them all. I say that about old music too. Them all. I say that about old music too. I don't necessarily love the music, but I love watching and listening to see what was considered entertainment back then. So I'm old and I'm fascinated by stuff like that.
Greg:All right, let's talk first of all about don't promise anything in elementary school I wouldn't promise anything to students anywhere. Sometimes you'll get carried away and you'll say all right, kids, if you do this, we'll do this. I remember it's a church camp story. I got so tired of the kids talking in their room at night and not stopping and I said all right, here's what we'll do. If you will be quiet for half an hour, we will go outside and cause a ruckus. Well, I was sincere, I was going to take them out, but it just so happened that they went to sleep in that half an hour and I didn't have to worry about it. And I remember the college age counselors that were in the at the time I was well, that was pretty smart of him to do that and I'm not sure how smart I was, but it worked In your classroom.
Greg:I wouldn't promise anything that, especially elementary schools. Elementary school students will hold you to everything you say and they will not forget. You can go back two years after you taught them and and they'll say mr collins used to owe me some candy from when we were in the third grade. So don't promise anything unless it's absolutely necessary, because the kids will remind you of that bad language not a whole lot of bad language in elementary school. But at the same time it kind of makes me squirm a little bit more when I hear kids that young, even if they're in the playground saying something, and they'll look up when they say it. They know they shouldn't have said it, and they'll look up at me and they might say sorry before I even say anything. I was in a middle school setting one time where I actually was uncomfortable with what one of the students said and I contacted the principal a principal I greatly admire and I guess they decided just to let it go, because you got to remember, language is very subjective. There's some things that will offend me, that don't offend you all that kind of stuff. You got to be aware of that and as you handle it in the future.
Greg:Speaking of handling things, I made a kid cry once in elementary school and let me tell you what it was, for they know that I don't get loud and if I get loud something is going on. Well, I'll just tell the story exactly the way it happened. It was a third grade class and they were working on some stuff down on the rug and two boys were talking. They weren't mad at each other, but one of them just decided to get up and fart in the kid's face and say that's what I think about you. And I fussed at him and my voice went up and since he wasn't used to my voice being that loud, he cried. Man, I made him cry. Now he learned from that and I will say this I see this student it seems I see him more than most students that I've encountered and he always goes out of his way to speak to me and come up and hug me and wave. I even saw him at a ballpark one time and he ran down to me just to say hello. So you never know what a little discipline means over things like that. A funny story, and I've used this on my right.
Greg:Now I'm coaching an eight to 11-year-old volleyball team. It's a youth training developmental is what we call it volleyball team and every now and then you'll have to work the table for the two other teams that are playing and I'll ask for line judges and two of the girls that I wish had shown a little bit more responsibility, because they do about everything else. They put their finger on their nose and said not it. I've had that happen in the classroom. When it happens in the classroom. Those are the two kids I choose, the first two that put their finger on their nose and not it. Well, guess what they're it? And I'm going to make them do the project. So I told them all right, girls, these two other girls volunteered to do it, but I'm going to make you do it the next game. And they just smiled and didn't know whether I was serious and they're important to the team. And I said or I can put you on the bench. They didn't think I was serious and then they realized I was. So they didn't enjoy it and I joked with them some. I hope they didn't take me seriously because I would kind of say that was your call and all those kinds of things. So the not it, it stuff is over. I took care of that.
Greg:One thing I've changed there are students and you have to be careful, especially starting out. There are students that like you to explain things to them, or just students. You need to tell to be quiet, that you you to explain things to them, or just students you need to tell to be quiet, that you have to get close to them. Well, you know, we hear so much about not getting in people's personal space. Well, unfortunately, middle school students especially use that to their advantage and when they're not working and you get within two feet of them, they're going to use the excuse you're in my personal space. They never even heard a personal space two years ago, but because they've heard of that phrase now, they will use that against you. So I learned from that in that I try not to get closer to a student than two feet. If in fact it's a discipline situation, you're not doing your work. If they need help, I might have to get a little bit closer and you know there's some students, like I said, that will just come up and hug you when you've helped them. I had a couple of my volleyball players come up and hug me. Our season ended this week so a couple of them came up and hugged me. Some of them they're just too old for that and I understood that. But be aware of students' personal space. I learned that more so this year.
Greg:I'll call this next comment. I learned to praise regardless. Don't lie to the student If they just missed every question on a test, don't say you did a good job, or I wouldn't even say. I might say something like did you try your best and see how that goes. But kids need that praise. If you can't praise them on a project they just finished or a assignment they just handed in, find another way to praise them. That pumps them up. It was amazing to me, especially in elementary school. Just saying a few nice things is all the student needs Now. Maybe they don't do perfectly on their next assignment, but I think they'll try harder. They'll help you more in the classroom If you just choose to ask things in a non-threatening way and praise regardless. That's really important to them. Regardless. That's really important to them.
Greg:The last thing that I had to change and it's probably the most important thing, and I know I've talked about this a lot is I had to be careful about the stories I share because, especially in elementary school, if you share a story about a dog or a vacation or something that happened to you outside, every kid in that classroom wants to share a story. So I try now to choose personal stories that are quick, that I can call on two students. Maybe I'll tell them that I said I'm going to pick two students. They can share their stories and move on.
Greg:I have been guilty of in the past sharing too many stories in the classroom and we not get some things done. I actually had one of the more conscientious third graders this year I probably had shared two stories and she actually said Mr Collins, do you think we should get back to work now? And bless her heart, man. She humbled me in a hurry and she was right. So you have to be careful about sharing too many stories, especially with elementary schools, because before you know it, your time is over and they didn't get accomplished what they were supposed to. So that's it. That's some things I learned in my year of elementary school that will help me become a better teacher.
