Substitute Teacher Has Advice

[kpete]

I have an idea. Everyone who has joined the berate teachers bandwagon should be required to subteach K-8 for a few days and report back on their findings.


LOL!!!
more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/30/961586/-Lazy-Tax-Leech-Teachers,-A-Substitutes-Story

[One_Life_To_Give]

1. Not that Please!!

Bamboo under the fingernails
Waterboarding
Anything but that
:scared:

[kpete]

2. nothing can prepare you...

and these are angels compared to high school.
peace, kpete

[no_hypocrisy]

6. When I returned to substitute teaching, I specifically requested middle school kids.

At that time of my life, I was more than ready for them. Never raised my voice, never sent someone out of the classroom. Just the opposite. They listened to me. I was starting to wonder if they were setting a trap, but I was assured that we all had an understanding. One of the kids in my travels later turned out to be Nick Jonas. Who knew?

[roguevalley]

14. one day when my first grade had a party a dad showed up and helped.

he walked around pouring punch and (he was a doctor) and he finally went to the back door and stared out at the playground for a long, long time. I finally asked if he was okay. he turned and looked at me and said, "I do not understand how you do this. I will never ever understand it." I have never forgotten that. :)

[One_Life_To_Give]

8. Duct Tape and Plastic Sheets

Wrap myself up with Duct Tape and Plastic sheets instead. Or atleast see how big a block of Sodium I can get to flush down the toilet and pray it's someone elses job when school reopens.

I can't imagine trying to do your job. Don't let me try, I might turn into a serial parent killer.
Best leave me with my transistors.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. There are two reasons I didn't choose teaching as a profession

1. Teenagers
2. Pre-teens

Not everyone is cut out for that work environment. Give me a nice quiet iron foundry or steel mill any day.

:hi:

[Broken_Hero]

4. Subbing is a riot

I definitely recommend that everyone try it, at least once....:D

[okieinpain]

5. they really should. I would love to see some of these "teachers are

the problem people". spend a week running a class, my daughter is a middle school teacher in a middle class area and I can't find one single reason why she keeps teaching.

[auntsue]

10. The reason a teacher keeps at it is the indescribable

feeling when you see the light go on in a kids eyes - it means they "get it" and to know that you helped that happen - well it's just a rush. In September the class is a squirrilly mess and by Christmas they become a group - working together. By March things really gel- they know what to expect - by June they're gone and you start all over next year. It really is a kind of rush to help kids learn, it's even a good feeling when a "challenging" kid turns around and becomes cooperative. This kind of "reward" is unique to a few jobs but unfortunatly landlords, car loans, and grocery stores require cash.

[TahitiNut]

7. I came in as a substitute in my teaching job (1st job out of college) ...

... and it was tough sledding for the first week or two. Boy's Catholic high school ... math ... and by the time I left, I LOVED it. But it just didn't pay. $5,000/year just wasn't enough to live on, even in the late 60s. The job I then took paid over $8,700 (a 74% increase) ... and that was "entry level."

Looking back, teaching was the job I loved most. It's REAL.

Even 2-3 years later, I'd be approached in public by former students just saying "Hi." (I needed no other evidence that I did a good job.)

[no_hypocrisy]

9. + 1 Being recognized by the kids in public is true validation.

[TahitiNut]

15. Yup. There are "ticker-tape parade" moments in teaching.

One was when a kid, one of those sit-in-back and try to skate through types, after a particularly focused (and troika-structured) class on a concept ("function" of an angle) in trigonometry where I designed three separate approaches to treating the concept (concluding that each approach would have a different 'audience' due to learning biases) ... gave out with an involuntary "Ohhhh!"

He got it. It was in his eyes. I was successful.

In my head, I was cruising down Broadway in a blizzard of ticker-tape and cheering crowds.

It's the kind of reward few have experienced ... few who never taught.



Like I say ... it was a job I loved.

[MedicalAdmin]

11. My first teaching job was part time in 2 schools...

Catholic schools. And for that I got paid $9000 for 9 months. Needless to say I also tossed boxes for UPS and waited tables on weekends. This was in 1992. So salaries haven't moved up much.

I'm not a teacher anymore, but yah - it was great for a while after I got a good job in a public school full time in one building and then... the rug fell out of the funding and I moved on. I also used to work in a prison. Prison is easier than Junior high and you couldn't pay me enough to do kindergarten.

[trof]

12. Miz t. and I volunteered last year. Working with kindergarten kids.

Our town (and county, and state) school system is bankrupt.
State funds drastically cut.
Local tax income way down.
(Foreclosures, recession; property and sales taxes down)
All teacher's aides and many support personnel laid off.
Volunteers are manning the elementary school library, mowing the grass, cleaning halls and bathrooms, and serving as teacher's aides.

Miz t. is terrific at it.
She can really relate to the 5 year olds.
And they love her.

Me?
Not so much.
Just don't have the patience.
I'd rather clean toilets.
:-(

Some of them, boys especially, have attention spans you would have to measure in nanoseconds. I've seen squirming and contortions I wouldn't have believed was physically possible.
:eyes:

A few kids don't know their ABCs yet.
You can tell they don't have much, if any, support at home.
My 3 year old granddaughter can at least recite them and sing the ABC song.

We've had a huge influx of Hispanic kids.
Many start with zero English, so that makes it doubly tough.

On the plus side, as Miz t. teaches them English (through osmosis, I guess), she's picking up some Spanish.
:thumbsup:

Postscript: Our current all-repug, all the time, state government has declared war on the teachers union.
And so it goes.
:grr:

On edit: Miz t. is still at it this year.
She's a glutton for punishment.
I'm cleaning toilets.
:-)

[hunter]

13. When I was teaching in a big city...

... I'd see subs sitting down in their classrooms crying when the last bell rang. Sometimes subs would go home early and I'd have to cover their classes during my prep period. "Prep" period, ha ha. My entire life became my prep period.

On my own bad days when the kids went home I'd be quietly sweeping my classroom and decompressing for a long time before I went to the office to sign out. Okay, no, I'm not going to quit today.

It was the most difficult job I've ever had, and I've had some bad jobs. With practice I'm sure I'd have been a better teacher, but I wasn't sure I'd survive that long.

The coolest subs I've met tell me they NEVER follow the teacher's lesson plan. They are actors or comedians putting on a show. If the lesson plan fits into their act, good, but if it doesn't, so what? They are there, the teacher is not.

When I was in high school there was a sub we called the mortician. He was too scary to mess with. He always saw through even the mildest foolishness such as swapping seats and pretending to be someone else. He wore black and he never expressed any emotion. I've always wondered if this was his act or if he was some cousin of the Grim Reaper.