Advice for Subsitutes

Now that I've been teaching as a regular classroom teacher who uses subs, I have two pieces of advice:

1.  Please, please, please write a note on how your day went, what you did, and any pertinent details.  It really helps to know if you were able to cover the whole sub plan and not only poor behavior, but good behavior in students as well.

2.  If you didn't do something on the sub plan, don't say you did especially if I ask for a deliverable like a poster and I don't see one when I come back in.  I will ask the kids and they will rat you out.

Thank you.  Your notes make a difference and those who write them are ones I ask to come back.

Kindergarten Stories

Me:  Kindergarteners, you will be working with reading and writing partners these next few months. 

Aspiring Cassanova:  (dragging Waif Girl with him)  I wanna girlfriend for my partner!

Me:  I can't help you with a girlfriend, but I can give you a reading partner.  You can have A--- for your partner.

Athletic Strong Boy (aka A---):  (Looms over Aspiring Canssanova and gave him a Don't Even Think About It Glare)

Aspiring Cassanova: (weakly) But I want a girl for my partner.

Me: (Taking advantage of AC's slackened grip to gently disengage Waif Girl and hand her off to Gentle Shy Boy)  You get A---.

Time flies when you are starting a new job

Has it been almost two months since I last wrote?  The days passed in a blur.  So much to do, so much to build, and so much to learn.

The half time was not just a full time job, it was a time and a half job these past two months.  I was expecting the full time but not the full time +.  Last night, I went downstairs to sit and hang out.  It felt incredibly strange to have nothing work related in the evening.  I wonder what my family thought of the past two months.  Then tonight?  Well, here I am with curriculum night tomorrow and I'm OK.  Am I finally settling down and getting into the groove?  Or is this the eye of the storm and my my back willl seize up in excruciating pain when I least expect it tommorrow?

An experienced half time teacher told me a few weeks ago that I need to seize the half time because it is not going to happen otherwise.  So, I'm seizing.  Except, I don't have anything to do now.

Magic Bullets? Secret Formula?

I applied to three times more jobs in my first year and didn't even get an interview.  However, in the last half of this school year, I got interviews for every application I sent.  After two years trying (and pretty vigilantly), how did I finally get the job?  I've been reflecting and wondering what were the key ingredients.

Getting the interview -  My applications where I got interviews were better tailored and reflected more risk taking than the ones where I didn't get call backs.  On my own time, I wrote curriculums and persuaded teachers to let me teach them to their students as a volunteer.  These experiences enabled me to stand out from the crowd.  I also tried to offer my vision of how I would distinguish the job from the vanilla job description.  Whereever possible, I would ask teachers and principals who like my work to put in good words for me.

In the interview - Interviews can make or break you.  As I found out earlier, support from everyone prior to the interview is not a slam dunk for getting the job if I did not wow them when they formally interview me.  I prepped myself with writing every interview question I could remember being used on me.  Since Seattle doesn't allow you to take the interview questions home, I would sit in the car after the meeting and just write down all I remembered them asking.  I collected a good bunch of questions this way and they generally come down to why I would want this job,  a parent question relation question, a student behavior question, how I would address/teach a piece of curriculum, a teaching philosophy/methodology question. 

I thought up clever, humorous vignettes and examples that depict how I excel in each of these areas.  I did better in each successive interview as I would have more prepared stories that are honed and sharp.

Until finally, one day, I scored.

I would love to hear stories of how others find a job in these trying times.  Anyone willing to share?

New Waters

I will be starting as a half time Kindergarten teacher this Fall.

New adventures, new waters, new challenges.  Now I will have my own group of kids to love all year.  I am going to try and keep my substitute status active so I can sub for teacher in my building in the afternoons.

In my not-so-infinite wisdom, my blog site is http://www.adventuresinsubstituting.blogger.com/ which doesn't quite accurately reflect the current situation.  However, I think I will keep it.  The tagline is still correct as I will be teaching AND substituting.  It is still my first few years.   Now I will have perspective from both sides of the table - as a substitute and teacher.

I look forward to it.

Year 2 Reflections

The school year ended 6/21 and I worked until the very last day.  I was so drained it is only now that I can start to reflect on this past school year.

I worked 108.5 days out of 175 instructional days in two school districts.  It was a little more than I had planned to work but I cannot complain.  I was able to volunteer teach some lessons I wrote/adapted (Cool School Challenge sustainability, Chinese Brush Painting) so I got some "just me" teaching fix out of the year.  I was a preferred substitute at several schools so I was able to cherry pick my jobs and I got to know all the kids pretty well which was quite rewarding.

 I had a wonderful year substituting.  While I am still hunting for a "permanent" part time job, I find myself having a hard time thinking about staying put in one place and "leaving" all the wonderful colleagues and kids I met teaching as a sub.  I have all the benefits of teaching during the day (which I love) and coming home unencumbered at the end of the day.  Still, what would it be like to have my own classroom of kids to love?

Positive and Negative Reinforcement

I co-taught with another teacher in an overflow situation.  She had four kids enroll the last three weeks of school and was able to get another teacher in so she can get some help managing the class while she finish testing/preping for the end of the school year.

It was a rare opportunity to observe a peer's different classroom management style.  When there is a conflict or accusation, she would bring the kids to the fore of the class and discipline publicly.  Dispensing justice like a the Queen, the class would watch as she make an example of the accused.

I tend to abstract the process.  With a conflict, I would ask for volunteers to stand in for the culprits and use them to act out what they should do to resolve the problem.  I want to ensure the kids also know what they CAN do, not just what they cannot do.  I would talk to the accused in private.  My goal is to acknowledge that I am aware of the conflict and doing something about it but also to minimize attention to the kids involved.

When I first saw her style of management, I started to consider changing mine.  I felt so good to see justice served so publicly!  Then I noticed lots of tattling - telling on someone just to get them into trouble.  The kids also expected the teacher to solve all the problems.  Then I remembered why I choose positive discipline.  By focusing on behavior, I don't give negative attention; I rather have kids strive for positive attention on their positive behavior.  I also train them to think of solutions and empowering them to be problem solvers. 

Did the classroom (especially the victim) feel a greater sense of justice when the accused was judged publicly?  Yes, I did feel that in the room.  However, I saw kids respond to the positive discipline style with more self sufficiency and more focus on earning praise for their own behavior rather than satisfaction at getting someone else in trouble.  In the long term, that counts for more.