Success Part II

How do you know if you're a good sub, an average sub, or a terrible sub? That's basically the question I was reflecting on in my last "success" post. As a sub, you don't get much feedback from anyone (other than the kids), and they're pretty subjective. Granted I've seen a variety of subs in action; once, when I was in high school, I watched a truly amazing sub whip my unruly business elective class back into shape. On the other hand, I've seen some really bad subs during graduate school when I was doing my field observations, the worst being the guy who came in to the class, sat down in the far corner of the room, pulled out a novel, and completely ignored the kids for the rest of the period. I've probably written about him elsewhere, as he is my poster child for what NEVER to do as a substitute teacher.

This description of a BAD sub from Hedgetoad (http://hedgetoad.blogspot.com) was rather reassuring to me, for those times when I wonder how my efforts are perceived by others:

"Soulja Girl is our bottom of the list sub. The absolute bottom...My first year, she was my sub for one day. During that day she probably read over 200 pages of the latest bodice-ripper. The students violated my stuffed cougar, did not work, ran about the building screaming and lit books on fire. She didn't notice. The vice-principal also stood on the doorway for over 20 minutes and she NEVER even looked up. You think she would have noticed the sudden silence... but apparently not...Earlier this year she subbed and instead of doing class work (or God forbid, teach), the students taught her how to do the Soulja Boy dance. They filmed it with their phones. I'm really surprised it's not on YouTube - I was shown it at least four times...Even more scary? She's the only "fully-qualified" sub we have."

Wow. Makes you feel pretty good, doesn't it?

Being a sub is different from being a classroom teacher in many ways. You occupy the same physical space, but never at the same time. This analogy also carries over into the divergent nature of your duties. Because you don't have established relationships and an audience that already knows your expectations, it affects the flavor of your priorities on the job. You don't have the benefit of knowing any of the things a normal classroom teacher takes for granted. Your main concern isn't the curriculum, meeting benchmarks, or anything even remotely academic. You are there to carry out a plan and make sure nobody does anything crazy, stupid, or illegal. My priorities when I'm subbing are as follows:

1. Chaos prevention (unflinching and relentless enforcement of major school rules and whole class behavior management as needed). While necessary for the classroom teacher as well, this takes on a heightened importance when you're a sub.

2. Individual student behavior management: Once the rest of the class is settled and on track, I go after the small infractions like the kid I see slipping an earphone in his ear, or a girl who has stealthily slipped her phone out and is starting to text someone. If no one is allowed to "get away" with anything, the group stays much happier and focused. Unlike a lot of subs, I don't use these occasions as a time to "make an example" out of kids. I just quietly talk to the offender. I really think this is better because you don't end up with hostile feelings in the room, and you deprive offenders of an audience. Honestly, the only time I ever make an example out of someone is when they are blatantly rude.

3. Controlling the pacing of the class period to ensure that lesson plans and all assigned work are distributed to the students, and they have the opportunity and resources to complete everything that's assigned during class. The goal is coverage.
It's very important for the teacher (in most cases) for the students to stay on track academically, so I try to make sure that they have the chance to do so. Whether the students do their part is up to them.

4. Making the students actually do the work (whether they want to or not). For me this isn't necessarily priority number one--unless they are actively creating a distraction. As a sub, behavior trumps academics. I'm less concerned about the kid who has decided not to work, as long as it's a quiet rebellion. If a kid would rather sleep in class, decides to read a book quietly, or draw pictures in their notebook, that's not something I'm going to waste energy fighting. I remind them that the work is "for real" and is due either at the end of the class, or upon the next class meeting, but I let it go at that. It's their choice, and if their choice doesn't affect anyone but them, that's fine with me.

5. Assuming all of the other objectives have been met, sometimes, with the right group, I do things that are "FUN". We play educational games. We have group conversations. We have contests. We listen to music. We do arts and crafts. We write group stories. We tell jokes. These are the most fun times for me because it's a time when I get to know the kids a lot better. Not every group can handle this but I've had more than a few that could, and ironically it's often with the "behavior kids". Go figure...

Some days as a sub, I only achieve 1-3, and that's okay. For some situations that's the best you can hope for. In my most nightmarish days as a sub, achieving 1 & 2 would be totally sufficient. My most successful days, to me are when I make it up to level 5, but you don't get those kind of days real often. For one, you have to have a group that has learned how to function well together, and all of the information you need to be successful as a stranger to the room (seating charts, lesson plans, solid directions).

I've actually had some pretty good feedback from other classroom teachers, not just the kids. Mainly it's something to the effect of "The kids respond very well to you", or "The kids really seem to like having you here", or "You did a really good job of getting (kid) to (do something)". It certainly is nice to hear that, but I guess I also want specific feedback since this is a learning time for me. I guess I just need to dig a bit deeper when I have these conversations...I feel like it's a situation where I need to make the most of the "learning" opportunities presented to me, since I do enjoy doing this (more than I would have thought). Like I told a math teacher once, This IS my job and I DO take it seriously.