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It is April 16th , 2024

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, greg Collins , substitute Teachers Lounge

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. We are in wind-down

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mode , so we're going to talk about

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what you need to be doing

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this last month

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of the Substitute Teaching

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School Year Substitute

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Teachers Lounge

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. All

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right , I am going to assume

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that I sound as bad as

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I feel . This weekend

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I refereed I guess it

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was 15 volleyball

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matches , so that

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probably put me around maybe 1,000 people

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. I then went to Rupp

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Arena , which is the college basketball

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arena in our area here in Kentucky

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, to be part

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, along with 21,000

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other people , of just kind of welcoming

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our new coach , mark Pope , and

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I'm a bit nostalgic , as are a

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lot of fans . He was on our 1996

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championship team

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, so we were welcoming him back as a coach . But

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regardless of all

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that being around that many people

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I picked up a code somewhere . I

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hope I sound better than I think

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I sound , but either way , we'll get

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through this . We're talking about what

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you need to be doing this last

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month of the school year . First

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, just two or three quick comments about

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last week's episode . No more , mr

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Nice Guy . Well , I

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haven't had a change of heart , but

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I have had some new observances

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, if that's the right word , since

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that episode came out , a couple in the classroom

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, a couple on the volleyball court

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. I substitute taught

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last week every day

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, but one of the days was a half

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days . I got in there and

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they actually asked me if I

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would mind coming in an hour early

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to cover up for a teacher that

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didn't get covered

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. And I said sure . And as

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I was walking up to the classroom I

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heard a teacher who was

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stepping in for me . Until I got there I

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heard him telling them your

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substitute teacher is downstairs right

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now and he'll be right up . And

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I said well , I'm right here . I walked in . Those

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kids cheered for me and

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it kind of embarrassed me a little bit . You

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know here all this talk I've done about how

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students have changed for the worst

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, and here these kids are

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cheering for me . And then I realized

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that I was in a class of juniors and

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seniors , kids that

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I had known since the

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sixth grade , the kids prior

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. I met them prior to the COVID

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break and

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that was the difference in

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my mind . So I stick with what I said

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last week . Then to kind

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of further strengthen where I'm going

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with this this weekend on

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the volleyball court I did mainly two

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groups of students . I did

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what's called 18U , which

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is basically 17 and 18-year-old

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players , and they were methodical

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. They worked very

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quickly . They hustled everywhere

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they went . We played a match

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that was composed of three

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sets 25 , 25 , and

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15 points and

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we got through it in 50 minutes

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and that's amazing . They

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just hustled all the time . Then

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I finished with 14-year-olds

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, which are 13 and 14-year-olds the

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middle school area and

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things couldn't

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have moved more slowly . When

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it was their turn to serve

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, they just walked back

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to their position as

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slow as possible , like everybody's

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got to wait on me and I'm sorry

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and if I've offended parents

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out there of those kids , but and

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these were kids that I didn't even know

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, they were actually from out of state

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and I'm thinking it's almost like

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that COVID break messed

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up everybody everywhere

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in that particular age group

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. I loved coaching their games

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, but it got to the point if they

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weren't going to hustle , I was almost ready to give

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them a yellow card because when they

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were working at the table keeping score

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, I had to put their phones away . It's just

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. It strengthens

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what I said last week . I think

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I'm going to stick with high school

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substitute teaching because

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that middle school piece is

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not as much fun to me anymore

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. Okay , off my soapbox . I don't

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want to hit on that too much

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more , because I talked about it enough last

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week and everybody's entitled to their own opinion

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and I want everybody out there to sub where

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they want to those of you that sub

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elementary school , I

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admire you most because I know I can't

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every time . I , you know , a couple

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of elementary school kids are okay , but

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when there is a group of 20 of them

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all together at the same time with

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their blessed , their hearts , their high-pitched

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voices , their unbridled

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is that the right word Energy

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, it's like we're popping sugar cubes

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into them all the time . I

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don't know if I can handle that . I'll

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stick with the high school students who

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, while they could have an attitude

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if they want , they are at least advanced

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enough that I can have good conversations

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with them All . Right now let's

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talk about some things that you

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want to be doing during your last month

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. One at the top of the list

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, no doubt about it . In fact , coincidentally

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, I got a letter in the mail today from

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our school system just wanting

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me to check a box . Do

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you plan on being a substitute teacher again

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next year ? They want to know where they

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are More and more

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. The school that I taught

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most of the time in the fall man

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. Every day it was like 12 to 15

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substitutes . The school I'm

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teaching , mainly in the spring , is

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not quite that bad , but they're getting

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worse . They're running out of substitute

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teachers . Very rarely

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do I go in now and I'm not asked to cover for

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another teacher during my planning period

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, and very rarely does a

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day go by that I didn't accept a job

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there , that they don't call me to see if I could

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come in that day . So they

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want to know how to plan next year . Now

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what you need to be

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thinking about is how

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you can do that and

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how you shouldn't do that . I'm

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going to start with how you shouldn't , and

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it may be that even

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the majority out there will

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disagree with me . I'll go back

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to my very first substitute

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teacher day . The day

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went well . I've talked about it many times

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. I cut to the

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end of the day and I saw the notes from

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the substitute teacher the day before

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and she had stapled

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a business card to it . A

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business card , now

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, very professional , right ? You

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know , there's probably two reasons I don't like them . One

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is just my bias , because my

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career in business was filled

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up with business cards and I hated

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them , so I was

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not going to create business cards . Now we

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do live in a world today where you can get a

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whole bunch of cards for next to nothing

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and they really don't look that bad

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. You can design them on your computer

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and they look pretty good . Here's

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my feelings , and you're allowed

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to disagree with me . Obviously . I

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think business cards come

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across as a little desperate

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. I really do . If

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you clip a business card to everything

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in sight , first

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of all business cards get

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lost and you

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might have your neat little email address

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on there , and some teachers do

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like to see that your phone number

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, all that kind of thing . Here's

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what I chose to do

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instead , and for the most

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part , I am at the top of

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enough teachers' favorite

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substitute list now that I usually

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don't have to seek out a job . I

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have enough just from them calling

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me . So here's what I would do

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. Everybody likes

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that handwritten note . You

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like receiving handwritten notes ? Business

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cards are shortcuts . They are

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. I'm going to do what

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I can do in the quickest way possible

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, especially if you don't leave any notes for the teacher

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, and that's a little lazy

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. I think it comes across as lazy

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. Here's what I would recommend Make

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sure this last month , every

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substitute teacher job

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you go to , you

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leave some good notes . Now

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, there's going to be times . I usually don't leave too many bad notes , but there will be times when

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you'll need to . I would encourage you to do this just to keep the teacher reading

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. You might think it's a good idea

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to leave the bad notes

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first and then follow them by

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the good notes . There's some

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teachers that if you start out too negative

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, they may not even read your

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whole paper . So I

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think you start with the good notes

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first and that

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will make the teacher feel good about

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your day . Close

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with the more

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negative notes in

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such a way that they're diplomatic

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. You don't just say what

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happened , you say you

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don't just say what happened , you say here's how I would have you know , here's what I consider

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doing . Would that have been okay ? Give some ideas , make it a very

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positive impression and then , the most

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important part sign

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your name . Make

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sure your signature is readable

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and put your phone

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number down there . I get most

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of my substitute teacher jobs from

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text

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messages . Now you might say well

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, greg , all that's on the business card . Why

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don't I just do that ? And you

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answered your own question . Because

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if you just throw a business card down there

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sometimes they're a little busy and

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I think the teacher would remember your number more if you wrote them a handwritten note they might

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put it in their phone and they'll have it from that point forward

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and hopefully you'll be on their substitute

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teacher list that way . The

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next thing is a little bit more

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vague . I'll just say

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it like this build

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back the bridges that

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you burned down . And

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I say all this if you made some teachers

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upset , if you made some students

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upset , think about

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some ways now , not artificial ways

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, not hokey ways , where it's apparent

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what you're doing , that you're trying to

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just get them back on your side

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. But don't be so stubborn

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that if you had a run-in with a teacher or

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run-in with a student that you don't encounter

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them again , don't go out of your way . But if you encounter

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them in the hallway , speak to them

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. Make sure

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they know that you are still

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willing to talk to them at every

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opportunity , especially if it's a student

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you have in class . Walk

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by other students first , ask

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them how they're doing . If they need any help , make

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sure you ask that student first

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. Obviously , if you walk up to them first . They're

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going to know what you're doing . So that's

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what I would suggest , and

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especially with teachers . Now , teachers are

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adults . They might hold grudges longer

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than the students do In fact I know they do

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. So make

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sure that you

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do something for those teachers . Maybe

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you bring in some donuts , not just

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for the teacher you made mad , but

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hand them out when that teacher

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is around and make sure that you

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go to that teacher and give them

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a donut or whatever else . If

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you see that teacher carrying

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some items , asked to help them , do

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whatever you

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need to do to make them

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realize . Okay , I realize we

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didn't get off on the right foot here , but

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that's in the past , let's just go from here

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, okay . Okay , I might

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follow this up next week with some more suggestions

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. We'll see . I might have another interview , but

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my voice is wearing

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out . We'll call that a week and

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I hope I at least planted some ideas

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in your head about what

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to be doing this last month . In

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fact , why don't

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you post some ideas

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on the Substitute Teachers Lounge

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Facebook group and I will

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read those and include those in

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next week's episode ?