0:00

We have had so many new subscribers

0:02

in the last couple of years that I'm

0:04

going to play an archive episode

0:07

from before that . Since

0:09

we've had this podcast for five years , I

0:12

want you to hear some

0:14

of the episodes that made

0:16

this podcast popular

0:18

. So enjoy this archive

0:21

episode this week

0:23

that you probably have never heard before

0:25

. All right , I made it through six

0:27

periods of my day . Here

0:30

it comes , period seven . It's going to be a good day

0:32

. The kids love me so far , and

0:35

then the troublemaker shows up . What do

0:37

we do ? We're into double digits

0:39

. Next , episode 10 , substitute

0:41

teachers lounge . Man

1:01

, this is so cool . You guys have been so great

1:04

as far as this podcast is concerned

1:06

. It's grown through all

1:08

10 episodes , but now it's kind of growing

1:10

exponentially . I mean , I see growth

1:12

every day . So far

1:15

, my interview with Ms Sheffield

1:17

a couple of weeks ago is the most popular

1:19

episode so far , but they're

1:22

all continue to climb . Even the

1:24

very first episode , I

1:26

guess new people come in and start listening

1:28

to all the episodes . That one continues

1:30

to climb too . So I'm really excited

1:32

and again , I want this to be

1:34

your lounge . I want this to be where you

1:37

share your ideas . Some of you have

1:39

done that , but I still want to take it to a level

1:41

that you know . Maybe I can

1:43

either talk about what you want to talk

1:45

about or have you come on and talk

1:47

about what you want to talk about . Let me

1:49

remind you my email address is

1:52

Greg Collins , substitute

1:54

at gmailcom . But

1:56

let me also mention my Twitter

1:58

account . A lot of you are on Twitter . I

2:01

don't do a whole lot of posting yet

2:03

on Twitter . I do more listening

2:05

or reading than I do posting . But

2:08

my Twitter account is at subteachlounge

2:13

. That is S-U-B-T-E-A-C-H-L-O-U-N-G-E

2:18

sub at subteachlounge

2:20

. So I would love to get

2:22

a post from you guys on there . I

2:24

would love for you to participate in that

2:27

way , and we've got

2:29

a lot of good things planned in the future

2:31

, so please participate . Even

2:33

the substitute teacher is driving me

2:35

crazy . I was all excited that

2:37

I had three of the first four days

2:39

scheduled to sub days three , four

2:42

and five so I just knew

2:44

that I was going to be subbing forever

2:46

. Day six came along and

2:48

I did turn down one

2:51

substitute job at an elementary

2:53

school . I promise you elementary

2:55

subs . I will do that one day

2:57

. All it said was elementary

2:59

school . I'm a little bit nervous

3:02

about teaching less than grade

3:04

four , so I've got to get

3:06

better at that . But I turned that one down

3:08

and nothing else popped up . Then

3:11

nothing else on Thursday or Friday

3:13

. So I'm going crazy . You know

3:15

I'm setting home my fifth grade

3:17

wife teacher tells

3:19

me that you know it's August , everybody

3:21

is showing up to teach at her school too

3:23

. And to make

3:25

it worse , I'm a volleyball official and

3:28

I see these kids that I've taught

3:30

when they're on the volleyball court . So

3:32

they're coming up to me and saying , mr

3:34

Collins , when are you going to substitute Teach

3:37

our class again ? So it's absolutely killing

3:39

me . I hope you're getting lots of work Now

3:41

, as I say that I've signed up for

3:43

three sub jobs this morning

3:45

. So it's , it's going to go away . I'm just

3:48

going to have to tolerate it , and I , I

3:50

, I , as you , enjoy substitute

3:53

teaching . We've got a lot of good

3:55

stuff to talk about . I want to share with

3:57

you my experience

3:59

from my substitute teaching on Tuesday

4:02

, from two aspects . One

4:04

is the opening teaser One

4:07

. Now , I overstepped it a little bit

4:10

. I wouldn't actually call

4:12

this a troublemaker's student

4:14

, really , but some of you guys

4:16

would , because we're all different and you

4:19

define troublemakers in different

4:21

ways . But let's start off by

4:23

just when I showed up in

4:25

the classroom before the students even

4:28

got there . You have heard me say

4:30

before that I really

4:32

prefer going into a class

4:34

kind of blind and not knowing

4:37

what kind of students I'm going to have . I'm

4:40

not real crazy about looking at

4:42

another teacher's notes , or

4:44

even the teacher's notes . I

4:46

guess I'm okay with looking at them , but

4:48

I really want to make up my own mind

4:51

as far as a student goes . So let

4:53

me tell you what happened to me . I walked into the classroom

4:55

evidently this teacher this

4:58

was her second day off and there was a different

5:00

substitute in there yesterday

5:02

. So she left

5:04

six pages of notes about

5:07

the classroom . Now , I'm okay with that . She

5:10

shared absences . It's not

5:12

what I do , believe me . She

5:14

shared absences . She shared

5:16

good things about the students , and

5:19

then there was one period where she wrote

5:21

down . You know the kids were

5:23

loud , obnoxious

5:26

. I couldn't figure out any way to get

5:28

them under control . I almost wrote

5:30

two kids up . So I gotta

5:32

tell you guys . First of all , I probably shouldn't have read

5:34

it , but it was right out on the desk and

5:37

you know how curious he is . I had to read

5:39

it and you

5:41

know that I don't want to make up my

5:43

mind on students . So I had to decide

5:46

what I'm going to do . So this particular

5:48

period , I decided

5:50

that I was going to encourage them

5:53

to be the best period of the day . All

5:55

the kids that I come in contact with , as

5:58

I've told you , I always tell

6:00

them that I'm not one

6:02

that leaves notes for

6:04

the teacher about the worst class of

6:06

the day . I'm one that leaves notes

6:09

to the teacher about what I consider

6:11

the best class of the day . And

6:13

when that class came in , I

6:15

didn't tell them what

6:18

the teacher wrote . I didn't approach it that way

6:20

, but I did tell them this . I don't

6:22

know what reputation you guys think

6:24

this period has , but let me tell you

6:26

what I told all the other periods . I

6:29

always leave a note for the teacher

6:31

to tell me what the best period of

6:34

the day was . And I

6:37

want that guy that guy to be you guys , because

6:39

I want the period to reflect this

6:42

particular period . I want to

6:44

show the teacher that you guys

6:47

really have it going on Now

6:49

. I know that you're freshman and

6:51

you're talkative , and so was I when

6:53

I was a freshman , but let's work together

6:55

and make the talking productive

6:58

. And they did real well and

7:00

I wanted them

7:02

to be my best class of the day and they were

7:04

. I didn't make it up , I didn't fudge

7:06

the numbers , so to speak , to make sure they came

7:09

out on top , but they did

7:11

so well . They worked in groups . So they

7:13

still talked a lot , but they worked in groups

7:15

and every group I looked at was getting

7:17

their work done . In fact they did so

7:19

well . I asked one of them

7:21

you know who's the smartest

7:23

student in here , who's a good writer ? And

7:26

a couple of them raised their hands and then I

7:28

said why don't one of you write

7:30

me some notes about what you would

7:32

like me to say , or leave

7:35

for your student teacher to read tomorrow

7:37

? So they did and they were

7:39

very diplomatic . They didn't say we

7:42

were the best students in the world , they

7:44

just said they were very good about dropping

7:47

teaching in there . They said Mr Collins

7:49

, let us work

7:51

together . He let us talk as

7:53

long as we were getting our job done . We'd

7:56

like to have him back as a substitute

7:58

. And it worked exactly the way

8:01

I had hoped . Now I don't know

8:03

about you we're all different , but

8:05

I , as I like I said , when I came in and

8:08

saw that paper , I considered it a challenge

8:10

. I wanted that trouble period

8:13

from the day before to be

8:15

my best class , and that's the way

8:17

I approached it . You know , I know you all

8:19

have probably heard the old story about

8:21

a new teacher . I don't

8:23

know if it's fictional or not , but a new teacher

8:25

was given told about two classes

8:27

One , they said , was a very

8:30

low achieving class , one was a high

8:32

achieving class and that teacher

8:34

taught them in different ways , she

8:37

looked at them in different ways and

8:39

really it was just a test because

8:41

neither of the class were high achievers

8:44

and neither of the class

8:46

were low achievers and it

8:48

caused her to react differently to

8:50

both classes . I try not to

8:52

do that . I you

8:55

know , some classes have reputations . When

8:57

you go in as a sub , I would encourage

8:59

you to do your best not

9:01

to go in expecting the bad

9:04

but shooting for

9:06

the good . I like to word it Each

9:08

day is a new experience . Yesterday

9:11

is over . Even if you've had this class

9:13

before and you remember your troublemakers

9:15

, you know , maybe a

9:18

little extra encouragement is all

9:20

they need to pull them over to your side

9:22

. As you know , I don't come in

9:24

there and immediately act

9:27

like I'm the big boss . I usually

9:29

come in and make comments like you

9:31

know I'm . I'm not here , you know

9:33

, free . You're not here for me , I'm

9:36

here for you . I want this to be your experience

9:38

. I want to learn right alongside

9:40

you and we can all grow together

9:43

and we can all be sympathetic

9:45

to each other's needs . And they

9:48

know I like to have a debate or two

9:50

at the end of class and I think they respect that

9:52

. So that worked out well that day . So

9:55

let's talk about the quote . Unquote

9:58

troublemaker last period

10:00

of the day . Let me give you a little background

10:03

. This was a class

10:05

that the teacher chose to leave

10:07

a lot of work . I didn't need

10:09

. You know how I am , I like to have a few minutes

10:11

of my own , but we really didn't do that

10:14

. I didn't want to take away From

10:16

their class time so

10:18

it would minimize the amount of homework they

10:20

had at the end of the day . So there was a lot of work

10:22

in that regard and there was

10:24

some grumblings because some

10:26

of them didn't want to do that much work . Some of

10:28

them just quietly jumped in and did it anyway

10:31

. So you know you're typical

10:33

. Students will react in different

10:35

ways . You'll have some that don't complain

10:37

. You'll have some that complain but do it , and

10:39

then you'll have some that . Just it's

10:42

hard for them to get motivated to do

10:44

it . So as we were progressing

10:46

through the day , one student

10:49

said something he shouldn't

10:51

. Now I'll be honest with you

10:53

. You know that I am a retired accountant

10:55

. I am not a retired

10:57

teacher . I know that a lot of you all

11:00

you guys are either substituting On

11:03

your way to a full time teaching job

11:06

, or perhaps you're a retired teacher

11:08

that loves those kids so much

11:10

you went back to substitute , teach

11:12

some more to keep , you know , keep close

11:15

to the kids and do that kind of thing . So

11:18

in one regard , a lot of you , I'm

11:20

guessing , knows a lot more about

11:22

protocol and what

11:25

, how you should handle different things that happen in your classroom

11:27

. Then I do

11:29

and , to be honest , maybe

11:32

that gives me a little bit

11:34

more freedom , or maybe I'm

11:36

taking freedom whether I deserve it or not and

11:39

try some different approaches with these kids

11:42

, even when they have

11:44

to kind of shift into disciplinary mode

11:46

. So this particular kid Said

11:49

, said something he shouldn't have , and

11:51

there was a reaction from

11:54

the class . It wasn't terrible

11:56

, but it's obviously obvious

11:58

. They couldn't believe that he said it . So he

12:02

said it again after I had told

12:05

him not to say it again . Now the

12:07

immediate reaction from

12:09

a lot of you and to be honest

12:11

, it was my initial reaction as well . I

12:15

basically said OK

12:17

, I had given you the warning , let's go

12:20

. I chose one of

12:22

the kids that I thought was responsible

12:24

to set with the classes for the high school area again , by the way , and

12:29

I noticed there was a very

12:31

strange look on the young gentleman's

12:33

face . The second

12:36

time he said it . He didn't get near the class

12:38

reaction that he got the first time . I

12:42

think the reason he said it the second

12:44

time is because it he

12:46

got attention the first time he said it from

12:48

the rest of the class . The second time they just basically ignored

12:50

him and ignored him and couldn't believe that he had said it again . So

12:55

I looked at him and I could tell his expression

12:58

changed and I said

13:00

OK , let's do it this way

13:02

. You get your work back

13:04

out and start working on it again

13:06

and we'll see if we can

13:08

go from here now . He

13:10

didn't smile , but he did change

13:13

his attitude and he was

13:15

quiet . The rest of the class , in

13:17

fact . I continued

13:19

to glance at him from time to time

13:21

and I noticed that none

13:24

of the other classmates were any longer

13:26

giving him any attention and

13:28

he was sitting there kind of like a loner and I

13:30

think it made him think twice

13:32

about possibly doing

13:35

that in the future . So I didn't

13:37

get him in trouble . I'm

13:39

sure that there are other students

13:42

that have been written up , sent to the office

13:44

, whatever , for saying the same

13:46

things that he did . But I

13:48

chose not to do that and

13:50

I think it did him a little bit of good . I

13:52

noticed that as the class progressed

13:55

he at least started on his

13:57

work . He didn't make any more comments

13:59

, didn't say a whole lot of anything . He

14:01

didn't try to push the point . He

14:03

didn't try to challenge me any longer

14:06

. He just tried his

14:08

best , given his abilities

14:10

, to finish as much of the work as possible

14:12

, just like the other classmates

14:14

. So we went through the rest of the period

14:17

. Everything else went fine . I didn't

14:19

hear another word out of him . One

14:22

thing I noticed is , since it

14:24

was the end of the day , usually once

14:26

that announcements go up or

14:28

are set over the intercom , they start

14:31

lining up at the front door and

14:33

I kind of kept an eye on him to

14:35

see you know what he was

14:37

doing . He really didn't talk to anybody

14:40

. He walked over and

14:42

I was standing close to the front door and

14:45

he actually came over

14:47

and stood right next to me and

14:49

was very subdued . In fact he kind of

14:51

gave me a nod like a smile

14:53

and that was it . Now

14:56

I'm not going to begin to sit

14:58

here and tell you that I think I

15:00

changed that kid's life , but

15:02

you know , it went from the possibility

15:04

of dragging him to the office

15:06

, getting him in trouble

15:08

, and instead I

15:11

chose to give him another chance and

15:13

I think that helped him

15:16

in the long run . I'd love to

15:18

hear your thoughts about when things like that

15:20

have challenged or have challenged

15:22

you . I think maybe there's different

15:24

grade levels , that perhaps you have to

15:26

speak a different way . I've heard some

15:29

words say , as an example , I've

15:31

heard some words said in high school that I realized

15:33

the kids that were saying them were talking

15:35

to their friends and I would go up to

15:37

them and say listen , I can't tell

15:39

you to talk outside of what , how to talk outside

15:42

of this class , but don't talk

15:44

like that within , where you know close

15:46

enough to me , where I can hear it , because that really doesn't

15:48

belong in the classroom . Every

15:51

time I have done that probably done that about

15:53

a half a dozen times They've all said

15:55

I'm sorry , yeah , I shouldn't say that in

15:57

here , and I could go into a big speech

15:59

about how you really shouldn't say that anywhere . But who

16:01

am I to judge them ? I just

16:03

tell them that we can't tolerate that in the classroom

16:06

. So I actually came out of that

16:08

day feeling well , because

16:11

that student that I

16:13

could have labeled as a troublemaker

16:15

sent him to the office . All that good

16:17

stuff ruined his day , ruined

16:20

my . It would have ruined my day too , for that matter

16:22

. I gave him the second chance . He

16:25

seemed to react positive to

16:27

it , got some work done and

16:29

gave me a nod on his way out of the

16:31

room . So maybe , just maybe

16:33

, when I get the opportunity

16:36

to teach him again , you know

16:38

, maybe he'll look at me a little bit differently

16:40

. Not that I would tolerate

16:43

things like that . If he did it again , I think

16:45

he knows that the next time I would have

16:47

to . You know , if he forces my hand I would have

16:49

to do something . But maybe for that

16:51

just that little short period of time

16:53

, maybe it paid off

16:56

and did him a little bit of good , and

16:58

if it did , I'm glad for that . It's

17:00

interesting at this particular school

17:02

as I mentioned , it was a high school . You

17:05

know , they've always had a policy

17:07

, up until this year , that

17:10

the students could have their cell

17:12

phones right out in the class . Now , to me

17:14

, a smart teacher takes

17:16

that and comes up with

17:18

some activities to

17:20

use their phone so

17:23

that they're not just texting on their phone

17:25

. Now , they're not supposed to text but , let's face

17:27

it , a lot of them do , a

17:29

lot of them , you would see , with an earphone

17:31

in their ear , one ear so that they can hear at

17:34

the other . And I'll be perfectly honest

17:36

, I know a lot of you do not like that

17:38

. That doesn't bother me

17:40

. I'm not sure any of the noise

17:42

bothers me , as long as

17:44

they're getting their work done . In

17:46

fact , this year that

17:48

high school changed their policy . So

17:50

no more cell phones , they have to

17:53

hang them on the wall . I'm not sure

17:55

if it's true , but it sounds like it was

17:57

because maybe one teacher

17:59

got upset and caused such a stink

18:01

. I don't know this for sure , but that's

18:03

the rumor I had heard and for that reason

18:06

there's no more cell phones . And it's

18:08

kind of ironic that a

18:10

lot of these students I had several

18:12

freshmen this particular day and

18:14

a lot of them remembered me when I taught

18:17

their middle schools . There are three

18:19

middle schools that funnel into this high

18:21

school and I taught most of the kids

18:23

in there . So they remembered me and

18:26

also remembered me saying , when they

18:28

were in middle school and they were eighth

18:30

graders , that just think , guys

18:32

, next , next year , you're being high

18:34

school and you'll get to look forward to being

18:37

able to hang on to your cell phones

18:39

and to get away from dress

18:41

codes . So they were excited

18:43

about that . And then , lo and behold

18:45

, here we are . They changed the policy and they can't

18:47

have cell phones . Personally , my

18:50

initial reaction is

18:52

that it's caused more harm

18:54

than good cause

18:57

. It really puts the teachers on the spot

19:00

to police some

19:02

additional things that they didn't have

19:04

to do before . It is

19:06

really a difficult policy

19:09

to uphold . You

19:11

have to I mean , let's face it

19:13

even though you tell those kids to put

19:15

their cell phones in slots . Not

19:18

all the kids have cell phones

19:20

and some of them will claim that they don't

19:22

when they've really got it stuck in their pocket

19:25

. So it is so

19:27

difficult to police . Only

19:29

the good students are the ones that are going

19:31

to abide by the policy . The others will try

19:34

to get away with as much as they

19:36

can . It'll be interesting

19:38

to see how the year progresses and

19:40

how they feel it went

19:42

, how they were able to carry

19:45

out the policy and See

19:47

if it continues to be that way next

19:49

year . I'm gonna take a wild guess

19:51

that maybe they change it back , but I don't

19:53

know . Apparently , the teacher that

19:56

complained had a right to complain . They

19:58

she felt that they were using them too much

20:00

for non-class things . I'm

20:03

not sure why . There was only a handful of teachers

20:05

that thought that , apparently , the other

20:07

teachers were had come up with

20:09

some kind of way to make it much better . But

20:12

that's one of the things that really caused

20:14

some problems and I think that the Classes

20:17

I taught , they were so

20:19

upset about it that it really

20:21

bothered them it . You

20:23

know , when I tried to debate just a little

20:26

bit , that was the topic they wanted to come

20:28

up with and they basically

20:30

say and I agree with this point that

20:32

they want to be considered

20:34

adults now and they

20:36

want to be able to make up their

20:38

own minds in that regard . I

20:41

won't disagree or agree with that

20:43

statement , but I think they

20:46

have the right to make it . So it'll

20:48

be interesting to see how that goes , and I would

20:50

love to hear your comments too . In

20:52

fact , it kind of makes me wonder , you know , do

20:55

we sometimes Over-concentrate

20:59

on compliance to policies

21:01

and Therefore undermine

21:04

our abilities to get those

21:06

students engaged because they're so

21:09

distracted about what they have to do ? But

21:11

that's a discussion probably

21:13

for another day . You know , and it's

21:15

interesting , one of the other topics I

21:17

talked about to the high school

21:20

kids In fact , as I

21:22

recall , it was the period that

21:24

the Previous substitute had left the

21:26

bad notes about that . I tried to encourage

21:28

to be the good class . I

21:30

told them that a lot

21:32

of times when we

21:34

substitute teachers get to high

21:37

school classes , it raises

21:39

the anxiety level a little bit

21:41

Because you know a lot

21:43

of the students in the room . I said you guys are bigger

21:46

than I am , so there's

21:48

like a reverse intimidation

21:50

factor that you

21:53

know . Maybe when some of the bigger students

21:55

might intend to joke

21:57

around about something , it

21:59

gets interpreted as an intimidating

22:02

factor . And I told them that's the reason

22:04

for some of our anxiety when we teach high school

22:06

. You know those . They have been through a

22:08

lot more . They're closer to being adults

22:11

, they've been exposed to a lot more

22:13

, so there's a lot more things that

22:15

they have to deal with . So I

22:17

told them remember that when your substitute

22:20

teachers came in that come in , they might

22:22

be as nervous about the class

22:24

as you are . So , you

22:26

know , give them some time to know , you get

22:28

to know them and let's all

22:30

get through the process together . One

22:33

of the cool things I'll mention to you that day

22:35

too is I was going down and taking row . I

22:38

pronounced one girl's name

22:40

as Kyrie . It was spelled

22:43

k-y-r-i-e and

22:46

I hesker . I said , did

22:48

I pronounce your name right ? And she said no , it's actually

22:50

curie . And I thought , well

22:52

, you know , is that like the song from the 80s

22:54

? And she said , yes , I was named for

22:56

that song . So it gave me

22:58

a chance to goof around with that class a little

23:01

bit , because I always loved that song

23:03

. So I sang

23:05

curie . It's by , if you want to

23:07

look it up , it's by a group called mr , mr , and

23:10

the whole phrase is curie , a laison

23:13

, which actually means lord , have mercy on us

23:15

. So I thought that was interesting . She

23:17

said , yes , that's the song , okay . And she

23:19

, she wasn't embarrassed at all . I think

23:22

I might might have been one of my middle school school

23:24

students from last year , but I thought

23:26

that was kind of a cool way to get that class

23:28

started . Let's remember

23:30

guys and gals , as we go into our sub jobs

23:32

, let's try our best to go in looking for

23:35

the best rather than expecting the worst

23:37

. You know my personal

23:39

opinion as we , as we shouldn't go

23:41

in Like the beast , maybe

23:44

go in more like the beauty and try

23:47

to uh , you know encourage those

23:49

kids that this will be a

23:51

good class if we all work

23:53

in that regards towards that . So

23:55

hope you have a good week of

23:57

substitute teaching . We thank

24:00

you for listening to episode

24:02

10 of the substitute

24:04

teacher's lounge Music

24:09

provided by bingsoundcom .