Jul 16 2008
SpeakerSue shared this on her blog, but I had to share it here just for the sheer child advocacy of it all in regard to what our children see and think about when they watch television and movies today. Mr. Rogers is speaking before the Senate in this video, regarding funding for PBS, seven months before I was born:
Jul 10 2008
Hello again! I’ve managed to get the computer unpacked, the desk and chair situated, and thanks to Time Warner Cable, have internet access once again. Just don’t look around the rest of the house. Really. You’ll get to see photos of the mess sometime this weekend, I promise, but for today, check out some scenery from the trip:
Here we are, moments before we hopped into the trucks (Dear Husband drove mine, with the kids, hauling the big trailer, while I drove his white Chevy, pulling the Harley, with the cat in her carrier on the seat next to me):
Driving out of Texas, in the morning before triple digit heat set in for the day (ooh, look at all of that lovely…BROWN…):
The first of two blown tires on the trailer (yes, I’ve gained a few more gray hairs thanks to driving behind my family, watching helplessly as tires smoke, shred, then pop):
A tire repair shop that for some strange reason, we had trouble finding at first:
A storm rolling in (the weather service put out a hazardous weather warning over the radio as we were driving, telling all to “take cover”):
Driving past some wind power on Day Two:
An ominous looking sky later in the day:
Stopping for lunch (no, not at Walmart, we just parked in their lot) before the big push “home:”
Me checking on Anni the cat:
She loved the air conditioning:
Look! A patch of green:
…and another!
Honey, I don’t think we’re in Texas (or Oklahoma) anymore!
Where our adventure picks up:
**Spoiler alert: This is the photo I took BEFORE we were able to get inside. Other than the patchy grass, we weren’t at all concerned…until…
…to be continued…
*****
Here are some quick links for you (I read through 1300+ blog posts on NetNewsWire yesterday!):
~PhotoJoJo has a Photo Chain idea that I’d like to try! Anyone up for it?
~Cream Puffs in Venice just might lure me away from my usual stress relief food (peanut M-n-M’s) with this strawberry tart…
~I’m back to teaching in a few weeks, so with the hopes that parents who are still in the dark about NCLB and recent “school reforms” can better understand what is *really* going on, here’s Schools Matter, advocating for students and their teachers.
Sweeties, when we were in school, were we just taught the ITBS (or whatever version YOU took one time each spring) year ’round? NO. After watching Dear Daughter’s eighth grade curriculum material consistently being replaced by “test preparation” for the ENTIRE YEAR in Texas, I was appalled. Remind me to show you the DOG TAGS (military style) necklace her school gave out as “rah rah’s” for the TAKS. This military spouse, parent, and teacher hasn’t been amused for some time.
*****
I’m off to unpack some more boxes, but hope that all of you are enjoying a happy and sunny (yet not-too-hot) summer!
May 04 2008
I’ve caught myself in a state of self-reflection again, this time in regard to my presence out here on the web.
I’ve read the newest issue of Artful Blogging. For months now I’ve been enjoying my morning ritual of parking myself and my coffee in front of the computer to scroll through NetNewsWire. I’ve noticed the monthly blogging/commenting challenges that have popped up all over Blogsville this past week, and have wondered if I should join in or just keep my blogging activities to myself and my readers. I’m still confused as to why some of my subscriptions load reliably almost every day, while others get stockpiled in blog limbo and then flood my feed in one fell swoop after a month or so. It reminds me of my cell phone service here in the Bordertown. I miss calls, and messages get held for days, weeks sometimes, before hitting voicemail. Message after message, the callers’ tones seem to get testy, because they* JUST KNOW* I’m ignoring them and not returning their calls.
There goes that blind trust and over-reliance on technology again. Don’t trust the phone company or advances in voicemail technology, trust ME.
*****
From what I could gather during my job interview over the phone with my new employer (I’ll be back in Oz, this time at District #2), I’ll be working with a staff that is a bit different from the last three with whom I’ve taught. This is completely understandable to me because I’ve witnessed first-hand the diversity that exists in the United States each time Uncle Sam has relocated us, however it might still come as a surprise to those who assume school districts across our nation are actually nearing some state of standardization with one another.
During my interview I was asked about PLC’s and technology in particular, a question I’ve never been asked before. It’s a question I myself have asked prospective employers at each of my interviews here in the Bordertown, a question I received very awkward answers to, responses indicating that I was more familiar with current technology usage in education than the interviewing principals were. I was told by District #2 that my classroom would have at least three wireless laptops for my students to use, so no, I wouldn’t have to bring my outdated iMacs with me when I moved. For the first time, I was able to say “I have a blog” without worrying that the interviewer’s mental alarm bells were going off, imagining a site full of inappropriate photos and text of a wanna-be-web-celeb instead of a teacher/crafter/mother/military wife who was sharing recipes, craft ideas, family updates, and links to kindergarten-related themes. I’m guessing someone at District #2 has already Googled me…probably did it before ever dialing my number for the interview. I would if I were in his or her position.
*****
I know that time has continued to march on as my family and I relocate from state to state. When I left Alaska, my teaching experience was built over a decade’s worth of observations and paradigm shifts, most notably in regard to technological advances and their impact on school and society. I had to learn how to be responsible for an entire new iMac lab (not so new now!), and had to exercise caution because of what my students might encounter or see “out there,” *NOT* what they themselves might PUT out there. Teachers with their own web pages were testing the water for all of us, and must have felt the pressure of it. My usage of White Out decreased significantly when a computerized report card replaced the traditional hand-written one.
In New Mexico, the kindergarten curriculum included goals for computer technology, but my classroom was given rarely operational PC’s for the job because really, why would five year olds need computers? They’d just “play on them.” Many of my colleagues had never heard of or seen Living
Books before (another no-longer-”new” resource). Teachers emailed, or instant messaged one another, but other than professional communication and entering data for attendance records, computers were to be used for student assessment only via Accelerated Reader. During chats in the staff lounge, no one complained about their own childrens’ MySpace pages, and no one understood why I would want a dry erase, mobile magnetic white board in my room instead of the singular chalkboard I had. My son’s and daughter’s teachers didn’t assign web projects. My own students were taught how to use the overhead projector, c.d. player, computers, and scanner instead of just being parked in front of them during lessons. Report cards still had to be filled out by hand. DIBELS too, though the number crunching of scores took place at Central Office somewhere.
In Oz, District #1 seemed to focus on using technology primarily again for student assessment. Improved reading and math scores were the be-all-end-all goal, with lists of acceptable web resources and sites xeroxed off and distributed ad nauseum during most professional development seminars, while statewide assessment test “practice” took precedence over any other web activities or lessons that students might have normally been assigned. My old iMacs came in handy, as my students were never a priority for computer lab time when the assessment crunch was in full swing unless my colleague and I were prepping them for future first grade AR assessments. I’m guessing the proposal I helped to author for an additional portable/cart computer lab wouldn’t have created increased computer access for my kindergartners…it would have provided more test prep for additional (older) students. District email was handy, as were the attendance and report card programs though the kindergarten report card wasn’t aligned with state standards and didn’t provide enough narrative space for additional and essential info/documentation.
A younger group of teachers have MySpace pages, but several still don’t quite know that their just-out-of-college-weekend-partying photos that they regularly post on their public sites are still viewable by students, parents, and colleagues. Some post photos on their personal pages of not only themselves but their students as well, something as a parent and teacher I find highly inappropriate. Some colleagues have their own personal blogs, where they reflect on their teaching practices and philosophies, their frustrations and their goals. Many of their identities are kept private for good reasons, as professional retribution and/or public misunderstandings by parents and colleagues who might search the web for them would be unbearable and possibly even job-threatening.
District #2 sounds incredibly promising, pro-teacher and therefore pro-student.
*****
I’ll reflect more on why I blog at some later time, but I have to tell you, it’s because of blogging, reading, commenting, participating in discussions, and contributing to the sea of teaching perspectives out there that I’ve been able to continue my own professional development during my Stay-at-Home-Mom year. My professional learning community stretches around the world, crossing borders, philosophies, cultures and ages, and in many cases it includes my own personal tastes and interests apart from public education. A wiki on cross stitching, a MySpace group devoted to scrapbooking techniques, a subscription to a photographer’s blog overseas, my weekly download of the latest Oprah podcast for A New Earth, and my own contributions to blogs like In Practice aren’t threatening to me or my employer- they’ve been essential to expanding my connections with others, and with myself.
My next goal? Podcasting- reading my students’ favorite stories for them to access at school or at home. My voice, and the memory of face-to-face storytime can increase the personal connection with my students that promotes literacy better than any digital/cartoon character ever could.
*****
Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to comment here for a chance to win the blue wreath tomorrow~
Apr 12 2008
**The following was originally posted by me at In Practice**
It’s that time of year for kindergarten teachers: planning to meet “next year’s” (August’s) kindergartners. After Easter and spring break, school districts nationwide hold their Kindergarten Roundups, encouraging enthusiastic parents and usually eager-yet-nervous children to start making their immunization, school shopping and pep talk plans in the hopes that the first day/week of kindergarten is emotionally survivable for all involved. I have to admit, I’ve never been able to keep the image of lassoing five-year-olds-that-yes-have-made-the-cut-off-date out of my mind during spring registration, and in fact, several of my former administrators have even suggested that my colleagues and I “troll for kids that look old enough” as we drive through the school’s neighborhoods before work each morning. Each administrator has wanted our numbers to be as close to accurate as we can have them before school staff sizes are re-evaluated over the summer due to increases or decreases in enrollment- very understandable.
Teaching in schools with larger student and family populations that fall within lower socio-economic levels means that I have had my share of hosting kindergarten “sneak peeks” involving myself, my students, future students, and their preschool or Head Start teachers, and not the students’ parents. Typically, preschool teachers contact me and my colleagues in advance, asking us to look at calendar dates to find a morning or two when they can bring their students over to see what kindergarten is all about. They ask to sit in on storytime, centers, and participate in snack and possibly recess. I of course, give my Super Stars the heads up that younger visitors will be spending time with us during the week, and each year we inevitably agree that we should do what we can to help them feel comfortable during their stay.
Three or four students per preschool teacher arrive for their sneak peek, usually wide-eyed, and not at all reluctant. I purposely revisit old standby stories such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See or Green Eggs and Ham for storytime, and my Super Stars teach their guests the motions to our fingerplays, “Two Little Sausages,” “Once There Lived a Quiet Mouse,” and songs like Shake My Sillies Out. The preschoolers visit the learning centers they are most interested in, and can tour the classroom and its materials on their own, with a friend, or with one of their teachers. Painting, playing with blocks, dressing up in the pretend center, counting/sorting/classifying with math manipulatives, pounding and rolling clay, putting puzzles together, working on the computer, playing musical instruments, or quietly looking at books…are some of the activities that I will watch my future students exploring during their visit. *
Why am I watching instead of putting myself front and center, vying for their attention? For one, I might not be their teacher in August. Two, I feel it’s important that the children make this transition successfully in their own way(s) and in their own time. It’s not important that students *like me* when they first meet me, it’s important that they feel welcome, and that they feel safe. And finally, yes… I’m taking mental notes, sometimes scribbling thoughts and observations down about each of the children as they familiarize themselves with their future environment.
Colleagues at each of the schools I’ve worked have asked me if I can tell with just one visit which students have had prior exposure to a school-type setting or structured learning environment, if I can tell which students have been read to nightly at home, which students have experienced hands-on learning, which students have made mudpies with real dirt and water and which have only made them by drawing or painting them with a computer program.
Yep. I can. While I hope that Kindergarten Roundup leaves each preschooler with a good feeling and anticipation about the upcoming kindergarten experience, it gives *me* my own sneak peek, providing me with vital information that I feel better about having long before the DIBELS test booklets arrive in the building in the fall. Recognizing and appreciating the wondrous diversity, strengths, needs, and potential that each new class represents makes essential relationship-building happen more smoothly and naturally for our youngest learners.
Welcome to kindergarten! Bienvenido!
Mar 15 2008
Before becoming an Army Wife, images of herding large groups of five year olds to and from centers, art lessons, the gym, lunch, and recess were the only ones that popped into my mind when I heard the term “transition time.” After receiving the latest version of our latest orders (military families will understand that one), I’m preparing for my family’s next move. It requires us to get back into the all-too-familiar yet not-at-all-convenient preparation mode, and it lasts for months.
Our “transition time” involves evaluating every personal belonging…is it a needful thing, or a wantful thing? Then sorting, yard saling, donating… We do enjoy knowing that we help each local Goodwill or Salvation Army with our clothing, bedding, and household items before we move, and yes, having a weight limit on our household items certainly does keep packrattiness at bay. But it’s a PAIN. This will be our fourth move in five years. Our first move was from Alaska to New Mexico done in two trips as my husband had to report to duty six months before the family finished up the school year. Our next move was to be back to Alaska, only Uncle Sam decided we’d take the scenic route through Kansas first. After one year in Oz, Uncle Sam decided my husband needed to see the desert firsthand while the kids and I stayed in Tornado-ville. Upon his return, we were told we were moving to the Bordertown, for a one-year-only stay. We arrived over the fourth of July weekend last year, and more than likely, we’ll be leaving over the fourth of July weekend *this* year.
*IF* our orders hold, we’ll be returning to Oz, though a different post, two hours away from friends we made during our first assignment. I’d appreciate any good thoughts and positive energy in regard to getting hired- a year off at home with the toddler has been terrific, but I’ve got that itch to teach more children and be surrounded by kindergarten magic again. I’ve peeked at the websites of the school districts in the area we’ll be living, and I’ve been pleased to find phrases like “developmentally appropriate practice” used regularly to describe the teaching methods used by kindergarten and primary teachers. Hopefully they’re not all whistling Dixie for PR purposes while really inflicting NCLB atrocities upon children behind closed doors.
Future possible employers, I’ll be bringing a classrooms’ worth of materials, manipulatives, books, and even computers with me, though my most effective and important resource is my appreciation of children, how they think, how they learn, and how they share. Hire me. I make good cookies too, just ask my previous three employers! Yes, oh yes, GOOD cookies are important, very important- just ask any teacher sitting through yet another staff meeting, redundant professional development seminar, or lunch time in the teachers’ lounge on that last crazy day before winter break. Cookies…good.
Who knows, by August, perhaps this blog will return to its original kindergarten focus- just another transition.
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While digging up my “flagged” list on NetNewsWire to share with you, it registered to me: once we’re on the road again this summer, it will probably be a few weeks before MY computer arrives, is hooked up, and I’m back online. I will have a TON of reading to do! It seems I’ll have to scale back my subscriptions- yet one more sorting chore before the movers arrive (see how my mind has already started with the listmaking?!?!?)
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Moving right along:
~The Secret Recipe Blog has come up with yet another recipe for me to try, though I think I’ll have to save it for chillier months: Copycat Starbucks Gingerbread Loaf
~Cakespy cracked me up with its Interview with a Cadbury Creme Egg, apropos, no?
~Inspireco is making me rethink paper mache techniques with these beautiful “Surprise Eggs…”
~Dr. Jim Horn over at Schools Matter has been sharing, posting, and sharing some more… interesting stuff for parents and teachers alike that we should all really be aware of NOW, not later. Time to get fired up, think, put aside our lethargy and social exhaustion, and solve these problems:
Higher Teacher Pay: How To Kill a Great Idea
~And thanks to Ireland’s Eye, I have more than enough recipes for Monday’s St. Patrick’s Day meal!
(Illustration by Jennifer E. Morris)
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Feb 22 2008
Jim Horn at Schools Matter discusses Testing and the Death of Play, quoting a Morning Edition Story on NPR:
“Guess what? Play is required for the healthy development of children. Imagine that.”
“It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.”
Parents, teachers, administrators, “behavior specialists,” this is a *must read*.
Go.
Now.
Feb 16 2008
Is your child an English Language Learner?
Does your child have an IEP, or 504 plan?
Does your child receive “Special Ed” services?
Does your child have any label, “EI,” “ADHD,” “Speech/Language,” etc.?
Is your child demonstrating reading and math skill acquisition at HIS OR HER OWN PACE (did you know that most teachers with experience consider the third grade the “magic catch-up year?” Go ahead, ask them *why*.), regardless of what the required NCLB assessments demand?
Did you know that when a “school loses funding,” it’s not money the government takes away from a building, or a staff… it’s money the government takes away from YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION?
Knowledge is power. Try this on for size:
Parents Lead to Testing Boycott
Feb 01 2008
Potato soup this morning for breakfast. Thick, hearty, peppery (added by me) with a toasted onion bagel and my sore throat is feeling soothed. I have some water on to boil for the preparation of green tea and honey, suggested by a friend after my ever-persistent cough forced me into pleading for a remedy, any remedy. No, it’s not a “productive” cough, merely a dry, barely-there-but-there-enough-to-not-be-able-to-ignore-it annoyance. Sleep brought me relief until last night, when the dreaded hacking decided to come out in full force for my daughter and husband. No cough syrup or cough drop could provide relief for them. You can probably tell from my complaints that we’re typically a very healthy family. A week or two (please not more!) of being inconvenienced by germs really throws us off-kilter.
I’ve done some sewing,
and the toddler has had fun stickering (probably not a word, but an incredibly accurate description) one of his coloring books, the coffee table, the carpet, and himself.
After school today I’ll be taking Daughter up to the university campus so she can set up her science fair project for judging. The campus happens to be my old stomping grounds from pre-kindegarten age. I still have vivid memories of safari animals on display, a huge train engine encased in glass, rolling down green hills, wearing red shoes, and being the one who broke open the pinata during a kindergarten Halloween party. I’m guessing if the safari, train and hills still inhabit the university, they’ll appear much smaller now. I’ll take my camera, to document Daughter, her project, and to what extent time has changed things.
Inspired by Daughter’s science project, this weekend we’ll be enjoying “That’s Not in My Science Book,” by Kate Kelly (and I’ll read part two, chapter six, “How They Learned Why We Get Sick: The Origin of Germ Theory” with great interest!).
Some suggested web reading:
Cakespy adds….. BACON and Sour Patch Kids to brownies!
Paper-and-String has made very cute felt iron-on patches…
Doug reminds us as teachers, administrators, and parents that there really *is* an art to teaching, and that our inherent nature that provides us and our students “multiple ways of knowing” shouldn’t be set aside or ignored just because someone else wants teachers and students to spend hours, weeks, or months filling in little bubbles on ineffective and inaccurate assessments.
Don’t think you can get fired up about your child’s education? What if someone told you that your child’s school funding was going to be cut, oh, say, $9000-$400,000, while the *consulting agency* hired to crunch the numbers off of the students’ failing assessments didn’t lose any funding at all? Taking money away from schools, and giving it to testing corporations…all while making sure no child is “left behind.” Uh huh.
And while some of my wool and polar-fleece-lovin’ friends in Alaska will try to tell me “fashion things” don’t really matter to them, we’ll see this spring and next fall, or even in their annual Christmas card photos, whether or not they’re hip with the forecasted color palette (thank you Decor8) that we’re to be seeing in clothing and home decor lines everywhere. I’m having flashbacks of The Devil Wears Prada (movie)…
Miranda Priestly: [Miranda and some assistants are deciding between two similar belts for an outfit. Andy sniggers because she thinks they look exactly the same] Something funny?
Andy Sachs: No, no, nothing. Y’know, it’s just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. Y’know, I’m still learning about all this stuff.
Miranda Priestly: This… ’stuff’? Oh… ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.
(Quote found here.)
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, sans germs! I’m off to sip some more soothing tea…
Jan 24 2008
Friends, family and students know I *love* jewelry, the sparklier the better! Whether it’s a new teacher-themed brooch, necklace or earrings, or a new bauble from Zales, I enjoy adding finishing touches to all of my outfits daily. My wooden apple necklace goes with my ABC jumper for the first day of school, my Kirk’s Folly heart necklaces and brooches see regular rotation throughout February, and I enjoy wearing a different “right hand ring” each day thanks mostly to my husband. I support his Harley habit, he supports my jewelry habit, talk about a match made in Heaven!
My love for jewelry started when I was a child. My mother and grandmother had jewelry boxes that sat on their dressers, and I remember realizing that for the ladies in my family, it was an absolute necessity to go through them each day, selecting something to wear before ever stepping out of the apartment. Going out without a bracelet, earrings, or a ring on was like going out into public naked! Now I can’t leave the house without having visited my jewelry box first.
Cameos hold a special appeal for me. My grandmother has a cameo ring, bezel set, that she says I used to teethe upon as a baby. The face on the shell has been blurred, rubbed smooth over time, and it rattles in its setting. My mother has a brooch that she also wears as a pendant, and it somehow marks all of my childhood memories of her. Touring Europe as a teenager, my mother was with me when I purchased my first cameo ring, a treasure I inadvertently lost when in a state of delirium, I went on a cleaning spree and tossed everything in my dresser drawers into the trash (chicken pox at age thirteen was NOT a good experience, let me tell you!).
She replaced the ring for my first wedding, a gift that was just for me. It’s the smaller of the two cameo rings in the photo. The larger ring I received when my mother-in-law passed away last year. Helping my sister go through Betty’s belongings, we came across a stash of jewelry given to her by a lover from many years past. Rubies, diamonds, loose stones, pearls, and the cameo ring. The story goes that she, the cameo, was hardly if ever worn, because of her size. On me, she covers up my middle knuckle on my ring finger, and hasn’t been worn while I’ve been doing the stay-at-home-mom thing, though never fear, she keeps good company with my other cameos. The brooch was an Ebay find- I couldn’t resist when I saw the simple cameo set with the millefiori flowers… it’s a fun little riot of color to wear on rainy days.
There’s even a cameo on the charm bracelet I started for myself last year though I can’t remember who it belonged to before that (sorry Mom!). A small ivory bear, lockets, charms, pendants, and even a lone earring keep her company. Transferring all of my rarely-if-ever-worn pendants to the bracelet was a good choice for me (I have some more charms to add to it), and it’s a piece that my students always love to examine when I wear it. They love the blue topaz (“A topaz?? A topaz?!?! Amongst *my* jewels?!?!”), the bear, all of the hearts, and the jingly sound made when I move my hand. I love wearing it because I enjoy knowing that there is a story behind each charm.
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I’ve spent most of this week attempting to recover from a doozie of a cold. Thankfully I’ve had crafts and reading to keep me sane while spending almost every minute indoors. Thank you for the messages and emails wishing me a speedy recovery, every good thought has helped! Here are some links that caught my eye:
Schools Matter shares the story of an elementary school in California that has turned down Title I funds in order to go “NCLB-Free.” Incredible and inspiring.
Cakespy coaxed two incredible dessert recipes from Michael’s Kitchen in Miami: White Chocolate Raspberry Rice Krispie Deep Dish Pizza and Twinkie Tiramisu. Num, num, num!
Planning With Kids charmed me with her advocacy of family time as well as her post of “10 Things to do Before School Holidays End.” She’s in Australia, so it was fun comparing her list to what parents here in the States tend to do.
Jan 11 2008
A former colleague of mine is now on maternity leave after the much-anticipated arrival of her daughter. My friend has been preparing her classroom, materials, and students for the long-term sub for months now, hoping that she and her students “get a good one.” I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for her too.
For all of the wonderful substitute teachers, classroom aides, and paraprofessionals out there, thank you for all that you do. And thank you for all that you try to do.I was raised “a teacher’s kid,” and was therefore privy to the inside track of public education from a very young age, but I still had to “do my time” as a substitute teacher before I was given the chance to teach my very own group of students. And Ladies and Gents, I never had it as difficult as many of you do simply because of my upbringing and exposure to the world of teachers, inservices, and educational training. I knew which substitute teachers my mother would request by name and why she would request them, and I knew why some substitute teachers had their names crossed off of sub-caller lists after their first visit to a school. I had my mental file cabinet full of tricks and could navigate the “Yay, it’s just a SUB” minefield that miraculously appears whenever someone other than the classroom teacher enters a room.
Subs, aides, and para-professionals have to deal with so many issues when they step into another teacher’s classroom. The biggest one being that they are not the regular classroom teacher. It’s obvious for all to see, and the usual response from many students when a stranger enters the room is to assume all of the rules, limitations, allowances, and expectations of the classroom teacher were just thrown out the window. In response, many subs tend to choose one of several paths: they try to exactly follow whatever schedule or routine that has been left for them, attempting to don the costume, tone, mannerisms and authority of the teacher they are covering (while failing miserably on the classroom stage); they try to call down the thunder in their very best Viola Swamp impersonation, somehow failing to gain the compliance of the students as effectively as she; or they sit behind the desk, warming the teacher’s seat and letting the students run the show for the day, merely looking up to check that no blood is left on the linoleum. But the exceptional substitute teachers, aides, and paras, are all able to leave a positive mark on our students, encouraging the academic learning process to continue to motor forward, and giving students some valuable social experiences as well.
Here are some of Amazon.com’s recommendations for substitute teacher handbooks. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I haven’t come across a “Subbing for Dummies” book… or “Teaching for Dummies” for that matter.
As for my colleague’s sub? Please do a good job. Enjoy your new students as much as she does. Laugh with them, sing with them, read to them, share with them, encourage them, listen to them, guide them, teach them.No pressure.
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