Sub Vision: The Price of the Freedom to Choose

It is the dream of every full time employee to be able to choose, spontaneously, days to be absent from work. Working full time at a software company, and later as a full time teacher, I didn’t have that luxury. For a teacher, taking a day off, for any good reason, is often more of a headache than going to works…

As a substitute teacher, I do have this privilege. I can plan ahead my vacation days, and even decide not to accept a job the evening before, or the morning of. I don’t usually take advantage of that when I am committed to an assignment, but when I am on daily calls it is just too tempting to say ‘No’ to a job…

However, there is a price for that. A day not worked is a day not paid. It is hard to plan a schedule, as there is no guarantee to getting a job on the next day. So, I am left to gamble on my financial situation.

Many of our trips are coordinated by friends overseas, and according to their holidays and days off. It helps the expense of the trips since these are not necessarily at top US travel season, but then it costs workdays. A trip in September caused me to miss work at the start of the school year, and a second trip, carefully crafted not to miss quality time with my family here, and keep flight prices low, left me with only few working days both in November and in December.

I chose to travel at the end of November, thus working half of the month, enjoying Thanksgivings with my family, and then taking off, planning to return early enough in December to work for at least ten days.

It almost worked. I had a job planned for right after I arrived, and were hoping to work more on the following week, before the holidays’ vacation starts. However, I arrived at the midst of a bad fire season and school was cancelled, and the following week was finals week and my services were not needed...

It would have not been as alarming had it not been for the fact that I needed at least one working day a month to keep my health insurance, and I was worried I won’t get even that one day. Luckily, a friend had asked me to cover her class on the Monday of the last week of the semester. During the following days of finals, the phone was completely silent...

By Friday of that week, I realized I am now in a long stretch of school vacation that started on the week of Thanksgiving and would end after the first week of January… seven weeks of vacation, with only one day of work… (almost) by my choice…

Sub Vision: Long Term Assignment – Part II

Following my ‘success’ at the science and physics classes, and due to another, not unforeseen, situation at school, I was asked to fill an English vacancy. It is quite funny, Not only because English is not my first language and every other substitute would better serve the school, but also because as far as I know, there is no lack of English teachers (unlike physics). Never the less I agreed to try the new adventure.

Even though I am not really qualified to teach English, and absolutely not the 12th grades I was assigned, I know few things about teaching, and about putting some order into unruly, and unmotivated, students. The problem was that those exact skills turned the whole 12th grades community against me…

Starting with my basic tool of creating seating charts for better control and learning names, I had to fight students to sit at a seat and stay there, not to switch and not to wonder around. This first battle cost me a wide spread hostility, even from students who knew me from before and originally favored me.

The next rule of thumb, keeping them busy, was met with no less hostility. I was their 5th or 6th sub for the past two month, and they didn’t think, not unjustifiably, that they should take me / my assignments any more seriously than those of all the prior subs. I had to send several students to the dean before getting any students’ cooperation, which helped, but did further harm to my popularity with them…

It was a Friday when I started, and the prospect was to stay there for at least three weeks, so I thought I did what I needed to do to set the ground to an easier job. Over the weekend I created an orderly seating charts, typed all the 200 names of my new students to my computer, getting ready to record work assignment and any other project that will be useful in evaluating students in case I need to grade them (quite unsettling, considering the fact that the end of the semester was approaching)…

Monday seemed to be somewhat better. I had some handle on the read material, and students who reported back from the dean knew I was serious. At the end of the day I had two visitors, the heads of the English department. They didn’t seem to be too interested in what I was doing, and even less interested in how the students were doing (more than 160 seniors). I told them what my plan was, to have students write, and then exchange papers and critic each other, which they approved, but mostly to assure me that these were THEIR students, and are excellent and capable of doing that.

By Tuesday I already recorded most of the work students handed to me, starting to collect information as a base for a grade, even just to pass it to the next teacher. I worked diligently to put an order in the papers, in the messy classroom, installing procedures, trying to prove how serious I am. Never the less I had a feeling that my efforts are futile, and students, although taking their assignments more seriously, are hostile and not cooperating. I was pretty exhausted and discouraged when I stopped at the office at the end of day. There I discovered that my assignment is over and another teacher is replacing me the next day. I was asked, however, to stay there for another day, to direct him and help him settle down.

Two conflicting feelings overcame me all of at once, a huge relief that I don’t need to do it anymore, and a rage of anger and frustration. Why was I put through this nightmare just for three days, and why did I take it so seriously. Back at home I collapsed into my chair and ate everything in a reasonable radius…

The following day was just as frustrating. The expected teacher had arrived, a substitute (not a pool teacher as I was told), with English credentials (according to his account). I was not a bit impressed, but students were. He told them cute stories about himself (to which I listened five times) and they adored him! At the end of the day the two esteemed department chairs reappeared, threw a contemptuous hand wave at me as I approached, pointing to the new teacher, the one they wanted to talk to. Later I learned they knew each other from past years, but he has not been there for five years (I wonder why).

During that next day I kept up with recording papers and finalizing seating charts, and at the end of the day I showed him my procedures and recording. But then I learned that the department chairs had told him to disregard everything that was done earlier and start over. If that was not infuriating enough, I saw how friendly the coaches were to him and much students liked him. It did hurt…

so much for taking my assignment seriously and orderly… so much for putting students and school’s interest ahead of my own, and so much for doing the right thing and paying the price of students’ hostility, instead of the adoration we are all so yearning to earn…

Sub Vision:How to Survive a Long-Term Assignment

After a long summer vacation, the last thing a substitute teacher wants to do is obligating to a long-term assignment. Of course, it helps the summer money drought, but who wants to get back to a daily 6:00 AM wake-up commitment and an ongoing effort of restraining a bunch of unwilling teenagers...

My first inclination was to refuse, easing into the new school year with few daily assignments a week. A long-term assignment at the same classroom required more energy than I had to offer.However, more for the sake of keeping good standings with the school that I like than for the badly needed money, I consented, and promised myself to take it as easy as possible…

Yet, there is nothing easy about keeping a class of 30-40 students under control for more than few days without investment. The older students can be contained for a little longer, but with the younger ones, just fresh from the unruly middle school world, immediate time investment in planning is needed.

The first-aid for a teacher in a new class is mastering students’ names. Without a proof that one can be identified any mischief can happen, and if your memory is as slow as mine in digesting 180 names then you need a system. Seating charts is a good way to start. One way to do it is to draw a chart and fill in the names while taking a roll. I, usually, jot down the students’ roster number and fill the names later.

The next challenge is to keep students busy, and it should come with incentives and penalties, and a recording system. A sub briefly replacing a permanent teacher, is completely different from a case of a substitute starting the school year where students are aware of the temporary situation. This is when a plan is badly needed to convince students that their efforts do count toward a grade...

Out of the five classes to which I was assigned, two were Physics. I am no physics expert by any means, but with enough knowledge of math, mature students, and easy first two chapters still in my capability, I tried to study with my students, do homework together and learn from them. As I did not get much help from the department, I found an unexpected ally in an administrator, who secretly supplied me with teacher's edition book, to direct me to the right direction. I even had a quiz planned for them…

Academically, it was somewhat easier with the younger students at the general science class. There I could fake knowledge more easily. However, motivating them to work was harder. We read sections of the text book and I assigned class and homework from the book, added additional tasks for learning terms and locations, gave a map lab from another teacher, and assign a project with deadlines.

It somehow worked for almost three weeks, and then came a real deadline, grades for the report cards. But then I was called to the principal’s office and was informed that the whole plan is changing, although not all the details were clear yet. Two days later my classes were switched to a different teacher, who was not interested in my wonderful planning, and I received a new set of students, all physics.

At that point I gave up my physics efforts, as all my new classes were AP and honors classes. I just assigned them work and vaguely recorded their efforts for the next teacher. Fortunately, by that time I had grades ready for my general science students, which I submitted with the hope they will appear in the first quarter’s report card. At least I could prove I was not bluffing.

The message here is not about my, or my students’, achievements, but about how much work it takes to sustain a class that is yours only temporarily, for few days or weeks. How no compensation is paid for the extra hours of work, and no appreciation for the extra efforts to expand students’ knowledge. How little help you get from anyone, if at all, and how, never the less, you do your best, invest many unpaid extra hours, that no one will ever acknowledge, let alone appreciate…

Sub Vision: Until the Next Summer Vacation…

Summer vacation has this unique quality of passing bye without notice. It was the case when I was a student, of course, but as a teacher, I hoped for some significant pause that would feel joyous, and last for a long time.

Every year, since I became a teacher, I reach the last day of summer vacation with an absolute amazement – is that all? Is it up already? Did I waist again two whole months without knowing it?

This summer was no different. Last day of school in June felt a long, blissful, way from August, and I intended to enjoy every moment of it. We had only short trips and few events planned, so my goal was to enjoy quiet days doing some projects, acquiring new skills, relearning how to operate the sewing machine, visiting bookstores and enjoying leisure time with friends…

I was quite disciplined about waking up at a descent time and talking my morning walks (a bit later than I planned…). The hard part was going to bed early enough so that the mornings would be easier to embrace, but watching a movie, or the news, or reading a book, were too tempting… after all I am on vacation…

I did manage to organize some drawers and shelves, and go through my wardrobe, yet, the more I did, I realized how much more there is to be done… My plans to do art projects, learn music, dive into a computer language, lose weight or mend my dresses were postponed to the next year. Even my plans to get together with friends for a long brunch, or fulfill promised visits were not executed…

I found myself happy enough doing small house chores; vacuuming and dusting, laundering and ironing and occasionally doing small scale house organization. Following the news consumed my early evening hours, and meal times were joyfully stretched and relaxed. I discovered how much I like being home and not having to follow any set schedule, ‘to do’ list, or answer to any demands on my time...

It will be good to go back to a more structured schedule, to see people, to have the thoughts occupied by school events, and to study new subjects with my students, still, it means going to bed on time, and worse – getting up on time…

Sub Vision: Get a Job… or better yet – a Career!

When a sales person calls and manages to bypass my answering machine to get to me, I get furious about a system that allows anybody to intrude my privacy at my special time. If a stranger breaks into someone’s home, he is a violator, and faces fierce consequences, so why invading someone’s space is not a violation?

The point that I want to make, however, is not about my frustration; it is about the people who are behind these calls. I want to tell them ‘young people, is this the best you can do with your life? Is calling people at home, trying to sell them something they don’t need, something you probably won’t buy - Is this the best way you can do to make a living? Aren’t you wasting your life?’

As I grow older, my attitude toward all young people is a mixture of parental and educational approach. I want to tell them not to waste time and energy on unimportant matters, to approach money as a mean, not as a goal, and a job as a career of the type that (as I heard once) they would do even if not paid to do it.

I am aware of a ready criticism toward someone who grew up, and raised kids, in a normal family situation, with values, education, and financial stability. And of course, any honest job is better than no job. We all had temporary situations when any honest job was OK; cleaning houses, babysitting or telemarketing. For a student with young family, or a person who supports an elderly parent, every job is respectable! But once situation is stabilizing, one must try to move to a better position, or at least try to find aspects of the job that he/she likes and expend on them…

Another reproof I may face might arise from the type of the job I do; it is not exactly a high profile career, one may claim. Unlike full time teachers, I am not that much of an educator… I don’t have their grueling responsibility of seeing 200 students under their care learning and maturing. Mine is more of a job than a career as it does not develop into a whole process with a start and with end results. I don’t take students on a long path that brings them from ignorance to enlightenment …

Yet, I am a teacher, and as such, I am true to my career indicator - I will do it even if I am not paid to do it…

True, as a substitute teacher I don’t have the satisfaction of seeing the whole progression, but never the less I am still a teacher and an educator. I don’t envision my job as just a warm body in a classroom. I am an instructor whenever I have the opportunity to discuss an academic subject - literature, historical event, or a math problem, and I am a mentor when the occasion arises to discussing social issues, relationships, values or current events, thus making them teachable moments…

There is nothing more gratifying for a teacher than seeing the result of a teachable moment… Not very often, but occasionally, students that I had before, at the same school or even another, would remind me that they learned something from me that affected them. Those are what Mr. Sima, my teaching credentials professor, would call ‘psychological dollars’, worth, infinitely, much more than green dollars…

Sub Vision: Substitutes and Contract Pool Teachers

A teacher that I know had reached a breaking point and decided to resign her full time position. I had met her when she was still at another location, a middle school. Now I see her often at a high school where I frequently work, and watch her repeatedly being upset, sometimes crying, and hear distressed conversations’ bits with other teachers. Not ready to retire yet, she has decided to become a contract pool teacher; staying at the same school but serving as a substitute teacher.

I am not sure this is necessarily the road to happiness, but I know it is the road to a peace of mind. For a substitute teacher, a miserable day ends at 3:00-3:30. For a full time teacher a miserable day may last a whole semester, even a whole year, with short breaks in between. At the end of a school day, teachers carry their head and heart aches home, into the evenings and sleepless nights. Days off are used to reset strategies and plan new ones that maybe, just maybe, will be more effective…

The advantage (or disadvantage) of a pool teacher, over a daily substitute teacher, is that they are usually based at one school. For the above-mentioned teacher it might be a drawback, facing many of the same problem students, and possibly the same unsupportive administration. No doubt, there is a benefit in knowing where you are stationed, and thus avoiding early morning phone calls, that may requests your service at a remote, or undesirable, location. Yet, not committed to a specific location, means that a troubling day at a certain school ends at the end of that day.

There was a time when the district offered a permanent substitute positions at certain schools, usually under-performing ones. I was offered that kind of job in the past, and weighed the pros and cons. One setback was the fact that I did not know ahead of time where I would be assigned. The one school I knew had an opening, and I could have pulled some contacts, was a school where I had several long-term assignments, but my experience there made it an unappealing prospect. The other schools, I suspected, could be even worse and further away, so I declined the offer.

If there is an ideal type of work that I could do as a teacher, I have not found it yet, but substitute teaching, or contract pool teaching, is the closest so far…

Sub Vision: Special Education Made Right

At the beginning of my education career, I was lucky to land a job at a good school, close to my home. I started there as an observer, part of my teaching credentials program, stayed as a bi-lingual volunteer aide, then (minimally) paid aide. A year later, after passing the proficiency test, I was offered a math teaching position at the special education department. This was my first year teaching and I had a lot to learn about teaching math, special education and school organization in general. My aide was a great help with teaching, and fellow teachers with IEPs.

As my goal was to teach math in the general education, I left at the end of the year. The next ten years took me to charter and private institutes, adult education, and a variety of public schools. These experiences led me to the conclusion that a full time teaching job was just impossible, and thus I became a substitute teacher. I did hold several semester-long assignments, but was always careful not to commit to a contract employment. At times, regretting leaving special ed, I considered going back to school to add a credential, but when I learned of what it entails I gave it up.

During those ten years I learned that my special education students were not different from most other students, academically or behavior wise. With time, and repeated disappointments, I lowered my expectations and rigor of teaching, and became complicit to the lack of students’ progress. Long-term assignments kept me for a while at certain locations. Usually, however, I wandered between different schools, and being lower on the seniority ladder, was called to the lower-end ones.

Despite the realization that students in the special ed are very similar to those in the general ed, I was stunned to discover that most schools do not take the special education seriously. Unlike the earnestness with which we took our job at my first school, most special ed programs lacked integrity and real goal. When assigned to a special ed class, I was given no specific directions, students had no definite guidelines or work, and when asked about their daily routines, typical reply would be ‘none’. I would not believe it had there been anything to point to the contrary...

Ten years later, I returned to my first school as a substitute. I was delighted to see people I have not seen in years, most still there, teaching same subjects, and in the same classrooms. With renewed acquaintances and relationships, I received invitations to substitute, especially from my special education teachers, friends.

I then re-discover something amazing… special education teachers that do actually teach! During two weeks I spent at one classroom we read a book, discussed it and had a project. At another one-week assignment the teacher left specific instructions and orderly class work, with one high-quality movie to watch, following a guide-line and a worksheet. At my friend Maria’s class I enjoyed a very well-organized plan for both English and math, and I realized that her class’s math level is higher than many general ed’s. Similarly impressed I was with another math class where advanced work was completed and submitted. Even the last day of school was not idle; The Health teacher left several tasks, and – a qualified, difficult, final exam…

There is also a lot to say about the wonderful and dedicated assistants, many of whom had been there for years. They work closely with the teachers and are an integral part of the learning process. They don’t sit in the corner and exchange text messages. They are active, knowledgeable, authoritarian yet accommodating.

I wish I had known back then, what I know now, and not wasted ten years looking for the ideal job. This place is as close to ideal as I could find, with dedicated, great teachers, colleagues, friends, and with students whose life I could have affected...

Sub Vision: Charter Schools, Chapter II

The public education, schools and districts, are suffering defeat at the political arena. A U.S. Secretary of Education who had never been to a public school… A Board of Education elected official backed by big money supporters who have never been in the education profession… Is this the trend these days? Persons with no qualifications running huge systems they know nothing about?

Talking to public school teachers, I always make known my familiarity with charter schools, and my opinion of them... It had been almost two years since I had written about it in my blog, but a teacher had recently asked me about my experience and I was happy to share my knowledge and to refer her to my writing.

When I re-read my blog it reminded me of the weird school sites, the unprofessional staff members, the classrooms without desks and without white (or black) board, the school that did not have teachers, the Science school that did not have a science teacher, the ‘Computer’ class that did not have computers…

Talking to new teachers, or teachers looking for a change, I always remind them that at a charter school, teachers are not protected by a union that tells the school what duties, and hours, are acceptable, and which are not. Supervision before, during or after school, is a common practice there, as well as late meetings, and extra unpaid tutoring or enrichment classes.

Here is the truth behind most charter schools… It is not about a better education, it is about a more profitable education. People who run charter schools are not, usually, educators, but business people who know how to use public funds to their benefit. With some savvy tricks they can save money hiring unqualified teachers for a low pay, make them work many extra hours, and if teachers quit, or fired (no binding contracts), others will come; replacement teachers or replacement subjects.

I don’t pretend to know all the details and requirements of starting a charter school; under what kind of scrutiny they are, and for how long. I do know, however, that they have a lot of leeway at the beginning and, conveniently, they don’t have to prove success for many years… so they can change the name, or location, or administration, and start all over again, ruining another generation of trusting students of unsuspecting parents…

Sub Vision: Do you hear me?

At this day and age, it is very hard to get anyone to listen, especially the younger generation. Every time I give instructions in class, I find myself repeating the message five times at least, and sure to have somebody ask that same question several more times, and at the end someone will claim that I never said so…

As a substitute teacher, I have a habit of putting the instructions on the board. At the end of the day, I leave them there in case someone claims I didn’t (my son once told me that when they had a substitute, students would tell her they already did this assignment, and then would tell the teacher the sub never told them to do it).

The phenomena of not listening, however, is not limited to the presence of a substitute teacher. I often, while visiting classrooms, or escorting students to events or a lecture, witness from the side the lack of attention; students are just tuning out.

A recent assignment took me, as an aide, to a higher level algebra class. With the excitement of listening in a high-level class (yes, I do love math) came the realization of how frustrating it is. I watched a good math teacher explaining factoring to a crowded class, and from the back I could see how five students are following and responding, while thirty others are blankly copying, talking to their friends, or trying to hide their on-going cell phone conversations…

Allowing electronic devices in class is one of the biggest mistakes in education; It is an epidemic in every school I visit. I used to fight it fiercely, but lately, as I notice schools relaxing their policies, I do too, allowing the irreversible harm. The good intentioned educators who lobbied for tablets for all students, especially in low income schools, had created movie watching and game playing a standard…

I don’t know if the presence of electronic devices are the only cause of this lack of attention and inability to listen. Is it a problem of attention span caused by this digital era? Is it part of a general eroding in discipline, outcome of deficiency in consequences, or is it a result of a failure to teach and demand attention?

Our students are just tuning off and ignoring instructions! Isn’t it something we should not ignore? Something we should not tune off our attention to?

Sub Vision: Private Schools

It was exactly three years ago when it all happened. At the time, I was so hurt that I could hardly talk about it; I would get teary eyed... For weeks and months I was hoping to get a phone call, email, or any sign from anyone saying sorry and that I am missed… Not even my good friend, whom I helped through tough times, physical and emotional…

The only communication I ever got was from a girl, unaware of the situation, asking me for help with the school’s newspaper. I answered but never heard back from her. And then one time I emailed, by error, one of the mothers, mistaking her for someone else, and received a cold reply saying she has no idea what am I talking about …

With time the pain subsided; I returned to the public schools system, and this small, private, religious school was forgotten.

Then, few weeks ago, exactly three years later, at a special screening of an ethnic movie, I saw one of my darling students. She was one of six girls that were the pride of the school, and my favorite group. And this student was the brightest and the best…

For a while I hesitated, not sure, but then, all of a sudden, without thinking twice, I stepped forward and said something to the fact that this is my favorite ex-student.

Both she, and her mother, did recognized me, told me where she were since (8^th to 11^th), and then told me about the rest, and what high school they go to now.

It was only when I departed and asked them to send my love to the other girls, that my emotions came full strength, and tearing, I could hardly finish my sentence… It took me another hour, well into the movie, to get back to myself and the pain to faint to the past.

It was a small religious school that invited me for an interview about a month after the school year had started. They told me that the previous teacher of several years had unexpectedly left, and the newly hired is not liked by the students, and being replaced.

I should have been alarmed by this information, but teaching a sample lesson to these darling group of girls I thought I found what I always wanted, students who like to learn, supportive parents, helpful administration, and an opportunity to teach the way I want.

For the first few months I was the hero teacher. My students’ parents were all happy. Parents of younger kids expressed hope I will be there when their kids get to my class. Students told me they understood things now that they had never before, administrators were all approving, and other teachers invited me to their homes for family celebration.

Before the holidays I received many gifts, both from parents and from administrators and teachers, and at a school holiday celebration I was highly praised by my students, with wishes and even with a cute poem. Everyone cheered for my celebrity…

Then, only few days later, just before the end of the semester, a parent wanted to talk to me. She met first with the head master of the school, and their meeting lasted for a very long time. At the end of it, she ignored me and the head master wanted to talk to me…

To my surprise, I learned that the principal was not happy with my performance, claimed that students don’t understand me, said I don’t use enough technology, and so on…

I was astounded, and asked her only half seriously if it means that she plans on firing me. Her answer was not re-assuring at all. Later I tried to get more information of what was it all about, and eventually realized it will be better if I just quit.

I, somehow, managed to teach to the end of the school day, and following an email exchange later in the day it was clear that I should not come back. I still had to fight for my last paycheck, but when it was over I was just left to wonder what had happened.

It took me months to put together events and time line, to realize that the great celebration before the holidays was also before the report cards. This mother with whom I had to meet had two kids as my students, cute and smart but spoiled and undisciplined, and although I did not fail any of my students, and even ‘D’ was rare, I didn’t hesitate to award ‘C’s to many students, and her kids too…

This woman, however, was rich and well-connected, and the school needed her money and influence. They couldn’t effort losing her over a math grade, so they got rid of me.

This was not the only case of unhappy parents with their student’s grade, I assume. Many of my students were sons and daughters of influential people in the school and community, a fact that gave them and their children entitlement to special treatment. The school depended on their money and influence and could not effort to lose them …

It is a sad story, but not a rare one. Sad for me as I was attached to the students and was doing a good job. But even more consequential was its reflection on the education system. It is not rare that private schools depend on parents’ satisfactions, translates to money… So to keep students and parents happy they get (buy) good grades. And with no a standard, mandatory measure of objective achievement, no one will ever know…

This personal story happened to be timely… With a new education ministry, potentially headed by a person who is a product of the private teaching system, with no public education experience, it is just the beginning of unqualified, money driven, schooling…