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…
