Substitute Teaching

[Abishai100]

Masked & Artsy


"I walked into an inner-city classroom, filled with mostly African-American and Latino junior high school students. I was a substitute teacher, and I introduced myself. It was a social studies class, and the curriculum was scheduled to instruct a lesson on language development in cultures. I asked the class, 'Did you know that my great-great-grandfather was the fellow who invented the term Baker's Dozen (a market lingo used to describe the convenient packaging of 13 items in a baker's parcel maintaining the 12-count term of dozen)?'

The kids at first didn't believe me, but I explained that the point of my inquiry was to stir their curiosity about the economics of lingo with personal perspective."

How much attention we give to a school's ability to recruit interested and educated substitute teachers will affect our historical perspective on storytelling.





Dangerous Minds (Film)

 

[Unkotare]

How much attention we give to a school's ability to recruit interested and educated substitute teachers will affect our historical perspective on storytelling.

Why?

 

[Mr. H.]

I finally got called in on a sub job for tomorrow. Morning only. I guess school lets out early for the holiday weekend.

It always takes a month or two for the calls to roll in after the start of a new school year. Ah well... $40 easy money.

 

[Mr. H.]

Got a call this morning to sub in a 4th grade class. When prompted, I pressed 6 for "prior commitment".

They don't have an option for "hangover".

This school district uses an automated system called Sub Finder. It's really cool. The phone rings and a recording announces the school, grade, and (if appropriate) the subject. If you accept, it tells you the times, where to report, and gives a job number.

I did get a call yesterday to sub tomorrow in a nearby town (half hour drive) for high school math. I'm excited about this one. It's where I attended high school as a freshman back in ought-'69.

Don't know if I mentioned this already, but I did end up taking a job in the 4th grade. I figured what the hell.
I was so glad that I did. I forgot how damn cute and fun those kids can be.

 

[Mr. H.]

I walked into the library this evening on my way to a meeting, when I noticed a couple of kids that looked familiar. I had substituted in their middle school class just yesterday. We all stopped and pointed at each other and then one of them said "best substitute teacher ever".

Yeah, I got cred on the street too.

 

[anotherlife]

In my senior year at high school, I asked if I could do some substitute teaching and get paid. Too bad, the principle told me that substitute teachers must be adults. So much for substitute teaching. I was really good at my subject though (maths) good enough to teach it.

 

[Mr. H.]

It's what's been keeping me busy of late.
Subbed today in a new district for the first time. Very nice middle school about 40 minutes from here. Great kids.

 

[Mr. H.]

I showed a video to the middle-schoolers the other day, "The Nixon Years". Which of course covered Watergate. I told them that in fact it wasn't a security guard who discovered the break-in, but Forrest Gump. Some of them got the joke.

But with another class, I changed the tone a bit. The video included protests against the war and for women's rights as well as gay rights. I asked them if they noticed when the camera panned a big banner of a panther. You could also see some people in the background with raised clinched fists. Some of them were able to name it as the Black Panther Movement.

I went on to tell them about one of my best college friends, a black guy from East St. Louis, and how we had many honest and frank discussions about race and race relations. I also said how I wished that was how people discussed such issues today... honestly, intelligently, and frankly. They got quiet all of a sudden LOL.

I hope I don't get fired.

 

[Toro]

You probably will.

 

[Mr. H.]

Earlier this week it was a driver's ed class. I had to watch the same two dated corny films over and over and over...

But it was fun because we had time at the end of each class for me to recount some hair-raising experience during my decades of driving.

Today I covered for a science teacher. A couple of his classes had 30 students. Oof. One was Cosmology. Before we got started I asked "So, since this is a Cosmetology class are we going to be doing make-up and hair"?

 

[Mr. H.]

Yesterday I had my first fight of the school year. Two eighth graders were going at it really good. They were each landing some decent blows. So I got them separated (without touching either of them), sat one kid down, and took the other to the office. I simply told the principal that there was a fight and that he can get this guy's story and them come get the other one.

I was very cool and calm. After school I stopped by the office and told the principal my account. He said it matched everyone else's.

The incident led to the other students asking me if I ever got into fights. So they had fun listening to Mr. H.'s cool school stories LOL.

 

[Unkotare]

Sometimes a lot worse than a little fist fight happens.