More Adventures in Substitute Teaching

[no_hypocrisy]

Last Thursday, I signed up to work with preschool kids with special needs. But I got the bait-and-switch: physical education with the regular classes. All I had to do was visit six classrooms with handing out word puzzles and then a game.

All was going well enough -- until the fifth grade. First time there. For whatever reason, one boy made it his mission to try to provoke me. I know from experience to leave those types alone, ignore them. He kept going. He said I must be a racist. (I suppose he got that conclusion from me showing up white.) He (and then his friends) started to mock me as a substitute, saying I couldn't find "real work", how little money I was making. Again, I said nothing but let's say I gave meaningful looks.

Then the dynamics changed. I watched him walk across the classroom and he hit a girl, not once but twice. She winced and flinched. Now I had to get involved. I directed this boy to return to his desk/seat. He stayed where he was. I repeated my direction and he didn't move. I had to physically get between the boy and the girl he hit and then he moved.

He was enraged. He called across the room to the girl, "Hey, Xxxxx! I never hit you, right?" My heart sank as she replied, "No, you never hit me." He repeated it and she repeated her recantation.

Then he came up to me and told me, "When I go home, I'm going to tell my mother that you hit me, you shoved me, and you pushed me." I thought to myself, "OK, he said, she said." Then this boy took it up a notch or two. He went to about four boys and solicited them with "You saw the teacher hit me, right?" "You saw her push me, right?" Etc. And each boy smiled and nodded and answered, "I saw it good. She hit you hard."

I decided it was time to call in the Calvary. I called the Office and asked the Vice Principal to come to the room ASAP. And he did. As soon as he showed up, I told him succinctly about the girl getting hit, the boy pressing her and the other boys to adopt his narrative. The VP didn't look dismayed or surprised. Apparently he's heard this song before.

He yelled at them, really yelled. Told them they all had to write a one-page essay that he would personally grade. I was relieved that Administration had my back. I told what happened to their regular teacher and she told me I had just had the roughest class in the school.

I found out later from a member of the BOE that another family tried to shake down the school with something similar and it was thrown out of court.

I've never experienced 11 year olds who threatened to get me fired, have me investigated by child protection, and possibly have me lose my teaching license. Not to mention being sued with the school and the town. It was that blatant. And I'm shocked that the girl recanted her story about being hit. I can see how abuse patterns start early.

Bottom Line: As a substitute teacher, you have no rights as you're not tenured and have no union protection. If a kid starts threatening to report you harming them (obviously, a false accusation), you have to get to the Administration right away. If you wait to respond, it looks as though you're hiding something. Geez, Defensive Teaching . . . . .

[pangaia]

1. a little donald trump in the making..

BTW it's cavalry..

OR... maybe not.

[MLAA]

2. What an experience! Sorry you had to go through it.

[MLAA]

3. Just curious....

Physical ed includes word puzzles? I love word puzzles but never thought of them as phys ed. 🙂

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Good Question

Here's what happens:

Gym teacher absent. They don't expect a substitute to do exercises, dodgeball, etc.

You do what's called "In-class" phys ed. The regular teacher prints 300 copies of a word puzzle and gives you a Nerf ball. And you make housecalls to different classrooms instead of meeting in the gym.

Now you have to "sell" the program to kids from grades 1 to 8. Nobody wants to do it. What I do: I take a survey of how many kids are involved in sports. About half, usually the boys, raise their hands. I go into the shpiel about what it takes to win at sports. Aptitude, performance, and . . . . strategy. You have to be smarter than the other team. They're buying it. I continue that these puzzles are practice for strategy, seeing things that are not obvious to the eye.

OK, sometimes this works, sometimes not so much.

And that takes about 20-25 minutes of a 50-minute period. Then comes Silent Ball.

The kids get on their desk tops and throw a Nerf Ball to each other. And of course it's never "silent".

[trixie2]

4. I substitute teach as well

In my experience children that hit and threaten have experienced being whipped at home. As soon as I walk in, if I have a student like that I just won't engage and will immediately have the child removed from class. As much as we want to blame the kid we have to remember that some of these kids face horrors in their homes and are just mimics of their home life.

Special Ed is tricky and they really need to have people who have training. I get switched up too from time to time. If I accept a day with special ed they have to agree to keep the aggressive kids in the office.

I love gym class though and like high school better than elementary school. I won't even accept a slot at the middle school.

[Igel]

8. I've seen some really abusive behavior from parents.

And, yes, many kids are used to being treated badly. In fact, they approach you with open hostility and if you don't respond in like manner they think you're weak; if you do, they think you hate them. No, there's no short-term fix. It's a catch-22.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Holy cow! Glad admin backed you up!

[Ohiogal]

7. And they say teachers are overpaid babysitters!

My husband taught junior high and high school for 31 years in an inner city school system.

I think they should have given him combat pay!

Although if you heard what kind of homes some of these kids come from .... It's heartbreaking.

Anyone who thinks teachers have it easy should go try it him/herself. See how long they last.

[BigmanPigman]

10. One in three teachers quits in the first 5 years.

I didn't have that option. I had to change careers, put myself through college for a second degree and pass all the tests so that I could sub and make a living doing that until I got hired. I subbed 15-20 days a month, year round for two LONG years. When the state finally did class size reduction in 1996 I got hired first since I didn't cross the picket line and marched with the striking teachers (including my master teachers from student teaching) and they remembered that and suggested me to the principal when the new school year started.

Subbing sucked. It was as bad as teaching but in different ways I am 5'1" and those kids are mean, even the young ones. They threatened to key my car, etc. I always called the admin and they would always come and support me since this is how many subs are normally treated. I didn't smile for two years since if I did they took advantage of the situation immediately and I learned that lesson the first week that I subbed. I always let the teacher know by name what every single kid said and did. You have to document everything due to lawsuits, etc. When I became a teacher and had to get a sub I left 4 pages of detailed notes, more than enough for the class to fill the day, and several teachers to contact for help (and this was for first grade too).
Teachers get zero respect from 75% of the parents who think their kids are angels and rocket scientists. Low pay, working while ill, 50+ hour work weeks, school board bureaucratic/$$$ crap, and tons of paperwork make the profession pretty miserable. I was asked today by a neighbor if I liked teaching and I told her about 25% of it. I told all of my high school helpers over the years to NOT go into teaching. All of the teachers I have ever known have said the same thing. It is getting worse and worse every year. Now with carrying guns becoming an issue I wouldn't be surprised if no one wants to join the profession in the future.

[radical noodle]

13. Absolutely!

Document everything... date, time and names. Leave nothing out. Keep a spiral notebook so they can't accuse you of adding pages later.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. Oh, deal lord.

Good for you for immediately getting the vice principal there, and even better that he supported you.

And the girl he hit was willing to say he hadn't, really, really needs help. I wonder if she is also being hit at home.

[3Hotdogs]

11. My suggestion, as soon as the first threat happens,

Hey Siri, :Record.

[radical noodle]

12. It doesn't just happen to substitutes either!

You have my sympathy. Teaching of any kind these days is a bridge to hell. My husband is a retired teacher and my daughter is a special ed teacher. Also, if you have a facebook page, close it down if you continue to sub... sometimes other teachers or aides will stir up trouble if they see something they don't like.