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- On any given day, approximately 274,000 substitute teachers serve in
this country's classrooms. By the time a student graduates from high
school, that person will have spent the equivalent of a full year being
taught by a substitute.
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- Professionalism and the substitute teacher
- Legal aspects of being a substitute teacher
- Classroom management & Discipline
- The daily routine
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- One of the most important aspects of becoming an effective substitute
teacher is how you view and portray yourself to students, staff and the
community. Above all, you need to consider yourself a professional.
Remember, students will encounter substitutes on a regular basis, and
for that reason alone you are a very important part of the educational
process.
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- As a foundation of professionalism, the National Education Association
(NEA) adopted a Code of Ethics of the Education Profession. It is based
on the following principles:
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- The educator strives to help each student realize his or her potential
as a worthy and effective member of society. The educator therefore
works to stimulate the spirit of inquiry, the acquisition of knowledge
and understanding, and the thoughtful formulation of worthy goals.
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- The education profession is vested by the public with a trust and
responsibility requiring the highest ideals of professional service.
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- "I didn't always follow this advice, and even at age twenty-seven I
was being asked on dates by high school boys. I was also informed by a
school secretary that there were teachers who did not want me to sub in
their classrooms because of the way that I dressed!" -Experienced
substitute
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- First impressions are important, and, like it or not, the way you dress
will make a difference in how you are treated by students and staff. You
may find that many teachers dress very casually, but you need to
remember that they already have a relationship with their students. They
are not making a first impression, and they are not attempting to gain
control of a new classroom. As a substitute teacher, you are making a
first impression virtually every day.
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- It is especially important for younger-looking substitute teachers to
dress a bit more conservatively.
This helps establish you as the authority figure in the
classroom. Students will look at you as a teacher and not as a peer (and
hopefully treat you as such). As you can imagine, this is especially
important when you are subbing at the middle school or high school
level.
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- Women will want to avoid high heels, short skirts, low-cut tops and
severely tight attire.
Professional-looking pantsuits are usually appropriate. Men may
want to wear khaki or dress pants, a button-down or polo shirt, and
comfortable shoes.
In most cases, jeans, t-shirts and sandals are not a good idea
for any substitute. Regional differences and job assignment may
influence your style of attire.
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- Rule #1. You are to be attentive and present for the benefit of all
students in the classroom.
The most crucial reason you are in the classroom is to ensure
safety.
To accomplish that, your attention must be focused on the
students at all times.
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- Do not give an assignment then sit down to read the newspaper or play
on the computer.
- Do not walk out of the classroom.
- Do not make personal calls.
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- Rule #2.
Never use the Internet at school to surf inappropriate web sites!
This may sound obvious, but it happens.
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- Rule #3·
Do not gossip about classes or students.
This rule applies whether you are in the teachers' lounge at
school or anywhere else. It is all right to ask advice about how to deal
with certain students or classes, but don't let the conversation develop
into one of complaining, ridiculing or spreading innuendoes about
students or staff.
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- Rule #4. Keep your political, religious, and social beliefs to yourself.
You are there to teach, not to proclaim your opinions or convert
students to your way of thinking. By sticking to the teacher's lesson
plans, you should be able to avoid these situations. If you find
yourself in a class where students ask about your beliefs, be respectful
of their inquiries but stick to the lesson at hand.
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- Rule #5. Be friendly, positive and enthusiastic.
Although you are not there to become friends with students, you
do need to be pleasant with them and demonstrate an interest in their
assignment. Children are very quick to pick up on your overall attitude,
and you want them to be at least cooperative if not deeply engaged.
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- Maintain a professional barrier between you and students. You are the
adult, the teacher, and the professional; act like the expert - not like
another one of the "kids."
- Keep the classroom door open when talking with students.
- Avoid any behavior that could be misinterpreted when interacting with
students.
- Avoid leaving your students unsupervised.
- Use verbal praise and reinforcement.
- Avoid losing your temper and avoid corporal punishment.
- Chaperon only school-sponsored functions. Do NOT socialize with
students.
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- Do NOT take children home with you or transport them in your car alone
or without prior administrative approval.
- Do NOT make telephone calls or write notes of a personal nature to
students.
- Respect students and their cultural backgrounds.
- Use only proper humor (avoid sexual and racial jokes or humor).
- Be confidential (what you hear at school stays at school).
- Avoid criticizing others.
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- An overall consideration when substitute teaching is your legal
responsibility in the classroom and school.
The following are some legal responsibilities you should be aware
of. An understanding of these responsibilities will require some
questioning on your part as to specific school/district policies.
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- Supervision Of Students - The substitute teacher who has physical
control of a classroom has a duty to keep these children safe and
orderly.
In many states, a teacher acts in loco parentis - in the place of
a parent - and is allowed to use his/ her judgment in a manner similar
to a parent. The standard is the reasonable -use of professional
judgment for the safety and orderly education of students.
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- Due Care And Caution - A teacher is required to exercise due care and
caution for the safety of the students in his/her charge. Essentially,
this means acting reasonably and with safety in mind, being able to
explain circumstances and your actions, as well as following school safety
policies and procedures.
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- Release Of Children - Due to possible restraints on who may have custody
of a child, children should not be allowed to leave the building during
the school day without express consent from the office.
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- Administering Medication - Medication should only be administered by the
school nurse or other appropriate health personnel, not the classroom or
substitute teacher. If you know of medication requirements of a student,
the health professional should be notified.
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- Confidentiality - It is unprofessional and against the law in many
states to disclose confidential information about your students.
Generally, a substitute teacher should avoid comments about individual
students that convey private information:
grades, medical conditions, learning or discipline problems, etc.
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- Anecdotal Records - Maintaining notes on particular incidents in the
classroom can protect you in problematic situations. If you feel that
your actions might be questioned, note the date and time, the
individuals involved, the choices for action considered, and the actions
taken.
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- Discipline Policies -The state of Virginia does not allow for the use of
corporal punishment.
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- When sending a student to the principal due to discipline matters, the
substitute teacher maintains the duties of supervision and due care for
both the individual child and the remainder of the class.
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- Proper action may be detailed in the school policy or may require your
independent sound judgment. Possible actions include having another
child accompany the child, sending a child to bring someone from the
office to intervene, or having another teacher watch your class while
you take the child to the office.
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- Dangerous Situations -A substitute teacher is responsible for making
sure the learning environment is safe.
- This includes things such as the arrangement of desks so as not to block
exits and proper supervision during the use of potentially dangerous
classroom equipment.
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- A teacher must also consider the potential for problems in certain kinds
of classes. Planned activities in a physical education, science, shop,
or home economics class may be uncomfortable for the substitute teacher.
In such cases, the substitute teacher may choose to do an alternative
activity which they feel they can conduct safely.
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- The purpose of child abuse reporting legislation is to protect the best
interests of children, offer protective services to prevent harm to
children, stabilize the home environment, preserve family life
whenever possible, and encourage cooperation among the states in
dealing with the problem of child abuse.
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- Any school employee (including a substitute teacher) who knows or
reasonably believes that a child has been neglected, or physically or
sexually abused, should immediately notify the building principal.
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- What is sexual harassment?
- Definition: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and
other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:
1. submission to such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly,
a term or condition of a person's employment or a student's academic
success
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- 2. submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used
as the basis for employment or academic decisions affecting such
individuals
- 3. such conduct unreasonably interferes with an individual's work or
academic performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
working, or learning, environment
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- What are some examples of verbal, non-verbal, and physical sexual
harassment?
- The following are behaviors which could be viewed as sexual
harassment when they are unwelcome:
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- Verbal
- whistling or making cat calls at someone
- making sexual comments about a person's clothing or body
- telling sexual jokes or stories
- referring to an adult woman or man as a hunk, doll, babe, or honey
- spreading rumors about a person's personal sex life
- repeatedly "asking out" a person who is not interested
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- Non-verbal
- paying unwanted attention to someone (staring, following)
- making facial expressions (winking, throwing kisses, licking)
- making lewd gestures
- giving gifts of a sexual nature
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- Physical
- hanging around, standing close, or brushing up against a person,
touching a person's clothing, hair, or body
- touching oneself in a sexual manner around another person, hugging,
kissing, patting, stroking, massaging
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- Here are eleven techniques that you can use in your classroom that will
help you achieve effective group management and control.
They have been adapted from an article called: “A Primer on
Classroom Discipline: Principles Old and New” by Thomas R. McDaniel, Phi
Delta Kappan, September 1986.
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- 1. Focusing
Be sure you have the attention of everyone in your classroom
before you start your lesson. Don’t attempt to teach over the chatter of
students who are not paying attention.
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- Inexperienced teachers sometimes think that by beginning their lesson,
the class will settle down. The children will see that things are
underway now and it is time to go to work. Sometimes this works, but the
children are also going to think that you are willing to compete with
them, that you don’t mind talking while they talk, or that you are
willing to speak louder so that they can finish their conversation even
after you have started the lesson. They get the idea that you accept
their inattention and that it is permissible to talk while you are
presenting a lesson.
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- The focusing technique means that you will demand their attention before
you begin. It means that you will wait and not start until everyone has
settled down. Experienced teachers know that silence on their part is
very effective. They will punctuate their waiting by extending it 3 to 5
seconds after the classroom is completely quiet. Then they begin their
lesson using a quieter voice than normal.
A soft spoken teacher often has a calmer, quieter classroom than
one with a stronger voice. Her students sit still in order to hear what
she says.
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- 2. Direct Instruction
Uncertainty increases the level of excitement in the classroom.
The technique of direct instruction is to begin each class by telling
the students exactly what will be happening. The teacher outlines what
he and the students will be doing this period. He may set time limits
for some tasks.
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- 3. Monitoring
The key to this principle is to circulate. Get up and get around
the room. While your students are working, make the rounds. Check on
their progress.
An effective teacher will make a pass through the whole room
about two minutes after the students have started a written assignment.
She checks that each student has started, that the children are on the
correct page, and that everyone has put their names on their papers. The
delay is important. She wants her students to have a problem or two finished
so she can check that answers are correctly labeled or in complete
sentences. She provides individualized instruction as needed.
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- Students who are not yet quite on task will be quick to get going as
they see her approach. Those that were distracted or slow to get started
can be nudged along.
The teacher does not interrupt the class or try to make general announcements
unless she notices that several students have difficulty with the same
thing. The teacher uses a quiet voice and her students appreciate her
personal and positive attention.
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- 4. Modeling
McDaniel tells us of a saying that goes “Values are caught, not
taught.” Teachers who are courteous, prompt, enthusiastic, in control,
patient and organized provide examples for their students through their
own behavior. The “do as I say, not as I do” teachers send mixed
messages that confuse students and invite misbehavior.
If you want students to use quiet voices in your classroom while
they work, you too will use a quiet, but assertive voice as you move
through the room helping youngsters.
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- 5. Non-Verbal Cuing
A standard item in the classroom of the 1950’s was the clerk’s
bell. A shiny nickel bell sat on the teacher’s desk. With one tap of the
button on top he had everyone’s attention. Teachers have shown a lot of
ingenuity over the years in making use of non-verbal cues in the
classroom. Some flip light switches. Others keep clickers in their
pockets.
Non-verbal cues can also be facial expressions, body posture and
hand signals. Care should be given in choosing the types of cues you use
in your classroom. Take time to explain what you want the students to do
when you use your cues.
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- 7. Low-Profile Intervention
Most students are sent to the principal’s office as a result of
confrontational escalation. The teacher has called them on a lesser
offense, but in the moments that follow, the student and the teacher are
swept up in a verbal maelstrom. Much of this can be avoided when the
teacher’s intervention is quiet and calm.
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- An effective teacher will take care that the student is not rewarded for
misbehavior by becoming the focus of attention. She monitors the
activity in her classroom, moving around the room. She anticipates
problems before they occur. Her approach to a misbehaving student is
inconspicuous. Others in the class are not distracted.
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- While lecturing to her class this teacher makes effective use of
name-dropping. If she sees a student talking or off task, she simply
drops the youngster’s name into her dialogue in a natural way. “And you
see, David, we carry the one to the tens column.” David hears his name
and is drawn back on task. The rest of the class doesn’t seem to notice.
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- 8. Assertive Discipline
This is traditional limit setting authoritarianism. When executed
as presented by Lee Canter (who has made this form a discipline one of
the most widely known and practiced) it will include a good mix of
praise. This is high profile discipline. The teacher is the boss and no
child has the right to interfere with the learning of any student. Clear
rules are laid out and consistently enforced.
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- 9. Assertive I-Messages
A component of Assertive Discipline, these I-Messages are
statements that the teacher uses when confronting a student who is
misbehaving. They are intended to be clear descriptions of what the
student is suppose to do. The teacher who makes good use of this
technique will focus the child’s attention first and foremost on the
behavior he wants, not on the misbehavior. “I want you to...” or “I need
you to...” or “I expect you to...”
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- The inexperienced teacher may incorrectly try “I want you to stop...”
only to discover that this usually triggers confrontation and denial.
The focus is on the misbehavior and the student is quick to retort: “I
wasn’t doing anything!” or “It wasn’t my fault...” or “Since when is
there a rule against...” and escalation has begun.
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- 10. Humanistic I-Messages
These I-messages are expressions of our feelings. Thomas Gordon,
creator of Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET), tells us to structure
these messages in three parts. First, include a description of the
child’s behavior. “When you talk while I talk...” Second, relate the
effect this behavior has on the teacher. “...I have to stop my
teaching...” And third, let the student know the feeling that it
generates in the teacher. “...which frustrates me.”
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- A teacher, distracted by a student who was constantly talking while he
tried to teach, once made this powerful expression of feelings: “I
cannot imagine what I have done to you that I do not deserve the respect
from you that I get from the others in this class. If I have been rude
to you or inconsiderate in any way, please let me know. I feel as though
I have somehow offended you and now you are unwilling to show me
respect.” The student did not talk during his lectures again for many
weeks.
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- 11. Positive Discipline
Use classroom rules that describe the behaviors you want instead
of listing things the students cannot do. Instead of “no-running in the
room,” use “move through the building in an orderly manner.” Instead of
“no fighting,“ use “settle conflicts appropriately.” Instead of “no gum
chewing,” use “leave gum at home.” Refer to your rules as expectations.
Let your students know this is how you expect them to behave in your
classroom.
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- Make ample use of praise. When you see good behavior, acknowledge it.
This can be done verbally, of course, but it doesn’t have to be. A nod,
a smile or a “thumbs up” will reinforce the behavior.
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- What are the needs of the special education students in your classroom?
- Leaving the class
- Other needs/accommodations
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- 1. Treat all pupils with fairness, impartiality, and responsible
fairness.
- 2. Be alert -- spot potential behavior problems in the early stages and
take action before the situation
gets out of hand.
- 3. Remember that some pupils will test a substitute teacher to determine
what behavior limits are.
Teachers must take a firm stand when the limits are reached.
- 4. Stress to students that they must assume some responsibility for
their own actions.
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- 5. If possible, try to speak privately with pupils who cause problems.
This may be done in the school
corridor or quietly at the teachers desk.
- 6. Try to avoid reaching an impasse with a student and allow him or her
to save face if possible.
- 7. Seek administrative assistance when necessary but do not lean too
heavily on the principal to
handle discipline problems. When you call in the principal or
send a student to the office, you are
asking someone outside your classroom to discipline a student for
behavior inside your classroom.
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- 8. Watch attention spans. It is important to know when to change
activities, speed up or slow down.
- 9. Do not leave the class unattended unless there is a real emergency.
- 10. Sometimes pupils will encourage certain activities or procedures
which vary from regular teacher's
routine. If such a situation arises, be pleasant but firm as to
how things are going to be done that
day. Try to adhere as closely as possible to regular teacher's
normal routine.
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- First of all, arrive on time, which probably means at least one-half
hour before the first class is scheduled to begin. You should check in
with the principal or secretary and sign in on the sign-in sheet that is
available at many schools.
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- Second, always dress professionally. A Phoenix teacher says, "I
dress to the 'T' as a substitute teacher. The kids hold the door for
me. One on each side! That's pretty scary and wonderful that they are
influenced so easily by appearance. My daughter's been on her job for
only two weeks and she says they hold the door for her, also."
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- Third, follow the teacher's lesson plan as given to you. Most all
teachers are responsible and want their students to learn. You are
expected to carry on with the academic program
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- Prior to Entering the Classroom
- Report to the administration office.
- Obtain any keys that might be necessary.
- Ask about student passes and special procedures.
- Ask if there will be any extra duties associated with the permanent
teacher's assignment.
- Ask about any special school-wide activities planned for the day.
- Find out how to refer a student to the office.
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- Find out how to report students who are tardy or absent.
- Find the locations of restrooms and the teachers' lounge.
- Ask the names of the teachers on both sides of your classroom and if
possible, introduce yourself to them.
- Ask if any students have medical problems.
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- In the Classroom Before School
- Enter the classroom with confidence.
- Write your name (as you wish to be addressed by the students) on the
board.
- Review the expectations, or rules, if any are posted.
- Locate the school evacuation map.
- Read through the lesson plans left by the permanent teacher.
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- Locate the books, papers, and materials which will be needed throughout
the day.
- Study the seating charts. If you can't find any, get ready to make your
own.
- When the bell rings, stand in the doorway and greet students as they
enter the classroom.
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- Throughout the Day
- Greet the students at the door and get them involved in a learning
activity immediately.
- Carry out the lesson plans and assigned duties to the best of your
ability.
- Improvise using the materials in in the classroom to fill extra time,
enhance activities, or supplement sketchy lesson plans as needed.
- Be fair and carry out the rewards and consequences you establish.
- Be positive and respectful in your interactions with students and school
personnel.
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- At the End of Each Class Period
- Make sure that all classroom sets are accounted for.
- Challenge students to recall projects and topics they have studied that
day.
- Remind students of homework.
- Have students straighten and clean the area around their desks.
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- At the End of the Day:
- Write a brief report about your day and leave it for the permanent
teacher.
- Neatly organize the papers turned in by the students.
- Close windows, turn off lights and equipment, and make sure the room is
in good order before you lock the door.
- Turn in keys and any money collected at the office.
- Check to see if you will be needed again the next day.
- Jot down a few notes to yourself about what was accomplished, how things
went, and ways to improve.
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- Substitute Teachers are expected to:
- Be professional
- Be aware of the legal aspects of the job
- Develop proper classroom management techniques
- Follow a daily routine
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- Class conduct - www.lkwdpl.org
- 11 Techniques for Better Classroom Discpline - www.honorlevel.com
- The Effective Substitute Teacher - www.teachers.net
- Substitute Teacher Handbook 5th Edition - Utah State University
- Substitute Teacher Guide - www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us
- Substitute Professionalism -www.learning.weac.org
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Notes
