Sub-teaching and 'The Fountain of Youth'
I don't know how real teachers do it.
As a substitute teacher I am constantly amazed at how exhausted I am at the end of a day. I honestly do not know how real teachers do it, day in and day out. Makes running the 29-mile Fairplay World Championship Pack-Burro Race look like a walk in the park.
When I sub, I just have to show up, be there, do my best to teach the subject, and keep the kids in line and safe. I do not have to plan lessons or grade papers. I do not have to talk to parents or go to meetings with administrators. I don’t have to do a lot of continuing education, figure grades, or buy supplies for my classroom out of my own pocket. Real teachers have a daily planning period when they actually have to work, and for a sub that is essentially free time to catch up and take a breather.
Now, I will say that being a sub has its own set of challenges. Some kids walk through the door, see you there and automatically think it’s a “free day.” Many will test a sub with obnoxious behaviors more so than they do their real teachers. You have little leverage over them, and so the only real control is the threat of sending a kid to the principal’s office, which I have only had to do once.
My primary background is in journalism, communications and language arts, so I do pretty well with subbing in middle and high-school reading and writing. I also studied environmental conservation in college and can swing science classes as well. I do not view my time subbing as kid-sitting — I will teach to the best of my ability at any opportunity that presents itself.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'”
— Martin Luther King
I recently applied for a part-time temporary position at our small school, where I am also the distance running coach, as the reading and math “interventionist.” While I was subbing this week I was informed that I’ve actually been chosen for the job. While I was thrilled there were also a suddenly moments of the usual self-doubt.
This destructive thought was cut short by having to send a girl to the nurse’s office after the boy in front of her stood up, pushing his desk back in the process, and accidentally smashing her fingers between his chair and her desk. He apologized. She left in tears, and I felt bad that it had happened in my class even though it was a freak accident and could not have been prevented. Before the next class I moved all the desks so there was more space between them.
Later that day there was a pivotal moment when reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” with a small classes of 11th graders, mostly boys including my own son Harrison who is on The Spectrum and was accompanied by his aide. I suddenly realized the students were all very much engaged with the story and the transitional 1800s language. I punctuated the reading with short discussions about the way language has evolved. I thought, wow. This is sort of cool.
My goal with the new position is for the students to view me as a reading and math “coach” rather than an “interventionist.”
Ironically, the Hawthorne story is about four elderly friends who are invited to drink water from the “Fountain of Youth” – which they eagerly do with drastic results. I do not think I would drink from such a fountain myself, though there are many regrettable experiences I’d love to have a second crack at, such is the way wisdom is gained. Perhaps working with youth is a more gradual way to hold on to what I jokingly call “advancing middle age” — and to share this experience and adventure we call life.
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Have a buddy who teaches high school math. Six periods, 180 students. So, if he spends 1 minute per kid grading papers and providing feedback, that’s 3 hours of extra work. Yeah, I don’t know how they do it.