Constantly, I reflect back on my own education and contrast my experiences as a student with the educational product that we provide for our learners today. Every once in a while something happens or somebody says something that brings me back to wooden floors, chalk boards, and wall clocks that we knew worked because we could actually hear the electricity buzzing through them. Recently I heard of a student who walked into a classroom and when he saw that his regularly scheduled teacher was not present said, “Yeah! We have a sub today!”
I recall my own penchant for substitute teachers when I was in school. The substitute teacher signified a break in routine, often less stringent expectations with regard to behavior, and an increased likelihood of a movie (now referred to as multi-media presentation), permission to talk quietly (frequently referred to as cooperative learning), or time to quietly complete outstanding assignments (now called structured learning). So when I heard that a young man had such outward excitement about his substitute teacher, I was not surprised.
I was in high school at just about the dawn of having to pass a test to get a diploma. In New York there was one diploma for the students who passed the tests and a different diploma for the students who did not. There was the “High School Diploma” and for those of us to took the state examinations and passed them, there was the “Regents Diploma.” As fate would have it, all students must now pass the examinations to get a diploma – and this is true for more than just New Yorkers and – well there is another question – if one from New York is a New Yorker, what is one from Massachusetts, a Massachussettser? Please accept my apologies for going off topic there.
Get to the point Mr. Baldassarre!
We (teachers and administrators) harp on the fact that we need our students to be in attendance everyday so that they may have proper time to assimilate all of the material necessary to have a crack at passing their MCAS examinations. If we were to adjust our curricular delivery in times of teacher absence – and our adjustments are not appropriate we would be taking away from our students’ education just the same as if they were absent. At Mahar we require teachers to have proper plans in place so that students continue to learn in the wake of teacher absence – and in our new drive to continue to improve our performance on state exams will monitor our substitute teachers to ensure that educational quality remains in the classroom.
All of this because of one eighth grader’s enthusiasm about his substitute teacher – who was actually a high school teacher filling in for a middle school teacher so that he could attend a meeting:
I recall my own penchant for substitute teachers when I was in school. The substitute teacher signified a break in routine, often less stringent expectations with regard to behavior, and an increased likelihood of a movie (now referred to as multi-media presentation), permission to talk quietly (frequently referred to as cooperative learning), or time to quietly complete outstanding assignments (now called structured learning). So when I heard that a young man had such outward excitement about his substitute teacher, I was not surprised.
I was in high school at just about the dawn of having to pass a test to get a diploma. In New York there was one diploma for the students who passed the tests and a different diploma for the students who did not. There was the “High School Diploma” and for those of us to took the state examinations and passed them, there was the “Regents Diploma.” As fate would have it, all students must now pass the examinations to get a diploma – and this is true for more than just New Yorkers and – well there is another question – if one from New York is a New Yorker, what is one from Massachusetts, a Massachussettser? Please accept my apologies for going off topic there.
Get to the point Mr. Baldassarre!
We (teachers and administrators) harp on the fact that we need our students to be in attendance everyday so that they may have proper time to assimilate all of the material necessary to have a crack at passing their MCAS examinations. If we were to adjust our curricular delivery in times of teacher absence – and our adjustments are not appropriate we would be taking away from our students’ education just the same as if they were absent. At Mahar we require teachers to have proper plans in place so that students continue to learn in the wake of teacher absence – and in our new drive to continue to improve our performance on state exams will monitor our substitute teachers to ensure that educational quality remains in the classroom.
All of this because of one eighth grader’s enthusiasm about his substitute teacher – who was actually a high school teacher filling in for a middle school teacher so that he could attend a meeting:
Student [with smile, pumping fist]: “Yeah! We have a sub today!”
Teacher [gently]: “I am sorry, you must be mistaken. Will you please take your seat so that we may begin?”
Student [frowns]: “Sorry.”
My question is how do you possibly "police" or hold your subs accountable for actually following through with the teacher's lesson plans. Especially in my department (special education)the subs, which get paid on average $50 a day, feel they are there to pretty much babysit. It is great to see you have teachers substituting for other teachers, but not too may districts have that luxury. This is a BIG problem, in my opinion-it causes too many setbacks!
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