Substitute Teaching Experiences Reveal Benefits of Self-Revelation, Classroom Walking

It’s the same routine every time I enter a classroom: I walk around the room, check up on all the latest paperwork, prepare the question I want my students to work on when they arrive and visualize whatever it is I will be doing that day. I could also visualize a group of 20 kids hanging on every word I say throughout a seven-hour school day, but I’ve always liked surprises to be genuine.

Maybe some inexperienced teachers go through a similar routine each day because they’re a little nervous. I’m sure many great teachers spend a lot of time on mental and physical setup because they want to reach kids as effectively as possible. I do it because I need to.

As is true in any other teacher’s school week, my kids will come dressed in different clothes than the day before, slap their pencil cases on their desks after they settle in and try to find time to talk to one another during class. Only thing is they aren’t the same kids. Most of the time I’m not working at the same school. And almost all of the time, I’m not teaching the same subject.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been a substitute teacher with the . During my first week, I went from elementary school assistant to middle school engineering to high school chemistry teacher, with a Saturday spent running a program at Walbridge Elementary, one of my not-for-profit organization’s partner schools in the city.

Until my first week of subbing, I forgot what it meant to be tired. Kids really do have school easy. They might move from class to class and maybe do something athletically inspired in the afternoon, but most of the time they’re just sitting down. Think about how much a teacher has to stand! And now that I’ve seen Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion on more than one teacher’s desk, I’m guessing that walking around the classroom while kids are working is all the rage now, too. (Rightfully so—it really works!)

Fitness gurus think more standing at work can improve health, but I’m not sure it counteracts the complicated health effects of waking up so early.

There are times during the day when teachers do get to sit. But if sitting time isn’t occupied by lunch, emails or more prep time, it’s devoted to perhaps the greatest thrill of the job: grading. The same worksheet, 20 times over. A five-page essay, 20 times over. An end-of-semester lab report, 20 times over—and two without student names!

In some ways, substitutes have it easier than permanent teachers. The standing and talking piece is often reduced to a five-minute introductory moment with worksheets to follow. And once the day is done, there’s no take-home work to occupy our nights.

But for a sub, there’s the added element of surprise. Two factors are unknown to a new sub: 1) The students and 2) the customs and traditions of the class. National Geographic could probably make a great substitute-teacher reality show.

On the other hand, the new sub holds the mystery card, too. Students don’t know how the temporary teacher will react to them.

Students will thus usually separate into two major camps: a louder contingent of limit-testers and an eerily quiet huddle of apparently diligent workers who seem to “finish” every assignment within five minutes. For a sub, the mission is to work within this complex tribal system to ratify a one-day treaty that enables the fulfillment of the permanent teacher’s lesson plan.

As I’ve been subbing more often, I’ve found myself trying to connect with students more immediately. Once students hear something interesting about a sub, they become more likely to listen to what the new guy has to say.

“You went to this school, too? (He’s like a real-life time-traveler!)”

“You took this class when you were in high school? (Maybe this guy knows what he’s talking about.)”

“You mean you actually use this stuff in the real world? (No way!)”

As the questions build, so does the energy level. That means Camp 2 (the quiet ones) becomes more interested and thus louder, and Camp 1 (the loud ones) becomes even louder. That energy now needs to be redirected to classwork, which requires more standing and walking and talking and thinking.

For high school seniors, the one-day treaties are normally ratified quickly and with no objection. For students in grades six through 11, the negotiation process can take the entire period. Most elementary school kids, on the other hand, can agree almost as quickly as high school seniors. They just need to be reminded of their contractual obligations much more often.

At the end of the day, the sub returns home, drained by the titanic act of imposing order upon chaos. Stories about teaching will spontaneously pop up in casual conversations. Memories of children playing pranks will invade dreams.

But when the phone rings at 5:30 a.m., the dream breaks and the sub automatically answers, anticipating the moment when he learns what he’ll be teaching that day.