Imagine this: you're at the dinner table when your children start to tell you about their new teachers. Mr. Smith is a laidback web surfer who prefers reading email over grading papers; he leaves the teaching up to the student TA. Mrs. Farn (tries to) rule the classroom with an iron fist; her every other phrase is a bellowed "Listen up, now!" Mr. Hyde is unprepared and frazzled; he stumbles over the key vocabulary and concepts, laughingly confessing that the last time he took this subject, he barely passed the class.
What would your reaction be? How long would you keep your son or daughter in those classes?
Now you find out that Mr. Smith, Mrs. Farn, and Mr. Hyde are not permanent teachers, but substitutes. They've been called in for a day or two, a week at the longest. And by next Monday, the good old teachers will be back. What do you do now? Take a sigh of relief? Say, "It's too bad they couldn't get a better sub, but you know, they have to teach on such short notice?"
Why should your reaction be so different?
Sure, the individual substitute teacher may only teach for a day or two, but the absences teachers take add up. Nationally, teachers take about 10 absences yearly (outside of school vacation days such as winter break) according to Mary Finlayson (in "The Impact of Teacher Absenteeism on Student Performance"). As a result, high school students taking six classes with different teachers could experience 60 classes with substitute teachers over the course of the school year. In poorer school districts with more teacher absenteeism, that number could be even higher -- meaning more substitute teachers for the kids who need highly qualified teachers the most. Ineffective substitute teaching is a problem that means thousands of hours of lost learning for America's students. It cannot be dismissed with a sigh and "Just wait for the teacher to come back on Monday."
In my experience, effective substitute teachers have been rare. If you criticize me for stereotyping substitute teachers in my introduction, know that they are all real people (names changed) who have taught classes I take. When I complained to my parents about substitute teachers, my dad commented defensively, "It's a thankless job with low pay and short preparation time." This is completely true. Substitute teachers are often called up on short notice, often with no prior experience with the class, and have myriad responsibilities -- taking attendance, checking off assignments, starting projects -- thrown at them. Teachers may leave incomplete or confusing lesson plans or none at all.
In most cases (except for that sub who surfed the web instead of doing anything), the substitute teacher's ineffectiveness is not from lack of trying. Rather, it is the result of lack of experience with or knowledge of the subject's curriculum. This is a problem that needs to be addressed by education administrators.
In my school district substitute teachers are required to have teaching certification -- but no knowledge qualification for the subject they are substituting for. Someone who scored a D when they last took the subject -- but has a teaching certificate -- was a substitute teacher in one of my classes. I saw the district's priority on the certificate instead of the knowledge evidenced clearly in a description of requirements for a long-term substitute position for teaching chemistry: "Must hold current WA State teaching certificate... Prefer Highly Qualified in Chemistry as well." Really, what's more important? A piece of paper (that never really guarantees good teaching anyway) or in-depth knowledge of the subject? Who do you think would be the better substitute teacher -- someone who's taught fifth grade language arts for two years with a brief stint subbing for a science teacher, or someone without a certificate who has taught science classes at technical colleges and has advanced degrees in chemistry and physics?
But one little piece of paper keeps people who may have actual academic or real world experience with a topic out of the classroom, while under qualified substitute teachers continue to pour in.
Imagine if your son or daughter starts a new conversation at the dinner table. Mr. Inik did a stunning live demonstration in class that shocked and enthralled everyone. Ms. Paige involved students in a project that went live on the web to hundreds of viewers. Mrs. Watson is so liked by students that her Facebook page has 2,000 likes (think that's unrealistic? Check out "Mr. Ito Time," a fan page set up by adoring students of a popular sub in my school district).
This vision is possible. We need to recruit better by looking further -- beyond the limiting boundaries of education certification, considering qualified volunteers with professional or academic experience. We need to reward the "thankless job" of substitute teaching with better pay and chances for permanent positions. I look forward to the day when no student comes home saying, "I didn't learn much today... we had a sub."
Follow Adora Svitak on Twitter: www.twitter.com/adorasv
Community, parents, school, students, the student’s age and grade level and the teacher’s SKILLS. Sometimes even in gang infested, low income schools, I am able to have a good day. Because of my experience (33 years) the kids don’t “sniff out” any fear.
I have many guiding principles that stay in my mind as I work. The #1 principle is “I will not waste your time.” By my actions, the kids are able to see this. If I teach and interesting lesson, we get through the day with minimal disruption. It’s not unusual for me to alter a lesson plan if I can come up with something that will hold their attention. That’s the best tool for maintaining order. (Unfortunately, 7th graders seem to have a built in “no-for-the-sake-of-no” chip installed in them. I don’t enjoy early adolescents)
I work the same schools all the time. The kids look forward to me. The jobs not all that bad.
Above all, a substitute must be a master in the art of CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. This is why you can’t pull a professional from another field and expect them to be effective teachers.
Solution: Pay subs more, They get about $85/day in my district. Don't want to pay more? Offer benefits. A lot of very qualified teachers would work again as subs if they could get benefits. Younger teachers might be motivated a little more if they were evaluated from time to time in order to obtain a more permanent position.
It all boils down to money, and the disrespect of the position. I blame students and the public for that. There is very little recourse when kids bully subs. As a teacher I threaten my students when I know I am going to be out. They know if they are written down on a list of shame, they have a punishment coming. Most teachers won't bother.
The best solution, present at the school board your ideas, with lots and lots of voting adults to support you. That is what gets the school districts attention. Get on their calendar, speak up and be heard. Your parents vote counts.
You probably think the opposite, but I'll go for the 5th grade teacher subbing for a fifth grade science teacher.
There is no reason to think the sub "doesn't know science" to some degree; after all s/he graduated from college. A person with advanced degrees would be lost in an elementary school even if they were certified to teach at the elementary level. In fact, it’s not at all unusual for teachers garnered from industry quit teaching because the demands placed upon them in school didn't exist in the "industrial workplace".
Additionally, I believe some of the worst teachers occupy lecterns located on college campuses.
_____________________
“I'd also advocate introducing a component of community volunteerism so that being a substitute teacher can be a position someone like a successful professional would apply for (as part of volunteer/community service hours that many companies offer).”
Is this an invitation to an uncertified business person to be a sub? If so, it’s not likely that business people will take six hours out of their day to be a sub (at the expense of their business income) to sub, or an hour or two to be a teacher’s aide.
Second, the students get double consequences for their behavior. If they behave badly, they get double of whatever consequence is for bad behavior (losing privileges, detention) and if their behavior is good, they get double consequences (earning points toward a favorite activity or a treat) for that. Third, the teacher often leaves notes for the guest teacher to let the students play a game for about 5 - 10 minutes at the end of the day so they get a faster reinforcement. Fourth, when we know teachers are suddenly absent for a long period of time (such as a lengthy, unexpected illness) other teachers check in with the guest teacher ahead of time and see if they have enough materials and understand what they are to do for the day. Last, if the guest teacher is unsure or can't find the lesson plans or have run out of lesson plans, we get something together quickly from the emergency lesson plan box and/or make extra copies of lesson plans by a same grade teacher. It works really well and most guest teachers like to come back and most students behave for them.
Interesting name. You make a lot of very good points in your post I can tell you one thing that could alleviate the lesson plan issue. It's called technology - as in an open source Lesson planning system. Teachers would be REQUIRED to put in COMPLETE lesson plans. Then if a substitute is necessary, that aspect is covered.
But art of the onus is on the students. Maybe it was my high school but we all got a a syllabus at the beginning of the term that laid out week by week what we were covering, as well as any projects due, etc.
(not to compare myself to Martin Luther King Jr. by any stretch of the imagination).
I certainly agree that there is a lot that needs to be done in education reform (just look at my other articles), and I'm not arguing that the issue of finding better substitute teachers is the most urgent, but I think it is one that should be addressed, especially since students in low-income school districts have substitute teachers on a regular basis, sometimes for long terms.
As you may have noted, I advocate for decent wages for substitute teachers; with budgets already being stretched, in lieu of (or in addition to, if possible) raising salaries for substitutes I'd also advocate introducing a component of community volunteerism so that being a substitute teacher can be a position someone like a successful professional would apply for (as part of volunteer/community service hours that many companies offer). I think that this component is the part that could be most easily facilitated. And the point of my article is to get enough people--hopefully including some administrators--angry about this issue that some action (such as the proposed above) can be taken.
I've taught at both the secondary and university level, and I can say with absolute certainty the skills of TEACHING are as important as content knowledge in the elementary or secondary classroom. I see lots of people who think they can make a career change to teaching only because they know their subject, and they have not even considered the pedagogical skills that are critical to classroom success. Even guest teaching or classroom aide experience is insufficient preparation for the unique requirements of being a teacher of record in an elementary or secondary classroom.
I agree with the previous commenter that someone who is an experienced and skilled TEACHER is much more likely to be more successful in any primary or secondary classroom than someone who simply has content knowledge. There are some exceptions--the highest level high school classes and specialist classes (art, music, etc.)--but good teachers know what they need to do to get up to speed in a particular subject. Even with a PhD in history and a social studies credential, I would need to review quite a bit to teach a high school class on psychology or ancient history, for example, even though my credential authorizes me to teach both subjects.