Subsitute Teaching... things i have picked up so far

So I wanted to wait till I felt I had more experience with being a subsitute teacher before I wrote a blog about it. I have subbed 12 times now and only been to the same district twice. I have subbed in elementary as well as middle school..every time I try to sub a high school for some reason we have a snow day ( I am thinking that it might be a sign that I shouldn't sub for high school but we will see. I have subbed for many different types of rooms: Emotionally disturbed, Special ed, as well as a school with only kids who have psychological disorders. Of course with my background, I thrive in the more psychological special needs classes. But I have definitively learned alot in all my classes.

What I learned in my elementary class is if kids have questions about if they can do something, ALWAYS respond with "what would your teacher say".. now of course this is directed towards the younger kids because the middle school kids might try to make up a bunch of things that the teacher supposedly lets you do. I learned this lesson the hard way in an 1st grade class that asked if they had to stand in ABC order. I was curious of the answer and before thinking I said no, you can stand where you want. Seriously, you would have thought I told them there was no Santa. Kids were screaming, crying climbing on walls..it was chaos. I finally got them back in their classroom but by that time we were behind 10 min, so the whole day I had to rush through everything just to stay on track. Another thing about kids they thrive in schedules. If they are used to doing reading first and you start with math be ready for the kids to go nuts. So basically just do exactly what the teacher would do and you will be in good shape.

 So I have worked in a middle school three times so far..and I def see the pros and cons of working with middle school students. One nice thing about middle school is you get new kids every period, so if you have a class of disruptive kids wait 45 min and you will get a whole new batch.. hopefully alil more respectful. The not so great part is they can be a bit mouthy and if you make yourself seem like you know what you are doing they will walk all over you. I have had kids leaving the classroom, acting like they are mentally retarded, talking back... you have to show them you are in-control and there will be consequences if they cant abide by your rules.I also make sure that I reward good and discipline bad. I make sure the students know that I will write down kids that did exta good.  I think the best advice I got was have the kids in a contest to see who is the best behaved at the end they get candy. I also found a great idea while looking on pinterest.. I am not sure what website it was from. Basically you get this letters and every time they get too loud you take away a letter if they loose all the letters they go to silence.

 

I think my favorite job was working with the kids with psychological special needs. The whole reason for this school is to get them equipped enough to be able to go back to normal schooling. I also loved the community within the school. Everyone worked together especially when there was a "code red". Ive experienced kids jumping on desks, rolling around on the floor, yelling at me. Usually these kids are able to cool themselves down before they get this intense with the chill out room.The room had a huge bean bag chair and a medicine ball. It was nice because it helped to teach them when how to self-regulate which is very important with working with these kids.

I feel I have learned so much in these few months.. I cant wait to see what new adventures awaits me :-)

2nd day of shadowing

The drive (to the elementary school) was was seventy-five minutes away but I'm so happy I decided to make that trip again. I feel I gained so much experience and learned more about what it takes to be a school counselor.

The day wasn't as busy so it was last time, so I was able to ask a lot of questions. I was able to sit-in on classroom guidance for 3rd grade,1st and kindergarteners. I also viewed a small group for 2nd graders called hunter's amazing remote control (self control). 

The classroom guidance was very different from last time I sat-in(last time I shadowed I watched a classroom guidance for 5th graders). Even though this was the same lesson topic, (problem solving) she approached it in a different way. For the younger grades, (3rd, and 1st) she introduced the lesson by asking the kids if they wanted to become a problem solving star. Of course, they wanted to  and were very intrigued how they would become a star. Another thing that I noticed,is she gave a lot of examples with stories and asked a lot more questions. She also used pictures of an event like not sharing and had the kids think of ideas. She believes that even though they might not understand it completely, once they are older they will already have this as a foundation and can start to implement this in their daily life. It was interesting to watch how she modified the same lesson to successfully reach all the grade levels. For the kindergarteners this was above there understanding so she showed a video about the subject work first then play and printed out a coloring page that went along with the movie. 

I was very excited to see another small group. It was the last day of Hunter's remote, a self control small group that teach them tools for controlling one self. Each session they talk about one remote button and then at the end the kids can tape it to their desk and be able to apply that to the real world. 

This is what each button stood for:

• Channel Changer- filter out distractions
• Pause-stop, to think and relax to create a plan
• Fast Forward-look to at the repercussions of these actions will have in the future.
• Rewind- shifting focus from past failure to future gain
•  Slow motion- slow down when managing stress
• Coach- problem solving 
• Zapper- recognizing and rejecting negative thoughts/feelings
• Way to Go- using positive talk

 It was very interesting to see how the kids were understanding the concept and I was excited when I heard about the stories where the kids were apply it to their everyday lives.

 

 After the small group I had time to ask her questions about her job. She was very real with me, which I appreciated. Not getting into the program last year I was well aware of the challenging aspect of becoming a school counselor. She said that if I wanted to find a job, I would have to be ready to either move or work at a charter school. Another tip she gave me is always have candy and make it fun with the kids, making them look forward to your visits helps them wanting to come to you when they need help in the future. 

She also suggested maybe getting another masters in Clinical Mental health that way I will have more of a chance to get into the schools. 

I am thrilled I got this experience to shadow her and cant wait what amazing experiences are in my future.