by baldy

Created on: August 28, 2008

THE PRACTICAL SUBSTITUTE TEACHER

Substitute teachers, alternately called guest teachers, play a small but vital role in the education of high school students. Anyone in their productive years can become a high school substitute teacher, provided they have a four year college degree, a well-rounded set of references, and can pass a criminal background check. There are minor fees associated with processing the finger print check and the substitute certificate.

New substitute teachers will have different personal experiences and come to different conclusions about the classroom and the students based upon how long it has been since they, themselves, have left high school. The older the new substitute, the greater the adjustment period until they "find their groove", so-to-speak, and become comfortable with the job. The adjustment period may be much shorter if the adult already has experience raising teenagers of their own and has been involved with supervising young adults in organized situations such as sports, scouting, etc.

Substitute teachers walk into a class for the first time and must try to follow not only the regular teacher's lesson plans as closely as possible, but also the institution's classroom rules and guidelines as closely as possible. The regular teachers normally provide adequate and understandable instructions. After all, it is in their best interest. Usually, the most difficult part of substitute teaching is wrangling with the classroom electronics in order to play DVDs and videos, or show overhead transparencies.

Many older substitutes- usually those over the age of forty five- rightfully do not allow the students in their charge to eat during class, nor do they allow the students to use their wireless phones or their headphoned music during the class period, although the regular teachers may allow these behaviors. These substitutes tell each class at the beginning of the period about these prohibitions, tolerate a minute of vocal disappointment from the students, then procede with the lesson plans. Every public high school district in the United States has official, written prohibitions of the above behaviors and students who do not follow the substitute's instructions should be dealt with according with the institution's guidelines without hesitation. Phones and Ipods should be confiscated if students use them during the period after being reminded not to use them. If the students refuse to relinquish the devices, the substitutes should call for a security person to remove the student. Equally, if students continue to eat their lunch during class, security should be called. The students will be removed for not following a reasonable request on the part of the substitute and for breaching the school's prohibition of the behavior.

High schools greatly value their substitute teachers and will normally back them up one hundred percent. They know that they need substitute teachers. In the event of a teacher absence, regular teachers are forbidden by law from supervising two or more separate classrooms.

Substitute teachers should, above all else, have the students' welfare in mind when they supervise a class. The removal of a student from the class should not be taken lightly and only used as an option when it is clear that the student refuses to conduct his or herself properly and is challenging the adult's authority.

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