Quote:
Originally Posted by kmb501
I describe my problems to them, but it doesn't help much, as no one is observing me when I substitute teach. I have been told, however, that I choose pretty rough schools, and classroom management is different for a sub than for a regular teacher. I have been told that I may need special substitute teacher training, but the county does not provide that. I'm on my own.
I've asked other subs to observe me, but they got respect simply by walking into the room. There were also times where the students just ignored the other sub and attacked me, though. I think the students may sense less of an age difference between them and me versus most of their other subs. That may be one reason I have so much trouble. The kids routinely guess that I'm in my early twenties or even fresh out of high school. I also can't command respect by appearing competent and knowledgeable in the subject area, because, even if it's something I know, I have trouble presenting it to the kids. More often than not, though, it is something I'm not extremely familiar with, like math, and, if the kids don't know how to do it, I don't really know what to tell them. I kind of wish the math teachers would leave a guide to working the problems for me. I do feel a lot better when I can competently explain a subject to the students, and I think it helps them respect me more.
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My first teaching job was age 23, my students were between ages 15-18. Like you I had no classroom management training in my education program nor in student teaching, since the main teacher had established that already and was always present when I taught. I am small, gentle, not authoritarian, all things I've seen described in your posts. I have taught subjects I have no education or credential in. I don't think you can attribute these things to your problems. Of course classroom management was hard at first. I had a few days where I cried on my lunch break, but I got support from school staff and also developed my own methods that worked for me over time. After the first few months things went well for me and i developed classroom management methods that worked for me and suited my personality. For some reason it seems you haven't been able to find this. Maybe it is too hard to figure out while subbing at different places all the time. Have you ever tried to get a long term teaching position in the grades you feel most comfortable with? I saw in another post you thought you may have Asperger's. Maybe this has something to do with it too. I don't know. But if you have been subbing for a few years, I think I saw that somewhere in your post history, and still really struggling, it may be a sign that you need to drastically change something in your approach, or consider a different position or field. Maybe you need a specific school environment or grade to teach that works well with your style. It may be better to try for that than to continue to bounce around subbing without improvement in your technique.
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