February 25, 2025 • 15 mins
Substitute teaching requires a unique set of skills that differs from traditional teaching. By exploring seven essential qualities, we aim to equip substitute teachers with strategies to adapt quickly, manage classrooms effectively, and engage students instantly.
• Emphasizing adaptability for varying classroom environments
• Discussing classroom management without inherent authority
• The importance of reading classroom dynamics quickly
• Presenting confidently amid uncertainty
• Strategies to engage without prior relationships
• The necessity of improvisation skills for unexpected scenarios
• Building resilience and patience while facing challenges
Join our community by participating in the Substitute Teachers Lounge Facebook group!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Greg (00:00):
Greg Collins.
Substitute Teachers Lounge,episode 280 for February 25th
2025.
I want to call this a specialtreat today because, even though
I have mentioned thoughts thatwere posted on our Substitute
Teachers Lounge Facebook grouppage, well, today the show is
(00:25):
going to be entirely about oneof those posts.
You know that substituteteachers need to have certain
qualities that maybe teachersdon't so much need, and that's
what we're going to talk abouttoday.
One of the reasons I like thispost so much is that the poster
posted anonymously.
(00:45):
They didn't want any credit forthis.
Most of the time when somebodyposts anonymously, it's to say
something bad about somethingand they don't want to identify
themselves Not the case in thissituation.
So, without further ado, we'lltalk about these abilities that
substitute teachers need to have.
There's a lucky seven of them.
I don't want to plagiarize, soI'm going to read them verbatim
(01:12):
at first, and then I'll make mycomments after each one.
Substitute teachers loud, allright, guys, man, oh man.
That Kentucky weather.
I tell you what I've got afour-day job coming up in the
(01:37):
third grade beginning In fact,it's already begun by the time
you listen to this, but thisweek I've got four days of third
grade and I'm a little nervousabout it, in that I wouldn't
normally be, but this past weekin Kentucky we've had major
flooding, we've had snow.
That, in my area, kept us fromgoing to class four days, which
(01:59):
means then that I'm going to becoming into this class kind of
dry.
I know that the I actually knowthe teacher I'm substitute
teaching for.
I've known him for years, butit's going to be a little bit
different because he wasn't atclass last week either, or at
least he didn't see his studentslast week.
So probably I'm going to becovering what he wanted to cover
(02:22):
last week instead of what hehad hoped I could cover this
week.
So a little bit anxiety there,but everything will be all right
.
I'm glad you're tuned into thisepisode.
I'm going to read verbatim whatI said in the opening, and
there's seven points and I wantto make sure we get to all of
them.
So I am going to read theopening and then I will read
(02:44):
point one and then I willcomment a little bit.
Just from my experience, Iagree with all of them, so it's
certainly not going to be todisagree with them, but I like
them a lot, and that's exactlywhat happened here.
You know, I'm not sure how manypeople read them.
We're well over 4,000 members,in fact.
(03:08):
I'm looking at it right now.
We've got 4,600 members on thisFacebook group page for
Substitute Teachers Lounge andI'm sure most of them have seen
this and a lot of them have readit.
You know, a lot of times youpage through things.
This one caught a lot ofpeople's attention, so here we
go.
The opening is this Asubstitute teacher needs many of
(03:32):
the same qualities as a regularteacher, but because they step
into different classrooms withlittle preparation, they also
need some unique skills thatfull-time teachers might not
rely on as much.
Here are a few key ones.
Number one adaptability andquick thinking.
Regular teachers have a setroutine and long-term lesson
(03:56):
plans.
Substitutes, on the other hand,must quickly adapt to new
classrooms, different gradelevels and unexpected situations
.
With little time to prepare,they often need to adjust
lessons on the fly based onstudent behavior, available
materials and missing lessonplans.
All right, so that's the quote.
(04:18):
Now, I couldn't agree with thismore, because I don't know if
I've ever been to a class whereyou didn't have to just adjust
things at least a little bit.
You had to adjust them at leasta little bit because of things
that come up in the classroom.
Students bring things up.
You don't want to just cut themoff.
They like to share stories.
(04:40):
You have to be careful withthat in elementary school or to
get too out of hand.
Maybe let them share one storyevery 20 minutes or something
like that.
But I love this.
You're going to go into a lotof rooms where you have to adapt
because of the students.
In fact, I've always said firstperiod is the learning period.
You're seeing how the lessonplan goes over and if it's the
(05:03):
same all day, you're going toadapt to the next periods
because of what didn't go wellin the first period or even how
the student composition is alittle bit different in that
second period.
So that's a great point.
Number two, and I quoteclassroom management without
authority.
Full-time teachers establishlong-term relationships and
(05:26):
classroom expectations over time.
Substitutes have to gaincontrol quickly without that
built-in authority.
They need to earn students'respect fast, often by balancing
friendliness with firmness.
I'm so glad this poster saidthat at the end.
This is after the quote.
Of course I'm talking on my ownnow.
(05:47):
I'm going to repeat that lastpart.
They need to earn students'respect fast, often by balancing
friendliness with firmness.
That is so true.
You can't just go in there andyell all the time and expect
them to be responsive to you orparticipate properly.
You have to have both thatfirmness and friendliness.
(06:10):
Be firm when you need to, butbe friendly, help them out, walk
around and say you know, maybeif their project, especially
elementary school, if they'resupposed to draw something, make
nice comments to them so thatthey stay motivated.
All right, number three,reading the room instantly.
(06:31):
I like this one Quote asubstitute must assess the mood
and dynamics of a class withinminutes.
They need to recognizepotential troublemakers, shy
students or underlying tensionswithout prior knowledge of
student personalities.
Unquote.
Boy, is that ever true?
You know this.
(06:52):
Every different class that youhave, every day, you've got a
different use, that wordcomposition again.
There's different types ofstudents in there.
You're going to have some, justby default, that are more
intelligent than others.
You're going to have some thatare shyer, as she said, than
(07:13):
others.
You're going to have some thatlove to participate, over and
over and over.
You have some that don't wantto participate at all.
How do you deal with that?
How can you make things fun sothat everyone will want to
participate?
So you do have to read yourroom.
You're going to do it.
You got to be careful.
You don't want to just assumewhen students walk in,
(07:36):
definitely by appearance.
How are you going to assumeanything just by looking at them
?
You have to kind of get to knowthem and know how to handle
yourself after that, all right.
Number four, I quote confidencein uncertainty.
Regular teachers know theirsubject matter and students well
.
Substitutes often walk in blind, sometimes teaching unfamiliar
(08:01):
subjects or following vagueinstructions.
They must confidently presentmaterial, even when they're
learning it at the same time.
Man, that is true, I'm terribleat history, I am good at math
and you can tell I teach thosetwo topics.
In fact, as much as I likescience, there's part of it that
(08:22):
I have trouble getting a graspof and I don't mind asking for
help.
One of my long-term jobs wasteaching a science class and I
just told the head of departmentyou know, these valence
electrons are killing me and Idon't know if I'm giving them
the proper guidance that theyneed.
And the head of the departmentsaid well, why don't, why don't
(08:43):
we set up a little zoom meetingbetween the two classes?
And it just so happened thatthe head of the department was
teaching the same type of classat the same time no-transcript
you have.
You're going to be uncertainabout things.
(09:03):
You're not as confident aboutcertain things.
There are certain subjects thatI don't know at all and you
still have to teach them by theguidelines.
Now the teacher will be ashelpful as they can, but they're
not always up to snuff.
They don't always get to leavethe details.
You know, and what I've noticedtoo, a lot of notes you get
(09:25):
from teachers.
They're writing them down.
They're writing them down in away that makes sense to them.
They don't realize that when anew person comes in and reads
that, well, maybe it doesn'texactly click in my brain the
way that you know it in yourbrain.
(09:45):
So I've run across that too.
So you definitely have to haveconfidence in uncertainty.
Number five, I quote ability toengage with no relationship
history.
Full-time teachers buildrelationships over months or
years.
Substitutes have to createinstant rapport to keep students
engaged, even if they only seethem for one day.
(10:06):
Storytelling, humor andenthusiasm.
Help substitutes make lessonsinteresting without prior
connections.
Boy, oh boy, unquote.
I love that last phrase.
Again, that's who I am.
Storytelling, humor andenthusiasm that describes me to
a T Help substitute teachersmake lessons interesting.
(10:26):
Without prior connections yougot to connect with those kids,
always have a funny story tostart the class with.
You know, even if you make oneup, the more personal you make
it sound, the better you'regoing to connect with those
students.
Now again, I've run across thatin elementary school.
(10:47):
The more stories I share, themore stories they want to share.
But a little humor, a littlestorytelling, a little
enthusiasm goes a long way forsubstitute teachers.
Number six, quote strongimprovisation skills.
If there's no lesson plan, nomaterials or technology issues,
(11:09):
a substitute has to think ontheir feet and come up with
meaningful activities quickly.
They often need backupactivities, games or discussion
topics in case they finishearlier or run into problems.
Unquote.
I have run into that constantly.
If you've never been in asituation where there's no
materials or something goeswrong, well, bless your heart,
(11:32):
you've been blessed.
It's coming.
Believe me, it's coming andyou'll need to.
You know I've had episodesbefore where I always I refer to
them as back pocket issues orback pocket preparation, because
stuff that you, figurativelyspeaking, keep in your back
pocket to pull out in casethere's extra time.
I used to say I don't say thatso much anymore, but I used to
(11:54):
say I almost like it whenthere's time left over in either
elementary school or middleschool because it gives me time
to try some things that I wouldlike to do to help bond with
those students.
So those strong improvisationalskills.
Number seven, the last one,quote resilience and patience.
(12:18):
Substitutes phase students whomight test them, simply because
they're not the regular teacher.
Handling defiance,disengagement or indifference
without taking it personally iscrucial, amen.
They often lack the supportsystem of a regular teacher,
meaning they need to beself-sufficient in handling
(12:39):
challenges.
Boy, that is so true, you know.
It actually makes me feel alittle funny when I'll walk into
Substitute Teach andeverybody's saying yay, we got a
substitute.
Well, I'm happy that they saidyay, but they're not really
saying yay because of me.
(12:59):
They're really saying yaybecause they think it's going to
be an easy day.
The regular teacher's not here,so you have to keep them on task
.
You have to be patient.
There was a post this weekabout a comment that was made
about a teacher that wasuncalled for, it was unethical
and she reported it and I'venever been put in that situation
(13:25):
and I hate it that she was.
But there's things that aregoing to come up, even if it's
just students who have had a badday, who are currently in the
middle of a bad situation withtheir home life.
They can't turn that off whenthey come to school.
So you might be faced withsomething and you're going to
(13:47):
have to be patient about it.
You're going to eventuallyencounter defiance,
disengagement and indifference,just like this person said, and
you can't take it personally.
If you take it personally,that's going to be rougher on
you than it is on the student.
So that was a very, very goodpoint.
The poster closes by sayingwould you say you've had to lean
(14:10):
on any of these more thanexpected while subbing.
Well, as I glance back at allseven, I have encountered what
the poster is talking about inall seven.
This is excellent.
I would love you to join ourSubstitute Teachers and Islands
Facebook group.
Like I said, we're over 4,600people now.
(14:30):
By the way, by the end of theyear we're going to go over
100,000 downloads.
Now, I'm not Joe Rogan and Iknow that he gets that much
every time, but I am so excitedthat you've thought it important
enough to download theseepisodes.
Thank you to the poster.
I'll make sure when thispodcast episode is made public
(14:54):
on Tuesday that I'll post sothat the original poster knows
that they were given credit.
Of course I wouldn't give themmy credit by name anyway without
their permission, but it's justso nice that they posted this
anonymously.
They didn't want the credit andI hope those comments today
(15:14):
will help you in your substituteteaching this week.
Greg Collins.
Substitute Teachers Lounge,episode 280 for February 25th
2025.
I want to call this a specialtreat today because, even though
I have mentioned thoughts thatwere posted on our Substitute
Teachers Lounge Facebook grouppage, well, today the show is
(00:25):
going to be entirely about oneof those posts.
You know that substituteteachers need to have certain
qualities that maybe teachersdon't so much need, and that's
what we're going to talk abouttoday.
One of the reasons I like thispost so much is that the poster
posted anonymously.
(00:45):
They didn't want any credit forthis.
Most of the time when somebodyposts anonymously, it's to say
something bad about somethingand they don't want to identify
themselves Not the case in thissituation.
So, without further ado, we'lltalk about these abilities that
substitute teachers need to have.
There's a lucky seven of them.
I don't want to plagiarize, soI'm going to read them verbatim
(01:12):
at first, and then I'll make mycomments after each one.
Substitute teachers loud, allright, guys, man, oh man.
That Kentucky weather.
I tell you what I've got afour-day job coming up in the
(01:37):
third grade beginning In fact,it's already begun by the time
you listen to this, but thisweek I've got four days of third
grade and I'm a little nervousabout it, in that I wouldn't
normally be, but this past weekin Kentucky we've had major
flooding, we've had snow.
That, in my area, kept us fromgoing to class four days, which
(01:59):
means then that I'm going to becoming into this class kind of
dry.
I know that the I actually knowthe teacher I'm substitute
teaching for.
I've known him for years, butit's going to be a little bit
different because he wasn't atclass last week either, or at
least he didn't see his studentslast week.
So probably I'm going to becovering what he wanted to cover
(02:22):
last week instead of what hehad hoped I could cover this
week.
So a little bit anxiety there,but everything will be all right
.
I'm glad you're tuned into thisepisode.
I'm going to read verbatim whatI said in the opening, and
there's seven points and I wantto make sure we get to all of
them.
So I am going to read theopening and then I will read
(02:44):
point one and then I willcomment a little bit.
Just from my experience, Iagree with all of them, so it's
certainly not going to be todisagree with them, but I like
them a lot, and that's exactlywhat happened here.
You know, I'm not sure how manypeople read them.
We're well over 4,000 members,in fact.
(03:08):
I'm looking at it right now.
We've got 4,600 members on thisFacebook group page for
Substitute Teachers Lounge andI'm sure most of them have seen
this and a lot of them have readit.
You know, a lot of times youpage through things.
This one caught a lot ofpeople's attention, so here we
go.
The opening is this Asubstitute teacher needs many of
(03:32):
the same qualities as a regularteacher, but because they step
into different classrooms withlittle preparation, they also
need some unique skills thatfull-time teachers might not
rely on as much.
Here are a few key ones.
Number one adaptability andquick thinking.
Regular teachers have a setroutine and long-term lesson
(03:56):
plans.
Substitutes, on the other hand,must quickly adapt to new
classrooms, different gradelevels and unexpected situations
.
With little time to prepare,they often need to adjust
lessons on the fly based onstudent behavior, available
materials and missing lessonplans.
All right, so that's the quote.
(04:18):
Now, I couldn't agree with thismore, because I don't know if
I've ever been to a class whereyou didn't have to just adjust
things at least a little bit.
You had to adjust them at leasta little bit because of things
that come up in the classroom.
Students bring things up.
You don't want to just cut themoff.
They like to share stories.
(04:40):
You have to be careful withthat in elementary school or to
get too out of hand.
Maybe let them share one storyevery 20 minutes or something
like that.
But I love this.
You're going to go into a lotof rooms where you have to adapt
because of the students.
In fact, I've always said firstperiod is the learning period.
You're seeing how the lessonplan goes over and if it's the
(05:03):
same all day, you're going toadapt to the next periods
because of what didn't go wellin the first period or even how
the student composition is alittle bit different in that
second period.
So that's a great point.
Number two, and I quoteclassroom management without
authority.
Full-time teachers establishlong-term relationships and
(05:26):
classroom expectations over time.
Substitutes have to gaincontrol quickly without that
built-in authority.
They need to earn students'respect fast, often by balancing
friendliness with firmness.
I'm so glad this poster saidthat at the end.
This is after the quote.
Of course I'm talking on my ownnow.
(05:47):
I'm going to repeat that lastpart.
They need to earn students'respect fast, often by balancing
friendliness with firmness.
That is so true.
You can't just go in there andyell all the time and expect
them to be responsive to you orparticipate properly.
You have to have both thatfirmness and friendliness.
(06:10):
Be firm when you need to, butbe friendly, help them out, walk
around and say you know, maybeif their project, especially
elementary school, if they'resupposed to draw something, make
nice comments to them so thatthey stay motivated.
All right, number three,reading the room instantly.
(06:31):
I like this one Quote asubstitute must assess the mood
and dynamics of a class withinminutes.
They need to recognizepotential troublemakers, shy
students or underlying tensionswithout prior knowledge of
student personalities.
Unquote.
Boy, is that ever true?
You know this.
(06:52):
Every different class that youhave, every day, you've got a
different use, that wordcomposition again.
There's different types ofstudents in there.
You're going to have some, justby default, that are more
intelligent than others.
You're going to have some thatare shyer, as she said, than
(07:13):
others.
You're going to have some thatlove to participate, over and
over and over.
You have some that don't wantto participate at all.
How do you deal with that?
How can you make things fun sothat everyone will want to
participate?
So you do have to read yourroom.
You're going to do it.
You got to be careful.
You don't want to just assumewhen students walk in,
(07:36):
definitely by appearance.
How are you going to assumeanything just by looking at them
?
You have to kind of get to knowthem and know how to handle
yourself after that, all right.
Number four, I quote confidencein uncertainty.
Regular teachers know theirsubject matter and students well
.
Substitutes often walk in blind, sometimes teaching unfamiliar
(08:01):
subjects or following vagueinstructions.
They must confidently presentmaterial, even when they're
learning it at the same time.
Man, that is true, I'm terribleat history, I am good at math
and you can tell I teach thosetwo topics.
In fact, as much as I likescience, there's part of it that
(08:22):
I have trouble getting a graspof and I don't mind asking for
help.
One of my long-term jobs wasteaching a science class and I
just told the head of departmentyou know, these valence
electrons are killing me and Idon't know if I'm giving them
the proper guidance that theyneed.
And the head of the departmentsaid well, why don't, why don't
(08:43):
we set up a little zoom meetingbetween the two classes?
And it just so happened thatthe head of the department was
teaching the same type of classat the same time no-transcript
you have.
You're going to be uncertainabout things.
(09:03):
You're not as confident aboutcertain things.
There are certain subjects thatI don't know at all and you
still have to teach them by theguidelines.
Now the teacher will be ashelpful as they can, but they're
not always up to snuff.
They don't always get to leavethe details.
You know, and what I've noticedtoo, a lot of notes you get
(09:25):
from teachers.
They're writing them down.
They're writing them down in away that makes sense to them.
They don't realize that when anew person comes in and reads
that, well, maybe it doesn'texactly click in my brain the
way that you know it in yourbrain.
(09:45):
So I've run across that too.
So you definitely have to haveconfidence in uncertainty.
Number five, I quote ability toengage with no relationship
history.
Full-time teachers buildrelationships over months or
years.
Substitutes have to createinstant rapport to keep students
engaged, even if they only seethem for one day.
(10:06):
Storytelling, humor andenthusiasm.
Help substitutes make lessonsinteresting without prior
connections.
Boy, oh boy, unquote.
I love that last phrase.
Again, that's who I am.
Storytelling, humor andenthusiasm that describes me to
a T Help substitute teachersmake lessons interesting.
(10:26):
Without prior connections yougot to connect with those kids,
always have a funny story tostart the class with.
You know, even if you make oneup, the more personal you make
it sound, the better you'regoing to connect with those
students.
Now again, I've run across thatin elementary school.
(10:47):
The more stories I share, themore stories they want to share.
But a little humor, a littlestorytelling, a little
enthusiasm goes a long way forsubstitute teachers.
Number six, quote strongimprovisation skills.
If there's no lesson plan, nomaterials or technology issues,
(11:09):
a substitute has to think ontheir feet and come up with
meaningful activities quickly.
They often need backupactivities, games or discussion
topics in case they finishearlier or run into problems.
Unquote.
I have run into that constantly.
If you've never been in asituation where there's no
materials or something goeswrong, well, bless your heart,
(11:32):
you've been blessed.
It's coming.
Believe me, it's coming andyou'll need to.
You know I've had episodesbefore where I always I refer to
them as back pocket issues orback pocket preparation, because
stuff that you, figurativelyspeaking, keep in your back
pocket to pull out in casethere's extra time.
I used to say I don't say thatso much anymore, but I used to
(11:54):
say I almost like it whenthere's time left over in either
elementary school or middleschool because it gives me time
to try some things that I wouldlike to do to help bond with
those students.
So those strong improvisationalskills.
Number seven, the last one,quote resilience and patience.
(12:18):
Substitutes phase students whomight test them, simply because
they're not the regular teacher.
Handling defiance,disengagement or indifference
without taking it personally iscrucial, amen.
They often lack the supportsystem of a regular teacher,
meaning they need to beself-sufficient in handling
(12:39):
challenges.
Boy, that is so true, you know.
It actually makes me feel alittle funny when I'll walk into
Substitute Teach andeverybody's saying yay, we got a
substitute.
Well, I'm happy that they saidyay, but they're not really
saying yay because of me.
(12:59):
They're really saying yaybecause they think it's going to
be an easy day.
The regular teacher's not here,so you have to keep them on task
.
You have to be patient.
There was a post this weekabout a comment that was made
about a teacher that wasuncalled for, it was unethical
and she reported it and I'venever been put in that situation
(13:25):
and I hate it that she was.
But there's things that aregoing to come up, even if it's
just students who have had a badday, who are currently in the
middle of a bad situation withtheir home life.
They can't turn that off whenthey come to school.
So you might be faced withsomething and you're going to
(13:47):
have to be patient about it.
You're going to eventuallyencounter defiance,
disengagement and indifference,just like this person said, and
you can't take it personally.
If you take it personally,that's going to be rougher on
you than it is on the student.
So that was a very, very goodpoint.
The poster closes by sayingwould you say you've had to lean
(14:10):
on any of these more thanexpected while subbing.
Well, as I glance back at allseven, I have encountered what
the poster is talking about inall seven.
This is excellent.
I would love you to join ourSubstitute Teachers and Islands
Facebook group.
Like I said, we're over 4,600people now.
(14:30):
By the way, by the end of theyear we're going to go over
100,000 downloads.
Now, I'm not Joe Rogan and Iknow that he gets that much
every time, but I am so excitedthat you've thought it important
enough to download theseepisodes.
Thank you to the poster.
I'll make sure when thispodcast episode is made public
(14:54):
on Tuesday that I'll post sothat the original poster knows
that they were given credit.
Of course I wouldn't give themmy credit by name anyway without
their permission, but it's justso nice that they posted this
anonymously.
They didn't want the credit andI hope those comments today
(15:14):
will help you in your substituteteaching this week.
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