<p>Yesterday was my last day of subbing for the year. Next year I will only sub in elementary schools. No high schools. Many in HS belong in prison. I think state keeps under 18 in HS because schools must be cheaper than prisons. In my state, state spends an average on $5 k/student. Prisons cost lost more than that. While they are in HS they don’t have worry about feeding them, clothing them or their medical expenses.</p>
<p>At the elementary level it is bit more interactive. I have to talk more than in HS, but it is nice to see kid’s face when he/she ‘gets’ it. Yesterday, there was this girl. She came in the morning and planted herself to her seat with a long face. Some other regular teacher tried to talk to her, she would not. AP came and same results. Earlier in the class she would not do anything - but in the last hour she started doing something and responding - of course with just one word or head (yes/no). The highlight of the day was the PM class. One girl drew a picture for me.</p>
<p>I really don’t blame you. At the school where my dd took the PSAT last year (we homeschool) one student cussed out a teacher for taking up their cell phones. NO respect these days. The thing is the working world would reward/punish such behavior (in general - I <em>know</em> there are exceptions). Hugs to you and enjoy your summer, with anticipation of a year full of more manageable students next year.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the cost of dropping out might even be higher. Here’s an article from Austin. Please note that the droput rates are WAY underestimated.</p>
<p>‘Each of the … dropouts costs the state about $4,168 every year for the rest of their lives because of increased Medicaid costs … incarceration costs and loss of tax revenue.’
‘The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Texas,’ National Center for Policy Analysis (2007)</p>
<p>Here’s a better and more complete analysis:</p>
<p>I’m glad you found your niche, Simba. I, too, am a substitute teacher. My niche is subbing for teachers and aides of special education kids. I much prefer an environment where I am not the only adult in a classroom – usually there are other aides and teachers. I really feel like I am making a difference in special ed. Subbing for regular HS classes means only handing out work sheets, tests, showing movies or giving study time. And the behavior issues can be quite difficult to deal with.</p>
<p>I give you lots of credit for working with elementary age students. I thought that was the most difficult age group. In our district, a sub is expected to follow the lesson plans of all the subjects (and rightly so), and you are greeted with a stack of materials 2 feet high when you enter the classroom. These days, they are constantly taking kids out of the classroom to go to another math class, or are bringing in students from another class to participate in your reading class, etc. I often didn’t know who was in the class and who wasn’t!</p>
<p>The two incidents that put me over the edge and out of the regular high school classrooms for good after I had been subbing for 4 years already were (1) when one kid took someone else’s phone and downloaded porn on it before I could get it away from him and (2) when many kids in the last 5 minutes of an English class were throwing things…small things, but they wouldn’t stop. I made a report to the regular teacher. The loudest kid, who was easiest for me to identify, was fingered for the worst behavior report and he was suspended. He called me and begged me to speak on his behalf, but I wouldn’t. Shudder.</p>
<p>The regular teachers have the discipline thing down, but the procedures for subs are often not clear or effective.</p>
<p>“The regular teachers have the discipline thing down, but the procedures for subs are often not clear or effective.”</p>
<p>And there you have it in a nutshell. If every classroom teacher was required to maintain a seating chart (with photos) and some clear emergency lessons for unplanned subs things wouldn’t go south the minute the kids saw a stranger at the helm.<br>
ALso if every district/campus had hard and fast written rules that they handed out to subs; “cell phone visable, call extnsion 412 and send the kid right down to the office” Rude language ?" fill out the form 12 that was handed to you in your sub packet"<br>
Unfortunately the campuses that usually run smoothly are least likely to have this in place since they never think it will be needed.</p>
<p>Hmmm…so interesting! I’ve signed up to sub for elem school next year & was thinking of HS.</p>
<p>My gf (a HS teacher) said it’s actually easier to sub HS because you teach the same thing every period, just to different kids, whereas in elem school you’re teaching different stuff all day.</p>
<p>But…sounds like other factors are at play, too! </p>
<p>I’d sub just to make sure they stopped showing those movies that are frequently being used to ‘teach’ in regular (non-sub) classrooms in my son’s school…!!</p>
<p>I had some kooky idea that I could give them some college-admission advice (paying back my hours spent here on CC!!) or encourage some issue-oriented debates among the classmembers.</p>
<p>I LIKE subbing in high schools and hate elementary and middle. You have to like teenagers and have a sense of humor, though, and the administration has to back you up.</p>
<p>It helps to come in with something interesting to do after the planned activity runs out. One of the things I do in big inner city schools is see how many different languages we can learn to say “hello” in. My record in one classroom was twice as many as the number of students. If I have time, I like to go on to “thank you.”</p>
<p>I always found “loss in tax revenue” to be a curious sort of a cost, especially since individuals have a right to choose which job they want to go into – the state exists for the individual, not the other way round. It’s an opportunity cost, but to have it placed with medicare and costs of incarceration sounds weird.</p>
<p>dmd77–I agree; there has to be some fun, practical, educational stuff you can do w/high schoolers! My son’s friends are so smart & fun. He advises me, when I mention this: “They are not all like that.”</p>
<p>A friend of our family used to sub at the high school. One day DS came home and told me he was completely embarassed by the way the kids talked to the sub, including the liberal use of pornographic language…nice…
I have a deep respect for anyone who can do that every day.</p>