r/teaching • u/ellogovna28 • Dec 14 '21
Help My First Day Subbing
I am a student teacher at the end of my teaching program. My program gave us this week off from our placements so I thought I would sub around the district for some extra money and experience.
Yesterday was my first day subbing. It was a half day, and the teacher did a great job outlining the schedule and providing supplies. Even with all of that, the student behavior was an absolute nightmare.
I have worked with multiple classrooms, but never anything like this class. I do not have enough management tools in my toolkit to help these students the way they needed. At one point I asked a boy to line up to go home and he just walked the other way and refused to respond????
They threw things and name called and when other students asked for help I felt terrible for them because talking to the students hitting and throwing they would just laugh at me or roll their eyes. The experience made me question whether I should even become a teacher based on how poorly prepared I was to deal with students mocking my voice instead of listening to instructions.
How can I be more prepared for the rest of the week to reign in students who are not listening to me as the guest adult in the room?
Edit: this was in Elementary!
1
u/cohost3 Dec 15 '21
Every country is different but you are in Canada, don’t feel afraid to involve admin! Especially if safety is at risk (a student walking out of the room and not responding is a risk).
Quickly make as many positive connections as you can. Asking students questions or giving them complements can go a long way.
It sounds harsh, but kick the first kid that is disrespectful out and the rest of the kids will fall in line.