While I'm a firm believer in giving students consequences for misbehavior, it's much more fun to reward the positive behaviors. Positive behavior can be reinforced in a number of ways as a...
Substitute teaching can be a daunting task, especially if you're new to the profession. I'm a substitute with a few years of full-time teaching and subbing experience under my belt, and I'm...
We all want better education for our kids. But there seems to be a major disconnect between the politicians that get to set the rules for schools, the educators having to enact...
My focus in the past few years has shifted. For so long I was a people-pleasing career builder, grasping to be the perfect teacher. (Can you tell I was a straight A-...
"I know..." she shook her head and mustered a pitying smile at me when I suggested substitute teaching as means for occasional extra income while raising little ones. "I just could not...
"Nice try-- I was born at night, but not last night," I explain coyly to a student trying to pull a fast one on me. How, you ask, are you a substitute...
Just as I set it to the night before, my alarm rang like a distant gong chiming its early morning call. I didn't move a muscle. "Noooo!" my brain was screaming. I...
Surely you've seen various mementos and trinkets cutely embellished with quotes like "Teaching is a work of heart" or "Teachers who love teaching teach children to love learning." Maybe you've wondered, like...
In the throes of a time-bending newborn haze, among sinks full of bottles and tops and pump parts, during a remixed sleep schedule and learning all of the exciting features of your...
As teaching in general is pummeled with more and more challenges, the difficulties for a substitute are that much more magnified. Classroom teachers don't think their students are giving them a modicum...
If you step in to take over a brand new classroom for a day, you'll likely run into the number one thing students inevitably bring up: "But our teacher lets us..." "That's...
It's no myth that teachers often lose their voice during the school year. By October, those tired vocal folds seem to go on strike. That's why I like to use this strategy...