Missing a day - DEVASTATING results...

Lance Chapman writes:

I had a training class today for an upcoming science unit and as a result, I had to get a sub. I’m ashamed to report that after I went into my classroom after the school day and professional development had ended, I was enraged, discouraged and incredibly disheartened.

My classroom was in shreds –- literally.

The vast majority of my posters were torn down, ripped apart and left on the floor with gum sticking to the bottom. My VHS player and flash drive (with all of my lessons up to this point on it as well as other important documents) were stolen, as well as a computer monitor that is in my storage closet (all these were in a storage unit that was locked). My lab equipment was broken, tagged, (gang symbols in permanent marker) and completely nonfunctional. All 160 of my students now have tagged notebooks with profane language all over the covers. Many of my science books (brand-new this year) are ripped, tagged and coverless. Oh, and the most devastating thing of all, my 7th grade homeroom (I meet with them for 20 minutes per day) has been working on a pen pal project with Indiana 6th graders. They have spent weeks being creative with their letters, attaching photos, drawing, attaching gifts –- now all in shreds. All those photos, gifts and letters are on the floor, and I have to break the news to my 7th graders tomorrow that what they have spent two weeks on is now in the trash and cannot be salvaged.

I’m writing this posting article because I’m truly at a loss for words. I was informed that my substitute teacher had left the room numerous times throughout the day (I don’t even know why) and left the students to themselves. After I told friends who are first-year teachers, many said they would have left. As disappointed as I am, this makes me want to continue even more. My students never act like this when I’m there and I need to reemphasize my expectations for substitute days. But then again, is a class a class when the teacher or substitute isn’t even in the room?

Comments

[Herb]

I teach school too and hate taking days off. I've never had that bad a sub but I usually give review assignments because almost no subs teach academic math. Unfortunately, this will happen more and more because the trend is toward more off-campus training. Since the terms of the education debate preclude discussing student socialization levels, the "experts" have decided that more teacher training will save us. I find at these trainings I am either taught something I already know, or some ,method I would never dream of using. Never do they teach you a great way to explain your subject so that everyone can understand it.

[Jeff]

Lance,

I feel very badly for you. Having your room trashed is horrible. I don't know how I would react if something like this happened in my classroom, but I'm sure anger would be one emotion. How did you handle what happened with your students? Are you going to try and find out who the culprits are? What is the school administration going to do about this? For sure, the sub should never be invited back to the school, or any other school if it is determined that they left the classroom at any time during the day.

I have had to take a couple days off recently for AVID training. It seems that when I am gone the kids think it is a day off. Almost none of them do the work that was left.

Please keep us posted on what happens. Hang in there. Your commitment to your students will have positive consequences for some of them.

[evelyn]

Herb is right...the "experts" will never blame the kids and their parents for lack of pride and respect and just common decency. They have been handed a free education that most do not appreciate.

If I were you, I would give them worksheets and have them work in silence for a couole ofweeks. That way you can catch up with what you need to get done and give yourself some time to recoup. I would also contact every parent via form letter. Don't count on the administration to help in any way and in fact they will probably blame you.

Regardless of whether anyone is in the room, the students should be internally motivated to behave by now. However, the sub is not legally supposed to leave the room and if I were you I would call the sub desk and fill out the appropiate paper work to document the sub's negligence. Also if you candocument and take pictures and give it straight to the district.

Don't moralize to your students because it won't do any good. If they cared, they would not have done it in the first place. They have not been raised properly.

If the administrators had any spine, they would expel taggers and those who damage equipment but they never do. Hence, teachers are left to deal with the fallout and are of course blamed for it to a certain degree. Go the worksheet route for a bit. It is not inhumane. It works.

Lock everything up when you know you will be absent. This is the first year I have not had to lock up my items but in past years, everything had to be locked up. You may want to explain calmly to the class that the flash drive had items that you really needed on it and if it shows up, you won't care how it got there. You might get it back.

[Leigh]

Lance, I'm so sorry. My eldest is a senior at Berkeley High--a school that kids regularly set fire to a decade ago. It's difficult for me to fathom what migh be behind this kind of destructiveness.

If I were you, I'd spend next week having the kids clean up the classrooms. I'd invite kids who were upset by the destruction to discuss it. I'd ask them to write an essay on "What Happens to my Education when all the Tools I Need to Get It are Destroyed."

This society needs 100,000 more teachers like you, but even that won't solve the crisis we're facing as a nation. Children like those who trashed your classroom see no relationship between their actions and what happens to them in their lives. Sadly, for the most part, they believe that what's keeping them down, what is preventing them from attaining success--at school, in their communities, in the job market--are grand, racist, external forces.

But it wasn't grand, racist, external forces that destroyed your classroom. They need to understand that if anything is going to change in their lives.

[KC]

Can you say, "No self control?" I knew you could.

The kids grudgingly give you some authority, but they give nobody else any, and they think that an absence of a teacher gives them permission to do whatever the hell they want.

I'd quit if I were you. There's no way this'll get better. It's 12-ish weeks of school already gone, and this is what you get? Every time you need a sub you'll have to lock things down and they'll still destroy your stuff.

[Nancy]

What type of consequences have you established in your classroom for this behavior?

[S]

There needs to be more accountability for substitutes, period. It is their job to ensure that vandalism is minimized and that students are still being held to certain standards. There needs to be a change in the way substitutes are hired and evaluated - in LAUSD at least, it seems like ANYONE is qualified to be a substitute regardless of their ability to manage a class when a teacher is gone.

[David in Los Angeles]

That’s unbelievable, terrible. I hope the substitute teacher is never allowed to work in that district – or within your county – again. I worked as substitute teacher for four years while in graduate school, and I’m never heard of anything so bad. Wow. The individual’s actions border on criminal neglect. Is it possible for the district to go after him or her, to cover the cost of some of the damage?

[David]

"I treat my students like adults" - from an earlier blog post.

Lance, maybe you need to re-think this philosophy. Like all people, we have to learn the hard way. And now you have. Students are just kids. Without a deep sense of structure and high expectation of accountability, they are rudderless.

BTW, never be absent, and if you do, then plan way ahead and hand-pick a trustworthy substitute - they do exist. Never rely on the LAUSD sub-finder system.

Also I am curious, why didn't your neighbor teachers do something about the situation? When I know I am going to be absent, I always ask a neighboring teacher to check on things in the classroom and on the substitute.

Never give up!!!

[James E. Powell]

This happened to me in my first year and my reaction was pretty much the same as yours.

Like everything else, the students need to be taught how to behave when a sub is in the room. They have to be accountable for their behavior and for the room. This is not a one-day lesson; it's something that needs to be incorporated into the whole idea of what they are doing with their lives.

[Alice]

My daughter was a member of the 2005 TFA Corps in LA and has stayed at her school for a third year. She too teaches middle school science, so I understand what you are doing. This entry almost made me cry. I feel so bad for you, but I admire the fact that it makes you more committed to what you are doing as a TFA Corps member. My daughter also had some bad days her first year, but overall she felt that she was making a difference. I think you know her....she leads some of your Saturday TFA sessions. You should ask her and some of the "older" and second year TFA people for advice about subs and how to find subs who will actually stay in the classroom. Also, maybe some of them will have some ideas about how to enforce consquences for bad behavior when a sub is there. All I can say is to keep trying and remember, the first year is usually the worst!

[Former sub.]

I have read and been told that all the teacher training given that takes teachers out of class is totally useless.

Of course, it was your students, not the substitute, that destroyed the room. Since education in the US is free, many students probably have the attitude that they have nothing invested in it. You don't value what is handed to you free of charge.

Yes, a class is a class when the adult is not in the room. Middle school students should not have to be monitored every minute of every day.

Post script: I substitute taught for 2 years before burning out and leaving the profession altogether (I have credential and obtained it the traditional way). Subbing is the pits.

[rikki brown]

u should have a sub that u could rely on...

[A Fellow Teacher]

Lance, It is the negative forces of the community that are at work. Bitter, angry students cannot stand to see those with hopes and aspirations succeed. You represent change to them and it is a fight for the soul of the class. Do not let them win. Unfortunately, most of us who have taught in South L.A. for any given time have experienced this very same event. There are no words to describe the feelings of betrayal and sense of violation that arise from this. Absolutely show up tomorrow. And the next day. And the next year. The kids have to know you're not going anywhere and they'd better get used to teachers who have expectations of them. BTW, what is administration doing about this? You can request for that substitute teacher to be banned from your school. If that does not work, do not hesitate to call Local District 7 and ask them to follow up on this matter. I can guarantee it's not the first time this sub has behaved in this way. Hang in there!

[Shay]

You might not want to blame your students for this. It's a common practice by ditching students to take advantage of subs and classes that have them. They sit in the class and hope no one will notice them so that they don't get caught. Then, after the sub has taken roll (and usually not bothered to do a head count to make sure the numbers match), they start causing problems, esp. if the sub just seems to be there to kill time rather than follow a lesson plan.
One way I've learned to prevent this kind of problem is to take pictures. Create a digital seating chart. Bring a camera and take a picture of each student. You can either upload the pics and put them on a doc and then print it out, or you can print them and then physically cut and paste them to a poster board of some sort. That way, when you change the seats, you can just move the pictures around either physically or on the comp. Then, when the subs come, they can just refer to the picture seating chart to see who is there, who isn't, and who shouldn't be. Once other students know about your chart, they won't bother trying to sneak in.
It gives your sub an edge that he/she is not used to having, especially when dealing with discipline problems. There's no more of that "What's your name?" when sending kids out. They can look to the seating chart and know who's who.
Most subs aren't lazy; they just have a serious disadvantage from the moment they walk in the door because 1) they don't know the students' names and 2) they can't affect the grades. When you give them this power, they can do both. They know the students' names and they can report back to you on the good and bad performing students so that YOU can affect the grades.
Oh. And another thing… If you can, next time you are going to be out, wrap the handles with bike lock cable, either one thick one or one, long thin one that you can wrap repeatedly. It's a great deterrent.

[adinasi]

Unfortunately, Migdia Chinea, all those things you describe were ultimately your responsibility.

As the adults in the classroom or school we are responsible for the attitude and behavior for our students, just as parents are. The education intelligentsia has led too many young teachers to foolishly believe you can 'reason' and 'cooperate' with adolescents, allowing them to 'own' their behavior; This is nonsense. THEY ARE CHILDREN, and it's the ADULT'S job to basically 'lay down the law', creating the structure and expectation young people actually crave.

The schools in which you've been a 'guest' teacher are populated with young people desperate for structure, expectation, and love from responsible adults. I've taught many a thug and thugette in my day, but never had these issues because they knew I cared about them, and even my reprimands were out of my love for them as young people and students. Sadly for many of them I was the hardest, most caring teacher they've had, and that things got less challenging and caring for them after MIDDLE SCHOOL explains why so many have struggled worse upon leaving my classroom.

When I would 'sub' at my school during my vacation the 1st few minutes were critical; I was in full 'drill Sargent mode' which got their attention, letting nothing slide without me correcting and expecting certain behavior. Eventually students realized I focused on their BEHAVIOR, not their personality; you can say what a student DID was 'dumb', but NEVER call them 'dumb.'

Frankly, if you've never had children, or haven't babysat or worked with children, you really don't belong in a classroom. The things I can imagine are similar to being in a middle school urban classroom are emergency room surgeon or fighter pilot ; the unpredictability of 25-35 children and snap observations and decisions you must make about EVERYTHING you say and do are not for the weak, which sadly too many people discover upon their foray into a classroom. You can write a script for a classroom (lesson plan), and it often changes the moment the bell rings.

I'll keep saying this for as long as I live: In education, good or bad, it's always the adults, NOT the children who determine success or struggle.

[Emeka Diribe]

Write over the permanent marker with White board dry erase marker. Wait a few minutes and clean off with whatever liquid cleaner you use for your whiteboard. I have been a substitute teacher and this is the second year I am teaching as a contracted teacher so I know what has happened to your class.

[Herb]

I can't disagree more with Adinasi. It's adding insult to injury. Some students are not teachable in the current setting because they haven't been socialized. Often schools do not back up teachers who lay down the law. I've been a successful teacher for 27 years and I've never had children of my own.

[W W Thigpen]

This is the problem with the public schools. They are required by law to admit the criminal element. This is what results.

[Robert]

Just came across this item- wow. It's been two years out of teaching high school for 2 years and I empathize with you. The Sub issue is important- if it's LAUSD you could put in a request for specific subs and there are some that can hold down the fort for you AND get some student work done. You might check with other teachers for their recommendations and other suggestions.

Leaving the classroom? A Legal restriction here. I was next door to a sub that totally lost it one morning, yelling at the students and calling them "animals," and on and on, just a total capitulation by him. I stayed in my room with my students and continued with our lessons. Later in the day, some of my students who had been in that class filled me in. They were pretty amazed by his conduct, too. I was only teaching a couple of months myself at that time and fortunately had help from colleagues for survival skills. The admin. was and still is, pretty spineless in applying any worthwhile disciplinary practices. Even a simple dress code is not enforced by the admin = principal.

I was more dismayed by the admin and several teacher cliques that were non-productive in building a good school environment. My "mentors" in my dept. were great for moral support and tips, but there was still much to learn in my own classroom mangement. Tough love, though a cliche term, worked for me more often than not.

Good luck, it gets better.

[Marjorie Williams]

I just read your about what happened to your classroom. I was a sub for many years in Minnesota, after leaving a tenured job in Califoria. My husband just retired from 3M company as a polmer chemist. I finally got a full time job as a teacher, but as a sub I found that most of the time, the teacher had few rules or consequences for bad behavior, but more importantly no school that I ever worked in had support for teachers from the administration.Most administrators tend to blame teachers for student behavior. The students receive no sanctions but the teacher is treated as though he or she is not eompetent. I recently resigned from teaching, having started in 1967 as a seventh grade teacher in Azusa. It has only gotten worse. I ended my career with 45 graduate credits above an M.A. in history. I had recently been trained in A.P. history. I knew my subjects, and I worked hard. Students came to class with cell phones, ipods, and attitudes. I spent most of my class time negotiating with them for time to teach, and there was no support from the administration. I do not know the answer to what is going on with students, but I have heard that many private schools who have a no tolerance policy for bad behavior have happier teachers.

[Teacher at Gompers]

Unfortunately, many TFA teachers come to Gompers without having experienced the inner city aside from movies and rap videos. A lot of the training they get before coming here is too idealistic. Walking into first year teachers' rooms (mostly from TFA), I see the following rules:

1. Respect your Teacher.
2. Respect your Peers.
3. Respect your School.

I made the same mistake my first year. My room was trashed that first year as well. I have left my things out and nothing has been stolen in the past three years, even with subs. Students here need more explicit rules and more experienced teachers.

[Sean Socco]

Ghetto schools, as institutions, are soul-stealing, mind-numbing practices in convincing kids that they deserve to be poor. This was the best way some of them knew to articulate their resentment of that fact. I'm sure they act pretty good around you most of the time because they would feel too guilty to act like that in front of you, but your whole shtick of "work hard and you'll succeed" is obviously B.S. to them. Attacking your class when you are gone is a way of attacking the system that you obviously believe in without attacking you personally.

Look, they are surrounded by neighbors and family members who work hard and barely get by. They may not have thought through the fact that all our "college-prep" talk is a fiction for the simple fact that there aren't enough colleges to take all our kids, but they do know that the vast majority of people around them are pretty much in the same social situation as their parents and they should expect the same. Trying hard in Science class isn't going to change that.

Until you ground your practice in the needs of the community by accepting leadership from community elders, the kids will continue to treat you like this: friendly at the personal level, at war at the institutional level. And they are absolutely right to do so, even if their tactics could you some work.

[Douglas Keachie]

My first ten years were spent subbing. I sub now. When each class comes in I hand each student a slip of paper, on which I have stamped, 2 lines. Under one it says Print Last Name. Under the other it says Print First Name. I then explain that if they fail to do this by one minute after the bell has rung, they will be marked tardy. If they fail to do it at all, they will be marked absent. I keep the cards in order as I pick them up, so that I have a seating chart, even if the teacher doesn't. I go around the classroom like a conductor collecting these, and actually call them tickets. "You can't be in this classroom unless you have a ticket." I do do head counts.

Soon, and I can pretty much depend on this, a student will ask to go out. I identify them by name and then have them sign a clipboard, and note the time. Whenever a student wants to go, I explain that so&so isn't back yet. If so and so doesn't come back within a reasonable time, I use the student's last name and say: "Paging Dr.SoandSo, you have a patient waiting in surgery." I do this every coupe of minutes, the patient worsens, until the patient is dead. This lets the kids know I am tracking. Finally when the kid shows up again at the end of the period and tries to say that he/she was there all the time, the rest of the class will burst out laughing.

I also wear at least dress pants and a white shirt and tie. I am an ex Berkeley hippie type, and still have a beard and some hair, and despite the fact I'd prefer blue jeans, I never wear them. I go along just fine with my Col Sanders image, and even encourage it.

Because the totally of the wall event does happen, I do carry a digital recorder, from Sony, about $170, which will transfer voice data to my computer. You are not required by CA State Ed Code to even let the principal know you do this. You are nominally doing it to"improve the quality of your teaching." In practise, you may save your butt, especially as a sub, if some students come up with a C and B story about what happened when they go out of control. Having taught in Hunter's Point in SF, I've even seen the most dedicated young black teachers have the same problems I used to think were just racism against me because I was white.

Since these devices will run for 19 hours, are tiny, about the size of two fountain pens, I'd conceal one in the recesses of your classroom when you can't be there. If you do get the "full catatrophy" as this teacher did, you might be able to piece together just enough of what went down to cause some of them to fess up, which they will do, when they think somebody else has sqeualed already.

Remember, with all such recordings, you don't know they exist, unless really pressed with something like false sexual misconduct charges, and then only under the guidance of a non Union selected lawyer. I'm sorry, yes, even the Union may be in bed with the administration, when it comes to selling out to the parents and politicians. You should ready destroy all copies for sure by the end of the term, if not a way lot sooner. For me, seven days max is good.

And, the tapes may actually improve your teaching. And, you can dictate into the thing while driving, and transfer the results to the computer at home, and the voice transcription software will type it all out for you, ready to email, your thoughts on the IEP or whatever. This will drive your vice principal nuts, and convice any review board that you do good work.

Best of Luck to All of You

[Douglas Keachie]

I have to jump back in here. Some of you are behaving as though the students are all the same, from the same background. They most certainly are not. Statistically, however, in a class of 30:

10 will be doing everything they can to get whatever education they can. If you had all thirty like this, there'd be no problems. This is why you can't blanket blame the class for tearing the place up. BTW, many of these ten would love to tell on the others, but will get beat up if they do, and even have their younger siblings attacked if they are too big to beat up.

Between 5 and 8 will be inclined to go along with these ten on many days, but they are not so desperate..

1 to 5 will have a serious educational problem, which requires special attention. They will not misbehave themselves, but they keep you from watching the remaining students.

Between 4 and 10 will be at school because that's where their friends are. You, and what you are doing, are a distraction from their main purpose for being. They will not often disrupt, but they will certainly not mind if there is a disruption.

Usually at least one, and sometimes as many as three students, will view making you miserable, by whatever means necessary, as a goal, at least 50% of the time. Classes with more than 3 such students go off like bombs, with a very short half life, and are quickly dismantled by saavy administrators, who cannot afford total meltdowns.

To make things worse, these students will have parents who were just like them when they were in school. And grandparents and great grand parents, and they are not necessarily stupid. In fact the are probably smarter than average, and each generation learns something new to pass on down to the next, Most importantly, how to scam school administrators and politicians at all levels. It's a perfect storm! Imagine 3 Chris Rocks in one room, and you get the idea.

Under these conditions, with this diverse population, I don't care how many kids you've raised or babysat for, how firm as an adult you try to be, the odds are your classroom will be described as at least, "a little out of control."

The cure is found in juvie. There a teacher, at least in Nevada County, can say, "you're out of here," and in come two burley guards, who lead the problem child back to his cell. It's wonderful! In 11 days of teaching I only had to do it once. The fear of it happening kept the rest of them in line.

I'd envision a ghetto school with plenty of cells, each one wired back to the classroom for full video and audio from the classroom, and a keyboard for text messaging out to the classroom, as the only means of communication for the wayward student. At the end of the day, the student is let out, to the custody of their parent(s) or guardian. The teacher's decision is never questioned. If America wants ghetto America to get an education, that's the kind of setup that will work.

These observations are based on my year at Gloria R. Davis in San Francisco, as "da Library Man."