What I Learned as a Professional Substitute Teacher

During the 2008/2009 school year I was a full-time substitute teacher for four school districts in Topeka, KS. I took any opportunity to substitute for any grade or subject. One day I would teach Kindergarten and the next day I might "teach" an advanced high school chemistry class (I know nothing about chemistry!). I came away with two major observations:

1) There are a lot of conscientious, hardworking teachers out there.
   
Teaching is a tough profession. Yet most teachers I met cared about the kids and went out of their way to help them.

2) There are a lot of angry teachers out there.
   
Apparently, many teachers have only one classroom management technique: Get angry and speak harshly. It's so common place that when teachers observe their colleagues harshly demeaning a student, they act as if this is a perfectly acceptable way of behaving.

Teachers tell me they get no formal training in the vital task of motivating students to behave or to learn. They are left on their own to figure it out. Sadly, many never do.

Before all else, teaching a class is a leadership function. If you can't lead and inspire students, you will find it very difficult to teach them anything.

I created my Teach like M.A.D.^TM workshop to train teachers how to use leadership principles and laughter to tap into their students' internal motivation to behave well and to learn more.

More about that in future blogs.