{"id":4706,"date":"2021-09-05T08:19:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T12:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4706"},"modified":"2021-09-05T08:19:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T12:19:12","slug":"the-new-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/09\/05\/the-new-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the next in the Sunday Story series. There’s no political point – just a story of an old teacher in a new setting.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday the Thirteenth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The last time I substituted in a classroom in an actual school building was on a Friday the 13th.  That March day lived up to its reputation:  it was the last day of classroom instruction for the 2019-2020 school year.  I was a \u201clong-term\u201d substitute, taking over for a middle school social studies teacher.  But the Covid-19 virus had other plans.  The classes that I was just getting to know; squirrely but fun sixth, seventh and eighth graders; were all done with in-person school.  I\u2019d see them again, but it would be on a computer screen via Zoom meetings and online instruction.  Teaching in the traditional sense was over for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the vagaries of Covid, I chose not to enter a school building in the 2020-21 school year.  As a career educator that was weird too.  I\u2019ve spent almost my whole life in and out of school buildings and classrooms, as a student, a teacher, Dean of Students and a coach.  But not last year, not with Covid.  I did get some contact with kids, but it was as a track official.  We were outside ( I didn\u2019t officiate indoor season), with plenty of room.  And as Covid version-one came under control and vaccines became available, we all started to get back to normal.  But I still didn\u2019t go in a school building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what changed?  The new variant of Covid is as dangerous as ever.  But with vaccinations and masks I hope that I can go into a school building without risking too much.  It\u2019s about three things really:  contact with friends (still teaching and coaching), connecting with kids, and to be honest, there\u2019s nothing wrong with a little extra money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All New<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But much has changed since I last was in a school building.  First of all, the number of kids I know in the school is down to almost none.  It\u2019s been seven years since I worked in the District, and four years since I coached.  That\u2019s a literal lifetime in a high school \u2013 a four year cycle of brand new kids means there only a few (very few) who know me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration has changed as well.  There is only one left that I worked with, Mark, who followed me as Dean of Students.  I only vaguely know the Principal or Assistant Principal.  Even most of the secretaries and custodians have changed since I left.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the biggest change is \u2013 a brand, spanking-new high school building!  Checking into the building this morning felt a lot like being a \u201cnew kid\u201d going to a different school. (I\u2019ve been that guy.  We moved a lot when I was a kid, three elementary schools, a junior high in one district, high school in another, then college).   I decided to get there early:  I didn\u2019t even know where to park, much less how to get into the building, and I wanted time to figure things out.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing I found was that there was no getting into the building.  Unlike the \u201cold\u201d building, where there was always an open door somewhere, this new one was locked tighter than a bank on Sunday.  Even a call into the building (\u201cHelp!! I can\u2019t get in\u201d) only went to voicemail.  Eventually an old colleague came by, and with her key fob was able to get through the two security doors into the main office.   It makes security sense \u2013 this is the way of modern education, but it starts out as a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when I got in the office it was to a familiar face, Kim; with twenty-eight years on the job.  That smile made at least some things feel familiar, and she directed me to the new person handling the building substitutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check-In<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Checking in felt a lot like staying at the Motel Six.  You got a key to the classroom and a folder with all of the \u201cimportant\u201d information (security protocols, who to call in an emergency, paperwork for attendance).  And then, just like at the Motel, they hand you a map with \u201cyour room\u201d colored in.  The new building has four wings and two floors.  It\u2019s laid out a lot like the Mall \u2013 stores on the top, stores on the bottom, with the big \u201canchor\u201d stores replaced by the gym and auditorium.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And like the Mall, there\u2019s a center court, what \u201cin the day\u201d we would have called the cafeteria, but now is the \u201cCommons\u201d.  A big screen TV is available on the wall, with seating for eight or ten at each of the individual tables, and  smaller \u201chigh tops\u201d as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there\u2019s more to it than just \u2013 \u201cyour classroom is there\u201d.  A detailed path is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily there was just one hallway \u2013 far down from the front office \u201csuite\u201d.  And there I was \u2013 back in a classroom, subbing \u201cIntroduction to Statistics\u201d (luckily not particularly advanced stats \u2013 I had a chance of figuring it out).  And when the students entered the room \u2013 it really was back to normal \u2013 sort of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is a new world.  Maybe ten percent of the students are wearing masks, though most of the staff do.  And for some of those students they are \u201caccessories\u201d, like a scarf or a hat, carefully hung around their neck or ear, but not in place to block anything.   Parents – just on the percentages (the subject of our worksheet in class today) your kid ain\u2019t wearing a mask, no matter what they tell you at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The terror of any substitute teacher is a two-word phrase:  \u201cFREE TIME\u201d.  Keeping students busy is one of the few tools a substitute has \u2013 it\u2019s not like there\u2019s time to establish rapport, or a sense of classroom community.  Remember the movie Teachers<\/a><\/em> (Nick Nolte) when the history teacher \u201cMr. Ditto\u201d dies in class \u2013 but his students continue to hand out worksheets and pass them back in, period after period?  That\u2019s a good sub-teaching day \u2013 lots of work, no FREE TIME!!  (So \u201cDitto\u201d is an ancient term.  It came from the smelly purple inked \u201cditto\u201d copies that all students\u2019 sniffed, but dittos went out in the mid-1980\u2019s \u2013 replaced by Xerox type copies.  Too bad, no smell in those). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when the worksheets are done \u2013 then it\u2019s the time that substitutes dread.  I was lucky on two counts. Most of the students were seniors, who know how to \u201cget along\u201d with a sub.  They\u2019re not interested in trouble, causing it, or getting in it.  They just want to get on with the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And second, there\u2019s cell phones.  One class networked the front and back of the room together to play a game on their phones, others are watching re-runs of the Ohio State-Minnesota football game.  And the rest \u2013 they\u2019re texting someone, probably in another class.  But if they\u2019re interrupted \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m talking to my Mom\u201d.  Hey, I\u2019m a sub, as long as the worksheet is done and you\u2019re not disruptive \u2013 text with anyone you want!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Control<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Discipline didn\u2019t seem to be too much of an issue.\u00a0\u00a0My major correction of the day:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cPlease reduce the amount of quiet profanity coming from your group\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The students turned suitably red in the face and looked at each other \u2013 from that reaction I hoped the problem was resolved.\u00a0\u00a0They then giggled when I said I was old and going deaf and but not deaf enough, yet.\u00a0\u00a0Their verbal \u201cslips\u201d got even quieter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you get the drift that substitute teaching is more being a controlling \u201cpresence\u201d than actual teaching \u2013 you\u2019ve got that right.  I\u2019d love to actually teach \u2013 but when I was an in-class teacher I could never really depend on the substitutes to do substantive work.  I often did leave multiple instructions:  here are the worksheets, but if you don\u2019t want to do that, here\u2019s the topic of our class for discussion or even lecture today.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But worksheets are safe, if you\u2019re a sub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n