As the wife of an x-mca-er and a substitute teacher for nine years from
1983 to 1990 in Sault Ste. Marie, a Northern Ontario city, I'd like to
share my experiences as a substitute teacher. Prior to teaching I had been
a Girl Guide leader and a mother for ten years; this experience and the
fact that I was 35 years old gave me a foot forward with the high school
classes in which I substituted. Having a few students in each class (often
those who classmates were most influenced by) who knew and liked me as
their Girl Guide leader or the mother of one of their friends helped
establish me as someone they could and should treat as a human being or
even as a teacher.
I also made a point of dressing as much as possible in the same way as
their other teachers did - cut my waist length hair and wore skirts and
blouses as most others did at these high schools. Teachers in this district
left well planned lessons which kept students productively occupied and I
spent as much time during the day as I could find to prepare myself to be
helpful to students who requested help. Generally this combination made
life as a substitute teacher interesting and fun. For students who would
not behave, the usual recourse was to announce via the PA system that they
were on their way to the office where the VP would take care of their needs
and the removal of the problem maker was generally all that was needed to
get the others back on track. Sometimes a desk set in the hallway was
sufficient. (I imagine the security of the school would be a factor in
whether a student should be left in the hallway.)
Suzanne Humphreys
Glenn D. Humphreys
glenhump@soonet.ca
P.O. Box 11,
Echo Bay, Ontario,
Canada, P0S 1C0
Home: (705) 248-1226
Office: (705 942-7423
Fax: (705) 248-1226 (Prearrange please)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Feb 01 2000 - 01:03:36 PST