The Axioms of Substitute Teaching: Best Practices to Become a High-Quality Substitute of High Quality We educate our youth by passing on knowledge and training them to use that knowledge in ways that are beneficial to themselves and others. Learned scientists believe that our evolution from funloving hominids enjoying the trees, savannas, and lion-teasing games to homo sapiens depended upon the transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next. And they also believe that homo sapiens became the dominate human-like species because we learned to transfer and re-purpose that knowledge better and faster than other protohumans because we learned how to teach. Teaching is critical to our specie’s evolution, if not mere survival. Therefore, a substitute’s primary purpose is to be conducive to teaching.
Type of Material:
Open (Access) Textbook
This is not really a textbook. It is a self published open access book on one person's experience of being a substitute teacher.
Recommended Uses:
The book will be helpful for anyone who will be or already is a substitute teacher to use on their own. The book could also be used by or assigned to pre-teachers who may be observing or performing their student-teacher role. Teachers who will be out of the classroom may find reading this book to help them understand their classroom from the perspective of the substitute.
Technical Requirements:
PDF download via an Internet connected browser.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The major goal of this book is in the subtitle "Best Practices to Become a High Quality Substitute of High Quality". The first chapter, "The Axioms of Substitute Teaching: lists 19 axioms which give the reader the general idea of the author's philosophy of education.(1) Teaching is a prerequisite for human evolution.(2) The amount of knowledge transferred to students is the result of ability plus desire plus efficacy plus time.(3) Substitute teaching’s primary purpose is to bea temporary conduit in the knowledge transfer system.(4) There is a high demand for substitute teachers.(5) There is a greater demand for high quality substitute teachers.(6) The supply of substitute teachers can be greater.
(7) A minimum successful day means “no harmdone”.(8) Substitutes are education’s allies.
(9) Most students are indifferent as to who substitutes13(10) Every class has a formal personality and at least two informal personalities.(11) Do not take anything personally.(12) Students remember their last substitute and behave accordingly.(13) Enforcing class rules creates respect for you and future substitutes.(14) Introducing new or unenforced rules causes havoc in the classroom.(15) Teachers use feedback.(16) Students excel at finding and pushing buttons. Noone is immune.
(17) The teacher is the primary source of authorityand level of respect for the substitute.
(18)These axioms apply to all the schools some of the time, to some of the schools all of the time, and that should be sufficient for most of your purposes.(19) A successful day is when each student learns something new.
Target Student Population:
Potential substitute teachers
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
No special knowledge other than an interest in reading about education from the substitute's perspective is needed.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The primary pupose of this book is to provide pre-requisite knowledge to current or potential substitute teachers and as such the content, models & skills suggested are valid. Topics range from What to Expect, pros & cons, a typcial day, through classroom management and assertiveness and communication styles. The author then digs deeper into the topics with suggestions for good students, backtalk and words to use to refocus individuals and the class.
This book presents one person's experiences of being a substitute teacher. The author is well meaning.
Concerns:
The reader may find the grammar and spelling errors annoying. They began to add up quickly with at least four in the first few pages.
The book was poorly written and edited. The grammatical and pagination errors immediately raise questions about the quality of the content. Not all ideas are good or important. This 80 page book begins with a series of axioms that represent one person's opinion based on his 5 years of substitute teaching experience. The author has no educational training. He has not conducted interviews with teachers or students or performed any research. He does not reference any one else's research or experiences.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The concepts, models and skills are valid not only for substitute teachers but also for the classroom teacher and administrators to which the author devotes a chapter each. The book provides tips & tricks that will be useful for all, as well as the personal stories from several substitutes and teachers.
Concerns:
The reader should keep in mind that although the concepts are valid, they are mostly written in the first person perspective which will vary greatly from classroom to classroom, school to school, and by the individual experiences.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
It is a well formated pdf. It has an outline layout with good headers. It can be searched. The table of contents has live links to the sections listed - the the table of contents is excessively long.
Concerns:
Grammatical and pagination errors. Poor quality "information"
"Anecdotally, 28 out of 30 (93%) of the students behave normally, follow the rules most of the time, and work on their assignments."
It is either anecdotal or statistical-- not both.
Creative Commons:
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