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I'm a new substitute teacher, and I'm looking for ways to manage the classroom. Because of the way the system is set up, I am generally not in the same class two days in a row, and sometimes these students have had several subs over the course of a week. I've also subbed for every grade from first to 12th, in Science, Social Studies, English, Spanish, you name it. These factors make it difficult to walk in and maintain order.

Often the lesson plans I get are purely busy work, which also makes my job more difficult. I'd love to be able to find some effective techniques for engaging the students' attention and keeping them engaged.

I am not a strict teacher, and I hate having iron rules that apply for every class. Aside from "no electronics" and limits on leaving the room, I don't really have any hard & fast rules. Every class is different, so I need to be able to stay flexible and still keep the students on track.

If anyone has suggestions for patterns that would work well to establish and maintain order, I'd really appreciate it. Ideas for brief NLP-style lessons I could offer to different grade levels would be great too.

Roxianne,

Milton Model for classroom management is a lifesaver! So, you might have some fun with the various language patterns on your own time, and construct some hypothetical situations using the Dilts Encyclopedia entry as your guide, but of course tailor-making your examples to your specific situation, or to situations that you think you are likely to encounter.

Pattern interrupts are great ways to redirect inappropriate behavior. Throw one at them, and then slip in your suggestion. Embedded commands are quite useful, too.

Most of all, have fun with it!

Good luck, and keep asking questions. I am rather a rookie to NLP, and am learning as I go myself, so I am sure that lots of other people will have suggestions for you as well.

Phil

OK, I thought I'd start you out with some examples, Roxianne. Here you go!

Causal Connections: "And as you sit in your chair facing the board now, you might notice that the information that you're now able to is easier to understand..."

Presuppositions: "Would you like to begin reading that story now, or in just a minute, when you are feeling more focused and alert now..." (oops, slipped in an embedded command too!)

Non Verbal Markings: "When I want to do my best work, I always...stay on task, and carefully read the instructions." (make sure you mark the embedded commands by a shift in vocal tone)

I'm sure that others can come up with some superb examples.

Phil

Thanks, Phil. Those are great examples. I know I need to just sit down and go through my materials for ideas, then work up some scenarios. I just need to feel more comfortable with a group setting, since most of my NLP work has been with individuals.

Hi Rox,

I am a substitute teacher over here in the UK.

There are countless strategies that you will learn, design and morph from all kinds of wonderful places. One thing I love about teaching is that every academic year you get a fresh start to reinvent yourself. I find that as a supply teacher I am spend more time having fun with students as a proactive step to managing behaviour. We get substandard lessons planned to deliver which often bore the students to death which in turn raises the likelyhood of learners being off task. The alternative is we get no lesson plans and without knowing what the students are working on in previous lessons again the kids will spot when you are winging it.

There are infinate strategies designed to get the class to do what you want them to but my first advice is to be true to your natural style and flow. Trying out diverse teaching strategies may be an added stress that may reap more benefits when applied on top of some experience may be beneficial, it will certainly give you a position to notice the benefits and which tactics actually add value to your classroom practice. Remember discipline can be reframed into a positive aspect, kids love rules and boundaris, kids like to know where they stand.

(I will continue this post tomorrow, I have an unexpected visitor!)

Roxianne,

I was a substitute teacher for about a year and a half at the beginning of my career, and Matt gives you excellent advice. It is a tough job, and sometimes the absent teacher leaves quite shoddy plans for you to follow.

I am sure you have your unique "bag of tricks" that will nicely adapt to any grade level and content area, if you were to sit and think about them for a minute. Getting the students curious and engaged right off the bat will set the expectation that you are indeed there to teach and not babysit, so having a confident attitude, and giving them something productive and thought-provoking at the beginning of the lesson might be just the thing. Congruence is so important in working with children, since they can read right through you anyway! Believe what you say and deliver it with a positive attitude, and you eliminate a lot of issues from the start.

Of course, if you've been teaching a while, you know this already, or perhaps there are other times in your life in which you have developed similar skills which can now overlap into teaching.

I hope this is helpful to you, and I'm sure Matt will have some more good advice for you.

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

I'm still working on my "bag of tricks," but I do have a few pieces that I can use with several grade levels. Most of these are brain teasers that are fun & stimulating.

Sadly, teachers usually leave lousy lesson plans. They don't expect me to teach, just keep the students busy until the "real" teacher comes back. But kids don't want to sit quietly doing worksheets or reading chapters. I try to make things interesting, get them to think and participate. Expecting them to be quiet while reading dry, boring material -- at any age level -- is ridiculous.

To make it harder, the high school as 90 minute classes. No one can sit and do the same thing for 90 minutes, and the teachers surely know this. But they leave one or maybe two activities for that full period. And then expect me to keep order?

I think what I need is a set of activities that are related to learning and thinking. These could be things like critical thinking skills, exploring modalities and sub-modalities, etc.

My goal in each class is to engage the students. I also need to have a variety of activities as a supplement to what the teachers leave for me -- if anything.

I haven't taught in years, and mostly did writing workshops or adult education. So I feel as if I'm starting from scratch here.

Matt,
Substandard lesson plans are definitely the biggest challenge. I'd rather have nothing than a set of worksheets and a video. At least then I can improvise.

I'm actually quite good at winging it, but I let the students know that's what I'm doing. Let them in on the conspiracy, so to speak.

I've had mixed success with rules at the high school level. When I'm teaching younger kids, they do like to have rules. They're even helpful at devising "new" rules for the classroom. The older kids, though, feel they already have too many stupid rules.

Another challenge is that I'm often teaching the same material several times a day. Each individual class is different, so I have to take the same material & figure out how to present it to each group.

Every day is a new challenge. I think I'd be better off if I were teaching every day, but I never know whether I'll have work from one day to the next. This week, for instance, no work. So I'm trying to add to my repertoire while I have the time to do it.

Hey Roxianne!

Perhaps your challenge is to find some comfortable, positive, compelling and enthused resource states for yourself?

That's definitely part of the challenge, Phil. (Nice to see you here, BTW) Once I can achieve the proper states at will, though, I still need material that I can use in class.

I am actually pretty good at thinking on my feet, and so far with this job, I've found that I recall a whole lot more material from my many years of education than I would have believed. I am able to answer questions and provide help with math, science, social studies, English. Even Spanish. So I do know that I'm tapping into some positive resource states.

I just wish I could figure out how to do that when I'm dealing with an angry or belligerent teenager intent on disrupting the entire class. They tend to take others along with them very quickly, and I need to come up with resources even more quickly to circumvent the problems.

I'm enjoying the challenge, though. Enough so that I'm trying to come up with funds to gt my permanent certification.

Well, Roxianne...



I know we laugh about it, but seriously, a little pattern interrupt of sorts ("do I smell popcorn?" is a good one!) and a quick suggestion slipped in without 'em noticing...give it a go and see what happens! If it doesn't work, do something else!

Phil

Yes, that's one of those things I tend to forget when I really need it. A pattern interrupt ought to be my first line of defense, so to speak.

I learned about pattern interrupts (although I didn't know the name for it back then) when I was a loan processor. I was on the phone with a man who was very, very angry and for some reason or other (I can't remember why right now) I had to place him on hold for a moment. Now, it really wasn't long enough to make him feel even angrier, just for about 4 beats or so. When I picked the phone back up and apologized for the hold he had used the moments to calm himself and we had a very reasonable conversation after that and were able to quickly resolve his problem.

It's just one of those things I stumbled upon naturally and would use from time to time after that (atlhough rarely) because it felt to me at the time like I was 'cheating' somehow.

Now I know, however, that there are lots and lots of ways to do pattern interrupts. And they can be very effective (when used in the right situation).

Venus

I did telephone sales for a while -- horrible job. But I did learn to use some interesting patterns, many of them unconsciously. I had some standard pattern interrupts I used, although we weren't allowed to place people on hold unless absolutely necessary. By the time I got them, though, they'd often already been on hold for 45 minutes or more.

Patterns were good to have on hand, though, and I just had a few standards that I used all the time. I guess what I"m trying to do now is learn some new patterns and have more flexibility.

Roxianne... you know I'm going to point out how this relates to your own state. The angry kid draws the attention of the class, in part, by the intensity of his or her state. What kind of state resources can help you appear more compelling and worthy of attention than a belligerent teenager?

With that said, I love the pattern interrupt ideas. And they combine well with the spatial anchoring ideas I suggested for you over on the b-conscious list.

Rox,

If this situation is in front of the class, then you can quite calmly say "can you come outside for a moment so I can talk to you" and then as they walk out the door go to walk with them but instead simply shut it. Apologise to the class for the distraction and act as if it never happened. Get the class back on track and when YOU are ready go and address the chap outside.

Or, if it is a smaller group situation, simply say "yeah, you are boring me now, I dont get paid to deal with teenage tantrums I am here to teach you, if you want to do anything other than work then you cannot be here".

Or, "that is not appropriate way to talk/behave during a lesson, if you want to talk about that stuff then come back at lunch time and we can spend the whole hour talking about x"

I mentioned above about keeping true to your natural flow and for me sarcasm and humor get me out of most problems, anything away from that simply follow the school guidelines. On numerous occasions I have opened up the relevant advice booklet and read it aloud to myself (so the kids can hear) and then followed the instructions exactly as they are written. It is a little more formal that I like to be but I treat it as a display that the school is behind me and I am part of a teaching team that sticks together. Teachers throughout the schools are normally embarrased and supportive when I ask for their advice. Most (not quite all!) teachers have a great empathy for cover teachers so never be afraid or embarrased to ask for help.

There is a great thread that I am sure you have tracked down by now called "NLP for Elementary education" from which you can blog your thoughts and experiences but there are some great tips that are more specific to cover teachers. I like to meet the kids by the door and the first introduction to me they get is as a 'drill seargent'. I expect a very straight line and I pace up and down giving them a kit inspection. The younger kids love it and silly comment such as "if you were in a battle in the jungle you'd all be mistaken for monkeys and not soldiers- I'll give you five second to sort yourselves out, if the person next to you is a mess then I will blame YOU!!!!! GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The kids love it and you have instantly got their attention and a great humrous start to lesson (and the kids have their uniform ready and brains in gear ready to listen to you again). As they walk through the door you can stop each one and say "welcome to my wonderful lesson sparkly hair (if they have a noticable scrunchie) welcome to my lesson shiney shoes (etc, anything that produced a smile in them and more importantly you are giving them all a compliment and positive attention. In lesson you can continue to call them by their funny names, they love that and one of the key things I have learnt about working with children is that they will play the role you allocate to them. Treat them like naughty kids and they will behave exactly that way. Tell 'shiney shoes' that that he 'looks like a smart intelligent lawyer who owns a fancy car and spends the weekend living on his yacht, he is a millionaire because he knows some long words and is quick at sums, well he would have to be to count all his money'. Tell 'shiney shoes' that she looks like a fashion designer, she is creative and a really good listener, she would have to be to listen to the stars when they tell her what clothes to design for them'. That works well with younger kids, maybe even upto 10 years old, for older kids you can give them the signal "Once you are smart, and by that I mean x, y and z and when you are in the right state of mind to have a fun and interesting lesson you may go in" and then you can stand there and hand pick people from the line who in your mind do not meet your standards. For the kids you pull aside simply state "sort yourselves out, I will be back in 1 minute when I expect you to have yourselves in order" and walk in the class and state " well done, that way excellent, I really like your jacket, is it new etc". Keep is positive, talk and talk and talk, if the group is working go and talk to a small bunch, ask them what they want to do when they leave school and tell them "excellent choice, I can see you being really good at that, I have a friend that does that and she loves it, she makes loads of money, what do you think you will enjoy about doing x?"

Pattern interrupts are great and very useful. Anything that gets them using different senses from what you are trying to distract them from will do the job.

Be happy and be relaxed, learn to manage your own state and you be amased how much fun you can have.

Thanks

Matt

Matt,

I'm rolling on the floor dying of laughter reading your post (ok, slight exaggeration, but it is very funny--and very good!).

The only suggestion that I have is perhaps a rephrase of the following statement:

"if you want to do anything other than work then you cannot be here"

Some kids really DO want to get sent out, just so that they don't have to work. So, it's important to figure that out. With the above statement, they will immediately begin to do a transderivational search, and start exploring all of the other things they would rather be doing than work...and some of them might seem appealing to them! So, maybe you want to give them something to work towards...

maybe,

"now if you really want to be away from all the fun that we're about to have during the lesson, and miss out on watching me act like a total idiot and entertain you for a whole hour, go ahead! (make sure to put a twinkle in your eye) In fact, I bet you're one of those kids who loves to pick on the teacher, and politely raise your hand about every five minutes or so, and bring all his mistakes to his attention, aren't you? Think of all the fun you're about to have, noticing all of my blunders over the next sixty minutes. Now (at this point, you might have him in a trance, but if you don't, defocus your gaze, and look him in the eyes, and shift your vocal tone, not necessarily louder, but perhaps deeper, and with a little humor) GET BACK IN THAT ROOM AND GET TO WORK!"

At this point, what may happen is that all of the stuff about picking on the teacher will fly out of his brain, and if you did the suggestion well, he will go in, sit down, and begin to do what he's supposed to...

...or something entirely different will happen. I don't know. You can find that out on your own! What is the important thing is that you come up with a way for the STUDENT to come up with his own compelling reason to get his keester back in that seat and get to work. It doesn't have to be logical, it just needs to work. And, throw in lots of humor!

Phil (who is very happy to be on winter holiday right now!)

These are some great ideas. Phil (Farber), of course I expected you to point out how this relates to my own state. You know me too well.

Matt, I loved your suggestions. Some definitely would not work in my situation, but the humor angle is one I've tried to play up. I have found that I can be quite a chameleon as well, changing my approach and attitude depending on the class. Each age group, each individual class, is unique.

I need to just rely on instinct and think faster on my feat when a problem arises. So today I'm going to work on some anchor states for myself, anchoring resourcefulness, ability to recall and use pattern interrupts, and whatever other resources I come up with that will be handy.

The key, I think, is to be able to choose a state and take the students along with me. My state may not be the same from one class to the next, but I should be able to judge pretty quickly what state I need in a given situation.

So ... on to my anchoring.