Don't waste the opportunity.

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Home : 2004 : January : 14

Don't waste the opportunity.
By sub-in-Oklahoma

As long as the kids are down on you, and you are down on the job, this is the *right* time to drop as many of the hard, gritty, thankless tests, quizzes, assignments, and changes that you have been putting off. Why cloud
an otherwise golden day that may come tomorrow or next week? Pile on all the rain before the skies clear.
Seriously, you have a different focus -- keeping the class progressing and under control -- than the previous teacher renewing acquaintances.
And besides, maybe you misread the interaction -- maybe the 'popular girls' are still reflexively brown-nosing to stay 'in' with the power

figure -- and the rest of the students didn't really care if they talked or not. This would probably explain why such a discriminant relationship didn't have many consequences.

I started subbing 3 months ago, and find that I am still focused on trying to do the best I can with the teacher's plan and the teacher's class. That leaves me very vulnerable to any percieved or direct feedback.

Probably the best you can do is to be happy for the popular girls in their regard for the previous teacher, and in the previous teachers connection to the kids. Most comparisons are not really emotional put-downs, but simple adolescent manipulation of the environment. It won't be personal if you don't let it be personal. You might try my response, 'Not today.' I know it doesn't explain much, but it seems to be sufficient in high school, 5th grade, and kindergarten this week.

Be sure to allow yourself plenty of rest real soon, to get your feet back under you.

Then make a really gruesome pop quiz.