Kindergarten: It's a Jungle

Today I subbed for a half-day in Kindergarten.

When I got there, I was told that there was a student teacher and today was his first day in charge of the class, so I only had to be there for support.

Kindergartners + Student Teacher + Substitute = Something close to anarchy!

The poor ST had clearly prepared for his lessons and had a great vision of what he wanted to do, but the kids just weren't having it. They weren't responding to any of the usual classroom management techniques their regular teacher utilized --ringing a bell, moving kids out of the circle, taking away recess time. The ST never raised his voice. In my mind, that particular technique is debatable. When I student taught, both of my master teachers told me to just do it if I had to in order to regain control. In this case, I think it would have helped in the moment, but the effect would not have lasted.

When the regular teacher came back and he told her that all of the kids were out of control, she was very surprised. I guess even the kids who were generally cooperative had acted up. I felt so awful for him! I really stayed out of it and left the class to him, but I'm not sure if it would have been better if I'd tried to step in and control them. It's tricky to sub with a Student Teacher because you don't want to step on toes, but you also want to offer another point of view if you are able.

Anyway, I hope he had a better afternoon. I'm sure the classroom teacher talked to them and told them that the ST will be their teacher for the week. Best of luck to him!