0:00

Hey, Greg Collins

0:00

substitute teachers lounge, you

0:02

know, this past Thursday, I had

0:02

a flu shot, a COVID booster, a

0:09

root canal filling, and I had to

0:09

do volleyball that night. So

0:14

when I knew that Friday was my

0:14

only, I only had a half a day.

0:17

And it didn't start till noon, I

0:17

was kind of excited about that.

0:19

And then the school called me at

0:19

7:45am, and asked if I would

0:27

teach the whole day, what do you

0:27

think I said, we're going to

0:31

talk about some resources today

0:31

that helps you make that

0:34

decision. And we're heading into

0:34

the holiday time, so you're

0:38

going to buy some gifts for

0:38

yourself, maybe two. So I'm

0:42

going to give you some ideas for

0:42

that.

0:54

Now, my podcast title this week

0:54

kind of has a double hasted

1:00

double entendre. I've always

1:00

been wanting to work those words

1:03

into it as two meanings. Okay,

1:03

well, I'm gonna get real quick

1:06

out of the way and get out of

1:06

here, I'm just going to say if

1:09

you're one of those that doesn't

1:09

show up to your substitute

1:13

teacher assignment, at the last

1:13

minute or an otherwise,

1:17

otherwise, at 8am, you're

1:17

hurting yourself, you're going

1:21

to be behind before the day

1:21

starts. And I would encourage

1:24

you to get there by 730. Anyway,

1:24

so that you get a feel for the

1:30

administration there, you get to

1:30

talk to them a little bit, you

1:33

get to get to the classroom in

1:33

time to look at the notes, get

1:37

your thoughts together, and

1:37

maybe even flip through some of

1:41

the resources that I'm going to

1:41

talk about today. Now, as I

1:45

said, last Thursday, I had a

1:45

crazy day, I did it on purpose.

1:50

And you know, I'd always heard

1:50

all these nightmares about root

1:53

canals. Mine was basically

1:53

painless, other than the pain

1:57

before I went in to get it

1:57

fixed. And, you know, they told

2:01

me that they really weren't that

2:01

bad to repair as long as we

2:05

caught them in time. And we did

2:05

other than again, pain heading

2:09

into it. But I didn't have any

2:09

swelling to speak of. I had

2:14

caught it in time, all that good

2:14

stuff. So it took care of all

2:17

those things on Thursday. So

2:17

then Friday, I had, you know,

2:21

kind of perfectly except it just

2:21

a half a day of substitute

2:25

teaching. I was going to start I

2:25

think it was 1130 was my

2:29

scheduled start start time. Joe,

2:29

I'm I'm chilling out, haven't

2:33

cleaned up, I actually thought

2:33

well, you know, I can chew

2:38

better now because of the

2:38

repair. I'm going to fix myself

2:42

a nice breakfast, I had a couple

2:42

of things that I definitely

2:46

wanted to get done before I went

2:46

into the school. And I knew I

2:50

had another volleyball at that

2:50

night. So I was kind of glad I

2:53

had that half day off. Well,

2:53

they called right at 745. Now

2:59

that puts me in a weird

2:59

situation, because I don't like

3:03

just to throw on the quickest

3:03

thing I can and run to the

3:07

school. I'm a little bit to type

3:07

a for that I like to have things

3:12

planned out. So I actually turn

3:12

them down. When I got there

3:18

later at noon. I'd told them

3:18

about my day before and kind of,

3:23

you know, begged, I even told

3:23

them, you know, they're one of

3:27

the schools that had it not been

3:27

them, I might have even canceled

3:31

my 1130 section of the day

3:31

because it's kind of chill out

3:35

after the day I'd had before.

3:35

They were very understanding. In

3:39

fact, we had a good day, it was

3:39

a day where they were having a

3:42

chili cook off among the

3:42

teacher. So I got some free grub

3:47

at lunch. So it was a good day.

3:47

And I'm glad I went in most

3:51

days, especially when when I'm

3:51

in working every day mode,

3:57

here's what I'll do to

3:57

anticipate those calls. Or even

4:01

it might be it's not even a 745

4:01

call, maybe the absence just

4:06

pops up at 745. Well, obviously,

4:06

the only way you're going to be

4:11

prepared for that from a

4:11

cleanliness standpoint, but

4:16

that's what it amounts to for me

4:16

is get into your routine where

4:20

you get up, clean up, dress if

4:20

you want to, or at least have

4:25

school worthy clothing set out

4:25

so that you can dress quickly if

4:30

you find a substitute job that

4:30

you didn't already have, and

4:33

then you're good to go. The

4:33

other thing is how do you

4:37

prepare for these 8am situations

4:37

that's obviously getting your

4:42

body ready to go in when they

4:42

want to and of course if you

4:46

can, and doggone it bless their

4:46

hearts Fridays especially they

4:50

are swamped. I told you last

4:50

week that some of the schools

4:54

are even posting needs for

4:54

substitute teachers before they

4:57

even know what teachers are

4:57

going to be absent because they

5:01

know somebody will be absent. So

5:01

that's what I actually accepted

5:06

last week. So it was interesting

5:06

to think about. So I'm thinking,

5:11

well, this is the perfect time,

5:11

how to get your mindset to go in

5:16

and substitute teach at the last

5:16

minute, has some resources ready

5:20

that you look at occasionally.

5:20

Now, a lot of you are book

5:24

people. And when I say book, I

5:24

mean non Kindle, things that you

5:31

hold in your hand, you have to

5:31

be one of those readers that has

5:36

a book in your hand, I'm going

5:36

to try to talk you out of that,

5:38

by the way, partially, every

5:38

book I read, I'm more of a

5:42

nonfiction reader. There's some

5:42

fiction. And strangely enough, I

5:46

like Stephen King in the in the

5:46

fiction area. But there's some,

5:51

you know, nonfiction books that

5:51

I really enjoy. And that's where

5:55

I concentrate on. And I just

5:55

don't like carrying around

6:00

books. Because I'm a weird

6:00

reader, I read maybe 20 books a

6:04

year. I'm weird in the respect

6:04

that I read. Right now I am

6:09

reading four different books.

6:09

And I'm going to have a reading

6:12

a chapter of one chapter of

6:12

another, I like to complete

6:18

chapters, that's my type eight

6:18

coming out. Again, I don't like

6:21

to be interrupted, I even put

6:21

some usually turn on my TV and

6:26

play some instrumental music in

6:26

the background, because I don't

6:29

want other distractions, popping

6:29

thoughts, that kind of thing

6:33

popping into my head, I read

6:33

that way. I'm not going to try

6:38

to talk you out of reading your

6:38

favorite Nicholas Sparks book.

6:44

without holding a book, what I

6:44

am going to try to talk you into

6:48

at least download the Kindle

6:48

app, you don't have to buy a

6:52

Kindle, I don't have a Kindle, I

6:52

downloaded the Kindle app, every

6:57

book that I purchase, I read on

6:57

there, because I can throw my

7:01

phone in my pocket, you can use

7:01

the font on the Kindle app, you

7:06

can make it as big or as small

7:06

as you want to. So you can even

7:10

overcome the need for reading

7:10

glasses if you care to do that.

7:14

But I love it. Man, I love being

7:14

able to read books like that.

7:18

But even more importantly, most

7:18

of the books related to school

7:24

that I bought, I bought at less

7:24

than $5 apiece. And with the

7:31

Christmas season coming up,

7:31

treat yourself nicely. Give

7:35

yourself or encourage, tell

7:35

whoever buys gifts for you that,

7:41

hey, why don't you give me a

7:41

Kindle gift card or an Amazon

7:45

gift card. And I can buy books

7:45

because here's what happens with

7:49

Amazon once you buy one book.

7:49

Now some of you're gonna say

7:52

bad, I think it's perfect. But

7:52

once you buy a book from Amazon

7:56

through the electronic Kindle

7:56

program, you're going to start

8:00

getting the emails. But guess

8:00

what their algorithm set up is

8:04

to be not just books, you know,

8:04

not just promotions that are

8:09

going to waste your time, but

8:09

they're actually going to be

8:13

good suggestions based on what

8:13

you've bought before. So unless

8:18

you bought a whole bunch of

8:18

books that you just hate it,

8:21

you're gonna see books that you

8:21

really like and I buy. I'm not

8:26

even saying I read them all. But

8:26

I buy probably a book every two

8:33

weeks and see that that

8:33

calculates out to 26 books and I

8:36

said I read about 20 So I

8:36

probably do read in that area.

8:41

But most of the time now it's

8:41

either I like sports related

8:46

books I like oh books about

8:46

interesting part of history

8:52

bless. Forgive me history

8:52

teachers. But here's the part of

8:56

history that really holds my

8:56

interest like Kennedy and, and

9:01

other things that are going on.

9:01

I just bought a book I tend to

9:05

read most of the series that

9:05

comes out under Bob is at

9:11

O'Reilly I've forgotten his

9:11

name. That's pretty bad. And but

9:15

it's books that I like to read

9:15

Bill O'Reilly Bill O'Reilly. And

9:19

to be honest, I don't think that

9:19

he actually does a lot of the

9:22

research and writing I think his

9:22

co writer writes that a Michael

9:27

du Gard I believe that is the

9:27

last one I bought was about

9:30

entertainment code killing the

9:30

legends to about John Lennon and

9:34

Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali.

9:34

And I think that's fascinating.

9:37

I bought a book about baseball,

9:37

bought a book about the last

9:41

days of Marilyn Monroe because

9:41

I'm fascinated. You know,

9:45

probably it's probably a bad

9:45

part of me, but I tend to be

9:49

fascinated on conspiracy type

9:49

things. But another book about

9:55

baseball players that played

9:55

during the war, both the men and

9:59

the women But I want to mention

9:59

to you today, here's some books

10:04

that will probably show up in

10:04

your Amazon feed, if you get

10:08

this Kindle email started,

10:08

that's going to be good

10:11

resources for you to just have

10:11

in your phone for when you get

10:16

that eight o'clock call, or just

10:16

when you get maybe a subject

10:20

that you're not used to

10:20

teaching, I told you my favorite

10:24

thing to teach is math. And

10:24

through sixth and seventh grade

10:28

and eighth grade, I can kind of

10:28

hold my own because I've taught

10:32

those recently. And when I get

10:32

to high school, it's generally

10:36

the same things that I was

10:36

taught in high school that I was

10:39

good at. But you know, math, you

10:39

have to stay brushed up on so to

10:43

speak, or maybe it had to be

10:43

part of your, your job, I have

10:47

to go back and refresh myself. So I'm going to mention some of

10:49

the books in the series, I would

10:53

recommend that you buy, have

10:53

these in your back pocket. And

10:59

you will always be able to read

10:59

up on what you need to know for

11:04

your substitute teaching job

11:04

that day, whether you got that

11:07

job at eight o'clock in the

11:07

morning, or whether you got it

11:11

the night before, one of the

11:11

most recent ones that I bought

11:15

for $1.99. That's fascinating.

11:15

It's overwhelming, but it's

11:19

fascinating. It's called how the

11:19

brain works. The facts verbally

11:24

explain that there's lots of

11:24

pictures in there, if you're

11:27

going to end up in high school

11:27

and teaching health classes. I

11:30

was in sixth grade. And a lot of

11:30

the this week a lot of the

11:33

pictures hanging on the wall in

11:33

the health room were these kinds

11:38

of pictures, but he explained it

11:38

so simply. So I really liked

11:42

those books. Now there is a

11:42

series there's a couple of

11:46

series that I really like I as

11:46

I'm talking about this, I'm

11:50

going through my app because

11:50

I've got so many. And I tried to

11:56

figure out the best ones to tell

11:56

you because there's no way I can

11:59

mention all of them to you

11:59

today. But here's what I want.

12:04

The series that I wanted to

12:04

mention are the BIG FAT NOTEBOOK

12:09

books, because you're going to

12:09

see those pop up on your Amazon

12:14

list. And when you go into the

12:14

school, you're going to see

12:18

these books on these teachers,

12:18

bookshelves because they like

12:23

them so much. They've all got

12:23

basically the same title. I've

12:28

got one called everything you

12:28

need to ace English Language

12:32

Arts in one big fat book, I tell

12:32

you what, the grammar part of

12:37

that I'm trying to get better at

12:37

and when my old now lack for a

12:44

better phrase, I'll say

12:44

uneducated grammar comes out. I

12:47

always correct myself in front

12:47

of the students. Sometimes I'll

12:51

even say what did I just say

12:51

that was wrong. Now most of the

12:56

time, they don't know. But

12:56

occasionally I'll get someone

12:59

Aren't you supposed to say it

12:59

this way. So that's a great book

13:02

for that everything you need to

13:02

ace language, English Language

13:06

Arts in one fat book. I also

13:06

bought everything you need to

13:11

ace computer science and coding

13:11

in one fat book. Everything you

13:16

need to ace math in one big fat

13:16

book. I love that series. The

13:21

other series, the series for

13:21

Dummies, I'm gonna guess that

13:26

you probably got books for

13:26

Dummies on your bookshelf

13:31

already, because they're written

13:31

about everything school and

13:34

otherwise, I've got one that

13:34

says entertainment for Dummies,

13:37

television for Dummies,

13:37

electronics for Dummies, there's

13:42

so many of those out there.

13:42

Those are really good books too.

13:45

I would recommend those. If

13:45

you're into I'll mention one

13:49

more math book and I'll be done

13:49

with math. A mastering essential

13:53

math skills was a good book. The

13:53

great thing about Amazon lists

13:57

when they come down and you go

13:57

to that book, by the way, for

14:00

some strange reason. You can't

14:00

buy them through the Amazon App,

14:05

you can't buy a Kindle book

14:05

through the app, you actually

14:09

have to go on the website, you

14:09

can go on the website, on your

14:13

phone, you can go to Safari or

14:13

whatever you have and look it up

14:16

that way. But you cannot buy

14:16

them. So you'll have to go to

14:20

the website. The great thing

14:20

about the website though, once

14:23

you get this Kindle app,

14:23

download it, you go there and

14:26

nine times out of 10 it will get

14:26

give you the option of

14:30

downloading the free sample. The

14:30

free sample is actually a

14:35

significant part of the

14:35

beginning of the book, I would

14:38

say at least 5% Depending on the

14:38

length of the book. I think it's

14:43

a standard number of pages. So

14:43

if it was a shorter book, it

14:45

would be longer a bigger chunk

14:45

of the book I should say a

14:48

bigger percentage. If not, it

14:48

would be just that same section

14:54

of the book. So look for the BIG

14:54

FAT NOTEBOOKS. Look for the The

15:00

dummy books, those, in my

15:00

opinion, are the good ones

15:04

because they keep it simple. The

15:04

dummy books, I know, they

15:08

actually commissioned people in

15:08

the field, they don't write them

15:11

themselves. They say, we'll pay

15:11

you this much. We want you to

15:15

write this book, we want it to

15:15

be in layman's terms, we get the

15:18

right to edit it and send it

15:18

back to you if we don't think

15:21

it's easy enough to understand.

15:21

So that's the approach they've

15:24

taken. So long story short,

15:24

always be prepared for your job

15:31

that day, whether you got it at

15:31

eight o'clock in the morning or

15:35

the night before, have some of

15:35

these things you can refer back

15:39

to you get into the classroom,

15:39

you see the topic and you're

15:42

thinking, Oh, my goodness, I

15:42

don't know that much about that.

15:46

Pull up one of your books, you

15:46

can go to your index. That's

15:49

another great thing about the

15:49

Kindle books, you can go inside

15:52

the book make the font bigger

15:52

and stronger, you can search for

15:56

individual words, you can bet

15:56

I'm saying this because you

16:00

can't do that with a book you're

16:00

holding in your hand. So be

16:03

thinking about that. Nice books,

16:03

you can buy yourself for this

16:09

season biome right away, try

16:09

them out. In fact, why don't you

16:14

start by buying the one you need

16:14

the most help. And I'm going to

16:18

say that it's math for most of

16:18

you. It's everything else for

16:23

me, by a math book by I'm going

16:23

to recommend the BIG FAT

16:27

NOTEBOOK. But if you'd like the

16:27

dummies series better, go ahead

16:30

buy one of those and read part

16:30

of it. You're going to be amazed

16:34

at how simple they have made

16:34

this because they want you to be

16:38

able to learn it. And they want

16:38

you to be able to explain to

16:41

others. So if you get that early

16:41

morning call and get asked to

16:47

come in and substitute teach, I

16:47

would encourage you to do it if

16:50

you can be ready for that. If

16:50

you get a topic the night before

16:54

that, you know you're teaching

16:54

the next day, be ready for that.

16:57

And here's some ways you can do

16:57

that. And some things you can

17:01

purchase so that you're always

17:01

ready for your substitute

17:04

teacher day.