2016 Substitute Teachers' Convention

Post date: 01-Nov-2016 16:11:50

I have once again had the privilege to attend this year's Substitute Teachers' Convention. This year it is at the Radisson Hotel in Edmonton. The change in venue from the usual Barnett House location is due to the increased number in attendance from about 120 attendees to just under 200.

First, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all the substitute teachers in Parkland, whether they are new teachers, retired teachers, or teachers looking to get on a teaching contract, that regardless of your current standing, it is your responsibility to take care of your own professional development in order to stay current within the profession. With that said, Parkland Local does provide reimbursement for the cost of attending this conference and many other professional development, shall you choose to attend.

Unfortunately, I have missed the General Session and Curriculum Update due to other personal commitments, but typically, there would be copies of the slides available for these sessions for those who have missed it. In the General Session hosted by Ken Valgardson, he strives to bring to light these ideas and topics to get all of us focused on the current issues and challenges for substitute teachers in schools:

1. cutbacks and increasing class sizes,
2. collecting garbage to teach science,
3. how students change Grade 1 to 12,
4. test answers we all love to share,
5. types of teachers,
6. parent–teacher interviews,
7. personal growth plans,
8. how to deal with parents and
9. “teacherspeak” what we say/what we mean.

After these general sessions, we typcially breakout for individual sessions of our choice. This year, the conference offered new topics such as LGBTQ strategies for teachers in schools, skills for handling conflict with peers and also students, technology related session on MakerSpace, etc. There are also staple sessions such as curriculum related ones for math and language arts, pension, transition to retirement, and strategies for landing a continuing contract position.

My choice of sessions for the morning was the LGBTQ Issues in the Schools, hosted by Calgary Sexual Health. I did take a session with the same title last year while the convention was held in Calgary, though I felt I did not get much out of it as we spent the whole time defining and letting other people comprehend all these different terms for gender and orientation. I did voice my concerns this time and felt that I have gotten much more out of it. We covered the feelings, struggles, and mentality of a typical non-cis gender person, with activities that allows us to be in their shoes for some insight and build compassion. Topics such as strategies in helping schools become more welcoming and accomodating for LGBTQ people were also discussed, the biggest take away here was educating people who seem to be reluctant, hesitant, or even against LGBTQ people. Strategies on how to move away from the old gender specific terms such as using "folks" instead of "guys", or "ladies and gentlemen" as some people may not even identify themselves as either male or female which can make them uncomfortable. We also discussed how to approach the topic of "preferred pronouns", and the pros and cons of various methods of bringin this topic up. The best suggested practice is to start each class by asking the students what pronouns they prefer (I have my personal opinion about this approach, but it is always a good idea to discreetly ask when in doubt); also how to correct ourselves when we mess up and used the incorrect pronoun - simply apologize and promise to do better next time, no explanation needed as to why you messed up because that often leads to even more offensive and traumatic reasons for the person. We have learned during the session that as teachers, even as substitute teachers, we are there to create a safe and caring environment for students from all walks of life, and that it is not our place to pass judgement on who they are.

As per usual, I had to attend the Substitute Chair Group meeting where I met with other Substitute Chairs from other locals as well as the Subsitute Teachers Committee from the ATA. Current endeavours the ATA Substitute Committee has taken on are things like working to incorporate more substitute teachers relevant sessions at the Spring convention, as the typical sessions are too curriculum specific to be useful for us. Currently, out of the 200+ sessions at the Spring convention, there are about 2 sessions that are relevant to substitute teachers, though often they are geared towards new beginning teachers as well. I fully support this initiative as it gives subsitute teachers more incentive to attend and add more professional development to their resume.

The second task the ATA Substitute Teachers Committee has taken on is participating in the Central Bargaining Unit to try and bring the rest of us some province wide, standard benefits (some are just framework and details would be left to the local to define) that are incorporated in the future collective agreements. Things on the table are employer paid health benefits and health spending accounts, travel allowance, days on grid, injury at the workplace for subsidized time off, booking and cancellation procedures, and many others. I feel that with Central Bargaining on the table, it is a tremendous opportunity to bring to light the concerns and struggles of substitute teachers, and the things we have always wanted but got tossed out as a bargaining chip for contract teachers' needs.

Last session was the "Assertive Speaking in Conflict Situtations with Peers and Students". I was interested in this session more for the "peers" aspect in that often times, I hear about subsitute teachers getting into conflict with other teachers, principals, or even human resources over a difference in professional opinion and we are left to fend for ourselves and often, the situtation is never in our favour. I was hoping to learn some new skills or even insight into the opponent's mentality during conflicts. Some strategies to de-escalate a conflict situation would be to show that you are listening, you can demonstrate that by paraphrasing what you have heard, it also shows what you understood out of everything that was exchanged and confirms with your partner whether what you understood is what they meant. Another strategy to de-escalate is to avoid using "you" phrases. It is not "you make me _______", but rather "I __________". No one makes you do or behave a certain way, it is your choice to take someone else's words and actions and react in a certain way. When someone says "You ________" it puts the blame on the other person and instigates a "flght or flight" mode and that is not conducive to any discussion or coming up with a resolution. A third strategy is to ask open ended questions, as in the ones that does not give just a "yes" or "no" answer but needs elaboration. This is to try and understand the reasoning behind someone's opinion, decision, feelings, behaviours, etc. And finally, when coming up with a solution, we need to hold everyone accountable to what they have agreed on, we can do this by stating expected change in behaviour with time line for change to occur and consequences for repeat of old behaviour. All of these strategies should get people into a dialogue for change rather than an argument with a losing side. Finally, the session speaker wrapped up with the idea of "If you say 'yes' to something, what are you saying 'no' to?". If the confronted just keeps agreeing to the demands of the confronter to appease them, what is the confronted not going to be able to do for themselves or others in the future?

Contrary to the previous years' conventions, I have found this year's to be the most productive and positive one yet! I strongly encourage everyone to make an effort to attend as it is your professional duty to take up professional development annually.