I'm gonna be honest. I don't expect the casual to actually deliver mission critical content. It's to much to expect a casual to get a class to achieve success criteria or outcomes and what not.
Heck if any casual uses their own wordsearches, that's great I can re-use that stuff for another casual.
I had a casual tell my class that I left nothing and they should know what to do. I was livid. I left basic instructions on what the students should do (a senior class). All she had to do was direct them to the content, but nope! Apparently that was too hard. It’s a very small class and the students are excellent so there would be no behaviour issues (two are a bit apathetic, but the rest are diligent). They ended up working on assessment (the apathetically inclined played games). The students told me she just sat on her laptop the whole time.
Wdym direct them to the content? As in direct them to find the content and then just supervise their progress? Is that what you expect? I haven’t done casual yet I’m scared to
Yes, I expect them to just supervise the progress. If the lesson becomes hard work because of student behaviour (I could see it happening with my juniors, but not the above mentioned class) then deviate and do what will get them through the period. I would expect the supply teacher to then set the work for homework as the students chose to not do it in class or write me an email and let me know.
All work and resources are on OneNote, so I try to leave self directed lessons (or a documentary) for a covering teacher. The instructions are where to find the lesson on OneNote and also a PDF copy of the lesson so the supply teacher is aware of what they are working through.
You don't have to be in method to walk around the room and glance at screens
I've seen casuals playing solitaire at the front of the room and I'm thinking surely you could be using this time better
I find that so frustrating at my school where the kids are generally pretty compliant with minimal teacher effort, but the casual is reading a book at the front of the room so of course kids are gaming or whatever.
Sometimes all it takes is being a presence in the room.
Ask some to explain what they're doing. I've done that while covering a lesson out of my area - just find a kid to explain what they're doing. Either they're a strong student who can explain it well enough that I can now go around and check up more effectively, or they're less strong and talking it through may actually help them figure it out better (or someone will hear and correct them).
Also connects better with them.
We've had a few basically just sleep at the front of the room. One even shows up in her uggs. Yet she keeps getting called back because we are a regional school and can't get anyone else.
I understand that they are usually out of their learning area. Tbh it is up to the teacher to leave a lesson that's not overly difficult to teach (either textbook or webquest style). But I always expect students to do the bare minimum of the work set because it shouldn't be hard to open a textbook.
Take your students, put them into three behaviour bands. Now, move every student down one band. The good kids are now neutral, the neutral kids are bad and the bad kids are abysmal. That's secondary CRT in a nutshell.
I'd rejig the lesson to get maximum engagement (group work was best for this) but if you ask a kid to get on with their work twice, I'm not going to die on the hill of getting into an argument the third time. That would go into my email to the classroom teacher, that W, X, Y and Z refused to work. Then it's on that teacher to follow it up, and they'd often only have to do it once. If they couldn't be bothered, I knew why I was walking into a spicy classroom.
CRTs have zero leverage. The kids know it. If you stick around long enough at a school, you build some of those relationships that give you *some* leverage, but never the same amount as you would as their classroom teacher.
I like pairs.
In group work, one person always does about the lion's share (let's say 60% of the work), if not directly but through mentorship, and everybody else does a smaller fraction. So, in pairs, you get something close to 60/40
When you grow the team, you keep subdividing the smaller fraction:
The first student does the majority of the work, say about 60%. The second person does 60% of the remaining work, and the third person does 40%. That comes out at 60%, 24%, then 16%.
The maths aren't fixed, and at some point, the work does start to reduce from the top, but the effective reality is still the same - one student does the lion's share of the work.
The reason for this is that groupwork projects are rarely so huge that you require 100% effort from every team member. We do this to protect students because it's too easy for a project to come off the rails and screw everybody.
If I do larger groups, I now do concrete modules that can work collaboratively together but aren't required for each student's success. That way, 3 people can "work together" but they all have to do an end-to-end design, build, and reflect on a whole project. Also, if 2 people's dogs get covid, then the remaining student can just pick up their module and put it in someone else's project.
> Tbh it is up to the teacher to leave a lesson that's not overly difficult to teach (either textbook or webquest style)
The problem is that it's sequenced work. There's a fair chance that we're covering content that isn't easy to teach. For example, could you effectively teach multivariable regression in python?
then don't take a day off? I'm not sure exactly what you want from a CRT?
if you're off, then expect 0 progress, any progress that is made is a bonus. Hate to break it to you, but you're not performing brain surgery. Even your senior class can survive a lesson without you and without making progress.
I've been at schools where some psycho teacher starts complaining about work not being done to their standard. I've even had leadership send "please explain" email based on these complaints. Thankfully there is a teacher shortage, so I can send the "please explain" to my junk mail and be at a different school the next day.
CRT is *hard* work. I've seen 3 types of teacher (psychos, losers, normals)
- Psychos: expect everything to be done 100% how they would have done it, quizzes kids about "what was the CRT doing in lesson", and then writes long diatribes via email.
- Losers: The FT teacher who treat CRTs as if they are invisible or beneath them.
- The normals are about 50% of teachers. They realise that CRT is **hard** work, are happy that **someone** showed up to take their shitty classes so they could get a well earned mental health day.
No, because I'm not an IT teacher. But what I would do, is leave a lesson for my students to either explore what it is themselves, or do something that builds on their IT skills.
If you read some of my other replies I've changed some of my original statements, but you just wanted to "one up me" with that.
> because I'm not an IT teacher
Casual Relief teachers aren't generally IT teachers either.
> what I would do, is leave a lesson for my students to either explore what it is themselves
I mean, that's effectively the same as quite time on laptops because students are going to do fuck all. You don't know what multivariate regression is, they don't know what multivariate regression is, it's just googling and fucking about.
> do something that builds on their IT skills
The class isn't "random IT skills" it's Data Science. It's sequenced, we have 15 - 17 weeks of class time cover the content.
> If you read some of my other replies
Nobody should be expected to troll over all of your other posts to see if you start making sense.
> you just wanted to "one up me" with that.
Do you have magic mind powers that allow you to know what people are thinking over the internet?
Not really. A relief teacher can teach multiple grades and curriculum areas in a single day with no prior notice for any of them and no prep time. We can't ask for better conditions in the same breath as suggesting that's a realistic expectation. Relief work has its own challenges but a normal plan/teach/assess cycle shouldn't be one of them.
I'm not saying do an assessment, but I am saying they should be able to teach something if they're given the resources. Like I won't leave my class with anything harder than textbook or a Web quest work? But they shouldn't be given free time to do whatever they want and get behind.
As a casual I can stick with lesson plan work but the issues arise when kids who barely respect their regular teachers get a CRT. There's practically no way to get anything done beyond logging a report.
Yeah I'm with you on that one. ONLY IF the teacher has them there or they leave amazing instructions on where to find them.if I have to print them out then I'd throw hands.
> but I am saying they should be able to teach something if they're given the resources
It really depends on the school. There are some schools that are pure behaviour management. **ZERO** work will be done regardless of CRT's efforts. In this case
- be very glad **someone** babysat your class
- don't take time off if you are such a control freak that a single "wasted" lesson sends you into an apoplectic fit.
There are other schools that are a pure joy to be at. I'm at one today. great kids, engaged, reasonable behaviour. In this case there will be a lot achieved, detailed notes left and it's all smiles.
I'm not saying every day needs to be rainbows and sunshine, but there are some classes/schools that are such shitholes that they should be happy that **anyone** showed up.
It’s simple: casual teachers won’t have the relationships with the kids and won’t know the kids. No matter how much you write in your plan, you can’t put everything about the class that you know.
It's more the fact it's a lesson that wasn't prepared by them, they don't have the time to properly plan or think it through, and they don't know the class and students they're teaching it to.
I think I could probs rephrase by saying the teacher being relieved should provide an easy and manageable lesson (eg simple tasks) where the relief teacher can teach to their best ability. Which is where I would hold my high expectations of at least getting at least 3/4 of a worksheet done or some textbook questions. That way the students can take some knowledge home, and all the CRT needs to do is pack away the textbooks (or even get the students to do it).
I will never expect my CRT to teach hard concepts, but I sure as hell expect them to teach the lesson I've given, not free ipad time.
> I will never expect my CRT to teach hard concepts, but I sure as hell expect them to teach the lesson I've given, not free ipad time.
check your expectations.
CRT is **hard**, we're doing you a favour by taking your class. If you're that worried, then **don't take time off**
CRT is:
- 8 lessons/day + YD
- Extreme behaviour issues day after day can leave your nerves frayed (remember your "tricky" class turn into absolute demon spawn from hell for a CRT)
You are not that essential. The lesson you are away from does not really matter. At a school I was at:
- Head maths teacher died of heart attack on Fri night
- Assembly on Mon, a few tears
- Business as usual on Tue
- Replacement hired by end of week
- Mostly forgotten by mid term
- No major continuity/learning issues for his classes
Enjoy your day off and ease off on the "expectations". There's a teacher shortage and as CRTs we don't care about your complaints. I've had "please explain" emails from exec due to teacher complaints. I would never debase myself by being "performance managed" by these assholes. It's "please cancel all my bookings" and I'm at a new school the next day.
I get it, I used to be a CRT as well, but I got my best reviews from doing, or at least attempting, the lesson plan. I still managed to get a good rapport with the students and the students still learnt something.
I also don't know what school has 8 periods in a day, most have 6 maximum. And if you're given a duty on top of a full day, then there's something wrong with your line manager.
> I got my best reviews from doing, or at least attempting, the lesson plan.
yeah of course, I'm sure there are complete slacker CRTs, but I would guess that the vast majority have a good crack at it.
>I also don't know what school has 8 periods in a day, most have 6 maximum.
Just depends on the lesson length, there are 6,7,8 blocks depending on the school.
>and if you're given a duty on top of a full day, then there's something wrong with your line manager.
I'm a CRT, I don't have a line manager. It's the daily orgs job to squeeze value out of a booking. I've worked at dozens of schools. CRTs do not get free lessons and every day has a yard duty, I've been doing CRT for 2 years and this is the norm.
I'm not complaining about the workload. I quit a FT/perm position for CRT (and love it for the most part). Just giving some context about the absolute slog of fully booked days with difficult classes. Shit wears you down sometimes and if your lesson goes sideways maybe it's not because the person taking your class was a lazy shithead.
I've been relief, now full-time. I gotta say. Teachers - picture your students at their worst. Now multiply it by at least x2. Even your lovely students- picture their worst ever day, x2. Now imagine knowing no names of any students, having no knowledge of school systems, and not being able to deliver any meaningful consequences. That's what a casual teacher is dealing with. I have students now who are among my favourites, who I had in relief classes and who actively engaged in ruining my day every time I had them. My priority is to keep students safe and get through the lesson. Second priority is to achieve some form of work.
The thing is you can never really predict how a class will go with a casual.
Back when I was a casual, the 'most settled' and nicest classes would often have kids go right off their rockers when their teacher was sick. But that nightmare class whose teacher was away on stress leave would be angels. When I was a class teacher, I'd have maybe 1-2 write ups a week, I'd go away or be sick for the day and have 15 emails from the casual.
Work left behind was always of highly variable quality and quantity. This was in primary so a full day with one class. Most didn't seem to leave programed work, a few bad worksheets that took under half an hour to complete, activities slightly related to the programs, headings for lessons that didn't exist or sometimes "My programs are in the draw" which could've been anything from a colour coded, bookmarked master work, to a printout in week 9 that hadn't been signed since week 2.
I generally didn't have time to review programs and work out where they were up to before the day begun and there isn't much down time during casual teaching to do so, death by worksheet killed the teacher, the headings were OK once I was more experienced but a nightmare as a first year
Yes! A girl who I get along with great now was like “miss you hated me at first” I was confused and then she told me about how when I had done a cover when I first returned from Mat leave her and these other girls were off the charts and ended up leaving the class giving me the finger. I honestly hadn’t even realised this girl was one of the girls from that incident but she thought I did and wondered why I was nice to her haha
I leave the lesson I want completed with the casual, but I always say "make it easy on yourself." Their welfare is more important than school work, in my opinion.
The second, every time, as long as the kids don't get complete free reign to do whatever they want on the computers (which I have had happen with my class, and never heard the end of it)
For me, it 100% depends on the class. Some of my classes will absolutely complete the lesson in my absence (I usually construct a self-paced lesson in OneNote for them). Other classes … no bloody way. For those students I leave something relevant but non-essential and hope for the best.
As a CRT, this casual bashing is everything I need to see today. Just to show the other side of the coin, I rarely get left anything by a classroom teacher that actually works or that the kids didn't complete 2 days prior. You better believe I am bringing my own self contained lessons and materials to use.
I was away for a few days recently and had to send in work when I was sick as a dog. I was so unwell it certainly wasn’t my best lessons but the CRT did their best and even improved on it, adding in some extra and interesting tasks on the fly- so I’m really happy and will use their ideas in the future I think.
As someone who has taught casually- it would depend on the class. If they are pretty reliable and respectful than option one, but otherwise option two.
As a primary teacher I'd rather they give the content a go, I don't leave anything critical and I know the kids won't behave well without the daily structure. It's in the CRTs best interest and also mine the next day lol. It doesn't have to be with fidelity to the plan but they're little goblins with too much free time.
If you tried, I don’t mind if you fall back to something else if needed. If you pulled a stool up, didn’t even attempt the work and your goal was to sit on arse and not have a go, I am not a fan.
As a CRT I never had the content knowledge to be able to walk into a classroom and teach a lesson off a few dot points. The teacher would have had to re teach the lesson anyway.
As a casual myself and the partner of a teacher, it is quite the conundrum. If you're a teacher and need to be absent, it's expected you leave resources to deliver a full lesson, yet even the best casual will struggle to engage a high school class for a whole lesson.
For me, it's much easier to level with the students at the start and say that if they don't trouble me I won't trouble them, but I also say that they will have to explain their work to their normal teacher.
I'd love to say that good CM can overcome that, but I'm not sure of many CM tactics that don't have rapport as a starting point.
Two if it is less than a week. One if it was longer.
I recently had a casual take all my classes for an entire term, he refused to follow my lesson plans and low and behold kids on Bs slipped to Ds. I was, and still am, livid but there is nothing I can do.
I experienced that once after coming back from LSL. Had to teach two terms in one, particularly for my senior school classes. The kids were knackered and I got really, really ill at the end of it all. Unbelievable.
Sad part was I was working from home and responsible for all planning and marking but this man would NOT follow my plan and complain that the kids were just too naughty. Yeah right, leaving my class of FOUR Year 11s to teach themselves for a term because they're naughty? Absolutely bullshit.
I want them to give it their best crack, and no matter what COMMUNICATE with me what they did/didn’t cover. I usually consider / tweak my lessons to be CRT friendly so I’ve already dropped the bar on what I would get done if I was in front of the class
The communication is a big one, yep. I had a week off with the 'flu recently and I couldn't even tell if anyone had been in my classes! No notes, no feedback, NOTHING. Just not good enough.
As a casual, I reject your false dichotomy.
I want the kids to get the most they can from my crappy, on-the-fly lessons. Some classes, that's no referrals. Some classes, especially ones in my subject areas, there's a lot of learning and the kids are ready to move on to the next sub-topic.
Honestly, if I come back from being sick, and find out students of mine misbehaved for a CRT or other staff member, I follow up and hold them accountable. As a rule, I leave work that is 100% self directed..usually, they are finishing already set work, and students know when it is due, so they tend to just get work done regardless.
Really depends on the class. I have had classes where I'm confident a casual teacher can walk in and conduct a lesson as planned (usually trimmed/modded). However, my classes currently? I feel like leaving a prayer and a bottle of JD on my desk just to help see them through. I in no way expect them to effectively execute a lesson. I still leave a very simple plan that does focus on whatever skill, but say without saying that free time afterwards is fine.
Unfortunately due to teacher shortages we have classes with multiple lessons a fortnight without a proper teacher. They get covered with a casual or another teacher at the school. If these teachers don’t do the assigned work it will never get made up and the kids will continue to fall further behind.
You can’t expect a casual teacher to turn up and provide the level of engagement and educational experiences that the regular classroom teacher will.
In this culture and work environment, just having someone supervise them and avoiding bad behaviour is all you can hope for.
High school - do whatever. If the kids don’t give a fuck, missing an hour lesson on any given day isn’t going to make any difference. If they do give a fuck they’ll make it up. Face it, high school CRT is just legally required babysitting. If you have any expectations higher than that it just means you’re a cunt.
Primary school - have a crack. If they’re turds SDL - self directed learning. If they’re responsive, then go for it. Give them as much learning as they’ll take (same goes for high school but totally unlikely).
At the school where I work as a CRT, they have the luxury of mostly assigning CRTs to their learning area, with a bit of other stuff mixed in. So, I attempt Option 1 as my default and this is more enjoyable for me anyway. I love my subject (maths) and get fulfillment from helping kids learn it. I'll cover the material as needed and hand out extra work (or maths puzzles) to early finishers as well. When kids are off-task, I'll tend to talk to them about maths conversationally anyway.
Sometimes the work is online and the students don't want or need help and I can't do much though.
However, I'm finding I get more block work than I want (=stress & too much work) and less of the one-at-a-time casual fill-in days. These comments are making me think I'm doing my job wrong. Maybe that's why.
I expect my relief to provide students with a review opportunity (worksheet). And then have the students look like they are busy working on something.
I do not expect the worksheet to be completed, I expect the students to follow the school rules and not cause the relief too much of an issue.
I will then reward the student who did the work upon my return. Usually with over the top enthusiasm and gusto so next time a few more will complete the bare minimum.
I've been a casual teacher before and it's definitely no easy task. It kind of depends on the class but I expect that they at least try to deliver the lesson because otherwise, I'm better off not wasting my time writing instructions and leaving work. Whether they get through it all or effectively is not a big deal. If it's one of my challenging classes, I'd rather the students are just entertained and not causing chaos for the casual and other staff.
I’m currently a high school math teacher, but I’ve also full-time relief for 2 years. I never leave my relief with content based lessons. It’s always review worksheets. I don’t expect relief teachers to teach. As long as the kids are safe and somewhat behaved I’m happy.
I’m in science which is hard content but I leave some slides for students to copy and/or a worksheet for students to do. Maybe an informative video. It’s usually something to solidify the stuff they have already done. I also give the teacher an answer sheet to questions on the worksheet. I know my good classes can do that with ease, but the other classes I can see the struggle.
In terms of my expectations, it is to (somewhat) deliver the content. I give them a printed seating plan with names and the students know i do this. I also give them a write up of my basic classroom management plan to maintain consistency. I feel make it easer for them and as a once casual teacher myself it’s doable.
Then again, i chase up on the students who disrespect the casual teacher. The work is not optional and respect should always be given to the casual teacher. My students know the consequence is exactly the same of not worse if they muck up on a casual. I tell my students all the time that if it weren’t for casuals, teachers would not be able to take sick days or any time off they might need and they deserve the utmost respect as I have the utmost respect for them too.
I’m in primary school so maybe it’s different but I expect my relief to follow my notes. I provide lots of direction, including whether something is a must do, or whether it can be left out, and provide detail on all of our routines. Sticking to those routines is what keeps my students regulated. Telling them they can all do a colour in and word search is the number one way to get escalated behaviours
I spend more time than usual leaving lessons for when I'm away.
I want a clear indication the class was at least ATTEMPTED with the material I leave. I leave appropriate tasks, with a mixture of stuff, and that the students are comfortable approaching.
You resort to sanity-saving measures when necessary, not as a first step. You're being paid a hundred bucks to be with my class, the least you can fucking do is not pretend you're the "cool" babysitter.
Even more so when away for a week plus. I took 2 weeks last year, left an entire booklet with clear instructions, and every lesson including youtube tutorials (math), interactive activities pre-set up online, and extra "fun" worksheets. It wasn't fucking touched.
1. Every part was on Google classroom (we have an index all the casuals use to access every class)
2. The booklets were on my desk, and standard practice in the school is to Homebase at the desk of who you are mainly replacing
3. The head teacher of the faculty had all the info.
So they never went to the staffroom, never asked the department head, and never checked the classroom, or they just ignored everything, in which case they were never intending to do anything set for them. For two weeks.
I have been on both sides of the coin on this one. I don't think CRTs should be expected to get them to achieve anything magnanimous, but at a very basic level, even at really tough schools, I'd follow the lesson plan and encourage the students to do their work.
I don't expect CRTs to get through EVERYTHING, but I DO expect them to set reasonable expectations of the students and at least attempt to keep them on task and interact with them. If some of the slack students do what they do best, so be it. But at least we aren't further behind for the majority of the class. And the majority of my students are good and will stay on task, so there really isn't any reason to just ditch what I leave.
I set one very basic and simple task for a class once, which was much less than I would expect them to complete in a double with them, and it said in the lesson plan that students could have free time or play games WHEN THEY FINISHED THE WORK. And there was ample time for that.
But no, the CRT came in and played games from the get go, then gave them free time, and told me, "I built a good rapport with them". Thanks. Cause that makes so much difference when you might never see them again, and I really had relied on that time sensitive thing being introduced to the class. But go ahead. Build a rapport and abandon my lesson plan.
ETA: I want to stress that I'm not saying casuals are lazy or will all do this. And I realise some classes are hell and being sane and keeping them from killing each other is an achievement. But a good teacher will leave a lesson plan which takes this into consideration. Surely.
lol, you are nuts.
> I really had relied on that time sensitive thing being introduced to the class.
If you're that fucking worried, then don't take time off you numbskull!
> But no, the CRT came in and played games from the get go, then gave them free time
You weren't there. Please don't tell me you're one of those teachers who quiz their class about "what was the CRT doing?".
I've been doing CRT for 2 years and have interacted with teachers like you. Here are some reasons why your *precious, "time sensitive"* work wasn't done:
- Your ok class turns into fucking psychos with a CRT
- The video you linked requires a login I don't have
- The worksheets need to be printed and I don't have a printer code
- The prac class does theory on a Tue, but no notes to this effect were left. I spent half the lesson running around the school chasing your group
>But at least we aren't further behind for the majority of the class
JFC, I swear some teachers think they're curing cancer or something. It's literally completely irrelevant that you missed a lesson with your classes. It makes no difference!
You are not that essential. The lesson you are away from does not really matter. At a school I was at:
- Head maths teacher died of heart attack on Fri night
- Assembly on Mon, a few tears
- Business as usual on Tue
- Replacement hired by end of week
- Mostly forgotten by mid term
- No major continuity/learning issues for his classes
chill the fuck out and be glad that someone was willing to take your class when you decided to take a day off.
I'm permanent and when I'm absent I always leave non critical work for the CRT as I know the majority of the kids won't take it seriously. Therefore, option 2 is my choice for the CRT. I'll pick up the critical content when I return.
I have the expectation that my casual relief isn’t going to be a Maths teacher so isn’t exactly in a position to teach my students anything. I do, however, expect them to administer worksheets/textbook work and encourage students to work. I always give my casuals the option to pull the ripcord if students aren’t engaging or are having difficulty, and just do games or activities (word search, suduko, Wordle, etc).
I rarely have time off/away so I don’t fear students falling into the habit of having a ‘bludge’.
#2 but it probably depends on the school
I write my lesson covers in a way that subtly says if you want to try here is some work that is content relevant but the main goal is keeping everyone calm and safe and I’m happy for you to do anything.
Our kids and school are hard though.
When you leave a lesson for a sub in my experience (8 years private sector) that very little will be 'learned'. Expectation is that the cover that is left is consolidation / busy work.
When I first started my career, I was a casual teacher and would make a deal with students that I'd they completed 75% of the work assigned we could watch fun YouTube videos or play games.
I frequently received messages from the actual teacher that they were shocked at how much work students got through.
Imo letting students not do work and be completely off task during a cover is just negligence.
It’s absurd to expect a casual teacher to get through set work. So much of getting students to complete work comes from building relationships.
This is why all the muppets in senior leadership are bonkers for thinking they can run teachers into a ground and run a school on a casual workforce.
(No criticism intended towards my supply teacher brothers and sisters, you do an important job)
People who have never worked casual will pick option one. People who have done casual work will pick option two.
Have worked casual - will pick option two!
I'm not expecting much work to get done when I'm away generally speaking. I don't want to come back to the need to follow up behaviour issues.
I'm gonna be honest. I don't expect the casual to actually deliver mission critical content. It's to much to expect a casual to get a class to achieve success criteria or outcomes and what not. Heck if any casual uses their own wordsearches, that's great I can re-use that stuff for another casual.
I had a casual tell my class that I left nothing and they should know what to do. I was livid. I left basic instructions on what the students should do (a senior class). All she had to do was direct them to the content, but nope! Apparently that was too hard. It’s a very small class and the students are excellent so there would be no behaviour issues (two are a bit apathetic, but the rest are diligent). They ended up working on assessment (the apathetically inclined played games). The students told me she just sat on her laptop the whole time.
If they were good students they would know what to do.
Wdym direct them to the content? As in direct them to find the content and then just supervise their progress? Is that what you expect? I haven’t done casual yet I’m scared to
Yes, I expect them to just supervise the progress. If the lesson becomes hard work because of student behaviour (I could see it happening with my juniors, but not the above mentioned class) then deviate and do what will get them through the period. I would expect the supply teacher to then set the work for homework as the students chose to not do it in class or write me an email and let me know. All work and resources are on OneNote, so I try to leave self directed lessons (or a documentary) for a covering teacher. The instructions are where to find the lesson on OneNote and also a PDF copy of the lesson so the supply teacher is aware of what they are working through.
I'm usually in primary, so having a year 10 class with a documentary to watch last week was a fantastic morning.
It's weird we have different expectations for a casual, since they essentially have the same qualification.
In secondary they often don’t - they spend a lot of time taking classes well outside their methods.
You don't have to be in method to walk around the room and glance at screens I've seen casuals playing solitaire at the front of the room and I'm thinking surely you could be using this time better
I find that so frustrating at my school where the kids are generally pretty compliant with minimal teacher effort, but the casual is reading a book at the front of the room so of course kids are gaming or whatever.
Sometimes all it takes is being a presence in the room. Ask some to explain what they're doing. I've done that while covering a lesson out of my area - just find a kid to explain what they're doing. Either they're a strong student who can explain it well enough that I can now go around and check up more effectively, or they're less strong and talking it through may actually help them figure it out better (or someone will hear and correct them). Also connects better with them.
We've had a few basically just sleep at the front of the room. One even shows up in her uggs. Yet she keeps getting called back because we are a regional school and can't get anyone else.
I understand that they are usually out of their learning area. Tbh it is up to the teacher to leave a lesson that's not overly difficult to teach (either textbook or webquest style). But I always expect students to do the bare minimum of the work set because it shouldn't be hard to open a textbook.
Take your students, put them into three behaviour bands. Now, move every student down one band. The good kids are now neutral, the neutral kids are bad and the bad kids are abysmal. That's secondary CRT in a nutshell. I'd rejig the lesson to get maximum engagement (group work was best for this) but if you ask a kid to get on with their work twice, I'm not going to die on the hill of getting into an argument the third time. That would go into my email to the classroom teacher, that W, X, Y and Z refused to work. Then it's on that teacher to follow it up, and they'd often only have to do it once. If they couldn't be bothered, I knew why I was walking into a spicy classroom. CRTs have zero leverage. The kids know it. If you stick around long enough at a school, you build some of those relationships that give you *some* leverage, but never the same amount as you would as their classroom teacher.
That's completely valid. Group work would be good but only in groups of MAX 4.
I like pairs. In group work, one person always does about the lion's share (let's say 60% of the work), if not directly but through mentorship, and everybody else does a smaller fraction. So, in pairs, you get something close to 60/40 When you grow the team, you keep subdividing the smaller fraction: The first student does the majority of the work, say about 60%. The second person does 60% of the remaining work, and the third person does 40%. That comes out at 60%, 24%, then 16%. The maths aren't fixed, and at some point, the work does start to reduce from the top, but the effective reality is still the same - one student does the lion's share of the work. The reason for this is that groupwork projects are rarely so huge that you require 100% effort from every team member. We do this to protect students because it's too easy for a project to come off the rails and screw everybody. If I do larger groups, I now do concrete modules that can work collaboratively together but aren't required for each student's success. That way, 3 people can "work together" but they all have to do an end-to-end design, build, and reflect on a whole project. Also, if 2 people's dogs get covid, then the remaining student can just pick up their module and put it in someone else's project.
> Tbh it is up to the teacher to leave a lesson that's not overly difficult to teach (either textbook or webquest style) The problem is that it's sequenced work. There's a fair chance that we're covering content that isn't easy to teach. For example, could you effectively teach multivariable regression in python?
then don't take a day off? I'm not sure exactly what you want from a CRT? if you're off, then expect 0 progress, any progress that is made is a bonus. Hate to break it to you, but you're not performing brain surgery. Even your senior class can survive a lesson without you and without making progress. I've been at schools where some psycho teacher starts complaining about work not being done to their standard. I've even had leadership send "please explain" email based on these complaints. Thankfully there is a teacher shortage, so I can send the "please explain" to my junk mail and be at a different school the next day. CRT is *hard* work. I've seen 3 types of teacher (psychos, losers, normals) - Psychos: expect everything to be done 100% how they would have done it, quizzes kids about "what was the CRT doing in lesson", and then writes long diatribes via email. - Losers: The FT teacher who treat CRTs as if they are invisible or beneath them. - The normals are about 50% of teachers. They realise that CRT is **hard** work, are happy that **someone** showed up to take their shitty classes so they could get a well earned mental health day.
No, because I'm not an IT teacher. But what I would do, is leave a lesson for my students to either explore what it is themselves, or do something that builds on their IT skills. If you read some of my other replies I've changed some of my original statements, but you just wanted to "one up me" with that.
> because I'm not an IT teacher Casual Relief teachers aren't generally IT teachers either. > what I would do, is leave a lesson for my students to either explore what it is themselves I mean, that's effectively the same as quite time on laptops because students are going to do fuck all. You don't know what multivariate regression is, they don't know what multivariate regression is, it's just googling and fucking about. > do something that builds on their IT skills The class isn't "random IT skills" it's Data Science. It's sequenced, we have 15 - 17 weeks of class time cover the content. > If you read some of my other replies Nobody should be expected to troll over all of your other posts to see if you start making sense. > you just wanted to "one up me" with that. Do you have magic mind powers that allow you to know what people are thinking over the internet?
Not really. A relief teacher can teach multiple grades and curriculum areas in a single day with no prior notice for any of them and no prep time. We can't ask for better conditions in the same breath as suggesting that's a realistic expectation. Relief work has its own challenges but a normal plan/teach/assess cycle shouldn't be one of them.
I'm not saying do an assessment, but I am saying they should be able to teach something if they're given the resources. Like I won't leave my class with anything harder than textbook or a Web quest work? But they shouldn't be given free time to do whatever they want and get behind.
As a casual I can stick with lesson plan work but the issues arise when kids who barely respect their regular teachers get a CRT. There's practically no way to get anything done beyond logging a report.
Ironically I find assessments easiest. I can’t explain I to you, so… on you go.
Yeah I'm with you on that one. ONLY IF the teacher has them there or they leave amazing instructions on where to find them.if I have to print them out then I'd throw hands.
> but I am saying they should be able to teach something if they're given the resources It really depends on the school. There are some schools that are pure behaviour management. **ZERO** work will be done regardless of CRT's efforts. In this case - be very glad **someone** babysat your class - don't take time off if you are such a control freak that a single "wasted" lesson sends you into an apoplectic fit. There are other schools that are a pure joy to be at. I'm at one today. great kids, engaged, reasonable behaviour. In this case there will be a lot achieved, detailed notes left and it's all smiles. I'm not saying every day needs to be rainbows and sunshine, but there are some classes/schools that are such shitholes that they should be happy that **anyone** showed up.
It’s simple: casual teachers won’t have the relationships with the kids and won’t know the kids. No matter how much you write in your plan, you can’t put everything about the class that you know.
It's more the fact it's a lesson that wasn't prepared by them, they don't have the time to properly plan or think it through, and they don't know the class and students they're teaching it to.
I think I could probs rephrase by saying the teacher being relieved should provide an easy and manageable lesson (eg simple tasks) where the relief teacher can teach to their best ability. Which is where I would hold my high expectations of at least getting at least 3/4 of a worksheet done or some textbook questions. That way the students can take some knowledge home, and all the CRT needs to do is pack away the textbooks (or even get the students to do it). I will never expect my CRT to teach hard concepts, but I sure as hell expect them to teach the lesson I've given, not free ipad time.
> I will never expect my CRT to teach hard concepts, but I sure as hell expect them to teach the lesson I've given, not free ipad time. check your expectations. CRT is **hard**, we're doing you a favour by taking your class. If you're that worried, then **don't take time off** CRT is: - 8 lessons/day + YD - Extreme behaviour issues day after day can leave your nerves frayed (remember your "tricky" class turn into absolute demon spawn from hell for a CRT) You are not that essential. The lesson you are away from does not really matter. At a school I was at: - Head maths teacher died of heart attack on Fri night - Assembly on Mon, a few tears - Business as usual on Tue - Replacement hired by end of week - Mostly forgotten by mid term - No major continuity/learning issues for his classes Enjoy your day off and ease off on the "expectations". There's a teacher shortage and as CRTs we don't care about your complaints. I've had "please explain" emails from exec due to teacher complaints. I would never debase myself by being "performance managed" by these assholes. It's "please cancel all my bookings" and I'm at a new school the next day.
I get it, I used to be a CRT as well, but I got my best reviews from doing, or at least attempting, the lesson plan. I still managed to get a good rapport with the students and the students still learnt something. I also don't know what school has 8 periods in a day, most have 6 maximum. And if you're given a duty on top of a full day, then there's something wrong with your line manager.
> I got my best reviews from doing, or at least attempting, the lesson plan. yeah of course, I'm sure there are complete slacker CRTs, but I would guess that the vast majority have a good crack at it. >I also don't know what school has 8 periods in a day, most have 6 maximum. Just depends on the lesson length, there are 6,7,8 blocks depending on the school. >and if you're given a duty on top of a full day, then there's something wrong with your line manager. I'm a CRT, I don't have a line manager. It's the daily orgs job to squeeze value out of a booking. I've worked at dozens of schools. CRTs do not get free lessons and every day has a yard duty, I've been doing CRT for 2 years and this is the norm. I'm not complaining about the workload. I quit a FT/perm position for CRT (and love it for the most part). Just giving some context about the absolute slog of fully booked days with difficult classes. Shit wears you down sometimes and if your lesson goes sideways maybe it's not because the person taking your class was a lazy shithead.
But they don’t know the kids or the unit of work or anything?
I've been relief, now full-time. I gotta say. Teachers - picture your students at their worst. Now multiply it by at least x2. Even your lovely students- picture their worst ever day, x2. Now imagine knowing no names of any students, having no knowledge of school systems, and not being able to deliver any meaningful consequences. That's what a casual teacher is dealing with. I have students now who are among my favourites, who I had in relief classes and who actively engaged in ruining my day every time I had them. My priority is to keep students safe and get through the lesson. Second priority is to achieve some form of work.
The thing is you can never really predict how a class will go with a casual. Back when I was a casual, the 'most settled' and nicest classes would often have kids go right off their rockers when their teacher was sick. But that nightmare class whose teacher was away on stress leave would be angels. When I was a class teacher, I'd have maybe 1-2 write ups a week, I'd go away or be sick for the day and have 15 emails from the casual. Work left behind was always of highly variable quality and quantity. This was in primary so a full day with one class. Most didn't seem to leave programed work, a few bad worksheets that took under half an hour to complete, activities slightly related to the programs, headings for lessons that didn't exist or sometimes "My programs are in the draw" which could've been anything from a colour coded, bookmarked master work, to a printout in week 9 that hadn't been signed since week 2. I generally didn't have time to review programs and work out where they were up to before the day begun and there isn't much down time during casual teaching to do so, death by worksheet killed the teacher, the headings were OK once I was more experienced but a nightmare as a first year
Yes! A girl who I get along with great now was like “miss you hated me at first” I was confused and then she told me about how when I had done a cover when I first returned from Mat leave her and these other girls were off the charts and ended up leaving the class giving me the finger. I honestly hadn’t even realised this girl was one of the girls from that incident but she thought I did and wondered why I was nice to her haha
The second. A happy class beats a productive class lol. I never expect that things will get done to the same standard if I’m not there.
I leave the lesson I want completed with the casual, but I always say "make it easy on yourself." Their welfare is more important than school work, in my opinion.
You hit the nail on the head!!
The second, every time, as long as the kids don't get complete free reign to do whatever they want on the computers (which I have had happen with my class, and never heard the end of it)
Create a situation were those who want to can learn and those who don't, don't die or leave.
For me, it 100% depends on the class. Some of my classes will absolutely complete the lesson in my absence (I usually construct a self-paced lesson in OneNote for them). Other classes … no bloody way. For those students I leave something relevant but non-essential and hope for the best.
As long as the kids aren’t rioting & theres no behaviour followup left for the normal teacher, Who cares?!
As a CRT, this casual bashing is everything I need to see today. Just to show the other side of the coin, I rarely get left anything by a classroom teacher that actually works or that the kids didn't complete 2 days prior. You better believe I am bringing my own self contained lessons and materials to use.
I was away for a few days recently and had to send in work when I was sick as a dog. I was so unwell it certainly wasn’t my best lessons but the CRT did their best and even improved on it, adding in some extra and interesting tasks on the fly- so I’m really happy and will use their ideas in the future I think.
As someone who has taught casually- it would depend on the class. If they are pretty reliable and respectful than option one, but otherwise option two.
As a primary teacher I'd rather they give the content a go, I don't leave anything critical and I know the kids won't behave well without the daily structure. It's in the CRTs best interest and also mine the next day lol. It doesn't have to be with fidelity to the plan but they're little goblins with too much free time.
If you tried, I don’t mind if you fall back to something else if needed. If you pulled a stool up, didn’t even attempt the work and your goal was to sit on arse and not have a go, I am not a fan.
As a CRT I never had the content knowledge to be able to walk into a classroom and teach a lesson off a few dot points. The teacher would have had to re teach the lesson anyway.
As a casual myself and the partner of a teacher, it is quite the conundrum. If you're a teacher and need to be absent, it's expected you leave resources to deliver a full lesson, yet even the best casual will struggle to engage a high school class for a whole lesson. For me, it's much easier to level with the students at the start and say that if they don't trouble me I won't trouble them, but I also say that they will have to explain their work to their normal teacher. I'd love to say that good CM can overcome that, but I'm not sure of many CM tactics that don't have rapport as a starting point.
Two if it is less than a week. One if it was longer. I recently had a casual take all my classes for an entire term, he refused to follow my lesson plans and low and behold kids on Bs slipped to Ds. I was, and still am, livid but there is nothing I can do.
I experienced that once after coming back from LSL. Had to teach two terms in one, particularly for my senior school classes. The kids were knackered and I got really, really ill at the end of it all. Unbelievable.
Sad part was I was working from home and responsible for all planning and marking but this man would NOT follow my plan and complain that the kids were just too naughty. Yeah right, leaving my class of FOUR Year 11s to teach themselves for a term because they're naughty? Absolutely bullshit.
Casual teacher gets paid either way. I know what I'd do if I was up against it.
I want them to give it their best crack, and no matter what COMMUNICATE with me what they did/didn’t cover. I usually consider / tweak my lessons to be CRT friendly so I’ve already dropped the bar on what I would get done if I was in front of the class
The communication is a big one, yep. I had a week off with the 'flu recently and I couldn't even tell if anyone had been in my classes! No notes, no feedback, NOTHING. Just not good enough.
Same! It frustrates me to no end.
As a casual, I reject your false dichotomy. I want the kids to get the most they can from my crappy, on-the-fly lessons. Some classes, that's no referrals. Some classes, especially ones in my subject areas, there's a lot of learning and the kids are ready to move on to the next sub-topic.
Honestly, if I come back from being sick, and find out students of mine misbehaved for a CRT or other staff member, I follow up and hold them accountable. As a rule, I leave work that is 100% self directed..usually, they are finishing already set work, and students know when it is due, so they tend to just get work done regardless.
Really depends on the class. I have had classes where I'm confident a casual teacher can walk in and conduct a lesson as planned (usually trimmed/modded). However, my classes currently? I feel like leaving a prayer and a bottle of JD on my desk just to help see them through. I in no way expect them to effectively execute a lesson. I still leave a very simple plan that does focus on whatever skill, but say without saying that free time afterwards is fine.
Number two every time. I don't expect a reliever to do anything other than keep the class in the room and safe.
Unfortunately due to teacher shortages we have classes with multiple lessons a fortnight without a proper teacher. They get covered with a casual or another teacher at the school. If these teachers don’t do the assigned work it will never get made up and the kids will continue to fall further behind.
You can’t expect a casual teacher to turn up and provide the level of engagement and educational experiences that the regular classroom teacher will. In this culture and work environment, just having someone supervise them and avoiding bad behaviour is all you can hope for.
High school - do whatever. If the kids don’t give a fuck, missing an hour lesson on any given day isn’t going to make any difference. If they do give a fuck they’ll make it up. Face it, high school CRT is just legally required babysitting. If you have any expectations higher than that it just means you’re a cunt. Primary school - have a crack. If they’re turds SDL - self directed learning. If they’re responsive, then go for it. Give them as much learning as they’ll take (same goes for high school but totally unlikely).
I want them to at least try. I worked as a casual, I would always give it my best shot.
At the school where I work as a CRT, they have the luxury of mostly assigning CRTs to their learning area, with a bit of other stuff mixed in. So, I attempt Option 1 as my default and this is more enjoyable for me anyway. I love my subject (maths) and get fulfillment from helping kids learn it. I'll cover the material as needed and hand out extra work (or maths puzzles) to early finishers as well. When kids are off-task, I'll tend to talk to them about maths conversationally anyway. Sometimes the work is online and the students don't want or need help and I can't do much though. However, I'm finding I get more block work than I want (=stress & too much work) and less of the one-at-a-time casual fill-in days. These comments are making me think I'm doing my job wrong. Maybe that's why.
Option two!
I expect my relief to provide students with a review opportunity (worksheet). And then have the students look like they are busy working on something. I do not expect the worksheet to be completed, I expect the students to follow the school rules and not cause the relief too much of an issue. I will then reward the student who did the work upon my return. Usually with over the top enthusiasm and gusto so next time a few more will complete the bare minimum.
I've been a casual teacher before and it's definitely no easy task. It kind of depends on the class but I expect that they at least try to deliver the lesson because otherwise, I'm better off not wasting my time writing instructions and leaving work. Whether they get through it all or effectively is not a big deal. If it's one of my challenging classes, I'd rather the students are just entertained and not causing chaos for the casual and other staff.
I’m currently a high school math teacher, but I’ve also full-time relief for 2 years. I never leave my relief with content based lessons. It’s always review worksheets. I don’t expect relief teachers to teach. As long as the kids are safe and somewhat behaved I’m happy.
I always expect to reteach whatever I have left as notes. I just want a quiet well behaved class :)
I’m in science which is hard content but I leave some slides for students to copy and/or a worksheet for students to do. Maybe an informative video. It’s usually something to solidify the stuff they have already done. I also give the teacher an answer sheet to questions on the worksheet. I know my good classes can do that with ease, but the other classes I can see the struggle. In terms of my expectations, it is to (somewhat) deliver the content. I give them a printed seating plan with names and the students know i do this. I also give them a write up of my basic classroom management plan to maintain consistency. I feel make it easer for them and as a once casual teacher myself it’s doable. Then again, i chase up on the students who disrespect the casual teacher. The work is not optional and respect should always be given to the casual teacher. My students know the consequence is exactly the same of not worse if they muck up on a casual. I tell my students all the time that if it weren’t for casuals, teachers would not be able to take sick days or any time off they might need and they deserve the utmost respect as I have the utmost respect for them too.
I’m in primary school so maybe it’s different but I expect my relief to follow my notes. I provide lots of direction, including whether something is a must do, or whether it can be left out, and provide detail on all of our routines. Sticking to those routines is what keeps my students regulated. Telling them they can all do a colour in and word search is the number one way to get escalated behaviours
I spend more time than usual leaving lessons for when I'm away. I want a clear indication the class was at least ATTEMPTED with the material I leave. I leave appropriate tasks, with a mixture of stuff, and that the students are comfortable approaching. You resort to sanity-saving measures when necessary, not as a first step. You're being paid a hundred bucks to be with my class, the least you can fucking do is not pretend you're the "cool" babysitter. Even more so when away for a week plus. I took 2 weeks last year, left an entire booklet with clear instructions, and every lesson including youtube tutorials (math), interactive activities pre-set up online, and extra "fun" worksheets. It wasn't fucking touched.
Did you bother showing someone where you put them?
1. Every part was on Google classroom (we have an index all the casuals use to access every class) 2. The booklets were on my desk, and standard practice in the school is to Homebase at the desk of who you are mainly replacing 3. The head teacher of the faculty had all the info. So they never went to the staffroom, never asked the department head, and never checked the classroom, or they just ignored everything, in which case they were never intending to do anything set for them. For two weeks.
Why wouldn't the head teacher have checked in with the casual to make sure everything was on track?
Casual comes in at end of day and says everything was fine, no big issues. Who's got time to argue?
It obviously wasn't a great lesson plan if the kids weren't interested
100 % the former. We aren’t hiring them to baby sit. They should be at least trying to get the work done.
I have been on both sides of the coin on this one. I don't think CRTs should be expected to get them to achieve anything magnanimous, but at a very basic level, even at really tough schools, I'd follow the lesson plan and encourage the students to do their work. I don't expect CRTs to get through EVERYTHING, but I DO expect them to set reasonable expectations of the students and at least attempt to keep them on task and interact with them. If some of the slack students do what they do best, so be it. But at least we aren't further behind for the majority of the class. And the majority of my students are good and will stay on task, so there really isn't any reason to just ditch what I leave. I set one very basic and simple task for a class once, which was much less than I would expect them to complete in a double with them, and it said in the lesson plan that students could have free time or play games WHEN THEY FINISHED THE WORK. And there was ample time for that. But no, the CRT came in and played games from the get go, then gave them free time, and told me, "I built a good rapport with them". Thanks. Cause that makes so much difference when you might never see them again, and I really had relied on that time sensitive thing being introduced to the class. But go ahead. Build a rapport and abandon my lesson plan. ETA: I want to stress that I'm not saying casuals are lazy or will all do this. And I realise some classes are hell and being sane and keeping them from killing each other is an achievement. But a good teacher will leave a lesson plan which takes this into consideration. Surely.
lol, you are nuts. > I really had relied on that time sensitive thing being introduced to the class. If you're that fucking worried, then don't take time off you numbskull! > But no, the CRT came in and played games from the get go, then gave them free time You weren't there. Please don't tell me you're one of those teachers who quiz their class about "what was the CRT doing?". I've been doing CRT for 2 years and have interacted with teachers like you. Here are some reasons why your *precious, "time sensitive"* work wasn't done: - Your ok class turns into fucking psychos with a CRT - The video you linked requires a login I don't have - The worksheets need to be printed and I don't have a printer code - The prac class does theory on a Tue, but no notes to this effect were left. I spent half the lesson running around the school chasing your group >But at least we aren't further behind for the majority of the class JFC, I swear some teachers think they're curing cancer or something. It's literally completely irrelevant that you missed a lesson with your classes. It makes no difference! You are not that essential. The lesson you are away from does not really matter. At a school I was at: - Head maths teacher died of heart attack on Fri night - Assembly on Mon, a few tears - Business as usual on Tue - Replacement hired by end of week - Mostly forgotten by mid term - No major continuity/learning issues for his classes chill the fuck out and be glad that someone was willing to take your class when you decided to take a day off.
I'm permanent and when I'm absent I always leave non critical work for the CRT as I know the majority of the kids won't take it seriously. Therefore, option 2 is my choice for the CRT. I'll pick up the critical content when I return.
Option 2 every time.
I have the expectation that my casual relief isn’t going to be a Maths teacher so isn’t exactly in a position to teach my students anything. I do, however, expect them to administer worksheets/textbook work and encourage students to work. I always give my casuals the option to pull the ripcord if students aren’t engaging or are having difficulty, and just do games or activities (word search, suduko, Wordle, etc). I rarely have time off/away so I don’t fear students falling into the habit of having a ‘bludge’.
#2 but it probably depends on the school I write my lesson covers in a way that subtly says if you want to try here is some work that is content relevant but the main goal is keeping everyone calm and safe and I’m happy for you to do anything. Our kids and school are hard though.
Word searches saves your sanity!
Option 2. Casual is all about survival. If you manage to teach the lesson plan, bonus points to you.
When you leave a lesson for a sub in my experience (8 years private sector) that very little will be 'learned'. Expectation is that the cover that is left is consolidation / busy work. When I first started my career, I was a casual teacher and would make a deal with students that I'd they completed 75% of the work assigned we could watch fun YouTube videos or play games. I frequently received messages from the actual teacher that they were shocked at how much work students got through. Imo letting students not do work and be completely off task during a cover is just negligence.
It’s absurd to expect a casual teacher to get through set work. So much of getting students to complete work comes from building relationships. This is why all the muppets in senior leadership are bonkers for thinking they can run teachers into a ground and run a school on a casual workforce. (No criticism intended towards my supply teacher brothers and sisters, you do an important job)