I've now subbed in a wide variety of classroom settings (about a dozen times last May and 22 times so far this fall!). It's been mostly history and social science, but I've also been in Genetics/Anatomy & Physiology, Biomedical Science, English, Prealgebra, and Honors Algebra II/Trigonometry. I've learned a lot from this additional time in the classroom. For instance: as a sub, I now know that seating charts are even more valuable than I had thought. I liked them as a student teacher because it helped me correct and avoid problems caused by student proximity, but as a substitute I can see that it has an even wider impact. The classes with assigned seats are, as a whole, much better behaved. It's much easier to take attendance and the students know that you know who they are. I can be more involved in the class because I can learn names more quickly and I can call on students by name. One particular student last week was rather surprised when I told her to put her purse on the floor...she asked how I knew her name and I simply smiled and said "I'm a professional." Ha!
It's funny how much you can learn about classroom management from a teacher who isn't even there.
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