When I was a student in primary/middle and high school, I was dealing with a lot of family problems in addition to my mental health issues. I didn't always want to participate. However, I had some really good teachers who reached out to me and got to know me. They worked with me to overcome some issues and accommodate others. Now I use those same techniques with my students and most of the time it works. When I can't get the student to partake in class, I reach out to other teachers and guidance counselors to help me figure out what needs to be done to help the student do better in my class

Last year as a sub in my 8th grade classes, I had issues with students using their phones during class time. I instructed the class in the beginning of the semester that phones must be kept in their backpacks at all times. I let them know if the policy wasn't followed I would collect each phone and place it in a phone box I bought and left on my desk. If a student did't listen and I found them using their phone during class time then I collected everyone's phone. It only occurred a few times in the beginning because the other student's made sure to remind their classmates of the matter. The classmates began to monitor each other for me

I became a substitute teacher at the height of Covid-19. I was hired as the permanent sub teacher for an out-going 8th grade environmental studies teacher. Each one of my classes was held on-line through Google meet. I had to learn the entire curriculum that was going to be taught and figure out how to teach it online to a group of mostly uninterested students. A seasoned science teacher in the district helped me find lessons on BrainPop, Kahoot, Achieve 3000, and others such as these to include into the lesson plan to teach a specific subject matter. We developed a plan for the student's lab section that included the students walking through their neighborhood picking up trash, like soda bottles, and then we discussed the next day online about how long it would take for such items to disinergrate or not, and maybe how you could recycle the item to be used in a different matter (milk container as a plant pot). This type of teaching was new to all the teachers, it was never attempted before.

This is what my mom calls "book smart with no common sense." Just because you have the ability to learn something and excel at it, doesn't mean you will actually be good at your job. Some teachers don't have the ability to connect with their students. In my observation as a sub teacher over the past 3 years, these teachers normally become the directors of curriculum in their districts because its what they are better at.