Mansplaining to a Sub

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mansplaining

The tendency of some men to mistakenly believe that they automatically know more about any given topic than does a woman and who, consequently, proceed to explain to her- correctly or not- things that she already knows.

Woman A: When he started mansplaining to me what it really meant to be a woman in the 21st century, I got up and left.

In a recent discussion on Facebook, there were a lot of comments about mansplaining - where men would explain something technical to a woman who was an expert in the area, even in spite of knowing that she was an expert.  I mentioned that this seems to me to be a more specific example of what I might call "downsplaining" - explaining to someone who may or may not be an expert in the area something that the explainer feels he or she should also be an expert in, just to demonstrate his or her expertise.  This post is a musing on that idea and is still a "thought in progress". 

Some examples:  when I am subbing, I often get called for jobs for either a half day or for days where the teacher is in the building, but is working on something else, usually joint planning with other staff members.  In this case, the teacher is often there to go over the day with me and to make sure I understand the plans.  In these cases, I am often subjected to "downsplaining", explaining in great detail even minor points about the lesson plans.  One time, a teacher took 5 minutes to tell me how to give a spelling test.  Another time, a teacher took 10 minutes to tell me how to teach an Everyday Math lesson.  I told her that I had been trained specifically in Everyday Math, but she continued to explain the entire lesson anyway.

The fact is, this happens over and over again and it puzzled me why they should feel the need to do this.  I am older, I am a certified teacher (as are all subs in this district), and I feel as though I do not present myself as lacking confidence or needing assurance.  So I looked for other explanations and it seems that mansplaining, if generalized, fills the bill.

Many teachers feel, rightly, that their classrooms are their area of expertise.  When a sub comes in to take over, there are several things that they are thinking of.  One of them is whether the sub can handle the class.  When the teacher thinks of handling the class, though, they are thinking of things that cause them the biggest challenges.  Sometimes these things are new curricula, sometimes planning lessons for areas that are not their strengths, sometimes they are dealing with challenging kids.  They feel that they need to explain over and over again the things that are their own challenges with the class(es).  Even when I assure them that I have a good background in science, they feel the need to explain the science lesson (that is mostly just reading), because THEY are a bit unsure about science. 

But dealing with lesson plans is seldom the biggest worry for me as a sub.  I have subbed and taught for many years.  Giving a spelling test, trust me, is not a difficult proposition, even if the teacher happens to use a different format than standard. 

Oftentimes they are correct about dealing with challenging kids, and I appreciate the hints they give me there.  But, interestingly the things they emphasize are often the things I least need help on.  What I would like to know is who can I call if I need help.  How do I get that person to come to the classroom if I need him/her? 

And, since the teacher him/herself does not worry about special classes (the kids just go when they are supposed to), s/he doesn't list all of the special classes, their times and their durations, and the students who go to them.  If "Joey" just walks out of the room at 10:25, it is no big deal to her, but it is a worry for the sub.

So, I think, actually, mansplaining is a subset of downsplaining, where the person doing the 'splaining assumes that he or she knows more about the subject at hand and needs to explain it in excruciating detail, both to show that he or she is an expert, but also to assert dominance.  The interesting thing to me is that they things they choose to 'splain are often precisely the things that they are a bit shaky on.  Things about which they are confident frequently don't get explained.

And, as an aside, I tried to start a discussion about this topic on the Substitute Teacher Network on LinkedIn, but the owner of the group said that it was "too political" and refused to post it.  I feel censored and may have to quit the group.  He has censored a post of mine before and I agreed to withdraw that one, but now I am feeling that maybe that group isn't right for me.  Too bad, it was giving me some good information. 

A Teacher Treated Me, the Sub, Well

So often, if I have a partial day subbing job and the teacher is there when I arrive, I will get an extensive treatise on how to use the teacher manual for Everyday Math or the teacher will read the directions on a worksheet to me, as if I have never seen a worksheet before.  It is interesting to me that the teacher feels the need to explain the teaching part of the assignment, when what I really need is the management part of the assignment:  where are the class lists, what is the restroom procedure, do I need to accompany the students to their lunch recess, which door do I go to to pick them up from lunch, which kids leave for special services and when, etc.  If they stop to catch a breath or ask me if I understand what to do, I will often ask this kind of question and I get a surprised look, as if I am concerned about trivia and I should be much more concerned about content.  I guess I am concerned about trivia and less concerned about content.  The content comes easy to me, but the management issues differ greatly from room to room and school to school. And management issues are one of the things that kids find most unsettling, a la, "We don't do things that way." 

I am seldom treated as a real person with interests and abilities.  Oh, sure, most of the teachers are completely polite and grateful that I am there to take over for them, but I could just as easily be anyone - just as long as I take the class and make it through the rest of the day with their students.

So, it was really refreshing the other day when the teacher I was subbing for actually was friendly to ME.  She talked to me as if I had interesting things to contribute to her class and she even built in a couple of times in the schedule where I could add my own background to what her students had been studying.  Sure, she asked the usual questions about whether I understood the plans for the rest of the day, but it was obvious that she respected ME not just as a place holder, but as a person.  It was very refreshing.

And, given her positive attitude, which the kids also heard her express, they also had a positive attitude toward me.  It ended up being a very good day. 

Even I Get Tired of My Complaints

I was subbing the other day in a technology class and, since the regular teacher hadn't sent in lesson plans, his friend, the librarian, was explaining what the kids were supposed to do. That much is fine, but why did I detect a note of "this is probably too hard for you to understand or do much about" in his explanation? True, I am older and probably don't look all that technology literate, but why is that an assumption? I actually have a master's degree in computer science. True, it is a bit outdated, but I have learned things in the meantime. And the teachers who stopped by to pick up printouts also seemed to have that look on their faces, that "Gee, I am surprised YOU are in this job" look.

When I sub for teachers who are actually there and who explain the day to me, I also sometimes get that look. And, even sometimes from other teachers who stop by to help. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY HAPPY when the teachers nearby offer to help (or even just introduce themselves and make me feel welcome), but I am often surprised what they offer to help with. The things that I often need are class lists (why, oh why, do elementary teachers usually forget to leave a spare class list and, if they switch classes for a certain subject, a class list for the other class as well), schedules, a map of the school, directions on where to pick up the kids after they go to lunch and recess, where the copier is in case I have to make emergency copies. Instead, what I often get is questions about whether I can handle the curriculum for the day. That isn't, by the way, usually the hardest part of the day.

Which brings me to another question: why do teachers often give busywork (a puzzle worksheet, a movie with note-taking) to a sub? The students recognize that it isn't part of what they would normally be doing. It is actually harder to get them to do work that is "easier". They recognize that it isn't important and that the regular teacher will probably just throw out any papers they do while the sub is there. What regular teachers would consider an "easy day" has frequently actually been harder for me. The only conclusion I can come to is that the regular teachers don't have much confidence in the abilities of subs. Perhaps this is justified. But in many cases it is not. I have talked to a lot of subs over the course of my years subbing and many are retired teachers, others are people new to the area, trying to get a foothold in the school district. They usually take only jobs for which they are qualified.

Perhaps the reason the regular teachers are less confident in subs is that subs DO mess up at times. Part of the problem is dealing with normal classroom routines, which the teachers often don't explain - How are requests to go to the bathroom handled? Are kids allowed to go to the library during independent reading? What do you do when the kids don't have any pencils? How do you switch the overhead projector from the document camera to the laptop?

There are lots of things that the teachers assume the subs will know or that the kids will tell them. But often the kids will tell the subs the wrong things - yes, we are allowed to wear hats in class; yes, we can chew gum; the teacher always lets us do X... And, in a few classes, where bossy kids have been designated as "helpers", I have gotten so annoyed at the "help" that I had to ask the student to stop helping me - you have to push this button to get the overhead to work; no, it must be this button; well, maybe this has to be unplugged and plugged in over here; no, maybe that was OK, but this needs to be turned on (and by that time, the whole set up is hopelessly messed up). There are times when I just want to say, "I CAN read the teacher's directions by myself." But, of course, there are also times when the teacher assumes that all subs can work their particular kinds of equipment. Guess what, subs are never trained on using the equipment - and different kinds of equipment are set up differently, are activated differently, and fail differently.

Yes, the curriculum is usually the least of my worries. But I think that probably, for the regular teachers, it is the MOST of THEIR worries, so they assume that it will be the biggest worry for the sub as well. Regular teachers are used to their equipment, their routines, their school procedures, and they don't have to be aware of them - they just ARE. Delivering the curriculum is their focus.

That, and the behavior of the students. I usually DO get warnings about the problem students.