They Call Me Mr. Ummmm

by Bill Buxton

A bit irreverent yet, kind and truthful, this book is for substitutes, teachers, and administrators. It describes the work-life of an experienced substitute teacher through the lenses of "best practices." It begins with the need for education: Axiom (1) "Teaching is a prerequisite for human evolution" to Axiom (11) "Do not take anything personally", even when the students say you are "the best sub they ever had." For grades K-12, this book helps with classroom management techniques to keeping track of multiple assignments. All you need is a tolerance for ambiguity (everyday is different), a healthy lunch, and perhaps ear plugs for rainy day recesses. Author: Bill Buxton (MA, MBA, TESOL) has been a "mostly friendly" substitute for about five years for grades four through twelve in various socioeconomic districts. He believes the primary goal of a substitute teacher is to support the professional teacher by following the sub plans, with some discretion, of course.

82 pages, Paperback

Published March 20, 2019

About the author

Trained as a musician, Bill Buxton began using computers over thirty years ago in his art. This early experience, both in the studio and on stage, helped develop a deep appreciation of both the positive and negative aspects of technology and its impact. This increasingly drew him into both design and research, with a very strong emphasis on interaction and the human aspects of technology. He first came to prominence for his work at the University of Toronto on digital musical instruments and the novel interfaces that they employed. This work in the late 70s gained the attention of Xerox PARC, where Buxton participated in pioneering research in collaborative work, interaction techniques and ubiquitous computing. He then went on to become Chief Scientist of SGI and Alias|Wavefront, where he had the opportunity to work with some of the top filmmakers and industrial designers in the world. He is now principal researcher at Microsoft Corp., where he splits his time between research and helping make design a fundamental pillar of the corporate culture.