an adventure in substitute teaching

Substitute teaching can be a rewarding experience or it can be one that can cause you a lot of trials. I for one have had very few bad experiences as a substitute to really complain. Today, I subbed for a wonderful 3rd grade class- one in which the teacher has taught the students how to behave and a positive work ethic. There have been some classes that the students have acted like they have never seen an adult before in their lives. At lot of this has to do with how the teacher treats the students.


At the beginning of the school year if she or he starts out wanting to be their friend and letting them have fun then of course they are not going to behave. What is expected from the beginning will linger on through out the year. I find that if you set the tone at the beginning of the year or class period- that determines what king of school year or class period that the children will have be it good or bad.


I sub for an elementary school Grades k-5 and I have been doing it now for 5 years. Before I started I was a very active volunteer. I have subbed for every grade level including art, music, P.E., and E.C. (exceptional children) & resource. I have never said that I will not teach in a class again until this year.

I subbed this for a 1/2 day from 7:45am to 11:30 am for teacher. That class was beyond unbelievable. I knew some of the students from past years and I asked them are they (meaning the children) like this when the teacher is there. They said yes- I said how does she teach. Their reply was she doesn't.


I know all the teachers in this particular grade level- in fact I am very good friends with 3 of them, so I know that this was not grade level expected behavior. The students in this class are good kids really but they were taught this behavior was okay from the beginning of the year. They knew there was no consequences for their actions thus their behavior continued. They knew that they could get away with things and just like any red blooded kid they of course were going to see how far they could push it.

It is up to the adult to accept the responsibility of putting rule/ guidelines in place for the students so they can all work up to their full potential. I will probably not go back to this class to teach this year but I will not let one class stop me from doing what I love to do and that is helping to shape the future of our world.

Until the next call