A Glimpse Into the Sub Life

First, I need to admit that I have always regarded subs with disdain, the amount varying depending on the individual. I've always looked down on them... despite my 5'0 height.

As a teacher, I watched a regular sub, an elderly gentleman, shuffle into the classroom as the bell rang, scowling at the kids as he made his way toward the desk. He took a seat behind the teacher's desk... and never left. He barked orders at them after he quickly skimmed the lesson, and then he nodded off during most of the afternoon classes, his eyes closed, his head hanging low, his hands resting on his enormous stomach. This one received a major amount of disdain.

I've watched a young sub try way too hard to be the "cool" teacher, kicking up his heels and just shooting the breeze with the kids for most of the class period, the content of some of the conversations questionable at best. I listened to the teacher complain in the lounge the next day that few of his kids had their assignment done for class... I wasn't surprised.

With disgust, I listened to one middle-aged man scoff at all teachers dumb enough to take on a full-time teaching gig. He told me the amount of pay for the amount of work was ridiculous (as if I needed to be informed of this), and he was more than happy putting his teaching degree to work by subbing at different schools throughout the week. It's definitely a blessing this one didn't end up in the classroom. He clearly missed the big picture when he decided to become a teacher..

Anyway, my pride has definitely been checked as I introduce myself and explain that I'm subbing for the year. I already feel that there's a stain of incompetence because why else would anyone be a sub besides the fact that they couldn't cut it doing the real thing? To say the least, I've felt the need to prove that I'm not just any old sub.

However, I have found this to be harder than I expected. After my first two subbing gigs, there's one word that comes to mind. Boring. I can't blame the teachers though. I did the same thing on days I had a sub in the classroom. Any  actual teaching was postponed until I was back, and I assigned a lot of filler.

MRS. FERRITER, THE SUB
My first day in a rural middle school consisted of THREE HOURS OF SILENT READING. Whoofta! Then I monitored two class periods of math in which students spent the entire class period on a computer program. This evoked memories of my college math classes... times I'd prefer to forget.

My first day in a private high school included senior and junior English classes, including Advanced Placement classes. I was stoked! I showed up early to get familiar with the lesson plans, and my spirit was slightly dampened when I was directed to the library where I would be teaching all of my classes for the day. I felt a small pit begin to form in my stomach when I realized I had no computer or whiteboard (or even blackboard) to use. I felt positively sick to my stomach when I read the senior AP English lesson and it read as the following: "Open the orange textbook to page 272. Review main idea p.272-274. Have students complete response #2 on page 275." To say the least, it was a long day. I did my best to spice up the lessons... or lack of them... but with five different lessons to teach throughout the day, time was limited.

My experience so far as a substitute teacher has me wondering what a normal day in the classroom looks like for these students. These lessons weren't engaging or challenging or thought provoking. They were boring. The kids deserve better. In this age of technology and with so many resources at our fingertips, we shouldn't be confined to textbooks published in the 1980s... and reading about main idea on page 272 and answering question #2.