Just a Sub

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Home : 2001 : October : 7

Just a Sub
By Erika

Yup... I feel like that all the time. I graduated with a BFA just last May, and am currently taking a single class at SHSU in Texas. When people ask... "Oh what do you do?" I tell them I sub. They get that look in their
eye... as if I don't have a "real job". I usually average 4 to 5 days a week which isn't bad considering I only work at one school that has only about 40 people that I can sub for.
I can tell you this, there are quiet a few teahcers who have no idea what it is like for a substitute teacher. To have maybe ten minutes in the morning to figure out an entire schedule for the next 7 hours.

To find out that all the worksheets that she copied for you yesterday are in the LOCKED filing cabinet beside her desk that only she has the one key to.

Teachers forget that subs are not in that classroom every single day and they do not know how to do "calendar"; After all Ms Smith sings songs with her kids while Mrs. Johnson doesn't do calendar at all. The sub doesn't know that Tommy is a very special child and isn't expected to do the same work because they aren't privy to that information. And they don't know that little Suzy hasn't grown into her bladder yet and that is why she asks to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes, Or that Patrick is prone to nose bleeds at the drop of a hat. They forget that this information is not found in the lesson plans left for subs, and we certainly are not mind readers.

But know this: A sub is NEVER just a sub. We are the lucky ones. While most teachers know and love their 20 students, We get to meet and love hundreds of students.