Wait a minute!

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Home : 2002 : October : 29

Wait a minute!
By Patricia

When you say "some of you" do you mean subs? Are you referring to people who choose to sub that are NOT licensed teachers? Or perhaps licensed teachers that choose to sub? Or licensed teachers that are forced into subbing
while waiting to get their own classrooms? I was "forced" to sub while waiting for a classroom and HATED IT! The students were wonderful but the teachers! Maybe you don't realize you are offending a sub. Let me give you some examples of the comments I had to endure! I am a licensed teacher that subbed for two years. When ever I dared to venture into the teachers lounge any efforts

I made to join a conversation were ignored UNTIL I MADE IT CLEAR that I was a licensed teacher then the attitudes changed! Some still didn't acknowledge me which of course was their problem. The untenured were the worst because I was competition for jobs. I stopped wearing my teacher clothes because I got tired of the comments, from teachers, about why I was wearing them since I was just a sub (they also knew I was a licensed teacher). After all only REAL teachers wear teacher made clothing! I really appreciated each and every time I would walk past a teacher who would ask, "Who are we today?" Perhaps it was a harmless question but it carried a powerful sting! Salt on the open wound I carried around in those days. Or how about, "Someday you will be a real teacher." I already was and I'm sure that is another problem altogether! Until you walk in someones shoes you can never understand why they feel the way they do. What she goes through causes her to be angry and resentful and I can understand that and so can some of the other teachers. Perhaps Heather is posting in the wrong place and TEACHERS resent that and they attack her! I'm sure Heather that if you go to the substitute board then you will get sympathy instead of attacked! The attacks here are a small sample of what she has had to put up with! And I can understand her attutude toward teachers because as a whole teachers do tend to hold themselves above the rest. I guess it comes with being educated more than most subs, at least where I am the majority of subs are high school graduates and I know of one who is on probation for drug use and theft! Not many licensed teachers will sub here because of the way they are treated! They are not given the respect they deserve when they earned their teaching license! They are nobody until they have their own classroom. Oh well! Such is life and I refuse to be bothered by the little things but I really do think you should be more supportive of the subs that post here instead of attacking them. Maybe you feel they stepped out of their place? And as for teachers being too busy to "pick" on a sub? What planet do you work on! People that thrive on putting others down will always find the time! It only takes walking past a person and how you treat that person in those few seconds that can either lift that person up and make them feel great about what they are doing or make them want to crawl under the tile. If this is a sample of how you treat someone who is in great need of Venting then I hate to think how you all treat people you are in daily contact with! Of course there are those who live life with blinders on! Which are you?