chaos when the teacher's away

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Home : 2004 : January : 17

chaos when the teacher's away
By Sharon

I agree with the last post when it comes to the sub. I sub in Florida, in neighborhoods I don't even want to drive past. I don't know about the subs in New York, but in Florida we are not trained at all. I got hired on
the spot, given an orientation, and then thrown into the classroom the next day. We'd do almost anything to get some training in classroom management, discipline techniques, etc, but the truth is, everything a sub tries to implement depends on other people. We have no authority because we are not supported by neighboring teachers, administrators, security, or anyone else in the school

system and the kids know it. We can send students out of class, but only if another teacher is willing to take them on and assist the sub. We can assign a detention, but what good does it do, when we can't enforce it, making sure the kids show up? I've had long term assignments, told I'd be teaching English (my specialty), only to find out it's actually science, my worst subject, so I can do nothing to really help the kids except read the text book--IF THERE IS ONE. Here, text books are a luxury only the rich can afford. In our inner-city schools, we must do without, relying on copy machines that are always jammed. I've been in situations where the teacher had been out for ten days and the class went through ten subs, one which walked out in the middle of the day!!