SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS:THE CHALLENGE

COPYRIGHT NELLIE JACOBS, 2005

Nellie Jacobs
Author. Speaker. Consultant.
www.gradingtheteacher.com
www.nelliejacobs.com

"In spite of what many students think, they can make a difference. They can teach teachers. ..." Nellie Jacobs, Grading the Teacher

When my wise, nine year old neighbour Amy came home with a list of complaints about her Grade Four long-term substitute teacher, her parents listened and asked her if she wanted them to speak with the principal. “No,” she said, “I want to do this myself.” She was concerned their interference would have a negative impact on her and her classmates. Rather, she chose to role play with her family different approaches. When she was comfortable with her script, Amy made an appointment with the teacher. She told her the impact of the teacher’s behaviour and words and asked the teacher to approach her class differently. The teacher listened and followed Amy’s advice with successful results.

When it comes to supply teachers, often students are not as solution-oriented or patient as Amy. Especially when they work as a group to cause chaos, students can be exceptionally challenging for substitute teachers. Elizabeth Huggins describes a prank her high school classmates played on one they didn’t care for. The incident had a profound effect on the poor supply teacher:

“Our substitute Grade 10 French teacher was a nervous, jittery type so we were always trying to put him over the edge. Scott who was always in the midst of the action tried to make the teacher ask him questions by talking or staring out the window not paying attention to class. This escalated until one morning after a huge snowfall we decided to do the teacher in. Before school started a bunch of us piled snow as high as we could under the first floor French class window and proceeded to French class for second period. Half way into the class, Scott did his talking bit and staring out the window bit and the teacher started asking him questions. Finally, Scott stood up and said "You are always picking on me and I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" With that he went to the windowsill, jumped on it and jumped out the window. On cue we all rushed to the window and starting shrieking so the teacher couldn't see Scott's landing.

As the teacher ran out of the classroom to get the Principal, Scott ran into the school brushed all of the snow off and returned to his seat. When the teacher and the Principal returned we were all in our seats just like angels and when asked, we said "what are you talking about?"

The teacher resigned that day.”

Everybody has a substitute teacher story to tell. What is yours? Click on the "Post a Comment" button below. If you prefer to communicate with me directly, e-mail nellie@nelliejacobs.com with "Class Action" in the subject line.

-Nellie