You Give Subs A Bad Name
When I awoke Tuesday morning I had a cool, 98.7 degrees temp, so I decided to suck it up and go into work.
And it was a good thing that I did.
Things, as expected, have been nonstop. Luckily, besides a few coughing fits here and there (and the mysterious test results I'm STILL waiting on), the return ran rather smoothly. In fact, the most disturbing thing about coming back was the lack of feedback I came back to.
Let me just say that the guy who filled in for me is a building sub or in other words, he is in our building constantly. Just last week he had my kids for art and they were terrible. So terrible, that I made them all write letters of apology to him. (Foreshadowing tells me if nothing else, my kids will be EXCELLENT letter writers by the end of the year.)
You know the expression "never say never?" Well I have one that fits even better: "live and learn". What I have learned is that you CAN say never, and I'm about to. I will never have my children apologize to this man for lack of respect again.
Why?
Well, the answer to that one is simple. The man did NADA. Not only did he have an easy day, he took an easy day and made it even easier on himself by doing nothing. I left him substitute plans that were general to the room and specific to the day. Nothing was followed. There was NO note about how they were, good or bad either. Oh and my desk? A mess. As I was cleaning it up, I even found an email address to someone over at MTV's hiring department. One can only help MTV will do the honorable thing and take him off our hands.
To review, he took them on a trip part of the day and had them in the room for another presentation the other part of the day. Can you imagine what would have happened if there was actual teaching involved?
But forget for a minute that I had to clean up another person's mess when I have more than enough on my plate. Also forget that I spent extra time making sure all my lesson plans and daily procedures were coherent, despite my achy, breaky self. What irks me the most is that this man is guaranteed to come back, maybe even tomorrow.
Not so long ago I was a substitute teacher. I know the mischievous wink the kids get in their eye when they see they have a sub. I know the looks of "oh this person is below me because they get paid per diem" from some staff. I also know the societal misconceptions that substituting is an easy job. But here's a secret; when it's done right, it's really not.
And so, in summation, despite what The Osmonds told you, one bad apple really DOES spoil the whole bunch.
And it was a good thing that I did.
Things, as expected, have been nonstop. Luckily, besides a few coughing fits here and there (and the mysterious test results I'm STILL waiting on), the return ran rather smoothly. In fact, the most disturbing thing about coming back was the lack of feedback I came back to.
Let me just say that the guy who filled in for me is a building sub or in other words, he is in our building constantly. Just last week he had my kids for art and they were terrible. So terrible, that I made them all write letters of apology to him. (Foreshadowing tells me if nothing else, my kids will be EXCELLENT letter writers by the end of the year.)
You know the expression "never say never?" Well I have one that fits even better: "live and learn". What I have learned is that you CAN say never, and I'm about to. I will never have my children apologize to this man for lack of respect again.
Why?
Well, the answer to that one is simple. The man did NADA. Not only did he have an easy day, he took an easy day and made it even easier on himself by doing nothing. I left him substitute plans that were general to the room and specific to the day. Nothing was followed. There was NO note about how they were, good or bad either. Oh and my desk? A mess. As I was cleaning it up, I even found an email address to someone over at MTV's hiring department. One can only help MTV will do the honorable thing and take him off our hands.
To review, he took them on a trip part of the day and had them in the room for another presentation the other part of the day. Can you imagine what would have happened if there was actual teaching involved?
But forget for a minute that I had to clean up another person's mess when I have more than enough on my plate. Also forget that I spent extra time making sure all my lesson plans and daily procedures were coherent, despite my achy, breaky self. What irks me the most is that this man is guaranteed to come back, maybe even tomorrow.
Not so long ago I was a substitute teacher. I know the mischievous wink the kids get in their eye when they see they have a sub. I know the looks of "oh this person is below me because they get paid per diem" from some staff. I also know the societal misconceptions that substituting is an easy job. But here's a secret; when it's done right, it's really not.
And so, in summation, despite what The Osmonds told you, one bad apple really DOES spoil the whole bunch.
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