So I was out just this morning because I had some stomach issues, and I came in later for my planning and department chair duties. The sub I had from the morning ran into me later in the afternoon and apparently my 10th graders were being real jerks. I have little figurines on my desk. One of them is a skeletor from He-man that I found somewhere at school one day. Another is a polar bear that poos jelly beans that a kid gave me one year. So I went into my classroom this afternoon and someone had stuck Skeletor's head in the polar bear's behind. Ok, so this is funny now, but I was really mad. :lol: But what REALLY made me mad is that the sub said the kids kept getting my pencils out and taking handfuls of them and sharpening them down to nothing. Then I realized they weren't the regular pencils, but the special pencils I keep for homeworkopoly and other prizes, I got ANGRY. At both the kids and the sub for not doing anything about it. They had a bad report last week when I was out, as well. So, tomorrow I am telling them: First, they destroyed most of my prize stash for homeworkopoly so we are done with that. I already took all their names off and threw them in the trash. Secondly, next time I am out, if their name is written down for any reason by the sub, its an automatic detention. Sooo annoyed.
I have a worse story about when I was out recently. I will keep my story short and just say that the sub spent the day texting on her cell phone and telling my students to "shut up". Blech! She wondered why they were acting up.
Ooh, I would be very annoyed. With the sub and the kids! Did the sub not even think to hold on to the pencils? It's not like they were Ticonderogas or something!! You were right to remove their privileges of homeworkopoly. Don't back down.
Sorry Silverspoons! Boy that sounds like elementary school. It will be interesting to hear their side of the story. Keep us posted.
Our grade 8 teacher will be out on Wednesday--I'll be his sub because the class has been "less-than-stellar" for subs and they were pretty well out of control the last time. While they won't be the same for me as they are for him, they will be close. It is maddening and disappointing when our students feel that "all bets are off" when their teacher isn't there.
I'm in the grade 8 class 2 periods a day already; I'll pull my support from 2 other classes (and pay them pack later in the week) and postpone my prep so that it's all covered. (Long story, but there wouldn't be a sub for him anyway). When he's away, I tend to spend a fair bit of time doing crowd control in the room anyway, so it makes sense.
silver-I laughed and laughed and laughed about the polar bear and skeletor...... I'm sorry to hear about the pencils. The sub should have caught them and put a stop to it.
You have a right to be furious, it was mean and unthoughtful of your 10th graders to destroy your personal items while you were out. But sorry silverspoon65 I had a rough day and you made me laugh out loud when I read So I went into my classroom this afternoon and someone had stuck Skeletor's head in the polar bear's behind.
My period 8 class (last class of the day) is a strange grouping of students ... let's just say there are a lot of big personalities and those big personalities have loud voices. Even when they don't mean to be, they can seem out of control. They also have a lot of social skills to work on and we've been working on their verbal filters all year long (we are making some progress). I usually get the same sub. She does a good job. Even with period 8. The last time I was out, I came in the next morning with everything in my classroom labeled with a postit note. POSTER SHARPENER MARKER LIGHT DESK DESK DESK DESK ... BOARD MEMO ... you get the idea. I found a note from my sub: Please don't be upset with the postits. 8th period we had computer problems so the assignment you left could not be completed. Students started with the postit notes and they worked so well together and actually came together as a group that I let them do it. Sorry if I made a mistake. It actually turned into a good thing ... those students are still working better together after that, and it has been a couple of weeks. (They thought they were the funniest students EVER). I did cringe at the wasted postit notes, but ...
My last sub at all my prize candy and then said my second block did it!! Thankfully I ave a snitch in that class who told me the real deal. LOL!
If you really care about something (an item), don't bring it into school. If you know you're going to be out, lock anything you consider somewhat important away. That's Education 101.
Hmm. Really? I can't agree with you. First of all, it wasn't like silver brought Grandma's best china to school...it was a Skeletor and polar bear figurine that were found items from around the school. And they were sitting on her desk, and students, especially 10th graders, should know better than to touch someone else's personal property. As for the pencils, sounds like they were in a desk, and the irresponsible sub allowed the students to waste them. Respect and responsiblity-that sounds like Education 101 to me.
k- but you are thinking with an adult mind and you do have some common sense. Students, even tenth graders do not have this, or they don't use it. Especially when the cat is away. Teaching 101 also says, "trust not your students or they will steal your mind." There are countless reports of teachers having items stolen because they "trusted" students and because this generation seems to have a "no snitch" policy, rarely is the culprit found. Also, not protecting yourself can lead to bodily injury. Many teachers are poisoned by their students (I am one of them) because I stepped into the hall for 5 minutes to tend to an unruly child. And I am pregnant, and my students now this. Yet not one of them said anything. Protect yourself and your items. Subs don't care about your things. They don't get paid enough to deal with our students so they could care less. They are warm bodies in our classrooms.
I have really good students this year and they are generally good for my subs. They were even good for the sub who fell asleep in class. (They showed me the pictures they took with the cell phones the next day.) I'm guessing they didn't want to get too loud as they feared it would wake her up.
I didn't care about the Figurines on my desk really - it's the fact that they took something off my desk and would do that while the sub was probably sitting right at the desk. (Don't worry everyone, I was laughing about the Skelebutt, too.) And I didn't know I was going to be out, or it would have been locked up. But besides all that, if I leave my purse out, that doesn't give a kid the right to steal from it. I should be able to keep my personal items in the classroom and not have anyone destroy them. I don't think that should be too high of an expectation in 10th grade.
I teach in an east coast metropolitan area... and my students generally have enough respect that I can expect them to respect my belongings and THEIR classroom. This particular class used poor judgment today. I am moving to PA this summer, and I HOPE I can have them same expectations for students there. I think you are making some broad generalizations about location.
Not all are like this. I wasn't when I was a sub. There are a lot of good subs out there and on these boards. Sounds like the OP did not have one today but to say subs couldn't care less, is not true in all cases.
You have a 100% right to be upset at both your students and the substitute. I can totally understand. I am lucky if my kids have not run off the substitute this year. There are two subs who are no longer allowed to sub at our school because of incidents that happened in my classroom when they were in there. Oh well! Hope your day gets better.
Maybe to someone who is looking to hate about something, it is. But, the fact of the matter is, only someone who cannot distinguish that there are in fact distinct differences between locales would get upset about a comment like that.
I don't buy that there are major differences in the way kids are supposed to act, and whether they know right from wrong, in different locales in the country.
I was a substitute and I cared about others property. One, because I could not get called back if something major happened..two, because it was my JOB to make sure that the students didn't destroy things. I have personal property in my class-last year, one class period bothered it. This year no one does. I think it depends on the classes-each year you get a new type of kids.
The one thing I would be sure of is that this particular sub would never be assigned to my classroom again.
While I agree that you need to protect yourself and your items, you still should expect your sub to care about your classroom items. I have been a sub too, and I made sure that students in the classroom were respectful of the classroom items. Subs are expected to take the place of the teacher. That is what they are paid for. Substitutes know what their responsiblilities are (by orientation classes and lesson plans left by the teacher). If they do not, then they need to ask. Even if they are not left the best of lesson plans explaining what to do, they should have some common sense. They are the adult in the situation and need to take control. Yes, I know that there are some subs that are not so great, and every once in a while we get them. Those subs would not be asked back in our building.
Evidently, your school district doesn't hire good substitute teachers. The substitute teachers in my area do care about doing a good job. And, we are paid a decent wage! We are "warm bodies" who are responsible, caring, and diligent.
I would have to agree with this! I am a substitute teacher too and believe me I am not there for the money and I am not there to be a warm body! Unfortunately, however it appears this particular sub perhaps was. Please, do not generalize this to other substitute teachers! I am sorry this happened to you.
I'm very sad to hear that said. I used to be a sub and I did care. One could say that teachers aren't paid enough to care about their students' progress but only make the effort because of NCLB laws. Wouldn't you be hurt if you were generalized about like that?
I thought it was only elementary students that did crazy things when subs were at school. Shame, shame on these 10th graders that are close to being an adult. I am glad you gave them consequences.
