Photo credit to Caroline Christophersen

French teacher Mr. Meicke is back teaching this week after having a substitute last Friday

Any high school student knows that when they walk in and see a sub, it may be a class off of learning. Often the substitute will start by saying they haven’t taken Calculus since high school or took Spanish, not French, in college.

English teacher Maureen Dyer was absent Monday and a substitute teacher taught her classes. “I do not give less work but I do make sure the lessons that I give are ones that will be easily executable by substitute teachers.” Dyer makes sure that her classes stay on schedule even with a sub coming in.

The substitute teacher who came in was Susan Rushman. Usually Rushman has her classes booked way in advance. “I try to only do jobs that I feel confident in teaching.” Teachers have a “preferred sub list” which is why many classes have the same alternate teacher multiple times. Rushman thinks that much more work gets done when she has been a substitute in a class multiple times.

However, when a job sits there for a while and it doesn’t seem like anyone is taking it, sometimes Rushman will take it even if she does not have confidence in the subject. She prefers to teach English.  

To kids, it seems often the substitute is not competent in the course material. This occurs more often when the teacher needs a substitute unexpectedly or is for a specialized course such as French or Chemistry.

Junior Aabha Joshi had a substitute during AP Calculus on Dec 7.  “I don’t think the same amount of work gets done because the teacher isn’t here to help you through your problems and some substitutes don’t necessarily know as much.” She thinks students would benefit if more subs were confident in the material they taught. It would help if subs were assigned based on what they studied in college or taught if they were once full time teachers. About fifty percent of the subs Aabha has are not competent in the course subject.

Each teacher has a certain teaching style and agenda which means even with competent subs, students won’t be on as on track as when their regular teacher is there. However, many students think their time would be better spent if subs understood the course in which they came in to sub.