Substitute teacher vent

[Aurora63]

Let me begin this by saying THANK YOU to all the subs on the boards. You have a tough, tough job, and we need you and appreciate you!

That being said...sometimes everyone does something that is not so smart.

I teach 1st grade. I have 20 kids in my class. They are a nice group. There are a couple who can be a little "aggravating" at times, but nothing awful.

I had to be out today, to go to a training meeting. I left detailed plans for the sub, plenty for the kids to do, didn't think there would be much problem. And there wasn't. She left me names of four kids who acted up, but she said the rest were pretty good.

At the end of the day, she signed their behavior notes. If the child had a good day, we circle the top note which reads something like, "Congratulate me! I made good choices in school today." There are two more options, each progressively worse than the first.

Anyway, one student, "Mark," had the middle note circled. Not a stellar day, but not an awful day either. Anytime he gets anything other than the first note, he cries and says his Mom will hit him. Whether this is true or not, I don't know, but he comes to school clean, well groomed, and unbruised every day. He is obviously NOT a physically abused child.

Anyway, he does this for the sub. The sub then CHANGES the note to the top (best) note, and says (in her note to me) that she did this because "she does not believe in hitting." I don't care what you believe in or don't believe in, each parent needs to know how their child's day really was! You can't go changing notes cause you feel sorry for the student!

Then, guess what? All the other kids who did not have the first note circled started crying and saying there Mom was going to hit them too! So she dug her own grave on this one.

I'm a little annoyed that this sub did this, but I'm trying to think of it as a learning experience for her, hopefully next time she will not let the kids manipulate her like that.

Thanks for reading! Hope you got a good laugh!

 

[swilphil]

If I were the sub, I'd have done the same thing. A sub has no way of knowing if the kid is telling the truth. Since the kid didn't have a terrible day, it would be worth it to me to assure that no one is beaten. If it's that important to you, you can correct the matter in the next day's note and explain what the child has been telling you about getting hit.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I sub. I feel bad for her. When you aren't in the classroom every day you don't know what's normal. Unless you noted to her that this would happen there's no way she could have known what to do. If a teacher has an ongoing situation in a classroom I wish they would make a note of it. It's a big help to a sub. I don't think one day of good behavior notes is going to hurt the kids. Kids always manipulate subs. In my oppinion the little ones are worst then the big kids.

 

[golfgal]

I have to side with you on this, if the sub has had any experience with kids, especially 1st grade, she would know that kids make up ALL KINDS of stories about their home life. If this child was really in a dangerous situation at home and getting bad notes from school would do something to make his situation worse, YOU would have TOLD her that, right??? A little common sense goes a long way in life!

 

[CRB#33]

Children from 5 to 18 years old manipulate substitues.

IMO, behavior charts should not be filled out by a sub and sent home to a parent.

Substitutes and parents have no recourse with each other, so there need not be interaction between them.

Just have the teacher put "substitute" on that days space or don't send it home that day.

Leave a note for the teacher only about issues and let the teacher deal with the issue in his/her own way.

 

[Aurora63]

Okay, Thanks. Not trying to create a debate, I honestly was annoyed, but then thought it was kinda funny.

 

[mudnuri]

I think teachers are mandated reporters. At least here they are.....they do not investigate child abuse, however if a child reports it- which I think this child just did, it needs to be reported to the school therapist.

At my DD's school it is reported to the therapist, who meets with the child etc...

Brandy

 

[disykat]

I sub too. I do think it's kind of funny and I'm sure she figured out her mistake immediately! I would have not sent the note and let the teacher deal with it if I was concerned. I'm guessing maybe she's new at this.

I think you have a little leverage with reporting if you are hearing it only from a young child who thinks they might get in trouble. My child was having lunch with the Principal when he was in first grade and he made up all sorts of stories. Fortunately the prinicpal knew me - he told her I didn't feed him - ever - not even vegetables. I'm glad she skipped the "mandatory report"!

 

[Daxx]

Used to be a sub ... am now a full time teacher.

If it were me, and I were the sub, I would have made up the notes based on my judgements for the day and would have left them for you to read over first and, subsequently, hand out or deal with. You know the students in your class better than I (as a sub) would. So, if I (as a sub) think Johnny had an off day b/c he jumped out of his seat 3 times, well, that may be far better than Johnny's usual getting out of his seat 10 times a day. W/o being in your class, I'd never know if Johnny's getting out of his seat 3x is a good or bad thing. I'd hate to give Johnny a "not so stellar" day if this is the best behavior he gives on a daily basis and might normally receive "a fantastic day" for.

I know that I have some students who are a bit "rough around the edges" ... but what one person might think is a "less than stellar day" might be fantastic in comparison to past behaviors in my class. How could a complete stranger, walking into the unknown, possibly know?

It was a tough task to put upon a sub. And, a difficult decision for the sub, no doubt about it. Yes, the sub dug her own grave ... but she could have gotten out of it by saying "Well, I'll leave my notes for Mrs. X and she can decide what to do" rather than switch notes around to appease the kids. However, hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it? If we could just have that "right answer" pop into our heads! And, I can't even say that I would have thought of this at the time it was happening!

Maybe, the next time you are out, you might just ask for notes on how the kids were (list any problems) and then you can fill out the take-home notes based on what the sub had to say. You can even state "based on the substitute teacher's observations". Even if the notes are handed out the next day, I'm sure that'd still be fine and the parents would understand!

 

[golfgal]

I subbed for a teacher that was eventually put on bedrest. The gal that subbed the first day this teacher was out "corrected" a bunch of math tests. Well, I handed the tests back, not looking them over, not thinking I needed to, and the kids started saying things like "this one is right", "why is this wrong". I looked over a few of the tests and OH BOY, I have NO idea what this sub was doing. She was marking problems wrong if the kids put CM instead of centimeter. One kid had an "F" on his paper and after I looked at it had 100% right. The teacher left a key, but anything that wasn't exactly like the key was "wrong". Like I said, a little common sense goes a LONG way in life!

 

[Kermit]

I do see the humor in it. You'd think an adult would be able to think that through a little better than that.

Some subs are just odd. When I was in junior high, there was one who never wore underwear. And she didn't sit very ladylike, either.

In high school, I had a sub once in my second period class. The teacher had left a movie for us to watch, and she started it in the middle because she really got into it during first period and she didn't think anyone would expect her to just watch the first part of the movie all day.

 

[Talking Hands]

I am sub and what I would do would depend on how familiar I was with the class. If it were one that I was familiar with I would go ahead and send home the behavior reports. If not I would still send home the paper as the parent expects it but write on it SUB so the parent knew that there was a sub that day and did not make a judgement on their child's behavior not knowing him.