# How reliable is substitute teaching? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327 "2005-08-02T17:15:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/21 "2012-12-26T23:59:08Z")
> [@Noodles\_Fellicini](#): > > Maintain classroom discipline As a teacher, this one made me giggle. Not at you, mind me. It’s kind of like handing someone a sword and saying, “the pointy end goes in the other guy.” An excellent goal, but a lot easier said than done. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/22 "2012-12-27T17:02:52Z")
> [@wonder9](#): > > Well, you missed one. When I was a teacher in another county, there was a substitute who, and I am SO not making this up, decided she needed a rest room break. Now. As in **immediately**. > > So she hiked up her skirt, straddled a waste basket in the classroom, and let 'er rip. Thank goodness it was a liquid emergency… Did she at least put the basket behind her desk, so the kids didn’t see her nozzle? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/23 "2012-12-27T17:10:01Z")
What about zombie substitutes? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/24 "2012-12-27T17:15:40Z")
It’s been seven years, do you think she got the job or is she still waiting for the phone to ring? ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/25 "2012-12-27T17:30:24Z")
If you’re at the elementary level, you might see if they have a program like the one the school district I worked for had (bear in mind, this was 20 years ago) - we had what we called the “Substitute Project” and the teachers at each grade level got X number of days a month to work on lesson plans, etc. We had substitutes who were specifically hired for the project so that the kids had some “stability,” and so did the subs. I can’t remember what program/project it was all for, and whether it was mandated at the state or federal level, but it worked well while I was there. We had 6 elementary schools with K-6, so plenty of subs were needed to cover all the grades. ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/26 "2012-12-27T17:42:44Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > Did she at least put the basket behind her desk, so the kids didn’t see her nozzle? Nope. Right there in front of everybody… ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/27 "2012-12-27T17:43:44Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > It’s been seven years, do you think she got the job or is she still waiting for the phone to ring? Totally missed the date of the thread. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327/28 "2012-12-28T13:29:10Z")
I was in a self-contained special education classroom as a fieldwork assignment for a couple of classes I was taking and I’ve seen some awful sub behavior from one sub. She decided to abdicate responsibility for classroom management and teaching to me and another college student – neither of us are certified – and she asked the one-to-one aides to make copies and do other tasks that would take them away from the kids they’re responsible for, not to mention the fact that the sub shouldn’t be making copies. (They refused, which they had the right to do under the terms of their union contract.) She will not be asked back to this classroom, and probably not to the school. What some districts are doing is hiring certified classroom teachers as “building subs” to fill in where they’re needed, which saves everyone a lot of time and hassle. This means that the kids know the sub and the sub knows the kids, and that the building sub has the same disciplinary authority that regular teachers have. It also means that teachers who have to attend meetings during the school day can do so without having to find and pay a per-diem sub for four hours. When the sub isn’t covering a classroom, s/he works in the office or the library. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-is-substitute-teaching/315327.md?page=1)