There are many misconceptions when it comes to substitute teachers. Students find themselves either absolutely hating substitutes or loving them. I find myself in this untouched median picking a side as well. I wanted to explore this lifestyle and get intel on why exactly substituting is such a plaguing act in many students’ schooling experiences.

The Students

There isn’t a teacher or a sub without a student, so the obvious decision is to start with them. As a student myself I found that in my experience substitute teachers are hit or miss. With that being said, nctq.org defines the roles of a substitute teacher as …

“…  to maintain classroom discipline and to carry on the classroom procedures as if he/she were the regular teacher. A substitute teacher has the same responsibilities and the same duties as the regular teacher..”

Sioux Falls Substitute Teacher Guidelines Responibilties

The reason I bring up the definition is because my peers and I can fully agree that the majority of substitutes do not follow these roles. I’ve been a student for eleven years and will testify that many substitutes teachers, young or old, seem to be babysitters than actual educators. It makes me wonder if this is what they signed up for and if this is something they wanted to be.

The Teachers

To get answers we have to go to the source, my source is my temporary substitute teacher for my English class. At this moment Ms.Porchea had taken a few months off for personal reasons. In the meantime, we got a substitute teacher named Ms. Coates. I did a small interview with the following questions…