If you are a student that decides to talk to your friend and listen to your music rather than to listen to your sub just because they are not your normal teacher then please, stop what you are doing. Take your headphones out, be quiet and listen. Even though the person who is teaching your class may not have been there yesterday, they are still a person of authority that you are going to have to listen to and shockingly – respect. Your conversations and music can wait until your free period or study hall or even passing time. It is not as important as your education. There are so many things you can miss when you do not listen. You may miss a direction, or an important step in whatever you are doing, but you would never know because you are too busy talking about something that can obviously wait.

Substitute teachers are an awesome asset to the school, but some students take advantage of subs who may not know what they are doing in the class. I can recall a few times when I witnessed students saying mean stuff about a sub or spreading gossip throughout the school. Students can be mean to subs without a second thought on what they are saying. Some subs told me that students won’t listen and just ignore their lesson, or they will do the opposite to what they are saying.

“There can be anywhere from zero to about 25 subs in this building at a time,” the administrative assistant to the principal Lois Faley said. That means that nearly everyday there are substitutes in this building and, based on personal experience and anecdotally, at least one of them if not more are disrespected. The sub is just here to teach you the same way your normal teacher does. If you do not harass your normal teacher then why would you harass your sub. They are people just like the rest of us.

Not only are you interrupting your own learning but you are interrupting everyone else’s learning around you. By just one person not paying attention they are causing the teacher to stop class and deal with the problem. Think about those around you they are there to learn even with a substitute teacher. Maybe this has been a long day for them because they are tired of being disrespected by students all day.

“Sometimes teachers aren’t prepared and you walk into a situation where it can be very difficult and the kids know it,” substitute teacher Chuck Watkins said. Substitute teachers have to deal with different students throughout the day, as well as maybe not having descriptive lesson plans from the teachers that are gone. A sub may walk into class not knowing anything about the subject but still find ways of getting the lesson across. Some subs find asking students what they were working on to be a good way to get them excited to share and teach the sub what they were doing in class.
“Normally I will get them under control by telling them a story, an army story, and then they get interested about me like how I’m interested in them,” Long term sub for Dan Weiss, Kenneth Nead said. Teachers should not have to tell a story to get your attention. If they have to get your attention you are already doing something wrong.

“They don’t sit in their assigned seats, they have their multi-media out, in their pockets, in their hands and out on their desks,” Nead said.  These are just two examples of how disrespectful students can be, and often are, to their teachers.

Nobody should have to put up with the harassment that students deal out to their subs. We should all try a little harder to stop and let some one else be important too. Its time to put away our cellphones and headphones and its time to stop talking and listen. Its human nature to want to lead or be in control, but sometimes you have to learn to pay attention and let someone lead when it is in your best interest – let alone the best interest of those around you.