Subbing High School

[Gerry]

As many of you know, I'm a substitute teacher. Today I was subbing a high school math class (4 classes of Algebra and 2 of Geometry). Wow -- those kids were pretty bad. In all 6 periods students were supposed to take a quiz but they didn't seem to care about their grades at all! Over half of the students turned in incomplete quizzes. It really seems like studnets (high school) do not respect a guest teacher when their teacher is absent. I subbed in for elementary school (3rd grade) right before Thanksgiving and they respected me and actually like you! Lol. Hmm. I guess this is just a rant about my day at work today. But do kids really not care about their education when they get to the high school level? The classes I subbed today sure seemed like it. My 2 Geometry classes were great -- it's the 4 Algebra classes (all freshman) that couldn't behave. Anyway that's all.

[Amy]

Originally Posted by Gerry

My 2 Geometry classes were great -- it's the 4 Algebra classes (all freshman) that couldn't behave.

Bingo.

Freshmen are idiots. No offense, but they are.

[EM68]

Don't take it personally Gerry. Even when I was in school (a long, long time ago) kids took advantage of substitute teachers. Just teach the classes like you would normally do and if anyone mouths off or acts out take appropriate action. Keep you cool. If they see you get flustered, then they will act out more. Good Luck!

Originally Posted by amyleona

Bingo.

Freshmen are idiots. No offense, but they are.

Completely true. By about Sophomore/Junior year kids mellow out considerably. I always took my education seriously but those who goof off when they're younger tend to get better as they get older.

[Grof142007]

All things above said are true I ALWAYS took advantage of a sub teacher and didnt do my work. i mean it like a break from regular class u can make it up later. and if u show weakness it all over! trust me. Most Kids these daysd dont care about there education till last bit of there junior year and the beginning of the senior year(last part of senior year is senioritis so there hopeless)

so dont take it personal just shurg it off N I MUST admit it amazing that ur substitute teacher XD

[musican]

School isn't about the grades in high school, it's about how popular you are. Everyone is just trying to fit in. People stress about being popular and if you can take advantage of a sustitute teacher so that it makes your life easier then you do. You have to look out for yourself and yourself only because nobody else will; it's nothing personal, it's just the way life is in highschool.

I'm not somone who agrees with what I wrote above, but I understand it. I also won't stop it from happening because doing so will give me more trouble in the long run than the sub gets in the day. I'm sorry that you had such a bad day.

[ArcusPuer]

my god the american education system confuses me more and more.
do they have different classes for different topics of maths???
weird...

oh and high schoolers tend to be horrible unrespecting jerks, i do like to consider myself to be an exception

Freshman are just annoying and immature. They're still transitioning from the even more annoying and immature 8th graders to the more respectful sophomores (like myself ). But still, I can't stand it when people blatantly disrespect teachers. I go to a G/T school where people are supposed to be respectful and actually care about school, but that definitely doesn't happen all the time.

By the way, how are you a substitute teacher at 21? That seems really young to me.

this is what i have noticed as a student.

the lower level classes you are teaching the worse kids are. so if you are subbing for an honors class the kids will be overall better behaved. Thats one reason why i take honors classes is because the teachers generally give you more respect in return and i have less of a chance of getting in trouble.

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by ArcusPuer

my god the american education system confuses me more and more.
do they have different classes for different topics of maths???
weird...

oh and high schoolers tend to be horrible unrespecting jerks, i do like to consider myself to be an exception

Yeah there are different courses for math in high school. Freshmen usually take Algebra 1, sophomores Geometry, juniors Algebra 2, and seniors trigonometry/precalculus. Just like how there are different science classes for biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, etc. Same with all subjects. It's not very confusing if you're actually in it and deal with it all the time.

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by Drizzt DoUrden

By the way, how are you a substitute teacher at 21? That seems really young to me.

In the district I'm working for you need a certain number of college credits and I have over the amount, so that's why I'm qualified. But yes, I am about as young as it gets for being a substitute teacher.

[Markio]

NOT ALL FRESHMAN ARE BAD. Yes, I agree that a majority are loud and rude and uncivilized and act out to fit in or stand out. But there were some of us that sat quietly and were lonely and afraid and shy and just wanted someone to treat us as equals and not lowly freshman! I had a horrible freshman year, not just because other freshman were unruly towards me, but because upperclassmen automatically dismissed me as unimportant or unworthy or stupid. NOT FAIR!

I just want to emphasize that freshman are not all bad. As a whole, yes, the culture of high school tends to dictate that freshman act silly and loud and as if they don't care about grades. And some people don't improve in later years, too. I think many freshman act careless towards grades and loud and recalcitrant so that they fit in; after all, it's scary to be in a new place with a bunch of strangers. It just goes with the cultural expectations of high school, I think; and treating them like "freshman" will only cause them to internalize their position in the high school hierarchy and act the way people expect them to.

Just please don't treat freshman as lowly. After my own horrible experiences, I made sure to treat them with the respect I wished I had received; as a result, I made a very large number of younger friends, and many of them weren't as shallow or immature as you'd think.

[JCal]

Originally Posted by amyleona

Bingo.

Freshmen are idiots. No offense, but they are.

I totally agree. I'm a senior now, and the freshmen class at my school is terrible. There have been times the principal will get on the morning announcements and basically yell at the whole freshman class for being immature and disrespectful.
When I was a freshman i'm not gonna lie any say I was well behaved and respectful because I wasn't. I wasn't the most popular in middle school because a lot of my elementary school friends went off to different schools, so once I got into high school I saw it as a new beginning. So to make friends I did what everyone else was doing...acting a complete ass. I think its just a right of passage everyone goes through.
But when I compare my class when we were freshmen and the freshmen class now...we weren't even close to as bad as they are. I've noticed every year since my first year that the freshmen classes get worse and worse.
They'll grow out of it and realize that if they don't get their shit together that they'll be stuck in high school for more than 4 years. Unfortunately it took me until my Junior year to fully figure that out, so I'm busting my ass doing online credit recovery AND my regular senior year classes so i'll be able to graduate with my class this June.

I usually was detatched from my own garde at school (always making friends with people the year above) because I did rowing a division above my own. It was through this that I saw how much I hated my own grade...BUT I am sorry to say this but all grades are like this. There is NO exception to the rule guys. You'll notice this if you know people a year above you. They will always look down on you no matter how THEY acted when they were in the same grade. It's something I don't personally like at all and I always tried to make friends throughout the school (above and below).

Now in respect to subs....I currently am doing a GAP year this year which means I help teach some students. I work at an international school (non-english speakers looking to get into mainstream private schools) and the kids there are awful. Even to the english teacher. They really are the laziest sods...we give them a normal PET (Preliminary English Test) exam on something they have just studied and people who are usually at the First Certificate Level get about 15/40. It really is depressing because they know how to do this stuff but can't be bothered to put it onto paper. Entire sections were missed on multiple choice (we encourage them to attempt all answeres) and the writing section always has the most basic grammatical errors
i.e "In China have" or a section sounds like this "We find shop and discuss coffee about China" (those are directly from the tests).
And yes whenever I cover for the english teacher it takes alot of effort to get them going and they always take advantage of me messing around. Once I wanted to throw a kid out because I had told him numerous times to stop speaking Chinese walked over to him came down to his level and said "Get Out" to which he laughed (it may have been a bit over the top by me but you had to be there to understand). It was truly the ONLY time I have been really angry.
But thats my rant over sorry for the wall of text but seems like the kids are all bastards to substitutes

Sorry First Certificate is the next tier above PET

[Trumpetplyer23]

It's a good thing you don't sub at my school then. The Freshman class is terrible. They're loud, big, and obnoxious. I want to just kill half of them most of the time. I couldn't deal with them.

However, the Sophomore (my class), Junior, and Senior classes are really well behaved. It's the Freshmen that cause all of the trouble.

[george678]

I know how you feel it happens I dont do It personally I will actually do what a teacher says wether it be the real one or a sub one.
But you need to be more firm .ie.you are all in at lunch if you dont behave anybody who does not comes gets a same day dentention.

[SlickyPants]

I dropped out of high school early on so I never had a chance to act bad. After realizing later that putting 'high school dropout' on a resume isn't the most attractive thing for an employer I went back to finish. I was a lot older than everyone else and I found the majority of then to be very immature and disrespectful to the substitutes as well as their own teachers. I got along very well with my teachers because I was way more mature than I had ever was when I was in school previously and I could relate to the teachers more so than with the other students.

[TheRoof]

not really surprising
most kids don't give a shit unless they like
really care about studying and stuff, and they act really
immature and stupid, so don't take it personally...
it happens regularly in my highschool...-_-

[Swamp56]

Freshman will not behave....at all....ever lol.
Sophomores won't usually behave.
Juniors might not behave well, but they behave better than the lower grades.
Seniors behave rather well.

That's how it goes in my school .

I'm one of those seniors who actually talks with the sub about issues like the economy, makes the meanest sub nice to me, and they say hi to me in the hall o___O

[Nixon]

thats exactly what we would do if you were our sub
(Geometry)