Substitutes

I was homeschooled, so I have no funny story from school. Though I have jad subs at sunday school in church.
My sister and I were in the same class together, and despite not looking alike, we would get mixed up. So we would switch names every time we got a sub.

 

In 2nd grade, my teacher was about 7-8 months pregnant and had to leave work for a while, so we were left with a substitute teacher for a while (who we already knew because she substituted for our class a few times before) and she was awesome.
We had her for about 2-3 months, maybe more, before my regular teacher came back. She was really fun and nice too.

And about 2 years ago, my school brought in a new English teacher which ended up being my teacher for the year.
She was... pretty annoying. And very inexperienced too. Also a bit of a pushover, which led to students not really caring about what she had to say and didn't pay much attention to her either.
Every now and then we would get this cool sub guy (had him before in a couple other classes as well) that would sub for our teacher when she was sick.

About a month or 2 into the year, he starts subbing for our class very, very frequently, and I'm talking about weeks straight.
Around that time, I heard some rumors that my English teacher had her iPhone 5 stolen during one of her classes when she wasn't paying attention, and that she left the school.
A couple weeks later, our substitute teacher tells us that he's now our permanent English teacher for the rest of the year.
I was pretty damn happy about it because this guy was great. Super friendly, loved to joke around, never gave us too much work but also did really good at teaching, and he made everything in general for us really fun. Easily one of my favorite teacher for that year.

 

I believe I have two examples to share on this subject, both of them recent.

The first concerns me directly, in which my own class had a substitute. The substitute was one of the other professors who taught the same class and material, and was rushed in quite quickly and with little prior warning. Despite that, he performed marvellously. The teacher had copies of his notes prepared for all the students, which we were able to follow along with. Most of it was repeats of what had already been said, but that was to play it safe. I and the rest of the class got quite a lot out of it, and overall it was a great lecture.

The second concerns me indirectly, because this is not for a class I participate in, but rather one I tutor for (so, yes, it's a math class). Normally the professor who teaches the section is an absolutely phenomenal instructor, and despite the comparative difficulty of the material (algebra and calculus might not be that difficult to some, but for those not mathematically inclined it is an utter chore), her students generally performed well, or at least good enough that most pass the class. Said professor is currently on leave for the semester, and the replacement is, to put it lightly, 'unaccommodating'. Explanations are subpar, material is rushed through very quickly, and as a consequence I am always inundated by the students' questions due to the teacher's inability to both explain things well and keep pace.

While I'm grateful for the traffic, hearing what goes on in that class gives me no shortage of irritation. I have a similar situation with another class right now, and unlike with my prior example, I have no guarantee or promise that it will get any better. Being a student and struggling with the material because of a bad teacher is one thing. Being a tutor and hearing all of it only makes the dissatisfaction spread. It has contributed slightly to my increasing number of 'bad days' because of how I dislike how the classes are being handled.

That isn't strictly a 'substitute teacher' experience or problem, but it was caused by changes in curricula, so it's somewhat related. That, and I haven't been able to vent about it to anyone else.

 

I love all substitute teachers, because, like every teacher, my sister and I just love to get along with them. There's not really much to say, because they all explain our work thoroughly and perfectly. However, every time we have a substitute teacher, my class believes that they are granted 'permission' to be silly and disruptive in class, then blaming the substitute teacher when they don't understand the work well.