substitutes

A friend mentioned to me the other day that her brother, who is a teacher, hates substitutes. The reason is that he feels substitutes come in, be all nice and lenient, and try to be the well-liked sub (the good guy).

I understand his point of view. Very frustrating for a teacher who is probably very good but still has to impose some sort of order and discipline. I get it.

I thought about it, as a seminary substitute myself, and decided there is another side to this. One, as a sub, I generally don't know the names so it makes it harder to tell a particular student to be quiet. Two, at least in seminary, you have to get fairly good reviews from the students to get called again. The criteria may not be niceness but you can't be mean or rude or hurtful or too boring! Three, I don't know the class' routines, what the teacher allows or expects, or what standard procedures are. I have to make my own rules for what I can live with. Four, I don't know the background of any particular student. Heck, I don't even know if they are LDS (some of them aren't). I don't want to be the one to drive them away from the gospel, so I probably do err on the side of leniency.

Maybe my seminary teaching experience doesn't fit the general substitutes but I hope everyone realizes subs are doing a tough job and doing the best they can. And, as always, there is two sides to EVERY story!