Never had such a Ridiculously incompetent sub

[kyteacher1]

OK so I posted below about how horrible my kids were for the sub and how mad I was. HA! Not nearly as mad as when I got to school.
I leave extremely detailed sub plans -- every subject has a folder in a blue box that says SUB PLANS. My friend even showed her where it was and pulled out the plans and gave them to her directly. I type out the entire day and say exactly what to do. I try to make it as easy for them as possible. Listen to what this sub did.

She IGNORNED my sub plans COMPLETELY. She went over to my other table on the other side of the room -- went through all my stuff and pulled out all my thanksgiving activities I was saving for next Monday and Tuesday and proceeded to do all the activities with my students. I said NOTHING about thanksgiving activities in my plans. i AM SO PISSED. I was going to use that for assessment purposes because we've been learning about pilgrims for 2 weeks and she pulled it all out and gave them all the answers (all answers were written on the overhead this morning)

Then in my plans I said specficially DO NOT USE THE BIG BOOKS NEXT TO THE GLOBE. Those are my big books that I use to teach specfic lessons designed and mandated by my district. I leave other big books for subs that I said in all caps were IN THE CLOSET. Well, what did she do -- read a big book from the table by the globe that I specficially said NOT to.
TOTALLY IGNORED ALL MY PLANS and did whatever the he** she wanted to.

What an idiot.

 

[NCteacher]

That is so awful! It also explains why your kids were all out of whack with that sub! I think I would definitely let the powers that be know what an incompetent person that sub is!

 

[christina4062]

I had one last year who...

was also a substitute bus driver for my district.

At 3:00, this person told my kiddos that they had to leave to go drive the bus. They asked my kids to sit in silence with the lights off until the bell rang.

When a child protested this, the sub sent them out to the playground UNATTENDED so they could "watch them" while sitting on the bus, waiting for the bell to ring.

Luckily, a staff member saw my kids playing ALONE on the playground, called the office, and they were able to send another staff member out with my students.

Needless to say, this individual is now on my personal "do not use" list! Whenever I see them in the building, I shudder!

 

[Ima Teacher]

I've only had one really HORRIBLE sub. I won't even go into details here because I'll get mad all over again . . . and this was several years ago.

I typically get compliments on my class and on my sub folder, so it don't think any of it was my fault. I was so mad that I couldn't even think straight at first. I had NO notes at all from the sub . . . only a room that was wrecked, no work completed, and reports from teachers.

I had questions on the board for them when they arrived.

1. What was your assignment yesterday?

2. Did you complete your assignment yesterday? Why or why not?

3. Explain YOUR behavior yesterday. Please be specific.

4. Tell me everything that went on here yesteday that would not have happened if I'd been here.

5. What can you do to make sure that problems don't occur in the future?

6. Anything else you think I need to know?

After they completed them, I took them up and went on with class like nothing had happened. After I'd read all of the notes, talked with a few students individually, and had a few days to calm down, we had a nince talk about responsibility.

 

[SuperSub1919]

sounds more like a LAZY SUB to me!....

she ignored your plans and went for the Thanksgiving activities?? Sounds like she was too lazy to do what you had planned and wanted to go the easy route and do crafts hahahha!

When I sub, I always always ALWAYS stick to the lesson plans that are left for me. Even if the kids protest, "Thats not what we usually do!"...I keep repeating, thats what your teacher left for me to do, thats what we're doing today!!!
I try my hardest to stick to the schedule to a T, have the kids where they are supposed to be all of the time...and have someone WATCHING them at all times. I try to get EVERYTHING on the plans done and handed in and graded (if they need to be).
I organize all papers and leave detailed notes of what I completed during the day. I'm so worried about NOT completing something and having a teacher say something bad about me...like you did with this sub!!

wow! Definitely tell the higher ups about her behavior!

 

[TeacherLisa1st]

I would be so ticked!!! I had an awful sub earlier this year, so I feel your pain. I was sooo mad when I came back and saw what a wreck my room was....

 

[Super Sub]

I can't imagine

I would never dream of ignoring the teacher's plans. The only times I've done things not on the written plans was under two conditions. One was when the teacher told me that the some of her plans were flexible and if I had something of my own I'd rather do it was fine with her. The other is when we've done everything the teacher left and we have extra time. I'll pull something out of my magic bag to keep them busy.

I've seen some of the bad subs in action and try to redirect them to what they should be doing. It's amazing how many of them think they are already doing things right. Yikes.

 

[Speced9]

The worst sub I ever had

went on a trip about how my special ed. students were being pampered (my aide told me this) and decided to chuck my plans aside to do some "real teaching". Needless to say, the behavior came into play after that move, and I don't blame the kids for that. Then the guy decides to REARRANGE MY ROOM!

I came back from a bereavement leave to a messy, rearranged classroom. Needless to say, I lost it and told the district to never, ever let this guy be my sub again, and I wrote the most scathing eval of this guy I have ever written for a sub.


What a loser.

 

[new1stteacher]

Horrible Sub

I would be mad too! I 2 horrible sub incidents last year. The first sub did all kinds of weird lessons, took books off my book shelf (organized) said they were "boring" and threw them back on the shelf in the wrong places! Later she grabbed one of my student's arms and was reported to the principal.

The other sub did ok as far as lessons, but she left my kids outside at dismissal by themselves, so she could pick up her daughter. No one knew where she went. I specifically left dismissal instructions!

We just don't have much luck with subs at our district!

 

[tia]

my bad sub story

is nowhere near as bad as yours, kyteacher, but i feel i haven't vented enough about her, so.....

we have monthly collaborations at my school where grade level teams and all ancillary staff meet to discuss concerns and data... we don't get to pick the sub that comes in for us (1/2 day). usually they are the same subs for each teacher all year long.

september: everyone knows i leave DETAILED sub plans--so there should be NO question about what to do with whom where and when! i was very thorough with instructions on discipline. i left her (easy) positive and negative consequences (that my students were expecting!) for negative, i punch their weekly tracker. i heard all sorts of stories from other adults in the school---i had to have the kids write me notes about what went down. i asked who had their trackers punched--they said no one. what?!!!! in their notes, one of my boys said "she didn't know whether to punch trackers or not!" DUH! one kid said she got mad and said, "everybody take your tracker out!" and then didn't punch anyone's--what a bone-head move! (and yeah, i left a hole puncher out for her!)

i also left one of my positive consequences: our theme for the year is At the Movies, so when they are being super-awesome, (sometimes for returning something important the first day, and i had planned for good sub days...) they get one of those Admit One tickets you can get at party stores for $7 for 1,000 or so. if they earn 10 in a quarter, they come to a movie party (at lunch). i try to make it so they can just earn 10 or a little more. (not all do, though, obviously) anyway, so i told her to give one to each kid on the way out the door who did not get their tracker punched. all the tickets were still sitting in the envelope on my desk!

and she left me a scathing note: your class was loud, disrespectful, and rude. (something to that effect) it pissed me off--yeah, they're not angels, and i want the truth, but really? and you pretty much shot yourself in the foot when you didn't follow through....

i told the secretary--ugh (she also didn't do much on the project i'd left her to do during my prep--pathetic) but the secretary said she was already lined up for the next month. (others complained about her too)

the next month i wrote in CAPS in my note: for your afternoon to go well, you must follow my discipline plan. her note said "things went much smoother than the last time i was here...." no duh. well, guess what? i still had an entire envelope of movie tickets on my desk!!! (so 2 opportunities to earn tickets blow out) dumb. i complained again. don't believe she'll be back (on purpose anyway)

i usually (by subfinder) find a sub (usually fresh and eager) that is willing to sub in my room (6th grade) and keep him/her all year long. luckily, my good sub from last year is subbing again this year! yea, because i needed her for 2 days next week and 3 days the following--yes! she was willing to come back last year when i had my anger management kid (chair hucker). if she could deal with him, she'll definitely be fine with this crew!

 

[SusaninNJ]

sub

I think subbing could be a horrible job. You never know what you will find!

HOWEVER, I have a few sub horror stories. One of my favorites is the sub who spent the day creating a "behavior plan" for my class! This was an excellent, well-behaved group. She wrote out all their names and left a note saying that they were all very good. Incidently, she didn't do any of the planned work.

The worst ones are the ones that leave a destroyed room.

 

[Janine]

to kyteacher1

You might next time consider leaving the big books that you want your sub to use near the plans, and not in the closet.

Sometimes finding things is like a treasure hunt, and subs don't have time to do it.

 

[all alone]

sub left

Next door the sub left. Yes, just left. The class was at activity and the sub went home. When they got back two came to get me saying the sub was gone. We never found out why he left. The principal did not look happy teaching for an hour.

 

[anonymouse]

Bad, bad subs

When I was a building sub one of our K teachers was out for a week because of a death in her family. They brought in the sub of last resort - the one they call when they can't get anyone else. She actually handed a kindergarten boy a steak knife to cut up his own apple.

When my mother died I was out for two weeks. I also got the sub of last resort (different school). I came back to a four page note telling me that I don't know how to teach math and explaining how I should teach it.

I had a sub last year who gave my kids four hours of free time to play with their recess toys. He didn't do anything I asked.

 

[ritateach]

Evaluate?

Do you get the opportunity to evaluate your sub? We have a new online system this year that we log on to when we need a sub. It lets us know who the sub is in our classroom and we can evaluate her/him as well. We can set up a list of the subs we prefer to have in our rooms as well. Sure beats the old system of just calling the principal the morning of.

 

[ritateach]

bad sub

anonymouse,

I had one sub many years ago who left me a note that she had written two of my children up for support team. She felt that they needed to be in Special Ed and had gotten the papers to do that. I couldn't believe it! I especially couldn't believe the office gave her the papers to do it in the first place!

 

[Carolyn]

I had a similar experience

It was very unnerving for me as well. I had gone through a lot of trouble to write lesson plans and even make photocopies. I left everything on my desk in plain sight along with detailed lesson plans.

The next day, to my horror, the worksheets were still on my desk--unfinished and obviously not passed out--and the kids told me the sub (a guy) had gone through my file drawers to find work for them to do!!! Eeeek! He gave them stuff to do that I had not even covered in class yet.

Needless to say, I specifically requested NOT to have that sub again! I will imagine that you will do the same. It is hard to imagine that a sub can't follow basic directions!

 

[kinderteachnc]

Subfinder

We just started using subfinder last week, so this week when dh, dd had the stomach bug, I thought, wow I can just enter this on the computer and be done, cool. Well much to my suprise, anyone in the county can take the job, so I am now asking myself, why exactly do I have a preferred list then if they do not get the first call or the first chance. Well someone I have never heard of took the job and I went in briefly for the next morning for a 7:30 conference and met her. Well when I was done with the conference, I was showing her my stuff to do and doing some explaining and told her my TA knows the routine so she would most likely be doing the teaching. She then said it was ok for me to leave and I told her I wanted to wait a few minutes for my TA because I have a little one that can be a handful. He is developmentally about 30 months even though her is cronologically 5. Well then I have a little boy with a skin pigment condition and his hair is blond and brown, and in a random pattern (not to be disrespectful, but to give you a mental picture, kind of like a horse that is two colors) and she proceeds to ask me in front of him, "What is the matter with him?" After I picked up my teeth, I quietly explained he has a skin condition and she starts asking him a bunch of questions!!! About that time my TA shows up. So fast forward to after school and my TA calls and tells me she was constantly interrupting my TA while she is doing our phonics lesson, she was calling down other teachers students in the hall, turned a little girl around to be facing forward in line (not my class either) and in the lunchroom we have 10 minutes quiet eating time then the kids can talk, well there is also a school wide reward called and if you are your named called on the morning news you get to pick a friend to sit with and you can talk all the time, well another teachers kids were talking and not doing much eating and she pipes up and says to them they need to eat and stop talking, well my TA told her, they are allowed to talk and THEIR teacher will handle them if need be and she wanted to argue that "well they aren't eating" and my TA repeated herself, she got the hint. Plus at snack, she told my little boy who is my krispy kreme doughnut connection for the year that he should bring a healthy snack next time. Now I know krispy kreme is not the best choice, and I do promote good snacks for the most part, but come on once in awhile is ok, besides, ITS MY CLASSROOM! She also went around saying that it is a good thing that little trouble maker didn't show up today. Luckly my "handful" was absent, but before she figured that out she asked if the only black student I have was the trouble maker. GRRRRRR! Now the 2 major ADHD kids I have that turn circles in their seats, no, she didn't guess them as the "troublemakers" no she picks the black girl. At dismissal time she was going to send the kids out the classroom door ALONE! Did I mention they are kindergarten!!!!! Well so far we have not been too impressed with this subfinder thing and are going back to calling our sub and when we hit enter, they accept the job right away. Needless to say the next day when the stomach bug was my turn to get, I had one of our usual subs. We are a very small school and everyone knows everyone in the community so we have a school "preferred" list and we don't want just anyone in our rooms, so now I have to come in no matter what!!!!!!!!! My poor babies, I gave them extra bingo chips towards our class party.

 

[Mango]

tied up in knots

Just reading the last post has me tied up in knots. Grrrr! I can't believe that happened to you! I so rarely call in subs these days but it looks like I'm going to have to be prepared...I have health issues in the family and I'm dreading the day when I HAVE to have a sub. Luckily, I can request some one in particular, but you never know when she might be somewhere else!

 

[iPeach]

Listen to this...

I had a lady one year, who took down my BB, and put up her own. My stuff was laying on the floor. When I went to the office to find out who it was and get her number to ask her why, without reaching through the phone and strangling her... She told me she wanted to use my room for her resume/ portfolio so she "pretended" my room was her room!!!! What can you say?

 

[hindypo]

I am sorry--this is funny!

I am so sorry to read all these stories, but they really are AMAZING!

I am the kind of sub you WANT--and reading this, I will understand a bit better next time when I overhear some snide sub reference and not take it so personally. !

I hope all of you complained--so that the Good Subs like me
can get more jobs!

 

[TLC]

I swear this is true........

At a conference a speaker told of an incident when she was a principal about 15 years ago. She got a phone call from one of her teachers who was on a field trip. "Mrs. So-and-So is missing!" The principal went to the classroom and found a young man, the sub, sitting at the teacher's desk reading a newspaper. He had put the children on the bus, with a few parent chaperones, and STAYED BEHIND!!!!! I bet he never worked in that district again.

 

[change2R]

At my old school we had some terrible subs. The worst, rearranged a teacher's classroom. She moved EVERY table, desk, and shelf. She left a note telling the teacher that the room worked better her way.

 

[Read 4 Fun]

Surfing Sub

I have had my share of bad subs over the years, in fact last year I had a sub that argued with my students that you spelled monkeys, m-o-n-k-e-i-e-s, among other errors. To say the least my kids were beside themselves when I returned the next day. They really do appreciate us;-)

Although, the sub that takes the cake and will never sub in our corporation again was not in my room but in a second grade class. He complained during related arts time how bad the kids were behaving and not doing anything he told them to do. The other second grade teachers had already noticed that he was always seated at the computer. They mentioned his comments and the fact he was at the computer to our principal and she checked into it further.

Well come to find out he was visiting different myspace pages that had pictures of nude women posted on them. After that he got sent to the principal's office.