You strut disheveled and frazzled into school, jetting to your locker. You need to finish homework? Unprepared for a test or quiz? Possibly dreading a long, boring lecture and mounds of notes?

You saunter over to your friends and hear the gossip of a substitute teacher in that class you were freaking out about.

Excitement rushes over you because everything that caused your hair-pulling dismay is put off for another day. But then, there is a new sense of wonder as you contemplate who could be your sub. Mr. Kinne? Mrs. Egan?

If the sub is unfamiliar, within the first couple of minutes students can easily classify him or her by temperament.
There’s the sub that only speaks a word or two when assigning the work at the beginning of class. Then he positions himself idly behind the desk that temporarily becomes his workplace. He might read a book, text a friend, or tip-tap away at a laptop. The class usually turns into a “study” and the students will ignore their work, begin talking, and switch seats. Free period.

Then there’s the mean sub who snaps snootily at the slightest mumble overheard among the students. After four or five verbal warnings due to noise, he threatens to write up the entire class. These are the subs that make you somewhat regret your MIA teacher.

Next there’s the sub that chats it up with the students. Sometimes you get lucky and he or she contains an ounce of coolness and will chat freely about random things that actually interest the students (these are usually the younger subs). But other times this social sub is not as cool as he thinks he is and all you want him to do is stop talking. Bringing up stories about their own kids is usually a bad sign.

Sometimes having a sub is a breath of fresh air, but other times they can rub students the wrong way.