The guests of Aragon: substitute teachers

Ring! Ring! Ring! The end of class has just been announced. The hallways have become flooded with students and the sound of their voices resonate throughout the campus. Yet students are not the only ones traveling these hallways. Almost everyday, substitute teachers occupy various classrooms and take the place of our absent educators. They have a constant, yet important, presence at Aragon. However, it seems that very few students actually know about neither the substitute process nor the substitutes themselves.

“Usually the teachers would call substitutes they’re familiar with, somebody that they know will be able to come in and do what they ask them to do,” says substitute teacher Frank Chambers. If an emergency situation arises, then the office would normally be responsible for finding a replacement.

Even though their days may be short lived at each school, substitutes have made positive memories that they will continue to carry with them. “I think one of the best experiences was working in an ESL class where [there was] a student who had been [involved] gang activity from another country and had difficultly reading. At the end of the school year after I had been subbing a lot, he said to me ‘Ms. M, how come I always work for you? I don’t work for any other teacher. I get so much done in your class, why is that?’ So it was really exciting to see him come to his own,” says substitute Sherri Maurin.

At Aragon, many substitutes have had similar encouraging experiences, especially while subbing for the long term. Maurin, for example, subbed for a teacher on maternity leave for two and a half months and enjoyed the “chance to develop a long-term relationship with the students that continue today. It was nice having the continuity and seeing them step up to the plate…and work together in partnership.”

Isaac Benton shares this experience of long-term subbing, saying “The best [experience] was to see how Ms. Hu’s students adjusted from her teaching style, to my teaching style, and then back to hers [last year]. [They] were great in being receptive to the both of us.”

The day of a substitute may seem easy but even they face the difficulties of being a teacher. “The worst thing that happened to me as a substitute teacher was when I was cursed out by a student,” Benton says.

Of his overall experience, Chambers comments, “The hardest thing is that some students’ perception [of] a substitute [is that] they can treat them differently than they would a regular teacher.” In Chambers’s opinion, this problem can be resolved if the regular teachers “make it clear to the students that when they’re gone, the substitute is to be treated with respect.”

It seems that the administration is taking steps to ensure that substitutes receive the respect they deserve. “I am delighted that they are changing the word to ‘guest teacher’ because students who have attitudes about subs often come in with that ‘oh a sub is here’ and turn on [disrespectful] behavior,” says Maurin.

One thing is absolutely certain. Substitute teachers take pride in Aragon. “Not only do our students want to learn, but they seem to really enjoy the process of learning,” states Benton. “I feel very well received by the staff, and the students and administration.”

“There’s a vibrancy here. Kids seem to like each other. I feel at home here,” adds Maurin.

But by far, being a guest teacher has its benefits.

“Being a sub I get the best of both worlds. I get to interact with students, get interviewed, and I don’t have to set the alarm clock every day,” says Perry.