Satvik Reddy, 12
The problem is, in the case of someone like [Steve] Ratto, there [are] already so few physics teachers. There’s nobody qualified to be subbing for AP Physics C, for example. In the Venn diagram of substitute teachers and people who know enough physics and calculus to teach these kids, [few fall in both categories]. It’s a very tough situation, but Mr. Ratto probably got closest to what the correct solution is, which is video lectures and Zoom calls as much as you can, but that’s not always possible.
When people asked for help, [one sub] would only be able to work through rudimentary concepts — most of the time, they knew almost as much as we did, because they hadn’t studied a lot of [the specific subject]. A lot of it came down to having to self-teach and Google things and email [our teacher] a lot.
[One sub] did try to lecture us a lot. I recall people being pretty much unengaged for the vast majority of the time, [because] the work wasn’t very hard, nor was it worth that many points. So people did not have much incentive to work. A lot of us were working on other stuff. We would just speed through the daily tasks that they would give us, which tended to not be all that much.
Vishal Dandamudi, 12
Our subs didn’t really know what to emphasize, they just presented all the material as equally important. Actual teachers [say], ‘hey, this is the important part, pay attention.’ They also go beyond the slides [and discuss content] around them.
If we’re with a sub, teaching is the same as self-studying at that point. We should just be allowed to do things on our own, like, go through the presentation on our own, or even go further than that. Find our own videos to learn like that. It was kind of a waste of time listening to the presentation, when all that’s happening is [students] slowly reading off the slides and copy pasting.
For [one sub], it was more that they didn’t know how to grade things quickly. So they were perpetually overwhelmed, and our assignments would get graded three weeks later. Then they’d tell us like they’re really, really behind. And we’re like, ‘Oh, no,’ [but, it’s not] their fault, but they didn’t know the material at all.
