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“He Was Escorted From The Building By A Cop”: 30 Terrible Things Substitute Teachers Did
Interview With Expert
During our school days, when the teacher had to take unannounced leave, we got a free period to enjoy. But on planned vacation days, the substitute teacher would fill in, creating some school memories that are quite out of the ordinary. It all depended on whether the sub was a good or bad one.
Netizens went down a trip down memory lane when Redditor Dragon_King-88 asked teachers to open up about the worst things that subs did with students in their absence. The tumultuous response was not just from fellow teachers but students, too. While some instances are downright hilarious, others will leave you scratching your head and questioning the sanity of these individuals. Just scroll down and check them out for yourself!
More info: Reddit
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#1
Not a teacher but i vividly remember one incident of having a substitute in kindergarten.
i had an infected cut on my toe and had been prescribed an antibiotic, that morning was the first time i took it.
we were sitting on the floor for roll call and i remember this burning pain in my abdomen, and she told us to get up and go to out desks, i tried to get up only to realise i couldn’t move and just laid back.
this sub was a total cow and i remember she was always really mean, anyway she starts yelling at me for being attention seeking and basically tries to pull me up. im in so much pain i start screaming and one of the teachers from the classroom next to ours comes, realises im not faking it and calls an ambulance.
long story short im horribly allergic to penicillin and my kidneys were failing, i was in hospital for almost a week before i got discharged.
needless to say that absolute b***h was not allowed back at the school, but i will never forget that day.
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#2
I’m a little late to the party but here is goes..
I had a Grade 1/2 class last year and one student had diabetes. Let’s call him Adam. So Adam had a cell phone that beeps when his blood sugar is too low/high. It’s connected to the monitor in his arm/hip. The cell phone has no other uses, no apps, no data, not connected to the school wifi. The substitute saw his phone on his desk and promptly took it away as per the “no devices” rule. During gym class an EA comes in to make sure everything is ok, and Adam is visibly ill. Pale/sweating the whole works. Luckily this EA knows Adams medical plan, instantly asks the Adam for the phone and he explains that the substitute took it away in the morning. The EA then LOSES IT on the substitute demanding the phone. The substitute calls in the principal to reprimand the EA, then get reprimanded herself as obviously she did not read the students safety plans. She was asked to leave and the principal taught the class the rest of the day. Adam was fine, drank a couple juice boxes and had a granola bar. Mom picked him up shortly after.
#3
I was a teachers assistant while in college. The teacher and I took a week long workshop and had a sub.
The worst thing she did.
Not letting the kids go potty. It was in kindergarten and she said all the kids going to bathroom were interrupting the class.
One girl wet herself. School policy was if kids under a certain age had an accident the nurse would give them a pull up (basically a diaper) to wear. The substitute proceeded to make fun of the girl for wear a diaper, calling her baby and such.
The little girl ended facing repercussions at home too.
It’s was devastating to hear about.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
That's so sad! I don't understand why teachers would take away the basic right of hygiene from children, just because it was distracting. What I would have done, if I didn't want kids going all the time, is take the whole class down to the toilets at the same time, then continue class. The poor girl will probably remember this trauma her whole life!
Teachers hold great power in influencing students, and even a substitute teacher can have an impact on them. “A 'bad' teacher can cause hell to break loose upon a student, and a bad substitute teacher can cause even worse! The instability, confusion, and frustration resulting from a poor experience with a sub can impact a student's mental equilibrium,” said Maryam Shaikh–a teacher and education researcher for the past 6 years–in an interview for Bored Panda.
She even stressed, “Adolescent learners feel a threat to their personhood, with the presence of a new figure and feel the need to reassert themselves, while dealing with a million other physical, emotional, and intellectual changes. These factors may sometimes translate to students complaining about going to school.” Now we know why kids don’t want to go to school when a sub is teaching.
“I am sure these can be nullified by a good peer circle, though. We often overlook the fact that a classroom consists of several dynamic social groups, and students can band together in case of a bad sub!” mentioned Maryam. So, parents, if your kid has good peers, don't be too stressed by a weird substitute teacher.
#4
Student here.
TLDR: Sub demanded I turn over my heart monitor in front of the class.
Junior year I was having major heart problems and had to wear a heart monitor 15 hours a day. It had a phone attached that when I had heart murmurs, it would send the data to my doctor.
I was wearing it and started having heart issues. It buzzed and I went to click send when the sub demanded I turn over my cellphone.
I started to explain why I couldn't and she snapped at me so I lifted my shirt to show the wires and sensors strapped to my chest, in front of the class of 50 students. (Choir class)
Ive never seen ANYONES face drop that fast in my life.
#5
Accused a student of stealing something that the aide had put away. This was a class that contained some pretty rough students including one suspended multiple times for fighting and some gang members. She decided to go after a sweet, petite girl that never caused trouble and was generally popular with her classmates. This set off the entire class which is when the sub went ballistic and started wildly throwing accusations and yelling at said students. Security eventually got called and took several students out. My first clue was when the sub got my cell number from the staff directory and went off for 20+ minutes about how bad my students had been. This was followed up with an extremely long email and a two page written note on my desk plus a concerned note from the administrator about not having appropriate sub plans (she didn’t follow them in the first place and decided to throw me under the bus).
The next morning when I arrived at school, the students were waiting for me at the door. Once I got them calmed down enough to tell their side of the story, we had a discussion on how they could have handled the situation differently. I promised them never to get that sub again.
On a related note, I had a good relationship with said “rough children” because I treated them with respect and fairness. They usually behaved for me.
#6
The first year I taught 5th grade, I really wanted to do something special for my students before Christmas vacation. I spoke with my team and we came up with the idea to make every student a personalized Christmas ornament. We were going to surprise them by displaying the ornaments on a Christmas tree the day before vacation and they would be able to take them home.
I was gone for a department thing the day before we were going to set up the tree, and one of the least liked subs was scheduled for my class. Since I had stored all the ornaments in my closet, I simply asked if the students needed any supplies, make sure to get them yourself and not let them see the surprise.
The thing about this sub, and the reason she wasn't liked, was that her first line of defense was always threaten to take away something from for misbehaving: recess, free time, lunch, etc. (I think you know where I'm going with this).
Fast forward to the end of the day, I get back to my classroom in the last 30 min of class so I could dismiss them when all of a sudden, I'm met with 25 kids asking about their ornaments. I tried to play dumb and asked them what they were talking about and of course they informed me the sub said something. She told the students about the ornaments and said if they misbehaved, she would tell me and I would take away their ornaments.
Instantly, I was filled with horror that the surprised was ruined for all 5th grade (they're kids, they told the whole grade during recess), anger because that damn sub ruined the surprise, sand disappointment because I really wanted to see their faces when they walked through the door the next day and saw a special Christmas tree with their personalized ornament.
Its not the biggest deal or anything, but I was really upset that weekend. To this day, when i talk to my old partners, I still refer to her as the Grinch!
"Due to the temporary nature of a substitute teacher, students fail to create an emotional bond, which stops them from sharing their feelings or thoughts with the teacher, thinking that they won’t be understood. This way, the class becomes a little unorganized, chaotic, and also lacks discipline, when all they wanted was a listening ear and an understanding mindset," shared Madhura Ghan, another teacher that we interviewed.
Substitute teachers often complain of being mistreated by kids, but when the kids themselves are caught in conflict, it becomes difficult for them to be on their best behavior. According to Madhura, "Subs have an impact on the learning ability of the students in a huge way. In a regular course, if the students are supposed to showcase a learning inclination they instead show stagnancy in their learning."
Students attend school for the primary purpose of learning; if that itself is taken away from them, then brings into question the institution's substitute management.
#7
When I was a substitute, I got a lot of requested jobs because the substitute pool was poor. One such example given to me was a substitute who would just go to sleep. I barely believed it.
Once I was teaching full time, I had a sub come in for a day. When I got back my students told me that he told them to leave him alone, sat down, and went to sleep.
I believed it then.
#8
Not a teacher but the sub made the handicap classmate who has muscle, joint and vision complications go grab his textbook from his home room. He's not completely helpless but when it comes to heavy things, he needs help.
Classmates home room was half way across campus and the required book consists of 5 large text volumes because they're specifically made for his poor vision. He can't wear glasses either due to complications. I offered to help because I'm usually the one that goes and grabs it for him during normal class but the sub yelled at me saying he knows my kind and I'm just trying to get out of class. Sub told me he's not there to play games and for me to quit it before he sends me off to the principal's office. Needless to say the entire class was shocked. Classmate came back with another student from the homeroom requesting that next time the sub send someone else to grab the books because my classmate can't carry it by himself. When my usual teacher came back we requested the sub not return because of what he said to us and did to classmate. My teacher wrote an email to the principal about it and that was the end of that.
#9
I came back after being gone ONE DAY and my students told me the substitute teacher flipped over tables in a rage and was escorted from the building by a cop.
What actually happened is that the sub left the room to take a 20 min phone call and the kids thought it would be funny to flip the tables over. The substitute then had to flip the tables right side up while yelling at the kids.
Then, during lunch, my Special Ed. Co-teacher came into my room to set up and caught the sub MAKING OUT WITH A STUDENT. Turns out she was 18 to his 25 and the 20 min phone call was to set up the lunch meeting. The principal then had him escorted from the building by the resource officer. This is why I say having a sub is more work than just coming into school my damn self.
Edit: Wrong version of principal.
dremetrius 5 months ago
Not the main issue by a long shot, but like... if you need (choose!) to be gone 20 minutes, at least have a sense of humor for the kids you're neglecting. We had a couple teachers who took pranks in stride, they were also the ones we behaved the best for, because we knew they liked us and were there to make school as fun as they could within reason.
As per Madhura, "The substitute teacher is there to just teach a lesson and go, which also kind of hinders in a conducive learning environment." While Maryam is of the opinion, "A sub can break the 'flow' of learning that students may have got accustomed to. But I do think a change of routine, in moderation, is always beneficial and refreshing. It invites new possibilities!"
Although substitute teachers are necessary, schools need to thoroughly check their qualifications and teaching methods in the same rigorous way that they do when hiring a permanent teacher. Otherwise, it's the students who have to suffer from bad subs.
#10
Gave out snacks I bought with my own money that I kept for kids who stayed after to get tutoring.
Threw out a broken electric pencil sharpener that kids broke in front of her. Which again, I bought with my own money and couldn't get replaced by the company because I had no product to send back. I still don't have a sharpener for my room.
Let the kids go through my things in my cabinets and desk. Lost a bunch of stuff that way.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
When I take on someone else's class/program, I never give out treats to the children, unless I am 100% sure what the system is. That means I will write down who has behaved well or I think deserves a treat, then when the regular teacher comes back they can sort it out. Same if something gets broken, I would leave it for the teacher, so they know what happened. They trust their replacement to run the class as close to their usual program as possible and the substitute needs to respect that.
#11
I had a sub give out my cell phone number to my high school students so they could call me and give me excuses as to why they weren’t taking their test while I was gone. I was LIVID. I complained to the sub office, and that teacher never subbed for my building again.
#12
Not a teacher, but in elementary school I had a bloody nose during class and asked to use the restroom. She said no and refused to let me go to the restroom (I think she didn't "believe" me). I sat there until the blood had spilled all over the desk, then raised my bloody hand to be excused and only then did she allow me to go clean myself up. She even had the audacity to ask me why I didn't ask to be excused earlier. Which was a complete lie, as she definitely heard me the first time and even the other students pointed out that my nose was bleeding.
When the teacher returned she was livid about what happened, I believe she complained to the administration to make sure the sub was never hired again.
"Learning is not something that is passively done by students reading a textbook, in isolation. Much of learning stems from our social interaction with teachers and mentors, or the Zone of Proximal Development that Vygotsky talks about. When this social aspect of learning is missing, students may struggle to articulate their problems, understand concepts, evaluate phenomena, and fail to apply new learnings to their lives," claims Maryam.
To overcome this issue, she suggests, "A substitution mechanism, with a permanent primary teacher and permanent substitute or assistant teacher, for the grade and the subject should be implemented." This does sound quite fair and it would definitely put the school in a good light for making efforts to look after the students' well-being, rather than let a bad sub ruin things for them.
Do you have any other suggestions for this particular issue? You must've had a bad sub at least once, so, go on, and share your experience with us in the comments. We are sure it will definitely be relatable to someone out there!
#13
Back when I was a teacher, I had a sub decide my plans weren’t good enough for her and went rogue. She decided to show my students videos of animals giving birth on YouTube.
I taught English...
#14
I had left out - overnight - eggs that I was going to use in a science experiment the following day. I was out and thought nothing about it. I returned the following day and went looking for the eggs only to find them missing. Asked a student where they went and I was informed that the substitute took the class to the special education kitchen, hard boiled them and ate them.
I went to talk to my AP and was informed that the sub had called in sick for her job for that day, due to food poisoning.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
Who eats any random food they find in a classroom, let alone eggs?!
#15
I would occasionally give out starbursts to my 4th graders. B***h ate all the pink ones.
#16
Not a teacher, but in the 4th grade, our teacher had a baby and was gone for several weeks. The sub we had was an absolute witch. She had NO patience for kids, she'd yell at us for stupid s**t, ask us questions and or give us homework that was WAY above our tiny 4th grade brain levels and then complain and call us stupid when literally none of the kids did well on the work.
One girl decided to get smart with her one day and she walks over and slaps the girl, hard across the face, which of course sends the girl into a hysterical sobbing fit. and says "that's what your w***e of a mother should be doing more often"
being tiny, adorable 4th graders, we were all too afraid to tell anyone. We had to deal with that for 3 weeks until the main teacher came back.
#17
Not a teacher but we had a sub for our Science class.
She didn't believe in science but pseudo sciences, was sexist to males, and because of her weird diet would rip loud sulphur smelling farts all the time. Then get mad if we brought it up despite being fed newage hippie b******t and being cropdusted.
She also was a horrible sex Ed teacher because she said women can choose when to have periods without birth control.
#18
Left my perfectly prepped and neat desk an absolute disaster, did not follow the lesson plan and... took my gel pens!
#19
1. Asked a deaf kid to take off his hearing aids. Kids tried to tell her he needs to them but to her they "look like headphones." She cried when was confronted by another teacher.
2. When I was in 6th grade I fractured my wrist but it was my dominant hand so I had to poorly write with my right. Teacher forced me to write with my left while I had a cast. I couldn't even grasp the pencil. Cried a lot. Then a couple months go by and got my cast off, sub told me to suck it up and write with my left hours after getting my cast off. I felt like jelly and intense pain. Teacher was fired at the end of 7th grade because of "unnecessary complaints"
Edit: I should've realized this was a teachers question not a student Q. This is considered my first post that I really thought wouldn't get noticed and now my inbox is full of messages. To clear some questions, I would never steal someone's story and both stories are very true but probably be something similar you have encountered before. Also, the teachers should know how to treat students in any situation whatsoever. If teachers really hate their jobs, dont include kids into it. I remember crying asking my mom why does my teacher pick on me or make me do things I couldn't do.
René Sauer 5 months ago
I find it weird how they are basically apologizing in the last paragraph. As long as the story at least fits the theme of the question, who cares that they are not the target group that was actually questioned?
#20
This happened to my colleague, but I was the classroom next door.
My colleague was showing Clash of the Titans at the end of the year after a unit on Ancient Greece. There is mild nudity at the beginning and the end of the movie, but they were in the middle of the movie so there shouldn’t have been an issue.
He left the video paused at the right spot (we still had VCRs like 10 years ago when this happened), but the sub somehow managed to show both the nudity at the beginning *and* the end of the movie. The nudity scenes were hours apart and the class was only 40 minutes.
Then, the sub wrote an email to the principal about how my colleague made him show nudity.
Rinso The Red 5 months ago
We watched an unedited version of Romeo and Juliet (yes, that version), when I was in 7th grade. No one is sure how we got the original version, but the teacher was certainly surprised to say the least.
#21
I had a cool Chinese Lucky Cat that went missing after I had a sub. My students said the sub seemed really intrigued by it, talked about it several times, and even moved it from the shelf where it sat and brought it over to my desk. It was gone when I returned the next day. 😒.
#22
Lost more than half of my textbooks that I purchased myself. Aswell as textbooks that were schoolproperty.
Administration just shrugged at this. Until they found out the textbooks belonging to the school were around 120 dollars each.
Also lost all the bookassignments of 4 classes I asked him to collect so I could correct those at home.
Kinda sucked for the students who did put a lot of work on it and didn't have digital copies.
Also didn't teach anything that I asked him to, because he didn't really like the subjectmatter.
Also didn't bother grading. When I checked the grades he had given out; there was only 1 grade and everyone was given 8/10 ... even students that didn't take my class.
#23
She let the kids run wild and do whatever they wanted (first graders). I was out because my dad died. Thank god my team realized what happened and all pulled together and cleaned the room/put it back together before I returned to work.
#24
Two things come to mind:
1. Tell the black children they need to speak more clearly because people think black people are hard to understand.
2. Just sit and play on the phone while class loses its mind.
#25
I've had so many bad subs.
One sub made an elementary student cry insisting her own name was misspelled and made her stand up in front of the class and admit her name was spelled wrong. I asked that she not return but I still saw her around as other teachers had her sub.
Another one worth mentioning was supposed to be my sub for the last 2 weeks of school because I went on maternity leave, this time teaching at a 7th-12th grade school. Ignored all my sub plans, played on his cell phone the whole time, and then like 3 days in got upset at the students and told them off. And then they watched as he walked out to the parking lot and drove away. Thank goodness some kids went and told the office. When I came back it was like my room had been ransacked! It was awful.
Con O Cuinn 5 months ago
Had a teacher do that s**t with the names. She was English and kept saying I was spelling my name wrong as Gaeilge. My family's from a Gaeltacht region, I'm pretty sure I know how to spell my name better than someone who's Irish level is below 5th class standard.
#26
Not a teacher but in 7th grade life science we had a sub. For the first 5 or so minutes of class he made us do a Kahoot (for anyone who doesn't know Kahoot is a learning website that let's you take a quiz in a fun way) the only problem was that he told us every awnser. Next we were supposed to be learning about parts of a microscope but instead he got them out and told us to mess around with them and he broke one of them. After that he put a video up and ate my teachers chocolate then fell asleep for the last half hour or so of class. Needless to say when our teacher got back and we told her about the sub he was fired.
Bored Trash Panda 5 months ago
Sounds like he was trying to hard to be the "cool substitute" by going easy on the class, which very much backfired.
#27
Re-arranged my room.
Not in a "Moved Student A away from Student B and put her by Student C" way.
In a "Move the giant rug over to the opposite corner of the room, and completely change the layout of student desks, and rearrange a bookshelf" way.
#28
Not a teacher but I participate in STEM programs a lot. In the 90s I belonged to a club that refurbished old industrial PCs and donated them to schools. Sometimes we’d get completely burned out motherboards or disk drives so I took a bunch of those and made displays showing the insides of computers, and I’d let the kids explore them as part of my session. Then I’d dig out a couple of blown PCs and monitors, hand out the screw drivers and let them rip them apart. Yes I was always careful around the old tube monitors. Once they were done I’d let them pick a part if they wanted to take home.
The younger kids especially loved this, and frequently I’d see some kids take home a hard drive controller or a graphics card like it was a real treasure. I even made the local news with my program (that’s the thing about living in a small city - eventually everyone makes the news)
So one day I went in to do my lesson at a high school (I think freshman or sophomore science class). The class had a substitute and I had an appt right after that session, so I told them I’d come back to pick everything up the next day. The kids could take whatever they wanted from the old PCs, but please put my displays aside, in the cupboard.
Next day I came by and all my displays were still out and they were completely trashed. Worse yet the sub’s attitude was, “well, kids will be kids”
That was the last session I did, ever, for that program.
#29
Had a sub who somehow allowed a last period class of freshman to convince him that they were not supposed to be working on the packet that I left for the class (and which every other class that day had been working on...) because they had "already finished it" and told him they were supposed to be watching a movie. He went to the library to get the movie, leaving the class unattended, which promptly then broke out a dance party involving dancing on the desks. My department chair's classroom was next door but as she taught AP government to seniors, she was able to leave them to come next door and try to figure out what the hell was going on. No sub. She calmed the class down and into the seats and into the worksheets, and calls the principal, who met the sub on his way back from the library and told him he could go home. My chair also found it would be appropriate to basically call me and blame me for this while I was sick at home. I don't teach anymore lol. I mean, packets were not a great emergency sub plan but what can you do? They could have played Heads Up 7 Up for all I cared lol. They were a handful of a group on the best days. Freshman after lunch during last period of the day are a situation.
#30
Was a student. Our maths teacher went on leave for a while (I think maternity) and the supply teacher was absolutely useless. He’d been given one topic to teach us and that was it. For weeks. We had a whole textbook to be working through and I was gunning to take my maths GCSE a year early, but no, we just did a topic our class had got the hang of in a week, for two or three months, because I guess he didn’t know or bother to ask what we were supposed to be doing next.
So the rest of the year we had to go ahead of the pace we were expecting to be able to cover everything we had to know. F*****g supply teachers.
What do you think ?
Freddy M. (He/Him) 5 months ago
This one's much smaller than these here, but I recall when I was in elementary school I had a sub who was calling attendance and called on me by my full name, as that was what was on the list, so I said "Here, but I prefer to go by x", like I do any time we have a sub or when starting a new class, their response was "I didn't ask for your whole life story". If I recall he was a jerk throughout the rest of the class too, and we told the teacher when she came back
Michael Largey 5 months ago
When I taught math, I had a sub who somehow talked our Technical Director into giving him the password to my computer because he "needed" it for something. That something was going to Rush Limbaugh's website and some other site which introduced the one and only virus ever to appear on my computer. I had him banned from subbing for me in the future. From then on, whenever I was gone (which was very rare), I locked the computer power chord, mouse, and keyboard in a closet and put at the top of my lessons plans "NONE OF YOUR DUTIES IN MY CLASSROOM WILL REQUIRE THE USE OF MY CLASSROOM COMPUTER. THEREFORE IT IS NOT AVAILABLE." Do the job you're getting paid for.
Freddy M. (He/Him) 5 months ago
This one's much smaller than these here, but I recall when I was in elementary school I had a sub who was calling attendance and called on me by my full name, as that was what was on the list, so I said "Here, but I prefer to go by x", like I do any time we have a sub or when starting a new class, their response was "I didn't ask for your whole life story". If I recall he was a jerk throughout the rest of the class too, and we told the teacher when she came back
Michael Largey 5 months ago
When I taught math, I had a sub who somehow talked our Technical Director into giving him the password to my computer because he "needed" it for something. That something was going to Rush Limbaugh's website and some other site which introduced the one and only virus ever to appear on my computer. I had him banned from subbing for me in the future. From then on, whenever I was gone (which was very rare), I locked the computer power chord, mouse, and keyboard in a closet and put at the top of my lessons plans "NONE OF YOUR DUTIES IN MY CLASSROOM WILL REQUIRE THE USE OF MY CLASSROOM COMPUTER. THEREFORE IT IS NOT AVAILABLE." Do the job you're getting paid for.
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