You walk into class, and it’s the middle of the day, just after lunch. You’re tired, and to be honest, you really don’t want to do anything. You’re thrilled to see that the teacher’s not there. After all, today has just been one of those days, and you need a break before you take that APUSH test you forgot to study for until last period.
Except, the substitute passes out a worksheet and puts notes on the starboard for you to write down. The problem is, you don’t understand any of it. You stare blankly at the worksheet after copying down the notes. You want to understand so you can finish the worksheet and study for APUSH. But you have no idea what is going on.
As much as we would like to think that we can learn everything by ourselves, we really can’t. Having a teacher gone is nice every once in awhile, but when it becomes a regular thing, it makes it harder on both the students and the teachers.
For me, it is especially hard for my teachers to be gone in my math and science classes. I can’t just learn from copying notes down, I need someone physically in front of me to teach me the lesson. I am also less likely to even attempt to focus when the teacher isn’t there because past experience has shown me that it will be a useless exertion of energy.
While many teachers have valid reasons for been gone from school, like coaching a sport, this doesn’t change the fact that their classes are stuck with mountains of useless busy work.
Teachers try to create quality lesson plans so the class still moves ahead while they are gone, but in reality, these lesson plans are not enough to explain how the class works to a substitute teacher who has little knowledge on the subject in question, or how the classroom is generally run.
Some teachers make videos of themselves filling out the notes when they are going to be absent. This is definitely very helpful because it allows the teacher to teach more complex things.
The only problem is that whenever you have a question, you can’t get it answered. So if you don’t understand the first part of the lesson taught in the video, chances are, you probably won’t understand the rest. This can often lead to a lot of confusion.
Sure, it’s nice to have an occasional day off, or break from a teacher, but once it becomes a common occurrence, it just makes it harder on everyone.
