My Worst Day Supply Teaching

And now…the horrors!

After raving about how great supply teaching is, I'll now share my worst day on the job. I have to admit that I've been delaying writing this post since I don't like to rehash terrible experiences. Anyway, I just hope that you don't think of this day as a typical day of substitute teaching.


It was a very rainy, windy day. It was so windy that my umbrella kept turning inside out. As I walked to the school, a man pulled over on the side of the road just ahead of me. I was a little freaked out by this. He then asked me if I wanted a ride. Of course, I said "no". I'm sure that the man was trying to do a kind thing by getting me out of the rain but he still gave me a bit of a scare. Wanting to get indoors as soon as possible, I quickly headed in the direction of the school and stepped into a gigantic puddle, completely soaking my shoes and socks. Once I made it inside, I was extremely grateful for the school's warmth and dryness. If only I knew what I was in for -- it would have been better for me to stay outdoors.

After creating a small puddle on the classroom floor from wringing out my socks, I focused on the day plans. The first lesson required students to read about an African-American family who escaped in the rain using the Underground Railroad. I thought it was very fortunate that the students would be reading such a story on a such a horrible rainy day. I thought that I could tell them about my ordeal in the rain and then inform them that some people had to travel much farther in similar conditions and, even worse, they were running for their lives. The story sadly fell on deaf ears…or rather, ears that were unable to hear because there was too much talking and throwing and every other kind of disrespectful behaviour. Everything from paper airplanes to chalk was hurled about, students were getting out of their seats and moving about the classroom, prodding inside the teacher's cabinets and desk drawers.

I desperately wanted to send someone to the office to pay for the spectacle of defiance. However, earlier in the day, the principal had announced that the vice-principal was away and that each teacher should act as his or her own principal, i.e. don't bother the principal with your problems since she's too busy covering for the VP. To make matters worse, I couldn't make a student stay in for detention at recess since the rain meant an indoor recess anyway. Not that any of the students would have complied with a detention… After exhausting all the classroom management strategies I knew, I decided that the class was completely uncontrollable.

Of course, to make me feel even less respected, the students had to prove me wrong on that one. Almost immediately, they quickly scrambled to their seats and sat quietly when the math teacher arrived. I don't know how he did it but he seemed to have good command of the students. Anyway, I was glad to have a much needed break from the class. I needed some recovery time before the indoor recess.

Surprisingly, the indoor recess wasn't too bad. Perhaps this was because the students finally were able to do what they wanted to do. The only small difficulty I had was stopping a young man from viewing a Snoop Dogg video containing several expletives. Most students were playing cards and other games quite nicely. However, it wasn't until the following period that I noticed a couple transparencies had gone missing... Fortunately, I was able to quickly improvise a lesson on the same topic, but it was just another incident that added to my already growing volcano of frustration.

Eventually, I ended up sending one young man to the office for playing chair wars with a female classmate (and for various other reasons). Things were getting too dangerous at that point and I had to quickly put an end to it…I didn't care if the principal needed a break. Actually, the principal ended up being very accommodating and I ended up wishing that I'd sent him earlier since he'd been consistently defying my requests throughout the day. He took offence to the punishment saying that I was racist because he was black. I thought that was ironic since he had refused to listen to the underground railroad story.

By the end of the day, the following had been stolen: one student's trip money, an elegant self-inking stamp, and my confidence in my ability to manage a challenging classroom.