Respect a.k.a. More Subbing Comments

As the high school students filter into the room and sit down, I hear, "Oh. You're the sub who doesn't take any crap."

I turned as stoicly as I could and slowly responded with, "Yeah?"

The said student turns red, and in a back-peddaling sort of way say, "I didn't mean anything by it. I...I just...um...it, it's just a fact."

On the inside I was grinning from ear to ear. I did not allow my face to betray me, however. In some crazy, weird way, that comment was a sign of great respect.


Another student was working hard on Math, and I was helping him. He was becoming frustrated, and then he said, "I wish we had a sub who didn't know anything instead of you. Then we wouldn't have to do our work."


At a third moment, I was in another teacher's classroom as a SpEd support. He was teaching Math, I was watching. After teaching all day of Math, a person is bound to make a mistake. Well, this teacher forgot to write a "squared" symbol in the middle of a function equation. I pointed it out in order to help get the correct answer. The teacher was more than gracious, but the students were hilarious. Several students looked at me in the back of the room and commented:

"Ooo."
"The sub 'got' something that the teacher missed."
"Hmm."
"Wow."

In their eyes, I instantly rose in the ranks from "sub-human" to "potential teacher material."