How do you act with a substitute teacher?

If your classroom teacher doesn’t come in one day, how does that affect you? Do you act differently when there is a substitute teacher in the room?

We did a survey in our school and asked kids in fourth and fifth grades that question. Here are our results:

I act the same: 129

I act differently: 66

Sometimes I act differently: 3

As you can see, most kids in our school act the same way. We think they have respect for substitute teachers. Also, the sub may leave a lot of notes about behavior and other things, and kids don’t want to get in trouble when their classroom teacher returns.

Sixty-six kids said they do act differently, and their usual response was: “You can talk more and fool around.”

Linda Vaianella’s fifth-grade class, Boyle Road Elementary School, Port Jefferson Station