Zach Brown, Editor
Brian Lund had never been in the classroom before. He knew a few of the students from classrooms previous, but most of the faces were foreign to him. Equipped only with a note from the teacher, who was at home sick at the moment, Lund moved to do attendance.
A few of the students, after seeing there was a substitute, had attempted to switch seats.
Thankfully, Lund was given a picture attendance sheet. At other schools, such a convenience was not offered. Roll call was necessary every day for those days.
Twenty-four hours previous, Lund didn’t know he would be in this classroom. At 5:30 this morning he received a call asking him to come in to substitute. Half the time such a call is placed within short notice, within twelve hours of arriving at the school. The other half, a substitute may know for weeks in advance.
Lund, a 2004 Kaneland graduate himself, substitutes mainly for Kaneland Schools, although he has substituted for other schools. Lund specializes in History and Social Studies, but his substitute certificate allows him to sub for any subject. Lund is only certified for high school and middle school, and attempts to avoid Elementary school as much as possible.
“I don’t want to go into a classroom and have absolutely no idea what’s going on,” Lund said.
Every substitute is given a substitute folder, including a picture attendance sheet and an emergency sub plan, in case the original teacher did not leave an assignment. In case of days such as these, Lund always brings a movie with him. Recently, Lund has been carrying the movie Ghost Busters with him, although in the past he has carried movies such as A Beautiful Mind, which “have at least something to do with school.”
Just about every single day that Lund goes into a class, students attempt to pull some trick on him. In addition to the switching of seats, students often say such things as “We don’t need passes” or “She lets us go early” or often “We already did this worksheet.” Lund admits that often these things are true.
Once, Lund was instructed to pass out a packet of worksheets. One of the worksheets had already been completed by the class and a few of them had the completed sheet still in their folders. Lund instructed them to “copy the answers onto the sheet and move on.”
Lund described the difficulties of entering a classroom where he knew no names and very few faces.
“Some students have very specific learning styles and you need to be able to recognize that quickly,” he said.
Lund said that he generally learns the names of the troublemakers first, mostly because he’s yelling their names constantly.
“You have to be good at conforming to what that particular classroom needs,” Lund said.