An Interesting Job

Idaho’s requirements to be a substitute teacher are low. One must be 18 years of age and have a GED, which means they have graduated from high school. 

Overall, these standards are low for substitute teachers. Almost 35% of people in Idaho qualify to be a substitute teacher. 

On average substitute teachers make about 12 dollars per hour, which is below the national average in the United States for substitute teachers.

Substitutes usually do not have very intriguing jobs when they take over for a teacher that day. Many just read the directions given to them by the teacher, or they just put on a video with a worksheet.

However, being a substitute can be a hard job. The substitutes need to balance keeping control over their students. Everyone has their experiences of seeing students harass substitutes. 

Substitutes also have to be good towards their students. If they aren’t then the students can act up more. However, if they are too lenient towards the students, then they can be walked all over by their students.

Students recognize the difficulties of substitutes.

One student, Jameson Elliott, sees the balance of that substitute teachers have to deal with.

“Substitute teachers have to balance keeping students behaved. However, alot of them fail and the only consequence the student gets is the fact that their name gets reported to the teacher that was gone that day,” stated Elliot.

Elliot also stated, “Most of the time the teacher the next day doesn’t really do anything.”

Another student, Ryan Genteman, sees it both ways. He thinks substitute teaching is easy and hard at the same time.

“The hard aspect of substitute teaching is dealing with all the kids who don’t respect you, and you don’t know. However, it is also pretty easy because substitute teachers usually just hand out an assignment or put on a video,” Gentleman stated.