Subs

This past week there was a death in my family and I had to be gone four out of the five days. I feel that there is nothing worse than this part of my job. The kids go crazy while you are gone-the annoying habits that they have with you are multiplied, you feel like nothing gets done, and you dread reading the notes that the sub left. For a teacher of a foreign language, it is amplified a little by the fact that we don't have a single sub in our district that can speak French.
This weekend, when I went in after being gone, I had about 100 sympathy cards, in French, that my students had made for me. My 8th graders and 6th graders had lots to say about missing me and how French wasn't the same. The sub had very enthusiastic things to say about them as well.
Then there was the 7th graders. To quote the sub, "They were obnoxious, argumentative, and whiny." There were two kids that tried to get kicked out all 3 days.
This makes me SO angry. Why they can be so good for me and not so good for the sub is frustrating-especially because I had specifically asked them, out of respect for me, to take it easy for the rest of the week. Now, I don't know them very well (I've only had them for about 7 classes), but I'm annoyed! And, honestly, I don't like how it reflects on me when they are naughty.
All in all, I hate being gone-especially for a reason such as this. I'm totally dreading going back to work tomorrow and not even sure how I approach it with my students.