Substitute Teacher

Today I was able to experience a substitute teacher for the first time during this field experience.  My teacher had emailed me the night before telling me she was going to be absent and in what ways I can help the substitute.  I was expecting that it would run smoothly because my cooperating teacher is an incredibly organized person.  I got to school and everything was laid out neatly and organized and labeled.  The substitute was nice and had very clear notes written up.  The kids arrived and it was pretty calm and normal.  After about an hour, chaos began to hit.  There were children that were running around saying "You can't catch me" to both my partner and I, along with the substitute teacher.  No one was listening and they were telling the teacher "no."  My partner and I tried to take control of the class because the students had previously known us.  We did our best to try to discipline them but there was nothing we could do to get them to listen or respect us.  The substitute mentioned to us that she had wished she knew the reward system that our cooperating teacher had to try to reward them when she noticed they were doing good.  I have learned a lot from this experience and what it's like on the teachers end of having a substitute teacher.