Didn't care for it. Too long by at least several hundred pages, and missing any of Baker's usual mind-expanding digressions into the minutiae of his environment. The book is almost literally just a log of his time as a substitute over the course of a month, detailed day by day, practically down to the minute, with his word-for-word interactions with students and other faculty, descriptions of their inane assignments, etc.

I wanted to laugh more. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to be asked to think about the American school system more and in new ways. But instead I got what amounted to nothing more than in-depth diary entries detailing the ways in which kids can be chaotic toward a substitute in the classroom.

I was hoping for some inspiration here, but a lot of what the author shares is stuff I encounter on a daily basis already, and no new ideas or fresh revelations are included. The story began to lag about halfway through and became a slightly pedantic chore to finish by the end.

Free copy given in exchange for an honest review.

This review is of a book I got for free from Netgalley.

I had a hard time with this book, as a middle school teacher. Part of it was the format of the book–it reads like a transcription of all the 28 days the author subbed, and it’s so detailed that by the ninth or so day it becomes really difficult to read and process. Part of it is also the premise and the author’s opinions about education, and the idea that subbing for less than a month can give someone who isn’t in education an accurate picture of the education system. The day-to-day running of a school varies so much school to school and district to district, that what the author dislikes about the one district he subbed in may not even be an issue in other districts. The author’s opinions about specific lessons were particularly frustrating, because teachers purposely leave very simple work for subs to do with students–and yes, very often teachers leave worksheets for subs, for a slew of legitimate reasons. When the author started actively undermining the teachers’ instructions, particularly in terms of writing essays, it was really difficult to read.

I did really find it fascinating to see what a day is like in different classrooms and at different grade levels, especially across schools in a district. I think I would have gotten much more out of the book if it had been structured with a day in primary, middle, and high school at the beginning of the month; a day in each school at the middle; and a day at each school at the end. That would have given me a snapshot of the experience, with different age groups of students, over the whole 28 days. I also would have appreciated some sort of concluding chapter, laying out the author’s conclusions and what he took from the experience. As well as his next steps–like, how has this changed him? What does he intend to do about it?

It was an interesting read for me, but it definitely has made me much warier of subs.

Review also posted here: http://mrskaoreads.com/2016/09/22/the-substitute/

I get that working in a public school, what with the state of our education system, is tough. Baker makes it sound very tough and annoying. I could only handle so much.

As someone working with youth, I found this a wonderful and detailed account of the lives of children and adolescents in their schools. The dialogue is super, in particular--I highly recommend reading it out loud!

I am a high school teacher so I thought an outsider perspective would be interesting.
Frankly I spend my entire day with students, I didn't need to read exact transcripts of what their conversations were. I found the chapters incredibly repetitive. Baker was very judgmental towards the lessons he was doing as a sub. He constantly underestimates children's abilities by saying lessons are being taught too young.
There was no conclusion or summation. This would have been more interesting if he spent less time recapping the minutiae of children's conversations and more time reflecting on things.
Also, does he have a perfect memory or was he recording his days with the children to get such exact recall? If he was recording did he have parental permission to record the children? I doubt it.

Good grief, this is boring. No life, no luster, no insight, just one dull detail after another.

honestly, the kids appreciate this and realize that there's more to being a substitute and to being a teacher than just existing and vaguely participating in the education system. thankful.

I didn't finish it. But I just couldn't force myself to go any further. It gets the second star because I could tell that Baker might have some writing chops, he just executed his topic poorly. This seemed like such a good idea: tell the world what it is like to be a sub in America. He did it for 28 days, and you get to hear about every single once. Literally. He goes day by day. Even if nothing worth noting happens. You get to hear about the nothing.

This book was just boring. I had to force to read as much as I read. Because there was just nothing of interest to make me want to read on.

Baker, instead of writing about every single day, BORING or interesting, should have picked specific anecdotes. And rather than just being a factual account of each day, how about combining his experience with something related to education in the world? This seems like the laziest way to write a book. Do something, document every moment, type it on the page, publish. He offered no commentary, no new ideas. Just regurgitated his day on the page.

So. Very. Boring.