The Substitute Teacher: Strange, Subversive or Stigmatized?

This article examines key examples of substitute teaching, per diem guest teaching in K-12 schools, in the United States. The methods employed include introspection and qualitative or historiographic analysis with the use of autobiographical and memoir writing by substitute teachers in the United States. Through these methods, ideal Weberian types, or Jungian Archetypes, emerge. Social Psychological, feminist theory and socio-structural themes likewise emerge from the analysis and discussion the texts enable. Finally, the article reflects on the literary influences in the American cognitive landscape surrounding these Ideal Types, Archetypes and cultural characters or tropes.