Almost everyone has had a substitute teacher. Firstly, there’s the teacher that follows the notes the regular teacher left them, and teaches according to that. Next, there’s the teacher that just gives out an easy worksheet or sometimes a crossword puzzle and then just leaves them to it. Lastly, you get the rarest substitute of all, the extremely strict one. This is the archetype of the substitute encountered by Roger in the short story Miss Awful. A theme in this story is how different people can have different ways of expressing emotion.
In the story, Roger’s easygoing teacher who lets her class get away with everything leaves and is substituted by Miss Orville, nicknamed “Miss Awful” by the class. She is very strict to the students and criticize them harshly for mistakes, making her very unpopular. She makes Roger do his homework over and over again because of his spelling mistakes, causing him to call her a witch at home. On her last day before the regular teacher comes back, the students ripped the leaves of her precious plant, against Roger’s protests. After finding out, Miss Orville despairs over her failure in helping any of the students grow and dismisses them. After the class left the room, Roger goes up to Miss Orville and demonstrates his growth in his spelling.
Miss Orville has the students’ best interests in mind, and she acts on it by being strict so that they can be the best they can be. Most students interpret this as plain ill will, more reinforced by her comparing students with her plants, something that she treasures. Roger understands this at the end, and in his demonstration of spelling, he shows that Miss Orville helped him grow and that he understands her intentions.
A theme in the short story Miss Awful is how you could misunderstand someone because the method they show how they care can be different. In the story, Miss Orville really wanted to help the students, but they hated her because of how strict she was. The author of the story wanted the reader to stop and consider the intentions of other people before jumping to conclusions.