How to Be A Better Substitute Teacher

Let's face it. Subbing is a tough job and somebody's got to do it. After 3 years of a rewarding, yet undoubtedly challenging experience in K-12th grade classrooms, I know that substitute teachers can get all the advice they can get.

The two main things that substitute teachers need to focus is the obvious, keep the class UNDER CONTROL. Secondly, keep students busy with a constructive and interesting lesson plan.

Below are a few tips on how to make subbing beneficial for you (as well as how to maintain your sanity) and how to keep the children focus and attentive (as well as quiet).

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Patience. A whole lot of patience is required to do this job effectively.
• The ability to stay under control when different situations arise.
• The ability to say "NO." Student's love to play on the substitute and will try to get over on you.
• A back-up lesson plan consisting of K-8th classroom worksheets and game plans is ESSENTIAL.
• Your own pencils, pens, pencil sharpeners, and crayons that you can share with students.
• Your own stapler and paper clips. You will be stapling a lot of papers!!

1. Patience and the ability to say no is essential if you are even thinking about becoming a substitute teacher. So is the ability to be up for change. There will be many times when a school teacher does not call of in advance, and will leave you with no lesson plans. So how do you keep an already over enthusiastic class from climbing the walls as you scramble to prepare a lesson plan that will keep them busy until dismissal? Bring backup lessons plans EVERY TIME you enter a classroom. Academic games are essential too.

   Go to http://www.edhelper.com. This website requires that you sign up for a membership. It is well worth it to do so.

2. If you want to be a better substitute teacher, having an EdHelper account is essential because it allows you to have access to board of education lesson plans from grades K-12. You have immediate 24/7 access to your account which means you can get access to lesson plans when you are just arriving to a classroom and need to grab emergency plans.

   Basic subscription is valid 1 year and will cost $19.99. If you want full access to ALL lesson plans, your best bet would to opt for the $39.98 subscription.

3. Once you have a lesson plan, either through EdHelper.com or the teacher's planned lesson plan, pick and choose using your best judgement, which subjects to begin the day with.

   Try not to start the day, especially with younger children (2nd-6th grade) with any assignment that is arts and craft related. Save these projects preferably after lunch or towards dismissal.

   If you do these high energy projects during the beginning of the day, you will have harder time trying to settle already overactive students.

4. Finally, familiarize yourself with http://www.funbrain.com. This is a great website that gives students a break from repetitive worksheets. The best way to keep a class under control, especially after lunch and gym, is to break students up into centers.

5. Breaking students up into centers, preferably groups of no more than 4 students, will decrease altercations and disruptions as it helps students focus on tasks at hand.

   Allow students to rotate out of their groups every 15 minutes to keep them from getting bored. This is the time to break out arts/crafts project as well.

6. Allow student's to talk, but to keep voices low, give students incentives that the teacher recommends or keep some goodies with you. Student's love the anticipation of being rewarded, so save the treats for the top 5 students at the end of class!

7. Finally, before you even begin class, make sure you go over classroom rules so that the students know you mean buisness.

   I like to keep it simple and under 5 rules. If you see that the teacher has already posted the rules in the classroom, go over them again anyway. Set the tone with them and maintain that tone the whole day.

8. Always introduce yourself to fellow teachers around you. If they offer their assistance, TAKE IT. More often than not, at least 1 or 2 teacher's are familiar with some student's that have behavioral issues. They will warn you in advance if certain student's have certain quirks.

   Also familiarize yourself ahead of time to important contact information from the office number to the nurse's direct extension. Sometime during the course of your teaching, you will need it for emergencies.