Substitute Teachers
Due to my new duties as department chair and the changes happening in my district going into program improvement status, I’ve been called out of my classroom quite a bit this semester. By the end of the first semester, I’ll be out a total of three weeks. As I began to take some of the days out of the classroom, I came back to the typical sub notes of this class was good and this class was bad. My honors class is always wonderful, and the other three classes are always some combination of tolerable to terrible. I decided I needed to give them some sort of goal to work toward since I was going to be gone so much. Somewhere in the Blogosphere I picked up the idea of having my substitute give each class a ranking of 1-10. This has been a great motivator for my students, and a good way for me to keep track of their behavior. The students like to know what score they get, and I really think they are motivated to do well. Students know I expect nothing less than a 5, and the higher the number, the better my response will be upon my return. What do you do when you’re out that helps with student behavior? Also, what do others leave for lesson plans? I’ve always left worksheets that review the key standards or our current chapter, but that’s going to get old. I don’t really have any other ideas. Do you?
November 1, 2009 at 2:52 am
I try to plan my weeks so that the sub can administer assessments. Walking around the room to make sure that students are keeping their eyes on their own papers is something I can usually count on a non-math substitute teacher to do without too much difficulty. Otherwise, I will preview a project the day before I am gone and then give students time the next day (with the sub) to work on it. My personal goal is to write the most scripted lesson plans possible, so that the substitute can have the most stress-free day possible thanks to my well-trained students. Idealistic? yeah. We’re working on it…
November 1, 2009 at 5:14 am
You let them get 5?
Anything less than 7 warrants that the entire class writes an essay explaining what they were doing that caused a low rating, what they should have been doing, and what they will do in the future to prevent low ratings.
Only happens once – I guarantee that after having to write an essay the kids will self-police to ensure they maintain good behavior.
November 6, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Whatever you leave for a sub make sure that you let your students know ahead of time that you are going to grade what is left for them. Additionally, leave the sub the name of a “buddy” teacher that they can go to in a pinch. Make sure that you let the buddy teacher know that you are going to be out and ask them to check in on the class. The students will know that you mean business if a “regular” teacher will be keeping tabs on them.
Offering students incentives for good behavior when you are gone may also work. The more the students know what is expected of them the more they will rise to the challenge.
When I return, I’m just happy when my classroom is in one piece. If all of the work actually then the sub hit a homerun and I’ll be sure to ask for that person again.
November 9, 2009 at 3:19 am
As a substitute teacher and certified math teacher with 3 years experience… It’s interesting to read this and know about both sides. After being pulled into subbing a few elementary classrooms, I noticed that some of the classes that behaved the best were the ones that had some sort of “point” system going on between different table groups. The teacher had left me a general note about how to make tally marks on the board if I noticed students being on task, being helpful, etc. and the winning group for the day got another tally mark in a different section of the board. Anyways, the kids were enthused when they saw me making the tally marks through the day. I left after the day trying to figure out a way to adapt the system for the secondary level and wondering how to make it meaningful to the older kids who aren’t motivated by the sheer goal of pleasing the teacher…
Anyways, things I’ve learned and appreciated as a substitute: detailed plans for the day–especially the ones that give details for each class right on a time schedule to follow the bells by. Also, seating charts ++++ And while busy work is always annoying, it was nice when there were quizzes and than an assignment for the students to work on because it’s hard to come prepared as a sub to “wing” 30 minutes of spare time because the students have so magically finished what they need to… (this has thankfully only happened a few times in math classes).
I personally as a teacher avoided leaving assessments (quizzes were okay, but tests/benchmarks no) because I had the bad experience of coming back to find that the sub hadn’t monitored for cheating; and I also had a class with some students who had trouble being quiet during tests and were more of a problem with a sub than with me in the classroom. I left a note and talked with another math teacher about having them take their tests in their classroom if it was necessary.
Generally, I liked to leave review assignments when there was a substitute and test prep over concepts covered earlier in the year. This worked pretty well except with one specific sub who shortened the assignment I had left for the class to work on because “she couldn’t help them with the problems because I didn’t leave an answer key”.
So, just a few random thoughts from a sub/math teacher. Even though I’m not full time math teaching, I like to keep afloat of the math teacher world so I love the blog!
November 18, 2009 at 4:38 am
I’ve honestly never worried too much about how my students act when a sub is in the room. We’ve had some god-awful subs and most of the time, I really can’t blame my students for acting up. I don’t tell the students that, but I definitely don’t lose sleep over it either. It’s not worth my time, how they act when I’m teaching is worth my time.