by Jen Thorpe

Created on: January 07, 2010

Substitute Teaching is a challenging job!  Getting random assignments means that you cannot be sure what school you will be called to teach in, what classroom you will work in, or just what kinds of students you are about to face.  The one thing you can depend on is yourself. 

In my four years of experience working as a Substitute Teacher, I learned a many tricks and tips that helped me have a successful school day.  Of course, nothing can make the "class from hell" magically turn into perfectly behaved students for you, but, there are things you can do to make the day go as smoothly as possible.

(1) Arrive early

You will need some extra time before school starts to figure things out.  Each school will have it's own system about where Substitute Teachers should sign in, and where to go to get the official Attendance list.  It's a good idea to take a minute and make sure you know where the bathrooms for the school staff are at, because, in my experience, you are not going to want to use the same ones the students do.  Trust me on that.  You need time to find the classroom you will be working in that day.  It may be locked, which means you need time to go back to the Main Office, and ask someone to unlock the door for you.  You absolutely must take a few moments to locate the lesson plan that you will use for the day, and to familiarize yourself with it.  What if there isn't a lesson plan waiting for you?  Then you need time to quickly make up your own plan.

(2) Create your own "Survival Kit" and carry it with you.

Substitute Teachers need a survival kit, in case they are assigned to a classroom where there is no lesson plan, or where the lesson plan is woefully inadequate.  Time in class that is not filled with assigned, controlled, activities can inspire students to behave badly.  Here is what you need:

* A book to read to the students 

Find a picture book, and a chapter book, and use whichever one is more appropriate to the students you have that day.  You can assign a book review to the students when you get done reading. 

*Extra worksheets

Coloring sheets or word searches can be found online, downloaded, and copied.  Crayola.com is an example of a good place find them. Get some worksheets about whatever holiday is coming up.  Students tend to enjoy working on those.  Gather a variety of math worksheets, of different levels.  You can find them online,

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